ESF Hillside Kindergarten vs Island Children's Montessori - 2022

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  1. #1

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    ESF Hillside Kindergarten vs Island Children's Montessori - 2022

    Grateful for any recent advice on the relative merits as all the info i can find is 10 years old and as we know HK has changed a lot.

    My son (2.5) is in ICMS and enjoys it. He has been accepted for Hillside.

    ICMS
    Pros: familiar, 10 minutes walk away, has putonghua element
    Cons: no primary school guarantee, facilities are not as good

    Hillside:
    Pros: guaranteed primary entry, good facilities
    Cons: bus ride, unfamiliar, no chinese

    The guaranteed primary is obviously the main draw. The fees are comparable, and he will speak fluent putonghua from his mother anyway

    Has anyone made a similar choice recently? Obviously anecdotal evidence suggests the demand for ESF primary will be going down with expat exodus, so not sure if so vital. Then again, that could change by the time he is going to primary in 2 years


  2. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by calcio1:
    Has anyone made a similar choice recently? Obviously anecdotal evidence suggests the demand for ESF primary will be going down with expat exodus, so not sure if so vital. Then again, that could change by the time he is going to primary in 2 years
    Don't know about the schools to comment on them but we've seen this happen after the SARs exodus. The local families get their admissions and then their next in line kid has priority - the schools fill up as there is a demand for them.

    This leaves new expat families lower in the priority as sibling priority is top tier as far as I can recall.

  3. #3

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    It's all about bums on seats. Expats maybe leaving but they'll find others to fill them. Would take the ESF offer now and enroll your child in mandarin activities after school.