Renaissance college v/s esf

Hi dear parents,


I am confused whether to put my child in an ESF school or Renaissance college at Ma On Shan.

If anyone of you have any kind of advise or opinion about either of the schools pls post and I will be very thankful. It will help me take decision for my year 1 child.

Thanks to all.

It depends on what you want for your child,Renaissance is more Chinese,I know a few people who sent their children to Hong Lok Yuen school, sent them to Renaissance College and then back to HLY.HLY school is opening a secondary school soon so maybe you should look there.It does a toddler group twice a week,its in Hong Lok Yuen,Tai Po,NT

Hi bb79,

I am in exactly the same situation as you are currently as I am struggling to let my son to go to Shatin Junior School or Renaissance College. Perhaps we should exchange our findings over the phone.

Cheers.

Miclint

Renaissance College is a PIS School which belongs to ESF Educational Services. ESF Educational Services was set up to generate an income for ESF Schools as I understand it. In order to obtain a place at an ESF School the child must be fluent in English this is not a pre requisite of a PIS School. Teachers are also paid differently to ESF Schools.


ESF schools curriculum consists of PYP (Primary Years Programme) at primary level and then at secondary level they continue with GCSE's and at post 16 they do the IB. There is no intention to replace the GCSE's with the IB programme in ESF schools in the near future as I understand it as GCSE's are considered to be a better option than IB at Middle Years. Renaissance is an all through school and they do the IB from primary all the way through to Middle Years to post 16. It really is an individual choice, so as others have suggested take a look at both schools. I always think it a good idea to go during play times to see what language is the most widely spoken amongst the children. It was important for the playground language at the school I choose to be English which is generally what you will find in most ESF Schools.

hi,

i am in the same situation deciding which could be a better option shatin or renaissance for my son who got thru both schools.Extremely confused although rchk proximity to my house is a great advantage.

however i have had mixed reviews of both schools. although many say shatin is got a proven track record academically, many parents from SJ have shown concern over the discipline issues in SJ. I have heard from parents that children SWEAR in primary classes and language/attitude is a matter of concern. SJ also has a huge percentage of local children which seems similar in RCHK.

I have not heard of parents being unhappy with RCHK, although they have been voicing concern over the general free learning system of the IB/ESF schools in PYP. Parents dont seem to know whats happening too much either in SJ or in RCHK.


I am confused thoroughly. So will appreciate anyone who could give in some clarity to this fuzzy picture based on their experiences.


thanks

raj

If you pass the stage of ensuring a pure English environment for your kids, then you may like to choose a school with a wider range of options in Chinese learning so as to give your children more competitive edges in the future. Renaissance is such a school without any compromise in English. My child is a native English speaker and has been to a good IS (not ESF) here for 3 years. The result is that she is unable to learn a signle Cantonese words, which is already a piece of joke to me. I then transferred her to Renaissance College a few months ago, for the simple reason that RC has accredited IB programs from primary to senior high school and an excellent Chinese program, plus the fact the teachers in RC are as profesional and well qualified as those in other good IS. I'm now satisfied with her progress, although its slow in some people's eyes.

I mean I'm satisfied with my daughter's progress in Chinese learning at RC, although it's slow at this stage. As to English and other development, she is doing fine as she did in her previous IS.