The ISF Academy. 弘立書院

狄麗絲

Dear Parents

Any comments of this school ? I am intending to apply this G7 for my son. Just want to know more details of this school. Any parents can share their point of view?

狄麗絲

How about the chance for 2nd stage assessment??  Any parents have some comments??

Pianokc

I personally think the staff and teachers at this school are very questionable regarding their qualifications, and standards. ISF gained lots of reputation in the first year because her Shirley, the excellent princinpal. However, this year, as I heard, due to her personal health problems, she is often not there.

I also don't like that there is no way to measure or find out how the secondary school students now compare to the "international " standards. Curriculum is very unclear, no track record, and teachers keep changing, and always asking for alot of money to keep expanding the school's facilities. Too little students to give full coverage of afterschool activities.

it's a school that is "developing".

Has families who are more wealthy, and hence, seems like a "better" school because their fees are tremendously high. Campus is very new, with nice facilities.

However, academic wise, discipline, and standards of achievements by students.... highly questionable and rather disapppointing.

It's a "trying" school. Not there yet.

Just my personal opinion.

daisy17772

原帖由 Pianokc 於 09-5-25 22:41 發表
I personally think the staff and teachers at this school are very questionable regarding their qualifications, and standards. ISF gained lots of reputation in the first year because her Shirley, the e ...

I hearsay that the school is originally founded by ppl with background from financial industry.  They are the ppl with visions in the development of HK education.  So they originally recruited teachers referring from the friends.  Their visions are bright and sound, but they are not ppl who have experiences in education.......

狄麗絲

Thanks. Anymore comments? What I heard the competition is very high of this year.

Pianokc

Of course competition is high, the tendency of many parents in HK to choose what is a 'good" school in HK is, "is it expensive?" If it is, it must be good.

Totally HK cultured targeted.
Just my opinion.

WYmom

原帖由 狄麗絲 於 09-5-26 18:39 發表
Thanks. Anymore comments? What I heard the competition is very high of this year.

Also heard that they have failed their IB authorisation.  Not sure if you consider this an important criteria.  You can check with the school for confirmation.

Pianokc

Really WYmom?

When I went for the parent's orientation, I kept asking the vice principal... "what if you don't get the IB authorization? " and "how do we know our child will be comparable internationally with the academic standards..... etc"

Her reply was what made me decide NOT to send my child there. She just kept repeating " TRUST me. We will get it (the IB certification).  TRUST me."

Would be terrible if they didn't, because the school's whole curriculum was already very "wishy washy", and no graduates' track record, and the school is an IB Candidate school only. Still waiting for approval.

I hope this is not true for their students' sake. Maybe NOT yet approved, but not failed?

狄麗絲

Dear Pianokc

Are u choosing this school before? What kinda secondary school your kids are studying?

WYmom

原帖由 Pianokc 於 09-5-27 10:48 發表
Really WYmom?

When I went for the parent's orientation, I kept asking the vice principal... "what if you don't get the IB authorization? " and "how do we know our child will be comparable internation ...

I read this from some previous topics of ISF, find one of these here:
http://forum.edu-kingdom.com/viewthread.php?tid=1673433&extra=page%3D5

If I remember correctly, ISF failed because of their language policies...  they use mandarin mainly in lower primaries and switch to English gradually...

For IBO authorised schools, can check from ibo website.

almom

Pianokc,

The parent orientation you went was probably a long time ago. Yes, it was a confirmed "fail" earlier this year.

I think IBO has strict criteria regarding the langauge a school uses. You need to have (or choose) one language to be a "first language" within the school.
If you look at the language environment in the IB schools in Hong Kong, you will note that all of them have chosen English to be the main language of use. Of course, an IB school does not have to be necessarily an English school, but the essense is that, there must be one main language that is used throughout the school.
ISF have designed their own language model that move from Chinese to English, ie 70% Chinese in primary and gradually moving to 70% English in secondary, hoping that their students can be good at both.
I do not want to discuss whether this kind of "ideal" model is going to work but this kind of model definitely does not meet the criteria of IBO.

Whether IB approval can be obtained may be really no big deal, since I am sure there must be other better curriculum. And I am sure many parents do not care about this anyway.
But what I am surprised is that, if the school has always been so keen on the IB curriculum (being an IB school candidate was indeed one of their marketing points, and they used to speak highly of IB curriculum to parents), then with the money and brains they have, why the ISF management has not hired the right and qualified person to bring the school on the right track of getting IB approval.
If they have done their due diligence, and are still keen on keeping their own language model, they probably would not have to waste all the money and time used to go through the process of applying for IB approval.

[ 本帖最後由 almom 於 09-5-27 13:59 編輯 ]

Yau_Cheung

聽講 ISF 未能通過 IBO 認証的另一個原因係學校唔準學生在校內講廣東話，但係 IB 學校係唔可以壓制母語。如果係既話，即係所有 IB 學校都要準許學生係學校用廣東話？

[ 本帖最後由 Yau_Cheung 於 09-5-27 13:29 編輯 ]

almom

原帖由 Yau_Cheung 於 09-5-27 13:27 發表
聽講 ISF 未能通過 IBO 認証的另一個原因係學校唔準學生在校內講廣東話，但係 IB 學校係唔可以壓制母語。如果係既話，即係所有 IB 學校都要準許學生係學校用廣東話？ ...

This seems to be a "reason" spread around.

In Hong Kong, not all international schools students are native English speakers. English may not be their mother tongue.

As an example, I know that most ESF schools have the rules that only English is allowed at school. Now, English is obviously not French or German students' first language and they are forced to use only English. Yet, ESF are still IB schools.

So why can ESF do it, but not ISF?

I believe ISF need some better excuses.

[ 本帖最後由 almom 於 09-5-27 14:03 編輯 ]

Cara2006

原帖由 almom 於 09-5-27 13:41 發表

As an example, I know that most ESF schools have the rules that only English is allowed at school. Now, English is obviously not French or German students' first language and they are forced to use only English. Yet, ESF are still IB schools.

Ha! Is ESF that fantastic? Why should everyone follow what ESF does? Ha!