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No P1 Admissions: What can we do now?

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  1. #11

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    Applying for only three schools because the application fee is two grand per school was a bit of a strange excuse. If you can afford international school fees then a 2K application fee should be a pretty minor consideration!

    The ballpark that I have heard for parents who want to find a school for their English-speaking kids is apply for anything from five to ten schools.

    If cost is a concern, then you should probably be looking into local schools (there is a whole Facebook group dedicated to native English speakers who want to send their children to local schools, quite often for the advantages of picking up another language). It's called "Cantonese School Parents Group".

    Last edited by jgl; 29-05-2014 at 10:36 AM.
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  2. #12

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    use this time to find friends online who either have kids at the school or work at the school. Networking is important, especially in properly preparing the application. It has to be more than filling out a form.


  3. #13

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    They totally don't know my daughter's application (They got lost in the phone talk). They told me that they didn't admit students this year (Y1 and Y2). so the application fee was not banked in (actually application fee is not refundable). But my friend told me his daughter went to interview in January and got accepted. Everyone will be interviewed. I don't know why school tells a lie. This makes me feel so bad.


  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by pandaman:
    we guess the school didn't review my son's application materials. They made mistakes...
    The mistake here is that you assumed that the international school that you want and is close to where you live will accept your child in the first place, and not to have researched about schooling in HK, as judging from what the other posters here have said, you should have applied for more than the 3 schools and those further away as well.

    Sent from my GT-N7105 using GeoClicks mobile app

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by pandaman:
    They totally don't know my daughter's application (They got lost in the phone talk). They told me that they didn't admit students this year (Y1 and Y2). so the application fee was not banked in (actually application fee is not refundable). But my friend told me his daughter went to interview in January and got accepted. Everyone will be interviewed. I don't know why school tells a lie. This makes me feel so bad.
    When did you hand in your application?

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by pandaman:
    They totally don't know my daughter's application (They got lost in the phone talk). They told me that they didn't admit students this year (Y1 and Y2). so the application fee was not banked in (actually application fee is not refundable). But my friend told me his daughter went to interview in January and got accepted. Everyone will be interviewed. I don't know why school tells a lie. This makes me feel so bad.
    Are you here to just moan about your situation or do something to actually fix it? From my reading, you made some pretty serious mistakes but you're obsessed with blaming the school for this.

    Who is to say that your kid would have gotten into the school anyway? You do realise that many schools are vastly oversubscribed- I was speaking recently to one teacher who indicated that of the 48 places they had for their first-year students, they had over 500 applicants. And this is for a well-regarded, but by no means 'elite', local school.

    There are consultants that specialise in helping new arrivals find school places in Hong Kong (and they are not necessarily just geared to international schools either). There are lots of local schools to look into via the Facebook group that I mentioned. Other posters have suggested specific schools. Go and do something about your situation instead of complaining about being hard done by- you are facing a situation that many other parents have faced here and you're not doing your kid any favours by feeling sorry for yourself.
    Last edited by jgl; 29-05-2014 at 01:29 PM.
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  7. #17

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    Hang on a minute guys. This is a very stressful situation for the O.P. Let's not start with the usual cycle of aggression and these 'likes', please. Enough of that on the other site.

    Contact the Education Bureau for advice

    You should consider the local system. many local schools offer English streams.

    Last edited by Prefab Sprout; 29-05-2014 at 01:53 PM.
    kimwy66 and M Khan like this.

  8. #18

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    Most of the schools have a priority system, which includes students from the kindergarten/reception, siblings of existing students, debenture holders, certain passports or certain positions (i.e. diplomatic staff). It's VERY possible that a school will not have any openings outside of their priority admissions so when they say "we didn't offer any admissions" they mean "no one outside of the priority got in".

    In addition, you are applying for Y1, not reception/kindergarden. There are very few openings for Y1 students who have not come up through the school's reception system. For example, say a school has 60 places for Y1. They had 60 kids in reception, and maybe 8-10 of those moved away this year. That means they only have 10 openings and probably 300 applicants. Of those 300 applicants, 50 have some sort of priority, be it siblings, debenture, etc. You'd be lucky just to get a response email to your application.

    I can tell you from personal experience that a well-known international school, the year we were applying, had -0- new students from outside the reception / priority group for Year 1. None. Not a single one. I know from applying to an ESF school a year or so ago that they had 60 spots. 45 were taken by siblings / children of staff. That left 15 slots for 300 applicants or something. Most kids weren't even interviewed. The situation at many other international schools is the same.

    Frankly, these are the hard numbers you are up against. While it would be nice to go to the school closest to where you live, the reality is that many parents end up moving to be closer to the school where they can find a seat.

    At this point you have two choices:

    1) Complain to the school that "lost" your application. Get the same response. Repeat, until you get tired or they don't answer the phone.

    or

    2) Apply to other schools.

    Good luck.


  9. #19

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    OP, you're best bet is to stop complaining and to het proactive. There are other options, but they don't come to you, you need to pursue them.
    A friend of mine was in a similar situation, his kids didn't pass the interview to get into the YMCA school in Tung Chung (this is where they live), that and the crazy waiting lists for a place in any of the ESF schools (apart from the issue when it comes to his kids' English, they are native Portuguese speakers), caused him plenty of sleepless nights. He got them into the ESL arm of the Delia School of Canada, both kids loved it and thrived there. So much, that when he got a place for them in Tung Chung, they both didn't want to change schools, even though it's a long daily commute. They are now in DSC's main arm, and couldn't be happier.
    Please stop thinking about what could have been, and start looking for other options instead.


  10. #20

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    Oct 2013
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    12

    We moved to HK in December and didn't know it was so hard to get into an international school. We applied three schools recommended by my collegues.

    I handed in application forms with fee to an admission assistant. It's very obvious that my daughter's application was not reviewed and got attention. We have priority to get into this school….

    I don't want to complaint here... We are now applying for more schools or let my daughter repeat K3.