School waiting lists - how long?

[Satay Sue]

We are British and have just found out that we are possibly relocating in a couple of months from Singapore to Hong Kong with a five yo (turns 6 in March '11). The main concern for us is the schools. I've heard that there are waiting lists for English-speaking schools - how long are these lists and what are the alternatives? He's currently in an International IB school here.

[bdw]

5 years old. Ouch. That is the hardest.

Yes it is very difficult and stressful. You need to find a school first before anything else such as apartment.

There is a Singapore school here. Im not sure if they will give you any priority.

There are many ESF schools which are english schools subsidized by the government (so a little cheaper than the private schools). But the applications for year 1 September this year closed last year sometime.

[Satay Sue]

Many thanks for the prompt response! We are actually British so have no interest in a Singapore school! I'll add that detail to my original post. I was aware that the applications have "closed" but surely in that environment people come and go...It actually is a factor in deciding whether we make the move or not, we do have a few months leeway.

[shri]

Most of the time you'd be able to get into an ESF school which caters to brits (and other nationalities too). IB curriculum.

Take a look at the geobaby.com and geokids.HK (note the HK) forums for more info on the current situation.

[carang]

shri, that is NOT always the case... i've had a friend on the waiting list for ESF for over 18 months! she FINALLY got a call last week.

[Satay Sue]

Carang, how old is your friend's child?

[carang]

she was trying for a p1 place... now a P2 place...like i said, hopefully she'll be able to start in september in P2...the girl will be 6 in december.

[Freetrader]

Satay Sue - I just want to say "good luck" and (cue backwoods accent) "I feel your pain". We are American and moved from Australia two years ago.

Because we moved from Australia, and not straight from the US, we were unable to get priority at an American school such as HKIS. We also foolishly submitted applications at several schools and paid the application fees -- which are not refundable. Please confirm your kid's place on the waiting list before paying anything.

We were eventually able to get places at an ESF school and our kids (aged 5 and 8 at the time) - are doing fine now.

For practical advice, please go to your, or your spouse's, employer ASAP and let them know that the move is conditional on your finding a place for the kid in school. Most employers aren't monsters and will either i.) do something to help, or ii.) allow you an extra subsidy to work out a temporarily solution. Make HR and your boss aware of the situation and a corporate debenture may miraculously appear.

Good luck!

[shri]

>> i've had a friend on the waiting list for ESF for over 18 months!

You mean they could not find a single place in the entire ESF system for this kid? Very strange, considering that they actually take lower priority kids (chinese speaking) fairly regularly.

[carang]

they live in db now, but before they relocated back to hk, they called EVERYONE...(afaik, anyway)...they ended up on the waiting list for bradbury with the younger one on the waiting list for the kindie in tsing yi.

before the younger one got a place in tsing yi, the older one was #55 of the waiting list...when the younger one got a place in tsing yi, the older one moved up to #5. she missed all of P1! enrolled in a db kindie and did K3 (P1 equivalent) and in september will start P2.

even clearwater bay school is WAYYYYY over-subscribed! was talking to a teacher there who said that there were something like 80 people on a waiting list for P1!