Any "Pure" Hong Kong Kid being accepted by ESF Primary School ?

popolung

Do you mean Cat 2 student with no overseas passport and not native English speaker? I think those applied QBS has higher chance as I saw in this forum, since there are less foreigners living in that place I believed, compare to other place like Sai Kung or Mid-Level....

popolung

This is how they classified Cat 1 & Cat 2:

http://www.esf.edu.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=1039&langNo=1

Category One

Children who speak English as a first or alternative language but do not speak Cantonese and/or read and write Chinese characters.

Category Two

Children who can access the local system but who also meet ESF's entrance requirements.

Within each category priority will be given to students who:

are siblings of children already attending an ESF school;
are attending an ESF Educational Services Ltd Kindergarten (for Year One only);
are former students returning from a period overseas;
have a parent who is a full-time employee of ESF;
are the children of former ESF students.

Your kid should be Cat 1, if he / she has overseas birth certificate it is much better, but I guess passport will do. Also speaking english only as native english speaker is important too!  So start your training from now on until the P1 interview finish.....

原帖由 Mornington 於 09-2-6 02:35 發表
Dear Popolung

I agreed with your point.  I am interested in knowing how does ESF deal with students for Cat 1 or Cat 2 with regard to the subject matter (i.e. kids from pure Hong Kong family)

Do you ...

[ 本帖最後由 popolung 於 09-2-6 10:20 編輯 ]

popolung

原帖由 teresalok620 於 09-2-6 10:24 發表
hi, just wanna see for the English standard of ESF students, as majority of the students are from local chinese family, will they allow to chat in Cantonese? cos as heard from the talk of ESF kinder,  ...

While my kid is in ESF Kinder, most of them communicate in Eng. If teacher see group of Cantonese Kids speak in Cantonese, some of the teacher may put those kids in diff sub-group so they will be playing and learning separately. Once again, if you want your kid to speak native English, in Kinder there is only 3 hours per day. You have to create an English speaking environment at home, like watching Eng Channels only (my daughter watch Playhouse Disney Channel for almost 3+ years, now also watch Nick Jr.) and speak to them more in English, read English story book for them, etc. that will help, at least do this until they have gone via the P1 interview....

popolung

原帖由 teresalok620 於 09-2-6 11:44 發表
tks popolung. Yes, we are doing the same things as u now....But just thinking for moving to primary, can they actually develop native accent....

Don't worry. If you are in normal ESF, they will have more program to develop language skill. They will learn more than Eng as they will mix up with kids from all around the world. I have relative graduated in SC that know even French / Italian / Japanese and a bit Russian. At least they have better chance to expose to Eng more than in local school. By then you should start to worry about teaching them Chinese like other parents are worrying about ......

popolung

原帖由 Annie123 於 09-2-6 12:05 發表
As far as I know, the majority of ESF students are local Chinese kids.

Not really, depends on which ESF school you are talking about. The ESF kinder my daughter is studying is still 80% foreigners for her class (K2). But looks like K1 has dropped to 50-60% only.

popolung

原帖由 oooray 於 09-2-6 13:40 發表
I've read some threads in a expats' forum...They do concern the % of Local Hong Kong Chinese kids when choosing an IS...they don't prefer too many Chinese in an IS...haha...
Thanks to the Change and C ...

Me 3!

popolung

原帖由 Annie123 於 09-2-6 13:52 發表


I would not want to comment on which school or which class. But the general situation is that ESF has mostly local kids. I do not think there is anything wrong with admitting this fact.

I think th ...

it really varied from School to School. Take an example for primary, you will see more local chinese in QBS but lesser in BHS or IS. It would depend on if there are more foreigners in that placement zone. See even Cat 2 has chance for interview in first round for QBS but forget it in CWBS or BHS, SC, etc. Just my 2 cents only.

For me I don't mind they have more local kids in ESF, as long as they can keep the teacher and teaching standards. And we can't control that happen anyway, and I can't afford to go to school like GSIS or HKIS anyway....

popolung

原帖由 s_s 於 09-2-10 16:53 發表
其實係depends咩 catchment area先岩!
cat 2 or even 講緊pure hk family都可以入esf school, 大都在少cat 1 的area

clearwater bay school係一個好例子, 佢地大部份的學生都是老外, 或者mom or dad係外國人, cat 2 ...

