Tricky question for young family

[penguinsix]

Ambient air quality throughout all of Hong Kong is bad. You can minimize the roadside air quality by living away from certain 'canyons' of buildings, such as Robinson Road and Caine Road, but overall if air quality is a go / no go issue (i.e. kid already has respiratory problems) than it's not a matter of where to live in Hong Kong but whether you should even come to Hong Kong.

There are parts of the Midlevels that don't have the 'canyon' effect, such as May Road, Tregunter Path, Magazine Gap and Stubbs Road. You could even consider some parts of the Peak, such as Barker Road, though that may be outside of your budget.

How committed are you to the school? Is there another option somewhere else (perhaps Repulse Bay). The commute to the airport is going to be quite time consuming from Repulse Bay.

[canaus1]

Thanks everyone.
I think that the school bus only covers Midlevels (ESF School) and so it seems as though we either find somewhere in the area as Penguinsix suggested, move to DB (school access will be tough at this late date), or get a car.
Does anyone know anything about organizing a regular private taxi or a car and driver to do the pick ups and drop offs?

[TheBrit]

How did you get into the ESF school when you are not yet residing in the area - I thought that was one if the criteria?

Mid Levels looks like the best option for you. Plenty of reasonable options for your husband to get out to Tung Chung - MTR, Airport Express or buy a car and zip through the Western Tunnel.

[chingleutsch]

How did you get into the ESF school when you are not yet residing in the area - I thought that was one if the criteria?

Indeed. Unless OP has a good friend or relative who's been prepared to have their address in Midlevels put as OP's home, I don't see how the children could possibly already have been accepted at Glenealy (or is there another ESF school serving that area these days? I'm rather out of touch with island side these years).

[hullexile]

Indeed. Unless OP has a good friend or relative who's been prepared to have their address in Midlevels put as OP's home, I don't see how the children could possibly already have been accepted at Glenealy (or is there another ESF school serving that area these days? I'm rather out of touch with island side these years).

Which is why I asked the question about confirmed places before. Would not be the first expat, myself included, who thought there would be little problem getting a school place.

[kimwy66]

How did you get into the ESF school when you are not yet residing in the area - I thought that was one if the criteria?
.

Answer: Money http://www.esf.edu.hk/INR

[steph. y.]

Park island on ma wan. They have a direct bus to the airport. Has good air quality..pools for the kiddies and pet friendly. There is a ferry to central. As for convenience to the city? It is for me but probably less so for a honger. Still, it is a nice area and we can't have it all.


Sent from my iPhone using GeoClicks

[chingleutsch]

Thanks for the link, Kimwy. It makes a further mockery of the idea of the ESF being for children of "ordinary" English speaking families rather than for "children of privilege."

[Skyhook]

I really dont see how hard it would be for the local public school system to offer a non subsidised English stream to non permanent Resident expats, in areas of HK that are popular with " native English speaking " families. Allow them to be MUCH more competive than ESF. For PR's of course then a govt subsidy would be offered like it is for everybody else.

There is an abandoned pubic ( govt )high school in Sai Kung a 5 minute walk from Marina Cove just sitting there rotting away. I am sure there are many others that could be used for this purpose.

HELLO ! it isn't rocket science, people ! I reckon there is some dodgy collusion going on between govt and all of the schools and yes, it's all about MONEY, nothing more. The public school system in HK, needs a very swift boot up the Khyber pass !

[East_coast]

IMO, i would move close to kids school

For normal families the ESF is forced by the government to have a catchment area system to stop the best kids flocking to the best schools and allowing the ESF to justify discriminatory pricing based on demand (which they almost certainly will once the subvention shackles are removed)

Perhaps it doesn't apply if you pay to jump to the top of the queue but you should check it out

ESF Catchment areas - http://www.esf.edu.hk/sites/esf/file...one_150611.pdf