Hong Kong kindy to prep in Australia

Hi,

We were in HK and intend to return to HK in about 18 months. We just moved to Australia temporarily. I would like my daughter (who is 3 1/2) and was attending K1 in Hong Kong until recently to start Prep in Australia in 2011. The rule here is they can't start Prep unless they are born before June 30th (in this case in 2006, she was born later in the year). She is ready academically to start, can write her own name, recognise letters, numbers etc.


Can anyone tell me if they have moved their child from Prep in Australia to Hong Kong? What year did they enter in HK? I guess what I am trying to gauge is what is the equivalent level in Hong Kong.


What I am concerned about is when we return to HK if she doesn't enter Prep until the start of 2012 she will be so far behind her peers in HK, as she would be due to start Year 1 next year in Sept.


Thanks for reading and hope you can help me understand the two systems.

cheers

Thanks Cara,

She would be attending ESF and starting P1 Sept 2011. My concern is she will be behind the kids in her year one/year 2 class in HK if she doesn't start prep until the year we return to HK (sometime late next year or early 2012). Her kindergarten in HK where she was doing K1 was so great and she was learning phonics etc with loads of play thrown in. But here in Australia kindy really is just about playing - which is great but I don't want her to be struggling to keep up in HK. My son was in P2 in ESF and was doing ICT, language etc. Here language doesn't start until Year 3 and there is no ICT. He is benefiting from the slower pace but my daughter loves learning and loves school. I am not stressed about it but would benefit from hearing others experience of the levels etc.

cheers

Hi Boobear,


If your daughter is only 3 1/2 now, I think she maybe too young for prep in Australia in January 2011. Most kids there who enter prep are 5+ years old with exceptions of course. Australia is laid back and there really isn't such a thing as K1 and K2. Most of these are done in child care centres of some kind where 'training' is very informal or follow the 'learn through play' philosophy and we're talking 90% play and 10% of any formal training if at all.


One of the factors the interviewers assess before they let your daughter into Kindy is her emotional maturity and school readiness, putting academic ability aside. I've been to a few interviews in both Australia and in HK to believe this is the same process in both countries especially for ESF in HK. Of course this is a generalisation and there are exceptions to the rule.


My daughter was 5 yrs and 3 mos when we came to HK from Sydney. She got in at an ESF school for Y1 (which is the kindergarten equivalent) because she was already 5 years old and was assessed as 'ready for school'. If we were back in Sydney, she would have been 5 1/2 and ready to start kindy the following January. She also went to interviews in Sydney and was ready to start but my husband got his role in HK and we moved.


She did struggle a bit when we first got to HK mainly because she had to catch up over 2 months' worth of school work when she entered ESF. At her school, they went through phonics again, sight words, adds 1 - 9 and so on. So I would not worry that your daughter would be 'behind'. That all gets normalised when they enter Y1 in ESF.


As far as I know this is equivalent levels:

HK - K1 and K2 = nothing really in Australia, you might want to look at day care / preschool centres for this.

HK - K3 = Y1 ESF = Kindergarten in Australia

HK - P1 = Y2 ESF = Y1 in Australia

and so on ...


Our main challenge if we go back to Sydney is my daughter repeating part of the year because of the difference in the academic years between the two countries.


Anyway, hope that helps.