Posted by
Chwaer
20 yrs ago
I am moving to HK at the end of the year with my husband a 2 daughters 4yrs, 2yrs.
We were in HK for 3 months last summer so am a little prepared for what to expect and am actually looking forward to being more settled there.
My dilema is do we look for an area to live first and hope we find a school we like that will offer us places or do we look at schools first and find accomodation nearby?
There seem to be so many areas that might work for us, my husband will be in IFC2, and so many schools on offer. Where do I start?
I should maybe point out that we are moving from the UK and my eldest was due to start at a very good school here in January.
Please help with some insider knowledge.
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On the other hand, HK is not all that big, and plenty of people commute across the region to attend the private schools. If you will be enrolling in private schools, I would suggest looking for a good place to live, and be sure to find the different routes to school.
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Sometimes it can depend on which school you can actually get your children in to, places are very limited.
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tggb
20 yrs ago
Choosing the schools first is probably best, especially if you want to enrol your kids in the English Schools Foundation which uses the catchment system.
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Thank you all. I was thinking, as most of you have suggested, that the school should be my first port of call.
I would like some recommendations for school but realise there are so many. I suppose it would be more usefull to be able to eliminate the not so good schools from my list first. Is there such a thing as performance tables etc in HK? I realise it would be impossible and bad practice to ask people to let me know about the bad schools but maybe there is a way I can find this out for myself before we arrive in HK.
Are the schools generally happy for prospective parents to have a look around before submitting an application?
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Yes, most schools have either scheduled weekly tours, or you can arrange a tour privately.
If you want to continue with a British education system this will shorten the list of schools for you and make it a little easier. as mentioned previously if you are looking at the ESF schools then where you live becomes important due to their zoning. Some of the ESF schools are harder to get into, and some seem to be more sought after.
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hmm
20 yrs ago
All ESF and Int'l schools have very long waiting lists for certain years of entry... I'd apply first to the school in an area where you'll likely live... this of course depends on your budget...
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ESF schools on Hong Kong Island tend to have shorter waiting lists and some year groups even have vacancies at the moment. (There are also 5 primary schools to choose from on the Island so it may give you more choice re- accomodation as long as you are in the catchment area for the school you want)
Entry for Y1 is done centrally through the ESF at the moment so check out www.esf.edu.hk for more information.
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Ah, one problem....for ESF you have to submit the full address first and if it happens to be in the mid-levels area, ie. Macdonell Rd, street number is important on determining which catchment! Then again, this years entrance form states that catchment areas are subject to change where space is available....sort of chicken and egg scenario!!! The 4-year old will probably have to join a waiting list even with private debenture schools as that is only 1 year before 1st year.
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Thanks so much for all the info. Do you know if the Preschools are as difficult to get into? I do not mind if we are doing half days at first but it would be a good idea to do some kind of education in line with what they do now in UK.
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stay in short term serviced apartment first and then check out schools...
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Ed
20 yrs ago
http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/property/serviced.asp
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Ed
20 yrs ago
http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/directory.asp?cat=204
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