English Standard of SPK v.s. SHCK (聖心)

esther.cy

My girl is 02/07 and currently I am applying 2010/2011 K1 for her. As I am not very familiar with schools on HK Island (coz moved to HK Island only after marriage), can any parents give me some comments?

Personally I really like "ONE DRAGON" schools, however, I also have big concern about the English standard of my girl. Knowing that SPK / SHCK are dream schools of many parents basically because they are ONE DRAGON, may I ask about the ENGLISH STANDARD of these schools?

Please help! Thank!!!

iantsang

Hi esther.cy,

You are welcome but even though my elder daughter is study in SHCK, I am still very worry about my young one!  

By the way, I think A9109494 already mentioned the acceptance rate is normally 90%+ for spk students to SPCS (Primary section).

Ian

原帖由 esther.cy 於 09-10-3 11:25 發表
Ian & Rary, thanks again for your response. Coz my strategy is, try to get my big girl into a good school so that I will have less worry about the small girl.

Thanks also to A9109494 about your infor ...

esther.cy

Ian & Rary, thanks again for your response. Coz my strategy is, try to get my big girl into a good school so that I will have less worry about the small girl.

Thanks also to A9109494 about your information about SPK. Other than their English Level, do you know the % of their KG student get into primary school??

Thanks very much!!! :)

Rary

Esther,

Sure they accept kids younger than 3 by Sept each year - my daughter was born in Oct.  Also in her class there were also 1 or 2 classmates that were smaller than her.  My feeling is that big girls do have advantages, but the chances of small girls getting in are not too low either.

If your elder daughter gets into SHK, I believe that the chances for your younger daughter getting in should be pretty high.

原帖由 esther.cy 於 09-10-2 11:44 發表
Ian & Rary,

Heard that SHCK K1 takes only kids who reach 3 by Sep each year, may I know if it is true??

Since my big girl is 02/07 while small girl is 09/08, I hope my big girl can "give advantage"  ...

A9109494

Hi esther,

My girl is studying in spk k3.  SPK's english level is not high at all.  They dont have NET, mandarin teacher or extracurricular activities provided .  Mostly taught in Cantonese.  But i believe the english level of primary and secondary schools is very  good. They teach in english. Most parents choose spk  probably wants to enter its' primary school(though not thro train but around 90+% admission rate). IF u expect to learn gd english and harder courses, spk surely not a gd choice.  Many learn english outside. But anyway my daughter studies in it happily and likes spk a lot!  Also, spk likes to accept big girl! Hope these information can help you.

iantsang

Hi esther.cy,

SHCK accepts children who reach 2 years and 8 months old by September, just like majority of other kindergartens.

I think they are quite fair on the admission so Big B and small B both have their chances.  For example last year, a lot of small b did get accepted.  Like my daughter's class, it is around 60/40.

Good luck to you on your coming application!

Ian

原帖由 esther.cy 於 09-10-2 11:44 發表
Ian & Rary,

Heard that SHCK K1 takes only kids who reach 3 by Sep each year, may I know if it is true??

Since my big girl is 02/07 while small girl is 09/08, I hope my big girl can "give advantage"  ...

esther.cy

Ian & Rary,

Heard that SHCK K1 takes only kids who reach 3 by Sep each year, may I know if it is true??

Since my big girl is 02/07 while small girl is 09/08, I hope my big girl can "give advantage" to my small girl when the time she goes to K1.

Please advise and comment, thanks  :)

ML_Ngan

Hi Rary,

Noted with thanks!

May I have Jolly Phonics website?

Liza

原帖由 Rary 於 09-9-27 21:20 發表
She was doing jolly phonics.

By the way, I just attended a birthday party today and met a SH parent whose younger daughter is still in SH.  She said that they've hired a new NET teacher (whom she sai ...

iantsang

Thanks for the info.

Actually I am aware of the change.  However, in my case, I let my daughter attend this kindergarten with the expectation that they don't put as much emphasis on English as in the old time so I ended up getting more than I expected!

原帖由 Rary 於 09-9-27 21:20 發表
She was doing jolly phonics.

By the way, I just attended a birthday party today and met a SH parent whose younger daughter is still in SH.  She said that they've hired a new NET teacher (whom she sai ...

Rary

She was doing jolly phonics.

By the way, I just attended a birthday party today and met a SH parent whose younger daughter is still in SH.  She said that they've hired a new NET teacher (whom she said was good) and there was also a change in syllabus.  So what I said yesterday applies to the PAST, so parents please note when referring to my previous statements.

原帖由 iantsang 於 09-9-27 02:40 發表
Hi Rary,

Thanks very much for the compliment!  Any suggestions for the external English courses which your daughter took to accompany SHCK?

Thanks/ Ian

Rary

Liza,

As my son only started SKH for a month, I could only say that the approach and the materials that they chose were good and systematic (in my opinion); how well it goes, I think I need another 2 or 3 months time to experience before I could give a more detail and objective comment.  Bear in mind though, SKH is a Chinese Kindergarten, while CCKG uses English in most of its subjects.

Regarding CCKG, I've got some friends' kids studying there.  Judging from their kids' English standard, I would say if you are looking at local schools, CCKG would be amongst the highest standard ones for sure.

