Discovery College

I am a mother, born in Pakistan and raised in Hong Kong. I am married to an American and we have recently been going through the arduous application process for a P.1 place for our daughter. Since we only speak English at home our options are already significantly limited. We were aware of this, and so applied only to ESF schools. We had chosen the kindergarten, also ESF, primarily based on the fact that we knew it was a feeder school for ESF primaries.


We have been shocked at the arrogance and lack of transparency displayed by Discovery College. In spite of glowing kindergarten reports and encouragement by the kindergarten staff to apply to Discovery College, we were disappointed when we found that our daughter was not offered a place, nor a second interview, nor even a place on the waiting list. We were further alarmed to learn that our child was one of only eight out of eighty six students who was NOT offered a place. This puts her in the bottom 9% in her kindergarten.


Our concerns are twofold. First, we have been unable to get any answers from either the kindergarten or Discovery College. The administration has effectively closed rank. We are unable to find out if our child has some kind of learning difficulties which, according to the rejection letter we received from Discovery College ‘prevent her accessing the syllabus’. Nobody wants to tell us specifically why the syllabus is beyond her. If she does have some kind of learning difficulties then why hasn’t the kindergarten noticed it before now and discussed it with us? Why did the kindergarten encourage us to apply for Discovery College in the first place? Why are her academic reports glowing?


Our second concern stems from the fact that she has been accepted by Kowloon Junior. Interestingly, though Kowloon Junior operates the exact same curriculum as Discovery College, nobody there seems concerned that our daughter will be unable to ‘access the syllabus’. When I discussed this with my daughter’s kindergarten teacher she suggested that perhaps it was felt that my child would ‘fit in’ better at Kowloon Junior. Kowloon Junior is approximately 80% South East Asian.


Since the administrations at both schools are refusing to communicate with myself or my husband on this issue, we are left to draw our own, rather unpleasant conclusions. Either the kindergarten has been negligent and failed to notice that our daughter needs support, or Discovery College is operating its own racial streaming. Either way, it is a disgrace that a four year old in Hong Kong, Asia’s world city, should be subjected to such treatment.

A,


That sounds terrible. I can understand how frustrated and disappointed you would be. I have heard that DC is very hard to get into but that is hardly the issue here. It seems to me that the concern is over a lack of transparency over the reasons for her failing to get a place. On this point, I see that the ESF website has some information on complaints which might be useful:


http://www.esf.edu.hk/raising_concerns_at_your_childs_school


Based on this, a formal request in writing to the principal would be what I'd be doing and giving them a timeframe to respond before saying you will seek the information from the chairman of the school council. Given that they have highlighted concern over learning ability as a reason for not getting a place, I think you are within your rights to ask for more information (and indeed why they felt that another ESF school was better equipped to educate your daughter - I have assumed that Kowloon Junior is also an ESF school?). I know they are busy and can't respond to all parents whose children don't get a place but this is not a simple no, but a no with reasons that need to be explained.


Is Kowloon Junior your "zoned" ESF school for where you live? I understand that DC is the only ESF school that is not zoned. Even if you live in Discovery Bay, your zoned ESF school is not DC but rather Bradbury.


Don't even get me started on the ridiculous amount of pressure these schools put on little children as part of their so called "interview process" ...


Good luck.


SB2

Thank you so much SB2. Your advice has been so helpful. I am going to have to write a formal complaint letter to the Principal at Discovery College. I have already written plenty of emails only to find generic and vague responses from the school concerned. I hope to get some answers from them.


Kowloon Junior is our ESF zoned school in Tung Chung. The commute to Kowloon Junior is going to be an hour each way as the school is moving to a temporary campus in April. The school will operate from this location for an approximately 2 years. I'm afraid it's a long way for a child to travel for school.