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Moving to hong kong in June -help with renting in discovery bay

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  1. #41

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    Now now, not necessary Mat...

    HowardCoombs and ClueMinus like this.

  2. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    A small bit of advice to follow on from your comments that I've quoted. I mean this with sincerity and with no disrespect:
    You are moving to a new country with a very different set of laws, practices, value system, history & language. It would be in your interest not to expect things to be the same as "back home" nor make assumptions based on your country or pure logic for that matter.

    Get ready to be shocked again and again on many fronts with schools being just one part of it.

    Read, ask, learn, experience, embrace and enjoy; you'll love some aspects and hate some but I guarantee it will be different.
    Shri, could we have a 'Like' function for mobile browsers please?

  3. #43

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    Quote Originally Posted by Satay Sue:
    Now now, not necessary Mat...
    :-) why not :-)

  4. #44

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    This is an online forum. As such it has debates and personality clashes of existing people. It's also hard to tell if people are joking online and for some, it's easy to be rude because it's a face-less medium. I think you got good information for your request - better than many threads - but at the end of the day don't confuse the personalities on here with the expats you will meet in real life in HK. While some are the same; most are much nicer. The social life I have here is unique - never come across such an active expat (or other) community anywhere I have lived. You just have to meet people in real life to find it.

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  5. #45

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    Original Post Deleted
    I dont doubt what you are saying but I need to repeat what I said a few months back.
    I also know a number of families that waited and left - in every case I found that the family were specific and inflexible with their wishes.

    There is no shortage of school spaces in Hong Kong. If one is flexible, there are spots of all kinds. In this specific instance, with the kid being 9years old its actually easier to find a spot than if the kid was 6. Alas, DBIS will be very hard no matter what the age as the demand for that specific school is very high.

  6. #46

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    We arrived in HK last year and couldn't get our 2 boys into school for 5 months...nightmare believe me! I did get in touch with the education board and left a very long email letting them know that i was not happy with the situation and what could they do to help. The secretary of education in HK phoned me and told me that I would be breaking the law if i did not send the boys to school. Also informing me it was illegal to home school my boys and we could face a hefty fine.
    Anyway, long story short...a lot of calls/emails back and fore, many heated conversations and the education board would still not let me home school, so we enrolled them in a local school until a place became available at an international school.
    Lucky for us both our boys were accepted last September into a great school on the island, the local school was great for the short period of time they were there though.
    Speaking with a friend yesterday who lives in DB, she informed me there were a number of vacancies within the school over there as a lot of children are leaving there to attend the new school openimg at Tuen Mun, The Harrow School.
    Good luck with it all, things normally work out in the end, I hope you don't have too much trouble with finding a school

    Our boys were 5 and 9 when we arrived.
    Also, schools will break up for the summer holidays next month and are usually closed for 8 weeks, I'd make enquiries now and explain your situation to the schools, some will be flexible for you with the applications.
    Plus, a lot of children from DB go to school on HK Island. If you are flexible with where they go to school you may have a little more luck with getting them in somewhere. We live out at Tuen Mun and travel to Kennedy Town everyday, the boys and us are ok with this,
    Good luck

    Last edited by Carmann; 12-05-2012 at 10:10 PM.
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  7. #47

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    Quote Originally Posted by Colzers:
    The places with facilities is not worth it because there are great clubs for like 500hk a month with same facilities.
    IMO if you want clubhouse facilities you should stick to buildings that have them, especially swimming pools. Even a swimming pool 'next door' is no substitute for being able to nip upstairs for a book or whatever.....especially with kids in tow...

    500HKD? 500HKD each? More I'd say.....

  8. #48

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    Let's skip over the semantics of whether it's "legal" or "illegal" to homeschool and figure out what to do.

    The Permanent Secretary for Education is granted the power under Hong Kong’s Education Ordinance Cap 279 s 74 to order attendance at primary school or secondary school. Whatever label you want to use, "illegal" or what not, you the parent will receive an official attendance order if you failed to send your kids to school.

    Now, how come there are still kids homeschooled in HK? Cap 279 s 74A provides for a process to appeal the attendance order.

    Best to hook up with people who were granted exemptions to homeschool and pick their brains, such as The Hong Kong Homeschool Meetup Group as posted before. Once you see that the framework is "you usually can't homeschool in HK but you can appeal to get an exemption", it's moot to get stuck on whether it's "legal" or "illegal".

    Last edited by ClueMinus; 12-05-2012 at 11:30 PM.

  9. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by Satay Sue:
    DeletedUser is not beIng rude here (neither was I nor most of the others).
    I didn't mean to respond with quote to DeletedUser lol I hit wrong key.

  10. #50

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    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    Dont understand what you are considering rude or why even taking this personally. You asked a question and you received very valid answers in return. The options that were given to you are ones that are regularly chosen by those in the same predicament.


    A small bit of advice to follow on from your comments that I've quoted. I mean this with sincerity and with no disrespect:
    You are moving to a new country with a very different set of laws, practices, value system, history & language. It would be in your interest not to expect things to be the same as "back home" nor make assumptions based on your country or pure logic for that matter.
    Get ready to be shocked again and again on many fronts with schools being just one part of it.
    Read, ask, learn, experience, embrace and enjoy; you'll love some aspects and hate some but I guarantee it will be different.
    Regarding what I thought was rude was just some word choice but maybe I just read to in to it. It is hard to hear a tone of voice in typing.

    I am well aware of the culture shock. I am sure not as much as I think though . More things keep coming up. I will embrace it and I am excited. I know a few things I will hate and love already but who know knows maybe I will end up loving what I think I will hate, like smaller living spaces= less cleaning. . All advise is appreciate greatly.

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