[ctrbabe1]

Does anyone have information about local English speaking schools? I'm not talking about international schools or ESF/ISF. I've heard there are schools in the local system that are primarily English and are for local families who's children do not speak Chinese.

Does anyone have a website?

thanks!

[carang]

if you have girls, you could try MARYMOUNT in happy valley or DGS (Diosece(sp?) Girls' School) in Jordan. these two schools have some of the best english standards in hk (for local schools).

[HappyV]

Good luck getting in! THese are two schools notoriously difficult to get into, and pretty much 99/100% Chinese. DGS is also a DSS schoo - which means fees of about 40,000 per year. Not sure about Marymount's fees (if any).

[carang]

they are very difficult to get into, however, if english is your mother tongue, you MAY have a leg up....who knows?

[ctrbabe1]

Do any of you have a website you could direct me to? Do you know anything about Primary schools? My daughter is only 5.

[bekyboo44]

They are difficult to get into academically. Good English alone won't get you into DGS or Marymount.

The children are interviewed, and often prepare portfolios of the awards they have won, the extra curricular classes they attend...yes portfolios for five yr olds it's insane, but this is how those schools work.
A lot also depends on how prestigious the kindergarten they attended was.

You will find at the majority of the English Medium local schools that the majority, 99.9% of children, are local and speak Cantonese! They may be taught in English, but Cantonese is still the language most speak at home and with each other.

[HappyV]

A lot of DGS kids have come from Braemar Hill NUrsery - which is $7-8 a month (Yes!).
It s almost impossible to get in if your chid is not Chinese - because even though it is an English speaking school, Chinese, Chinese History and some Maths is taught in Cantonese. As they want their kids to get great HCE results, they are reluctant to take children whose Chinese studies may be lacking.........

[bekyboo44]

There is also a lot of pressure on the children who go to these schools. I know children (primary school age) who go to some of these schs and if they get less than 90% on a test they think it's bad!!!! These are six and seven year old children!

Test results and academic performance are everything! There is also a lot of pressure for the children to join as many extra curricular classes, e.g. music lessons et, as possible.

Most children that I know who go to these schools have extra english, maths, drawing, music lessons after school and at weekends.

I have yet to meet (after 15 yrs in HK) non local children who go to these schools.

Sorry if that's not very encouraging and helpful but these schs are very competitive.

All local schs in HK use to teach in English, until the govt. decided children would do better in their native language, so the majority of schools switched to cantonese.
Some schs, e.g. the most prestigious ones, were allowed to continue teaching in English. A lot of people want their children at these schools, hence competition for places is fierce.

You might want to consider-
Shanghai Victoria Academy (they follow the IB prog, and teach mainly in English, although I think Chinese, Chinese History and some Maths are taught in Cantonese)
Delia Memorial School (not sure how good this sch is, but a lot of non local children go here)