Tutor Time International Nursery & Kindergarten

Hi all,

Considering numerous schools for my 2 kids, 1 for kinder and 1 for playgroup. I've visited like a thousand places over the last month and tutor time is at the top of my list. Does anyone have any experiences with them?

Kathy

Hello Kathy,

All three of my children went to Tutor Time and it was absolutely the best possible school we could've asked for. My eldest (daughter) started in the toddler playgroup at the Redhill campus and stayed until the end of kindergarten 1, of which we accepted a place in ESF (we also received offers from Chinese International School, Kellet, and HKIS but felt ESF was the right fit). My two sons also attended the infant/toddler playgroups at both Redhill and Braemar Hill and stayed until kindergarten 2. They also both are in ESF now.

The environment Tutor Time provides is perfect for this age group and I couldn't have imagined a better option, even back in the U.S. where I am from or back in the U.K where my husband is from. It has the right balance between structure, fun, and freedom, teaching children how to become strong independent thinkers while introducing them to the structured school environment. The classes for all of the ages are quite fun as well, which you can easily see if you ever visit one of the campuses. There's a lot of music playing throughout the school with well thought out activities, some of them being ridiculously funny while teaching things about gravity or dinosaurs etc. All of the kids seem very happy to be there(except for newbies, which of course changes after a couple weeks). The teachers we had were all amazing in their own way and really connected with the children very well. I actually became good friends with one of my son's English teachers and we are still friends to this day.

The curriculum does a lot to prepare them for primary school as well. I remember even in the infant/toddler playgroup, we sang a lot of songs or did fun activities that involved counting. This ultimately led to my kids being able to count to 20 around 2 years old. Their literacy programs had my kids writing their names and short sentences in kindergarten. They also could read a host of words and short sentences by the end of kindergarten 2. If you've never been through the interview process in HK primaries, let me tell you, it is a pain the a**!!! However, after I'd been through it, I understood why my kids and their school friends received offers from all of the best schools in HK. The interviews often consist of a group observation, so the evaluators can observe the children in a social environment (probably looking for things like-do they share, do they talk with other kids, are they aggressive to other kids, how they interact with other kids etc). Then there's the "sit in the desk" and do an activity part, so they can observe if your child can sit down nicely and follow the instructions from the adult. Then of course, they'll ask them questions verbally to test their general knowledge and language skills, and some will have written portions as well.I remember one of the tutor time directors telling me that their curriculum is partly structured to develop all of these skills, so it comes naturally to the kids when they reach primary age. My 3 kids all must have done well because we received offers from all of the schools we interviewed at except for Singapore International.

The bilingual aspect is also amazing, as all 3 of my kids can speak fluent Mandarin now (While I am happy about this, my husband and I don't speak it, which means that our kids can now easily have conversations together that we can't understand :-o). They didn't receive any mandarin outside of Tutor Time, except for maybe watching TV shows or movies at home. We continued with their mandarin in primary school, partly in ESF and partly in other outside activities.

Sorry my post is so long, but I know how stressing it can be to find the right school for your kids. Also, I'm stuck in HK airport right now with nothing to do :-(

I'd recommend Tutor Time Hong Kong to anyone who has children of that age, whether they be expats or locals from HK. Good luck!!!!!

Dear ctroi,

Thank you so much for your detailed response! After talking with numerous friends and researching more online, we've decided to go with tutor time as it easily seems to be the best possible choice.

Kathy