[miao]

With a 4-month old baby, I know I'm a little crazy to start worrying about his school applicatoin. But having heard quite a few stories about how competitive the international schools are, I would appreciate hearing from experienced parents on the following questions:

1. How many schools do people normally apply for? I've visited the Victoria school at the Belcher's, and they said their acceptance rate last year was below 50% for the pre-nursery class (2-3 years old). I suppose then we should file multiple applications to make sure he has a seat in one school at least.

2. When do people apply for the pre-nursery class? Again, Victoria at the Belcher's starts taking application less than 1 year before the erollment. Is that a fairly general practice? I just don't want to suddenly find out that we have missed the deadline (or applied too late for acceptance priority purposes) for many schools.

3. Finally, are there any other good recommendations for international nursery/kindergarten in the mid-level/porkfulam area?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[Mommy Poon]

Hi - my baby is four months old and a bit. We have already enrolled him in one year nursery class. He is on the waiting list for morning classes but confrimed for the afternoon session.

Sunshine House is quite good. They have a branch in pokfulam.

[Genro]

Dear Miao,

Here are a list of all the schools I know in Pokfulam area:

http://www.casadeibambini.com.hk
http://www.sunshinehouse.com.hk/
http://www.tutortime.com.hk/home.asp
http://www.woodlandschools.com

My daughter has been at Woodlands since 1yr and will start at their preschool this fall, but to be honest I have friends with children at all of the schools and all are happy. You should probably go to see each location and then maybe put in 2-3 applications.

If you are planning to be in Hong Kong for more that a few years I think it is probably more important to get your child on a school list for 5yrs+. I again would visit all the schools and then put in a few applications. You can find most of the schools and links to their websites here:

http://www.hkwithkids.com/schools.htm

Good luck and don't stress too much you are probably doing this earlier than most!

[miao]

Thanks a lot for the replies!

Genro, you mean I should start putting baby's name down for a primary school? Are they even more competitive than the kindergartens? If I tell people at home about all these I'm sure they'll laugh me, but I guess this is Hong Kong for us.

[Gabriel ma]

Most famous local Kindergarten accepts pre-nursery class application (2 years old) in around Sept-Nov for next year entry (Aug). After that, they do not accept any more application.

On KLN side, Victoria, Learning Habitat are both good.

[bekyboo44]

From my experience most children are on waiting lists for international schools from birth, and before at least 12 months old.

By the time my son was a year old the international school (primary) he has his name down for was already full for his year.

ESF schools do not accept applications that early, only the year before the child needs to start.

[sprawld]

any recommendation for a 6 month old baby? Should I start with playgroups or just wait till they are 1 yr and go for the 1 year nursery class?