Wait Lists for Schools

hello. we are planning to move to HK this summer. because of the crazy school situation, we will likely home-school our kids.


if we get on a wait list for some of the schools (HKIS, CIS, some ESF's), will they roll the wait list year to year so that if a spot open up three years down the road, we will be able to take it?


do mothers/nannies take their young preschoolers and elementary school children to HK island for 2+ hr round trips daily? my reluctance to accompany the kids on the ferry is another reason we are thinking we might be forced to home school.


last, an american expat there informed me that the schools are phasing out the debentures and she was highly confident that there will be many open spots at all the intl school (even CIS) b/c of layoffs in the financial industry. does anyone have any thoughts on this? it's contrary to everything i've read about enrolling children at english-based schools in HK.


thank you.

Hi, I feel your pain, the English- Medium International school situation in HK is utterly crazy to put it mildly. There are a few new International Primary schools which have started up over the last few months which you may well not have heard of Island Christian Academy in Mid-Levels on HK Island, Anfield International and Think International school to name 3. As well as these primary schools an number of Kindergartens also offer a Y1/Y2 class which is where a lot of kids wait until they get offered a place in school. There are also a number of Government schools which are designated for English Speaking Children although I am not sure what they are. A better forum than this one to get information from is on Facebook where there is a HK Schools group. There is also a website called geoschools (just google it) and another one called topschoolshk run by a lady called Ruth Benny who has a lot of information on this exact topic. As for lots of open spots I highly doubt it. Demand for those places is at an all time high and is caused by many factors, one of which being that there are many expats coming to HK and where they would normally leave after a few years are staying as their home economies are so dire and also a rise in demand from local families for International education. There are not enough expat lay-offs to open up any significant amount of places IMHO! I have also never heard anywhere that schools are phasing out debentures in fact a number of schools ESF and VSA (Victoria Shanghai Academy), to name but 2 have actually just phased them IN!!!!!! Good luck, it is a very stressful experience but do check out those other sites they will definately give you more information.

thank you so much! i will check these other sites out. i am beginning to think we might be forced to homeschool the first year but i hope things will turn out ok.