[ramkiranju]

Hi ,

We are now less than a month to HK and my 10yr old had to be put in a school.Since the place of res would be Taikoo we were told that Delia Canada was the best.Also Quarry bay ESF did not have any vacancies for Yr6.Now I am told that they are taking admissions for Sep 06 in the South Island school for Yr 7.I am considering it.My only worry is how is the curriculum as compared to DSC.As in can any one out there tell me how they find the syllabus in ESF and have they changed the IB pattern to suit the HK crowd?
Also how is the social environ...I mean attitudes to Asians??

[loupou]

Hi ramkiranju,

I can't speak to QBS or South Island, because my kids go to an ESF on Kowloon-side.

That said, I've been quite pleased w/ the curriculum. My oldest is in Y5 and my younger is Y3. Their maths and English are fine and they enjoy ICT, art, music etc.

I have a friend whose kid is at KGV and my friend is happy with the education. I've been very impressed with some young people I recently met from Shatin College - well spoken, very knowledgeable in both the arts (e.g. literature and music) and sciences (e.g. maths & physics).

re: attitudes towards Asians, most of the children *are* Asian.

According to this document: http://www.esf.edu.hk/download/paren...20Students.pdf
* 51% of the kids are Chinese ethnicity
* 16% are Caucasian [European],
* 11% are Eurasian
* 9% are Indian [I don't know whether this includes people whose families come from Pakistan and Bangladesh - that might be in "other"]
* 7% are "East Asian -other"
* 6% are "other"

When my older child was getting ready for P4 camp, I know they made provisions for vegetarian kids. As far as I've seen there is almost no provision for kids who try to keep kosher or halal. so kids whose families are concerned over those issues would have to get their kids to go vegetarian at times like that.

At my kids primary school, there is no sanction on speaking languages other than English, but at KGV, I know there is a campus agreement to use English at all times, to foster togetherness I suppose, and not let anyone feel left out if they don't speak Cantonese or Mandarin or other languages. I don't know if SIS has such a policy or not.

Here's the website for SIS (although you've probably already looked at it)
http://www.sis.edu.hk/aboutsis.html

When I look at the Student Council in their newsletter, it seems like a nice mixed bunch.
http://clc.esf.edu.hk/GroupDownloadF...sourceId=28357

[rani]

I'm a bit biased, as I went to Island School. I would definitely choose South Island over Delia. The ESF schools are well established and follow the UK curriculum. However, some schools are converting to the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

Have a read through the following threads on GeoExpat:

http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3941

http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6245

[Y2KChild]

I had read so many discussion forum on different international schools in HK and I never read any postings considered Delia Canada in TaiKoo belonged to the group of "best" international schools in HK.

Originally Posted by ramkiranju

Hi ,

We are now less than a month to HK and my 10yr old had to be put in a school.Since the place of res would be Taikoo we were told that Delia Canada was the best.Also Quarry bay ESF did not have any vacancies for Yr6.Now I am told that they are taking admissions for Sep 06 in the South Island school for Yr 7.I am considering it.My only worry is how is the curriculum as compared to DSC.As in can any one out there tell me how they find the syllabus in ESF and have they changed the IB pattern to suit the HK crowd?
Also how is the social environ...I mean attitudes to Asians??

[jayinhongkong]

I went to QBS and South Island. South Island recently had an extra wing added and I hear the facilities have improved significantly. On the whole, the standard of education at ESF schools is much higher than at Delia. Food for thought :)