Batgung

Here are several recent comments, that originally appeared on the "Schools in Hong Kong" thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with the relatively new ISF school in Cyberport? On paper it looks like the ideal combination of offering Chinese and English in a small class environment. But I'd like to know the pros and cons from someone who is in the inside.

Ex-HKer wrote:

If it is a fairly new school, I doubt anyone has had enough time to learn on the inside either as a parent or student. And one might have to hear from sufficient number of responses to arrive at an accurate assessment. Still, this may not be enough.
How about a chat with the principal and a tour?
My mother and I visited and enrolled me at the "Sam Yuk" elementary school just north of Nathan Road and east of Boundary Street. It was a brand new school about 60 years ago, and my time there turned out to be one of the most happiest and memorable - small class size, caring teachers and friendly environment/ground.

Gweipo wrote:

My husband and I visited the ISF Academy this morning.  It has thrown me into a dilema since on the one hand I'm very happy with my kids education at the moment in so far that they're very happy at school and seem to be learning well, on the other, I am aware that they're not getting as much / enough putonghua to be bilingual.

We were pretty impressed by what we saw. 

My impressions (from the outside, looking in) of ISF based on todays visit was (randomly, not divided into pros and cons):

 * lovely purpose built campus with airy classrooms and lots of space

* Lots of concrete No grass or trees

*  Fabulous library - spacious and very well stocked with English and chinese books - author's visit in progress when we visited (separate senior school library)

* Very friendly and polite children and staff

* A sea of Chinese (asian) faces with one or two non-asian faces bobbing up in the lower year groups.  Similar to the teacher body. (apparently the ratio has to be 70% local to 30% expat.  Local also means HK permanent residents)

* Bursaries available (29 which is a large number) for financially needy families

* Wonderful art, music, dance facilities

* Smallish playground with one climbing structure

* Desk work.  At my kids current school the lower classes spend a lot of time sprawled on the floor, here a lot seems to happen at tables / desks.

* Copious amounts of work in work books, forms and worksheets filled out.

* An impressive, very very impressive level of putonghua (70% of class time in lower primary), and very impressive worksheets / books of character writing.

* Playground talk has to be English or Putonghua 

* An impressive amount of maths tuition (in both languages)

*  One teacher in the class room at a time (current school has 2 at all times)

* Quite a long school day (8am to 3.30 pm. for 5 days a week.  Currently my kids have a 1/2 day on a Wednesday)

* School canteen - catered by Sodexho

* Assembly every morning

 * small class sizes - I think maximum is 18, lower classes have 15 per class.

* School fees on par with other international schools

* appear to have spaces in most classes subject to children passing an admissions exam 

* I have heard of one family leaving the school due to concerns on english level of their child

* admissions officer candid about the fact that it would be a tough 2-3 initial months and that "there had been tears" from other children when first coming into the school (I prefer honesty in this - we've been through this at spanish local school so know that tears are not forever).  

* not only chinese language but culture and value systems emphasized. 

When we left we requested the admissions officer to let us contact other foreign families with children at the school where neither parent was chinese speaking.  Within an hour I had a contact person, who replied to my email question immediately.  The feed back was very good.  We'll meet later this weekend to discuss in detail, so watch this space.

We'll look forward to hearing more from Gweipo, and if you're a parent with children at ISF, we'd love to hear your comments too.

The lady I spoke to showed me all the homework her daughter had. There was a weekly sheet of what had to be covered in that week with reference to each subject. The items were both in English and in Chinese.
Once one got to the relevant book however, if the book was Chinese math, the questions were all in Chinese (characters). This mother has a tutor 3x a week to assist her daughter and herself. The first session of the week she asks him to help translate the questions for the week.
The mother had done 1 year of the HKU intensive mandarin course herself prior to enrolling her child. She also has her teacher translate into pinyin / English all she needs to know (like addition, subtract, equals, times, divide, count etc. etc.).
Without a doubt it is a substantial amount of work and commitment from both the parents and child. The homework also takes a bit longer than it would someone who reads characters fluently and easily.
The homework situation is very well structured, with expectations known well in advance. So they try and plan the week to ensure everything gets covered on time. And apparently the school is supportive in helping hapless parents as long as they show the willingness to help themselves as well.

The ISF Academy is a private school and not a international school. Students can learn chinese in an easy way. If the parents can't understand chinese, it's not easy for the kids to study in this school when they are in higher grades. If parents support and agree the school's philosphy and its immersion program, it must be the right school for your child.

We don't always have to do the homework at home now. We have Chinese and English Support, so we can do our homework there.  We are also aloud to do our homework during class or ask questions about the homework. 

The teachers will help us if we ask for help, we do the homework in school whith them when they have time.  They tell us when to go and where.

Shanghai Mama, thanks for your post, and best wishes in making your move to Hong Kong.

MrB and I don't have first-hand knowledge of ISF, but one of the previous commenters on this thread, Gweipo, certainly does. If you haven't done so already, I strongly suggest you go over to her blog and check out her many posts discussing the pluses and minuses of that school.

I would not send my kids to ISF. they lack resources and is not considered a 'quality' school, although they say they are.

Their 'open day' does not reflect the real quality of the school. I heard the teachers work very hard just to put on a 'show'. To make it look grand but in reality, what you see at the open day is not a daily accurance at ISF. They are losing kids and need more to get numbers up, so I heard!

can you tell me how to log onto gweipo's blog site, it seems to be by invitation only, really need info on school asap, am considering for my child

Gweipo writes: "... it's temporarily suspended following a rethink on the format and content, and I'll update you as soon as I decide what to do."