1. The case with more cat 2 is like QBS (Quarry Bay)

2. You can write your kid can only speak Eng in the form, but can you ask your kid to pretend they only speak eng? This is the problem. And I heard from this forum said if the interviewer found that your kid can speak Cantonese they will fail your kid. So do you want to bet?

Anyway originally ESF is not designed for local kids to study, so if you want to get your kid into ESF, should be well prepared. For example, soak them in almost complete English environment, but how many local families can do this?

popolung

原帖由 birdbird 於 09-2-10 22:20 發表
From my experience and dicussions among some moms in these 2 years, the ESF P1 interview itself is actually not very difficult if the kids can communicate in English. The interview is to screen out ki ...

quite a good and wise summary of what we have discussed these months! Yes, the conclusion is: it is not easy, but not impossible.

popolung

原帖由 maumiu 於 09-2-11 09:13 發表
Besides, I also want to know the chance for RC. Is it still high for Cat 2 student in ESF kinder?

Thanks.

Yes, this is the case of RC for this year, but only you have better chance for interview. Admission or not still depend on your English Fluency as far as I know.

popolung

原帖由 oooray 於 09-2-11 11:10 發表

I guess RC has interviewed all the applicants (total 350 were interviewed) but no idea regarding any priority for admission to applicants with siblings/from ESF/from non-ESF kindergarten; or simply o ...

I believed ESF Kinder has priority in RC as they are both PIS under ESF.

But if RC interviewed all applicants, then it doesn't matter as it normally will look at the ability of children then rank them I believed after the interview.

And I think quite of lof of RC applicants have also applied other ESF and IS and are waiting for results too. So more vacancies will be released sooner or later.

popolung

原帖由 oooray 於 09-2-11 13:12 發表

Yup! I heard quite a number of applicants applied RC this year as their 2nd choices (some of them with silbings in ESF schools; their experiences are that some applicants with siblings might not get  ...

Yes, as RC & DC are in MOS and Discovery Bay respectively, if you got offer from an traditioanl ESF closer to your house, say QBS for HK East or CWBS for Kln East or TKO, then you will not consider RC apparently, regardless of their educational level diff or IB related stuff, etc. Just my 2 cents. Anyway good luck to all who are still waiting for RC or other ESF Y1 result.

popolung

原帖由 oooray 於 09-2-11 13:59 發表

Ha! DC competition is very keen, although rarely being discussed here. 270 applicants chasing for 90 places...From their website, they said "lucky enough they can "offer" interview to ALL Cat 1 and E ...

This is what it said on DC website:

Student enrolments
The College is currently looking at the enrolment of students who have applied for spaces in Year 1 and Year 7 for August. As with last year, the College received an overwhelming number of applications, particularly in Year 1 where over 270 applications were received for the 90 available spaces. Luckily we have been able to offer interviews for all siblings and students at ESL kindergartens. Likewise, we received over 110 applications for 30 spaces in Year 7. We are also looking to increase the number of students next year in Years 8&9, and an advertising campaign for this has commenced. Any families who may be considering this option for their children are asked to please contact the College by email [email protected] or phone on 3969 1000.

http://www.discovery.edu.hk/content.php?contentid=9

[ 本帖最後由 popolung 於 09-2-11 16:56 編輯 ]

popolung

原帖由 VVMUM 於 09-2-11 17:11 發表
Hi All,

Can someone tell me how many classes/places to offer for Y1 in both RC and DC...just curious. Thank you.

For Y1, RC is 150 and DC is 90.  

popolung

原帖由 Onsen 於 09-2-13 11:22 發表
My child and I did declared on paper that we both know Cantonese and I did talk to the local staff in Cantonese during the interview.  It is really how good you and your child can communicate in Engli ...

which school are you in finally?

popolung

原帖由 Onsen 於 09-2-13 15:11 發表
One of the primary school on Hong Kong side.

I guess it may be QBS. Some schools has a higher mix of local students while some are not. So their judging criterias are different too. Just wild guess. But anyway your kids are in, so congratulation!

[ 本帖最後由 popolung 於 09-2-13 17:12 編輯 ]

popolung

i will say, if you send your kids to IS (as they are too young to make decision so it must be your decision), forget about that the school will help you teach chinese. You can get the best of both sides of the world. So either you should teach hard by yourselves, or hire a private tutor, that is it. :loveliness: