SMC vs Pui Kiu

kikivandewage

We got the offers from SMC and Pui Kiu, both thru-train and seems good schools, I hope some parents share wz us some different opinions. Can some parents compare them in terms of English learning environment and overall development environment as well.

Many tks.

[ 本帖最後由 kikivandewage 於 09-12-13 02:06 編輯 ]

kikivandewage

parents can share your views? what are the commons and differences between these 2 school?

[ 本帖最後由 kikivandewage 於 09-12-26 21:32 編輯 ]

jojolam_ma

http://forum.edu-kingdom.com/viewthread.php?tid=2150916&extra=page%3D1&page=2

kikivandewage

tks jojoma, but it seems the thread didn't bring too much forth discussion for these 2 schools.

any SMC or Pui Kiu parents can share? I can not make up my mind as these 2 schools are somewhat similiar from my view.

bbkingdombb

sorry. which is SMC?

kikivandewage

as subject

larchai

hi kiki,

if you got both offers surely you should choose Pui Kiu College, because they are not the same level.

Pui Kiu College, provideds full range well development education, interesting/ friendly learning environment and it tends to a cheaper International school. For language they focus both English and Putonghua. There are a majority of ABC childs returning to HKG and choose to studying in this school.

And St. Margret is kind of band3, like Delia schools. Surely they emphasize more in English "gammar" and "accent" what they call as "correct" English, this is the only selling point of this school. But without this their teaching ways are still like other local schools.

Sharon.123

Sorry! May I know which Pui Kiu College you are discussing.  Is it in Shatin or Taiwai?  If yes, is it Chinese Primary School?  

原帖由 larchai 於 09-12-29 15:16 發表
hi kiki,

if you got both offers surely you should choose Pui Kiu College, because they are not the same level.

Pui Kiu College, provideds full range well development education, interesting/ friend ...

G-Ma

相信你係培橋既家長, 我認同pkc係一間好既學校, 但唔同意你講smc係一間brand 3學校.

smc同樣係有好多不同國藉學生及老師, 個人覺得smc亦可以算係一間較便宜既國際學校, 語言環境好好, 而且學校亦好注重學生德行, 各方面既培養都好平均.

我自己唔係pkc既家長, 認識唔深, 我唔會隨便將兩間學校比較, 亦好難話邊一間好, 每間學校都會有佢既優點缺點, 主要係睇家長自己想小朋友讀一間咩既學校.

原帖由 larchai 於 09-12-29 15:16 發表
hi kiki,

if you got both offers surely you should choose Pui Kiu College, because they are not the same level.

Pui Kiu College, provideds full range well development education, interesting/ friend ...

Laputa

G-Ma,

你嘅回覆實在係好得體.  

kikivandewage,
其實2間學校都未有小學直升學生考中五, 所以未有資料去support孰好孰壞. 用pkc 羅校長所講, 佢地係概念股.

Here is my understanding of the schools from the school talks and interviews
PKC
1.  balance between Chinese and English
2.  校本課程 seems good - their worksheets and homework project is quite different from other schools (based on the worksheet and books the school displayed at the admission seminar).  
3.  resemblance to International school
4.  Better hardware

SMC
1.  Strong emphasis on English.  Although the vice-principal said they equally emphasize on Chinese, but at least the school choose English as their "Brand/selling point"
2. Other than English and Modern Language, their curriculum are no different to other local schools (SMC Parents, correct me if I am wrong)
3.  More pushy then PKC, but not as much as other local schools.  Starting from P.3, students need to go to school on Saturdays (not every Sat though).  Guess because they need to accomodate additional lessons for Modern Language.  That echoes what the Principal said on the admission talk - their aim is to combine the best from both local schools (academic and displine) and international school (English and not repetitive copy-type homework)

Both schools encourage students reading.  

It's a very tough decision

原帖由 G-Ma 於 09-12-29 23:05 發表
相信你係培橋既家長, 我認同pkc係一間好既學校, 但唔同意你講smc係一間brand 3學校.

smc同樣係有好多不同國藉學生及老師, 個人覺得smc亦可以算係一間較便宜既國際學校, 語言環境好好, 而且學校亦好注重學生德行, 各 ...

G-Ma

你太客氣, bk係分享資訊既地方, 可以心平氣和咁討論當然係最好.

smc其實都好注重中文, 係課程上亦不斷改善及加強.  至於英文一直都很不錯, 學校用自己編制既教材, 鼓勵小朋友寫作, 對英語發音亦很注重, 所以大部份既學生都英語聽同講都唔錯, 以我囡囡為例, 我地同佢出去睇戲佢都會揀英文版, 唔會揀配音版.

無錯smc去到高小係會慢慢轉回較接近傳統教學, 呢個都係為左銜接高考, 除非係行IB, 如果唔係始終係香港升學, 好難完全擺脫傳統教學模式.  SMC本身係初小時係較活動教學, 學生本身已經培養到學習興趣, 到高小既轉變, 一般學生唔會覺得有太大問題.

外語亦係SMC另一個賣點, 外語都係由外籍老師任教, 而且已經包括係學費裡面, 雖然我地小三之後要返長短周, 但識多一種語言點講對日後工作都係有幫助.  

原帖由 Laputa 於 09-12-30 10:22 發表
G-Ma,

你嘅回覆實在係好得體.  

kikivandewage,
其實2間學校都未有小學直升學生考中五, 所以未有資料去support孰好孰壞. 用pkc 羅校長所講, 佢地係概念股.

Here is my understanding of the schools from the ...

love_dreaming

smc英文環境似乎較多。

kakaloklok

G-Ma...


      請問學校會在何時聯絡新生家長? 例如: 購買課本, 校服 ?

      另外, 學校於p1時怎樣編班 ? 要否再考編班試 ?
      是否每年都會max, (意思每年都會唔同班, 使同學與同學之間可互相認識 ?
      ...每年每級都只會有80人 ? (已包括外籍同學) ?

唔好意思, 問你那麼多問題..><...

Sharon.123

Actually, I like SMC very much.  School's direction is very clear and in the right track.  If the kids have good English foundation in primary school that can enhance one's learning ability in higher education either in HK or abroad.  In HK, English is always a burden of most HK students rather than a tool because they are not familiar with English in CMI.

However, I have one concern is its secondary section.  As I know, their first P6 graduated students went to its secondary school.  I really want to know how is the standard of these pupils in S1?  

It is worth to mention that when we attended the 1st and 2nd interview, I found the primary school students are very polite and have good dicipline.  

原帖由 G-Ma 於 09-12-30 16:25 發表
你太客氣, bk係分享資訊既地方, 可以心平氣和咁討論當然係最好.

smc其實都好注重中文, 係課程上亦不斷改善及加強.  至於英文一直都很不錯, 學校用自己編制既教材, 鼓勵小朋友寫作, 對英語發音亦很注重, 所以大部份 ...

G-Ma

kakaloklok & sharon.123,

一般學校明年會有信件通知家長何時回校購買書本及校服.

P.1編班唔會考編班試, 估計係按面試時既成績, 但每學期會評估學生程度, 然後再編組, 唔同科目可能會係唔組別, 所以學生們好快會互相認識.

至於中學問題, 其實SMC係小五已經加入科學, 地理及歷史科目, 所以去到中一對學生嚟講要適應唔會係大問題, 因為佢地本身理解英文既能力已經不錯, 比一般小學程度會高一D.  而且佢地又係直升, 唔需要再適應新環境, 同學都已經很熟悉, 學習壓力唔會好大.

原帖由 kakaloklok 於 09-12-30 18:26 發表
G-Ma...


      請問學校會在何時聯絡新生家長? 例如: 購買課本, 校服 ?

      另外, 學校於p1時怎樣編班 ? 要否再考編班試 ?
      是否每年都會max, (意思每年都會唔同班, 使同學與同學之間可互相認識 ?
       ...

Sharon.123

Dear G-Ma,

Thanks for your quick response.  May I know what year are your kid studying.  Up to now, are you satisfied with this school.  Have you compared the standard of SMC with other DSS or government schools?  

One more important question.  Do you find your kid very hard to understand the GS and Maths?  As I remember, the principal of Ying Wa said YW choose Chinese as their language in primary school as they found the kids will be more easier to understand these two subjects in our mother language. Do you think it is true?  

