Path to ESF

Flower-kid

My son is 14 months old now, and I want him to enter ESF.
To plan his path to ESF, I have two options of nursery/kindergarten: 1. Victoria Int’l Kindergarten (Tin Hou).
2. Tutor Time 多多.
My catchment of ESF is most likely QBS.

Which kinder I should choose?
Please share.
Thank you.

Flower-kid

Thanks popolung.  Why not Tutor Time?  In fact I have no preference on either one (this is my first child, I don't have too much idea about HK education system and schools).  I checked statistics provided by both kindergartens.  Most Victoria kids are accepted by local schools, e.g. Victoria Shanghai Academy, St Paul, .... while most Tutor Time kids got into international schools, like CIS, ESF, ..... But in this forum, hardly any people mentioned Tutor Time.  Would you share why you suggested Victoria than Tutor Time?  Thanks a lot!

Flower-kid

Thank you all for your kind advice.  You are all experienced and knowledgeable.

Meipo, is your son going to TT Braemar Hill playgroup now?  How do you find the program there?  Does your son like it?  Are the teachers good?

ESF is our target, but we need to think of "plan B".  Other than ESF, which one should I also consider?

I've also checked out Starters, their fees are much more reasonable than TT's (sorry to say).  Why is TT so expensive (double the Starters')?  Any idea?  

Woodland is out of my choice, because of location.

Thanks again!

Flower-kid

Thanks meipo28.  Oh, I didn't realize that Starters does not have Chinese, then it may not fit my expectation.

What is SWCK?  I can't find them from internet.

Maria, you said if I'm struggling, I may go for Victoria.  What are Victoria good at?

Popolung, the statistics were given by respective kindergarten (from their website).

ESF Kindergarten Sheung Wan, does it require interview for K1?  If no interview for K1, based on what they accept new students?

Thanks a lot....

Flower-kid

Maria, thanks a lot.  Looks it is extremely difficult for our non-English families to enter ESF.  After all these priorities, it's almost mission-impossible......

Am I determined on IS?  I would say 80%.  The 20% is worrying my son's Chinese language.  I don't want him to become a single language speaker (English), Chinese language and appreciation of Chinese culture are also important for him.  Afterall, we are Chinese.

But it doesn't mean I've ruled out all local schools.  I have my favourable local schools, like DBS, St Paul co-ed.  

May I ask for your opinions.  If we choose TT Kindergarten (or if so lucky ESF Kindergarten), we should be able to switch to local stream and apply DBS, SP Co-ed, etc, at P1?

Thank you and have a good day!

Flower-kid

Thank you all for sharing.

I understand some of your kids are already in ESF kinder or IS kinder.  What is your language policy at home?  If your kids speak in English at school, do you speak to them in mother tongue (Cantonese) at home?