原帖由 ML_Ngan 於 09-9-27 17:55 發表
Hi Rary,

Pardon me that I would like to know how to compare English standard between CCKG & Sheng Kung?  Would you please illustrate some examples?  I also would like to apply Sheng Kung Hui as my ki ...

[ 本帖最後由 Rary 於 09-9-27 22:04 編輯 ]

ML_Ngan

Hi Rary,

Pardon me that I would like to know how to compare English standard between CCKG & Sheng Kung?  Would you please illustrate some examples?  I also would like to apply Sheng Kung Hui as my kindergarten application next year.

Thanks/Liza

原帖由 Rary 於 09-9-27 00:42 發表
Esther,

Just surfed by; my daughter has just graduated from SH Kingergarten so I think I could share some experience.  At first when I chose SH Kindergarten, I believed that its English standard is r ...

iantsang

Hi Rary,

Thanks very much for the compliment!  Any suggestions for the external English courses which your daughter took to accompany SHCK?

Thanks/ Ian

原帖由 Rary 於 09-9-27 00:42 發表
Esther,

Just surfed by; my daughter has just graduated from SH Kingergarten so I think I could share some experience.  At first when I chose SH Kindergarten, I believed that its English standard is r ...

Rary

Esther,

Just surfed by; my daughter has just graduated from SH Kingergarten so I think I could share some experience.  At first when I chose SH Kindergarten, I believed that its English standard is really good because I heard that SH Private Primary School's English classes are 1- year advanced.  Yet I found that relative to other subjects, English is the subject which I found was not particularly outstanding, and I believe the english standards for international schools (and schools like CCKG) will most likely be higher than SHK's.   My younger son just got into Sheng Kung Hui Kindergarten this year and comparing the 2 kinders' english cirriculum, I think SKH's is more systematic and comprehensive, which further confirmed my belief that there is room for improvement for SHK's english cirriculum.

Yet please don't take me that I think SHK is no good - quite the contrary, I think SHK is a very good kindergarten, good & caring teachers, close communication with parents, teaches the students good values, and academically, quite good in all subjects apart from english, in which I believe they could further improve.  That's why I let my daughter take english classes outside school, and that actually solved the issue.

I'm glad that I've let my daugther study at SHK, and my daughter herself was also happy to have graduated from SHK.

Ian,

Browsed through a few of your "analyses", pretty comprehensive and objective.  Great job!

原帖由 esther.cy 於 09-9-25 19:11 發表
Ian,

As my husband already say NO to international school, and I concern their English standard so much, this is the reason why I need to think very carefully about my choice.

Many thanks again for  ...

iantsang

Hi esther.cy,

May be you can consider Good Hope.  I just read the post from another bk mom today that they have finally publish the application information.  They said won't have voucher so likely they will try to have more freedom on the teaching method.  If that's the case, I will suspect they will have more focus on English, since their primary section' medium of instruction is English.

My wife and I also don't like international school so we also have not considered that.

Ian

原帖由 esther.cy 於 09-9-25 19:11 發表
Ian,

As my husband already say NO to international school, and I concern their English standard so much, this is the reason why I need to think very carefully about my choice.

Many thanks again for  ...

esther.cy

Ian,

As my husband already say NO to international school, and I concern their English standard so much, this is the reason why I need to think very carefully about my choice.

Many thanks again for your help!!!

Esther

iantsang

The interview at SHCK is in Cantonese.  As for some kindergartens, you may request to have the interview conducted in English.  However, you must note the medium of instruction will still be Cantonese.

Actually I have known mothers from bk who also have such concern and at the end, they both decided to give up SHCK and attend international kindergarten.  I think you need to make this decision since those with primary schools related mostly use Cantonese to teach.

原帖由 esther.cy 於 09-9-25 00:57 發表
Can I choose the language of  interview or is the interview conducted in Cantonese? My girl is strong in English (coz both myself and helper speaker to her in English) and her cantonese is not very go ...

esther.cy

Can I choose the language of  interview or is the interview conducted in Cantonese? My girl is strong in English (coz both myself and helper speaker to her in English) and her cantonese is not very good. Worry if she can manage interview at SHCK :(

iantsang

Hi esther.cy,

You can refer to my post early this year after the interview.  There are also posts from other parents in that thread.

http://forum.edu-kingdom.com/viewthread.php?tid=1693623&extra=page%3D4#

Hope it helps you!

原帖由 esther.cy 於 09-9-24 17:46 發表
Thanks for the comment from Ian & bb@wonderland.

Ian, I have read your articles / information about kindergartens under another topics, it is really useful, thanks!

Actually I am more or less the s ...

esther.cy

Thanks for the comment from Ian & bb@wonderland.

Ian, I have read your articles / information about kindergartens under another topics, it is really useful, thanks!

Actually I am more or less the same as you, with 2 girls and the little one will go to PN next year. But only that my big girl is 02/07, so she is still in PN but I am thinking to apply for SPK and SHCK tis year. Seems that SPK and SHCK are the dream schools of parents who have a princess / princesses on HK Island.

Could you please share your interview experience at SHCK K1 last year? Thanks a lot.