Have you got confidence with this school's secondary section?  As you know, its secondary section has the burden of the history.

Thanks for your reply in advance.

原帖由 G-Ma 於 09-12-30 18:53 發表
kakaloklok & sharon.123,

一般學校明年會有信件通知家長何時回校購買書本及校服.

P.1編班唔會考編班試, 估計係按面試時既成績, 但每學期會評估學生程度, 然後再編組, 唔同科目可能會係唔組別, 所以學生們好快會互 ...

kikivandewage

well, I don't believe SMC is a band 3 school as Larchai said below either. If so, it shouldnt be such a difficult decision for me. I was from HKG and I know 10 years ago's SMC was band 3 or even worse but I am sure new SMC is a very very good school especially in english environment provided and that's why we applied it.

but my concern is, somewhat similiar as Sharon 123, will "too emphasize in foreign language" result in less interests and appreciation in Chinese culture, or say weaker understanding of Chinese history and art. My kid's mom is a Dutch and my kid staying all day long wz an Indonesia maid. So I need to consider more...

In SMC, all subjects are taught by English except Chinese language right? In fact I very doubt of this as I can not imagine how general knowledge, biography, history, geography, literature, physical knowledge could be only taught by English?

Sharon.123

As I know, Chinese and Moral are taught in Mandarin. The rest subjects are taught in English.  If you let your kid study in an int'L school, all subjects will be also taught in English so I don't think it is a problem as long as the school has good resources Eg Nos. of NET Teachers.  I believe the kids will get used to it very easily.  However, I guess the understanding of Maths and GS will be slower or weaker?  G-Ma, Is it true?

If your kid is living in HK, I think he has many chances to explore Chinese Culture and his Chinese will not be too bad as everywhere is Chinese in Hong Kong.   From what G-Ma mentioned before, SMC has made a lot of changes in Chinese subject over past few years according to the users's (Parents) feedback.  Therefore, I don't think you have to worry its Chinese is not good enough.  In HK,  mainly use English as teaching medium in higher education so I think English is more important than Chinese.  

One more point, I don't think the parents of SMC are so stupid that they are willing to pay around HKD3,000 every month if it is brand 3 school.  As I noticed that the school fee is around HKD1,700 several years ago. If they have no reputation and continous improvement, I don't think they can raise the school fee and still have many parent applied for their kids.  

原帖由 kikivandewage 於 09-12-31 04:30 發表
well, I don't believe SMC is a band 3 school as Larchai said below either. If so, it shouldnt be such a difficult decision for me. I was from HKG and I know 10 years ago's SMC was band 3 or even worse ...

Funnyman

Only my two cents.... For a better future, I think PKC for sure. Because they have a very strong support & back up from mother nation....Also If your children could be studied in pk secondary school in North Point, that will be great. Althought not many people know about this school as it is quite low profile. However, they have many outstanding students. My sister who studied in Imperial collage, London just told me that she got two  friends, one of them studied in Cambridge while other studied in Oxford were graduation from Pui Kiu Secondary School Hong Kong. Also they would have lots of chance to get a job from those China base company....So...

G-Ma

SMC中文係用普通話教, 德育(LIFE EDUCATION) 係用廣東話, 所以小朋友會明白清楚.  至於GS及MATHS, 我囡囡同我講用英文教佢唔覺得有問題, 反而GS用英文教, 佢記生字仲易D, 只需要按讀音串字, 比中文易記好多.

其實小朋友始終生活係香港, 我自己就唔太擔心佢會對中國文化無興趣, 反而英文要學好真係需要一個良好環境等小朋友可以多聽多講.  英語始終係世界語言, 好多書籍都係用英文書寫, 互聯網上好多資訊都係英文, 英文底子打得好將來一定係好有幫助.  教育唔係淨係靠哂學校, 只要家長多D輔導, 小朋友就唔會抗拒中文.  今個聖誕假我都帶左囡囡去睇"十月圍城" 等佢多D了解中國歷史.

我囡囡今年四年班, 我自己對學校就好滿意, 當然仍然有改善空間, 但整體我覺得已經好符合我自己要求, 學業壓力唔大, 程度又唔差, 可以有多餘時間參加課外活動, 英文環境好好, 又中學一條龍, 算係好唔錯.