Originally Posted by kimwy66:
Depends largely on what you child's school is like in the UK, what your budget is and how much of a risk-taker you are.
My experience was that we were at a small school in the UK, with an outstanding OFSTED report, great teachers and I really felt she was making good progress. We came here when she had finished Year 1 in the UK, and she entered Year 2 at an ESF primary that we got into using the now defunct Corporate Surety Scheme (now replaced with a HKD 500,000 debenture).
ESF is International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. Sounded good on paper, but the delivery in ESF schools is hit and miss. I find the IB programme isn't quite what I had hoped it to be, but there are pros and cons for the UK system as well. On balance though my preference would be for a UK curriculum.
ESF is as difficult to get into as any English medium school in Hong Kong, for a seven year old, you might strike it lucky as just under half of the ESF students are from expat families, and these tend to have a quite high moving rate.
I believe there are some fully private schools such as Delia or AIS that you may find it easier to get into, but then you have to consider the reasons for this relative ease in such an over-heated education market.
Kellet has just moved to Kowloon side into newly built premises, and I think expanded their numbers. Hong Kong Academy are building a huge school in Sai Kung, and a Harrow franchise school recently opened. All hugely expensive options, but depends how deep your pockets are I guess.
There are some here advocate a local school, but as someone else has mentioned they can be just as hard to get into. Also, you can read any number of comments about the products of the local education system on this forum, it may not be something you would want coming from the UK system where thinking is encouraged
It all comes down to you and your family, what personality and abilities your daughter has. All I would say is do your research on the education system before you commit to coming. Like all things in life, it isn't going to perfect, and you have to balance the quality of education you can access here with the other benefits your family will gain.
My personal experience is that in hindsight the relocation has resulted in a lifestyle for our daughter that is lesser on many fronts than the life she had in the UK. It is offset to some extent by the opportunities she has thanks to the money we are able to earn here. Although I am not sure the balance is in the money's favour yet. We have made the decision that when she has completed her primary education here she will return to the UK and go to boarding school, not just for education reasons, although this forms a large part of that decision.