confused by all the different types of schools

Hi, Can someone clarify for me as I've just had my first child and have heard horror stories about waiting lists,debentures, etc....


For an expat baby/ child in HK, what is a typical schedule of schooling and general age group? ie. pre-school (1 yr to 2 yr), then kindergarten (2 yr to 4 yr), then primary school, etc.?


I am so confused by all the adverts/ info for schools (difference b/w nursery, day school, preschool, kindergarten, etc.) and need a big picture idea of how it works, so I can then look into things in more detail. Thanks for your help!

If you go down the ESF route, there is no debentures, and you can't put their name down before a certain date, you would need to contact the ESF to find the dates, for primary its usually around 1 year before they start P1, they would then be called for an 'interview' around Jan to Feb of that year, then once you're notified of a place ( around 2 weeks later) you will have to send in a $10,000 deposit (at the moment) to secure the place, offset against the first terms fees. There is no pre school, ESF kindys start at 3-5 years.

International schools do have debentures, GSIS was $90,000 per child. Most are refundable, but check because some like The Japanese International never used to be. Most International kindys start at 3, some a bit earlier. Most schools require an interview, some an entrance exam, (although I think thats usually for secondary).

The age at which you choose to start your child at a pre-school/ kindergarten(nursery school if you're English) depends on your own cultural background. Chinese people seem to want to place their children in kindergartens from the age of 2. The age of three is a common starting age in HK (kindergartens will sometimes take them from 2 yrs 9 months in the full kindy program. Personally, I waited until all my children were at least 3.5yrs, ... but then that's my Australian background showing.


Some pre-schools have long waiting lists and differing rules about when a child is offered a place so that if you want a particular kindergarten (I'm using this word interchangeabley with 'pre-school') you may be forced to place your child early because no offers may be made when the child is older.


You can also choose to have your child go to a pre-school separate from the 'big' school he or she will start at when aged about 5. ESF primary schools do not have pre-schools attached, and start at Primary 1 (except that there are a couple of eparate ESF pre-schools). However, many other schools WILL have nursery or pre-school classes as part of the school and this may make those schools harder to get into if you only want to start there at primary 1.


The pre-schools under the umbrella of HK Pre-School and Playgroups Association (HKPPA) are pre-schools that are very much based on learning through play and I thought were terrific pre-schools. The HKPPA aso runs play groups for children up to the age of about three, where you go along with your child and these are a great way to introduce your child to an educational place in a totally fun setting, and for you to meet other parents with children the same age. Check out their web-site.


Finally, the school you ultimately want may depend on the type of curriculum you want so that is worth thinking about. There's an initial choice from a wide range of schools (and fee structures) between UK curriculum or US curriculum, and then a whole lot of other individual choices of schools whose curriculums are those from other countries: the French school, German school, Australian school, Norwegian school, Japanese school etc.


All these schools except the UK curriculum ESF, tend to have a pre-chool or nursery division, and require debentures to be paid and generally it helps to get your child's name on the waiting list fairly early. However, enrolment at an ESF school requires that the child be living in the strictly defined catchment area for each school, and there is a specific date from which applications will be received for starting in a given primary 1 intake year.


Check out all their web-sites first.

Good Luck

Thanks for both of your replies- although my baby is only a couple of months old, I suppose it won't do any harm to start the research on schools now, especially the preschools/ nurseries/ kindergartens!