HK - Education - Start Age

I am confused.


Do all Schools here start the same age?


Kindergarten - Age 3

Some schools allow child to start when they turn 3, regardless of what month - but they might not 'pass' to the next year if the teacher does not think they learned enough if they started mid-year.


Many kindergarten's age group seem to be set to match the EMB P1 start age (start in September):


1 yr & 8 m: Pre-Nursery Class

2 yr. & 8 m: Nursery Class (K1)

3 yr. & 8 m: Lower Class (K2)

4 yr. & 8 m: Upper Class (K3)


Primary - Age 6

The cut off date is set by the EMB, the HK Education Authority, so all(?) schools will be the same.


The set age to start the primary school is 5 yrs. 8 months old.


Questions

Do ALL schools, including international ad private, follow that age guideline?


If so, is there any flexibility for a child who turns 5 years, 8 months old on the 3rd of September for example?


If you go to a Kingergarten-Primary Thru-school, are they more flexible?


If the answer is that there is no flexibility, then does the child stay in Kindergarten an entire extra year becasue they miss the cut-off by only a few days?


Which then leads to always being the oldest child in the class and graduating secondary school at 19 years old!!


(I am in the process of asking all the schools we are interested in, but thought it was a good idea to ask here too)

I know ESF are pretty strict about the dates.


Graduating at 19 - yes there are a number of students I know who are in that situation - rather be in that situation than that of my daughter who will be 17 and 3 months when she graduates from school - too young - because she was gifted and smart and was ready to start school at 4 1/2 - we didn't think about the challenges of leaving school when so young.....(she is still gifted and telented and is very mature for her age...but legally she still can't do much without her parents permission...)

I think I did my math wrong, and he will graduate at 20!!


P1 he will start at 6 yrs, 7 months (not 5 yrs 8 months)... so he finishes P1 at 7 years old.

+ 13 years of school

20 years old??


I graduated university at 21!


Dimac - you live in HK, so how did your daughter get to start school early? Was she tested at 4 years old?

Until recently I taught A level English and most of my students were 19 when they took their public exams. A few were 20.


My observations are as follows:

If attending a government school, doing Form 7 at the age of 19 can be really difficult to swallow because the system is set up for the younger students. As you can imagine, 19 year olds don't appreciate having to wear a certain colour of socks, school tie just so, detention for forgetting schoolbooks etc etc.


On the other hand, as dimac4 points out, there are disadvantages of graduating too early. Not only is there legally not a lot a 17 year old can do, but also, unlike dimac4's daughter, many of these teenagers are actually not mature enough to cope with being on their own / away from parents / going to university abroad, or whatever it is you've got planned.


Also, it seems to be getting increasingly difficult for 21 year old university graduates to find decent employment because they're so young.


As for your question: if a child is born in September, he or she is likely to be the oldest in their class. This can be lucky (if the child is rather less mature than their peers, for example, or if they are finding their academic work difficult).


One thing I would say is to beware of falling into the common mistake made by parents of assuming an intellectually bright child is also emotionally mature. Even if your child is mature, they might benefit from being the oldest in the class in many ways.


I wouldn't worry too much about your child graduating from university at 22 or possibly 23. It will be easier to find work and they'll have the emotional maturity to make the most of university life. I would focus more on what skills / experiences you want them to acquire.

Does 'primary at age 6' refer to the Reception class or grade One?

P1 is Primary 1, not reception.

We started our daughter at school in Australia, came to HK when she was just 5 in June - she went to an ESF school where she was put into the 'right' class for her age (even though she had already done 6 months of schooling) found the classes boring becasue they were starting everything that she had already done...we stuck it out until halfway through P3 when we moved to the Australian school. They did an entrance test, and found she was more than capable of doing the work above her year level at ESF so that is where she went and stayed. (These were in the days where there was no waiting list for this school and there was more flexibility)


If she had have stayed in ESF she would have 1 more school year to go (she finds that an abhorrant idea) - at 17 she hangs out with ESF kids who have just finished school,(ie 19- 20 year olds) is in the top 2% for her projected results for the HSC and is looking forward to a gap year overseas. But I would say she is 'special' in her maturity levels. (always has been). So early starting is not for every child.

Thanks Dimac.


I am not really looking for my son to 'start early' just to start 'on time' I feel that with the HK age cut off date he is actually being forced to start late.


Is it really true then that EVERY school in HK, public, private, international etc... ALL have the same cut off of 5 yrs, 8 months old as of 1 September with absolutely no flexibility?

We miss this cut off by less than a week.

This is from the Australian schools website


For entry into Reception in January, students must be 4 by April 30 of their year of entrance.


For entry into Preparatory, students must be 5 by April 30 of their year of entrance.


So not every school has the late date thing of the EMB or ESF.

schools, schools, schools. Advise Please

I have 11 year old boy, gifted in art, music,

acadamics not good, what school would you suggest, i am coming from USA. Also here I have him private tudored to help his needs.