Forums  •  Classifieds  •  Events  •  Directory

 

ESF Kindergarten Sheung wan

  1. #1
    Neha is offline Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Mid Levels, Hong Kong
    Posts
    1,337

    ESF Kindergarten Sheung wan

    Hi

    We have been offered AM Session at the above school for our son K1 class. Would like to hear from other parents with kids in the above school.

    Would like to know about teachers, Parents teachers assessment , kids , and any other thing that they like or dislike about the school.

    We need to confirm the offer by 2nd Feb

    Thanks for your help


    Mahesh


  2. #2
    kiwiinoz is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    140

    My daughter is in K2 PM session (we only arrived in July last year so she never did K1). She loves it. Admin staff and the principal have been very attentive to various concerns we have had. Class structure is 1 teacher and 2 teaching aides to each class - they try to have classes of around no more than 25 to 28 children.
    My daughter loves her teachers, and comes home every day talking about what she did with which teacher. They rotate in smaller groups for activities between the three 'teachers' at various times of the day/week. My daughter also loves the 'free-play'... she used to spend a lot of her time in the sand pit (which is in the K1 area), but now tends to spend more time in the 'piazza'.. a climbing frame like structure. I was concerned about my daughter not moving around in free play and experiencing different parts of the school, but the teachers guide the children in encouraging them not to stay in the one place for the whole 'free-play', which was a relief. The teachers have listened to our concerns in parent/teacher situations regarding our child and have thus far also provided good feedback for us on areas our daughter should be working on (eg organisational skills).
    While numeracy and literacy are not formally taught, my daughters skills have improved drastically from the school... she is starting to spell and sound out words and can write all her letters from the alphabet (simplistically)... something she certainly wasn't doing a few months ago.
    In terms of class structure, my daughter is 1/2 chinese, but does not speak cantonese or mandarin fluently at all. Her class is about 75% chinese students, and the rest are ex-pats (I consider her an ex-pat as we moved from Oz and our home language is english.).
    In terms of socialising, my daughter is friends with a wide variety of kids in the school in both K1 and K2, boys and girls. The children only speak english in the school environment, and my daughters fluency hasn't suffered at all. However I suppose that would differ from child to child and the friends they hang around.
    The kids go out once a week at this time of year to the local park for sports, play and excursions, and my daughter looks forward to this so much she often wants to get dressed for school at 8.30 am in the morning.

    My dislikes about the school are: I find the books my daughter brings home from the library very disappointing. I don't know if it is her choice, or the selection the school has on offer, but often the stories in the books don't seem to serve a purpose or make sense despite the books being proper published stories. While I read the story to her once, I tend to supplement this with one of the books in her own collection when I am not happy with the book coming home from the library because books are one of my daughters favorite activities.
    My other issue with the school is as a parent with 2 children and no helper, I feel a bit frustrated because my daughter misses out on some school activities because I don't have a helper, and some activities require a 1 adult to 1 child ratio (excluding teachers). Obviously the majority of people would not have this issue.
    I was initially concerned with my perception of the quality of teaching my daughter would get from the school. Her main teacher did not 'impress' me when I first met her. However, my judgement has changed drastically from my first impression and I am happy with the schooling she is receiving.

    The security of the school is excellent, and we use the bus services as well, and again... have no complaints.

    Overall, I haven't had a day yet when my daughter hasn't wanted to go to school. In fact, she gets up quite often on a saturday and wants to go to school (and subsequently gets disappointed she isn't going).
    She loves it, has lots of friends, and is definitely learning and growing from the experiences she is gaining there. We are happy with the education she is receiving.

    I don't know how it compares to other schools, so this is just our personal experience and opinion. If you've got any questions please feel free to send me a message.

    Good luck in your decision!
    I know how hard it is to make a decision on what you think will be best for your child.

    Regards

    Lisa


  3. #3
    Neha is offline Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Mid Levels, Hong Kong
    Posts
    1,337

    thank u lisa for such a detailed report . Really appreciate it. Our concern initially is the small space with 80 kids running around and also the open time hour and half and knowing my son he will probably be sitting at the rail track but as u said that teachers have ways to encourage kids to play other activities.


  4. #4
    kiwiinoz is offline Registered User
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    140

    It is funny... my concerns were very similar to yours. When my daughter came home in the first week and raved about nothing but the sand pit, I thought we had made a mistake and that the idea of free-play didn't work for our daughter. We went to the teachers to find out how they managed the kids. I think it is natural for children left to their own devices to be drawn to their 'favorite' activity and thankfully the school is aware of this.
    We were somewhat worried about the space, because we were coming from having a large back yard, etc, she had been in a daycare with a big outdoor area in Australia... so to be confined indoors we weren't sure she would cope well, given she also had to adjust to living in an apartment. I haven't seen other kindergarten schools, so I don't know if this is normal or not, and we assumed this is what you have to expect in Hong Kong.
    Funnily enough, the space hasn't been an issue at all. I guess kids make the most of the environment around the, especially when they have other kids to play with.


Similar Threads

  1. good kindergarten around Sheung Wan
    By sandy0741 in forum Education
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 09-08-2009, 02:29 PM
  2. Replies: 8
    Last Post: 12-15-2008, 08:05 PM
  3. Sheung Wan and Sai Wan
    By captain in forum Playgroups
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 06-10-2008, 05:56 PM
  4. ESF kindy at Sheung Wan
    By honeybee in forum Education
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-27-2008, 08:22 PM
  5. ESF Sheung Wan Kindergarten waiting list
    By momom in forum Education
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-09-2007, 11:01 PM
Scroll to top