Moving to HK in June

Hi, I am so glad that I found thsi site. I am moving to HK in June and I have 2 daughters. I am looking for the information about hiring someone on a daily basis (not live in). I am also looking to find out information about the international schools. My daughters are entering 5th and 8th grade. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.


- Jay

Thanks, for your quick reply. I am so glad that you responded. I have applied at HKIS. I am waiting to hear their response. I am just nervous to think "what if they dont have openings?"


My kids currently go to private school, so I am not sure about the curriculum. It seems that you are happy with HKIS. Is the education well rounded or more biased towards one area vs. other?

anyway, I have thousands of questions. I am moving from CA but originally from India but have been in US for 20+ years. I am just so nervous to be living in HK, everyone says it's great.. but I am still very very nervous.


Thanks again and any other pointers you can share woudl be great.

hi, Thanks again.:)

We are coming to look for a place to stay in end of march. Actual move will happen in June. I am not sure of teh exact dates yet. My biggest worry right now is things for kids to do and the school. and offcourse, finding right help. I would liek to get someone to come few hours a day. How about driving? is it easy to get around? Thanks again. I have found my first friend in HK:) -Jay

wow... I am already overwhelmed. I am actually thinking about signing them up for summer session at HKIS so atleast they get used to the school. I know I would have different chanllenges.. teen age yers.. I hope it's not as bad as in certain parts of US. HKIS must have good counselign system and such for these difficult years. It's so hard to see kids when they are not happy. It tears my heart out and almost think why are we doing this.. but i believe in the long run it may be a good expereince for them. Is it ok to share your personal email address on this chat area?


250,000 domestic helpers... no way.. wow..

does everyone have them? Thanks agian, I am not sure how to thankou, but perhaps some day we can meet up for coffee... I will give you my contact info once I know:) -Jay

Hi Jay

I moved to HK from New York abt 6 months back. My daughter is also at HKIS, grade 1. Kags, who is your child's grade 1 teacher. Mine is Susan Blanche. Jagruti, I dont know which part of CA you are moving from ( I used to live around LA about 5 yrs back) but the standard at HKIS is pretty decent, at teh lower primary level atleast. You can always call up the school and ask for quantitative results, they are pretty open abt it. I know they offer a lot of AP tests which is something you have to watch out for, at teh high school level. Call up the middle school, they are pretty helpful. My daughter joined grade 1 HKIS in august, we were in the waiting list for abt a week after all the admission materials had been submitted. In fact after they met her, they even waived the mandatory testing that they had insisted over the phone.Since your daughters are moving from the US, they wld definitely have an edge and it wld only be a matter of time before they get admission.Check your control panel for my message. I will include my email address there so that you can reach me.Good Luck

jaqruti-I moved to HK only 4 weeks ago. We have three children one of them is 7 yo. She left a fantastic school in Australia and a lot of little friends. My daughter goes to (ESF)Bradbury school which is a english/xpat school. I found the people very accomodating and welcomed my daughter with open arms. I think very highly of the school. I chose Bradbury over several other schools because of the feeling I got when I walked in. The Vice Principal and Principal conducted an interview with my daughter and that impressed me that they spent some of their busy day to meet my daughter. The school is also very close to where we live. Its definately an adjustment living in HK but not a bad one in my opinion. I wasnt keen on having a helper living with us but everyone does it over here and at least I know that if I go out that the helper is here to look after the children. I have just employed my first helper and I dont quite know what I am going to do with my days when she starts. Let me know if you have any questions.

Kags, my daughter is in cluster 5A. Did you go for the G1 music program last friday?

Thank you so much for your reply. I am hearing from almost everyone that HK is a safe place so that's a relief. We are planning to be in HK sometimes in March. and move in June, Thanks again.

Hi Jay

We also moved here 5 weeks ago from Singapore. We were really lucky as in my husband had managed to find us an apartment in the one week that he spent here without us. March is a much better time to come to HK as opposed to Jan - in the middle of winter. I have 2 daughters who also go to HKIS - one in R2 & the other in grade 4. We moved here from Singapore, and Australia before that but I'm originally Indian. If you need any help you can email me on archsc@hotmail.com

I do wish I had known about this site before moving here!!!

kags - my daughter is in Mrs Whitley's class - I'm not sure if they are in the same cluster.

Hi there, Thanks for your reply. I am so glad to get all the replies. Thanks to everyone. My younger daughter is in 4th grade. if she gets into HKIS, then they will be in the same school, same grade! It would be awesome to meet you and your family. After receiving so many emails, I feel better about the whole moving expereince. Thanks and I will write you on your hotmail account.


- Jagruti

Hello,

Im a Filipina interested for the live out

set up since I had this experience before

with the previous employer. But due to the

SARS outbreak they let me lived with them

for safety reason. Im looking for a new

employer and if you will be needing

one by the month of June then this is

a good month for me.You are free to email

at vgrace70@yahoo.com.Thanks!

We moved from the U.S. to Hong Kong 4 1/2 years ago. My daughter entered HKIS as a 4th grader and is now completing 8th grade. I loved the elementary school but have some concerns with the middle school. I understand my chief concern is a concern of many of the parents at HKIS. A large portion of the kids at HKIS are speaking English as a second language. I feel this is really holding back those whose native language is English... particularly in the language curriculum. While my child's Stanford scores have stayed steady in the math curriculum over the years, they have constantly gone down in the language/reading area when compared to peers in the U.S. And I find it particularly challenging to raise a teenager here in Hong Kong... especially if you depend on public transportation. You can't drive them everywhere so you have to put them on a bus or a taxi to go meet friends or to go to the movies, etc. Although it is very safe in Hong Kong, my child is not always where she is supposed to be! I've also been told that when it comes to alcohol, there is a real problem in the high school. Our "teens" look much older than the local teens and buying alcohol is a breeze for them. Some kids have bought booze at 13 years of age! Checking ID's is not enforced here. The good thing is that teens don't have driver's licenses here and drunk driving does not seem to be a problem here. As for hiring a domestic helper, I was like you in the beginning. I didn't want someone else living in my house; however, it is illegal to hire part-time maids. So I gave it, and trust me, it doesn't take long to get used to having that help! Now when I go home every summer and we have to "cook & do dishes", I'm wishing I was back in Hong Kong! Seriously, now I just dread the thoughts of moving back to the real world. I remember the days of four kids in the house and a dog and a full-time job! Now I'm down to one child at home and two dogs but it is so nice to always have the house clean, the laundry done, etc. And having someone here to take care of repairmen and deliveries... that is a God send here.

I am now totally dreading the move. My daughter is so protected in US. and I hope she does well with peer perssure at the school in High School. Do you have kids who graduated from HKIS? is high school the same as far as language curriculum goes? Please tell me more about the highschool and middle school programs and things i shoudl be aware of. btw, What state did you move from? I would like very much to chat more with you since you are the only contact I have who has kids in Middle school.

Thanks and I look forwrad for more.