International Nurseries and Kindergartens -- How many and when to apply?

With a 4-month old baby, I know I'm a little crazy to start worrying about his school applicatoin. But having heard quite a few stories about how competitive the international schools are, I would appreciate hearing from experienced parents on the following questions:


1. How many schools do people normally apply for? I've visited the Victoria school at the Belcher's, and they said their acceptance rate last year was below 50% for the pre-nursery class (2-3 years old). I suppose then we should file multiple applications to make sure he has a seat in one school at least.


2. When do people apply for the pre-nursery class? Again, Victoria at the Belcher's starts taking application less than 1 year before the erollment. Is that a fairly general practice? I just don't want to suddenly find out that we have missed the deadline (or applied too late for acceptance priority purposes) for many schools.


3. Finally, what are the other good recommendations for international nursery/kindergarten in the mid-level/porkfulam area?


Thanks in advance for any feedback!

1. For pre-schools, I would say one or two. I don't think the situation is anywhere near as bad as what you have heard.


2. A few months before. But I guess it depends on the school. Earlier is better.


3. Woodland Montessori.

I used to teach in a kindergarten so i'll tell you the application procedures there.


1. Not to put too much stress on your boy, applying for 2-3 should be enough.


2. If you plan on enrolling your son when he is 2 years old, then you need to apply one year ahead of time (this may vary according to the school, so do ask them, but don't be too sure and apply too late). For example, if your son will be turning 2 in sept 2009, then you should ask to apply in sept-nov 2008. Afterwards, the school will contact you for interviews in early Jan.


3. You can look at this website to see which kindie is near you and then find out more about the kindie by talking to the other parents. http://www.hkwithkids.com/kindy.htm

I agree that Woodlands Montessori is a good kindie, but it depends whether this is the type of programme you think suitable for your child.

Thanks very much, axptguy38 and michelley! I felt much relieved after reading your post as well as hearing similar information from other people. Good to know that I'm in no way behind and still have a lot of time to do the research to find out which kindergarten(s) suit us the best.


One follow up question, though, is whether we should start worrying about primiary school application? I heard elsewhere that applying for international primary schools are actually a bigger challenge (as compared to kindergartens) if we plan to stay in HK for more than just a few years, as the waiting list is often hopelessly long and you almost have to put your baby's name down once he's born! Is that true?

"One follow up question, though, is whether we should start worrying about primiary school application? "


The whole "when the baby is born" thing is a bit overhyped I think. Our daughter will start reception in the fall of next year and we just applied a few months ago. No problems.


Note also that even if a school with 120 places has 500 applicants (which sounds really bad), multiple applications inflate the number. Many (most?) children apply for 3-4 schools. So they are on all those lists, inflating the numbers on each one. However they will of course only choose one school. In other words a large number of those in line will never even go to that school.



The schools are different, but in most cases I wouldn't worry about this more than a year and a half or two in advance. Take CDNIS for example. As long as you get your application in before the cut-off date (November sometime IIRC) they test your child regardless of actual order they receive the applications. Selection is then based on performance, not place in the waiting list. FIS International Section is somewhat similar, but they only test the first x in the waiting list. However if your child is in those first x there is nothing to be gained by being #17 as opposed to #70.


Other schools may be different. Do research this. A simple phone call is normally enough. Also you might as well apply a bit early. You'll need to spend that deposit anyway.

Thanks again, axptguy38. I called SIS and their policy is similar to what you described, i.e., as long as you apply by the deadline there is no point of throwing in the form too early. If most schools are like this it'll be much easier for us since we really don't know at this point whether we'll be in HK for that many years. Plus it's always good to have more time to research the whole school system throughly.


I guess some schools do take applications from newborn babies (GSIS, for example?) and do give priority to people that apply earlier, and that's how the "when the baby is born" thing starts to scare people.