ESF is fine (no issue w competition at all). Take a look at PIPS as well (park view and Elements/ICC)
There is a debenture (pre nursery is 5K, Kindie is 50K but they refund it at the end).
Hard to get in, yes and no. if you do not get in at first, they have some supplemental programs (called stepping stone or things like that where your kid can go for 3 hours every day and once a place opens up at Nursery level they move you in).
PIPs is a bit far if you're living in mid-levels. There are plenty of options in the Central/Mid-Levels area
ESF schools are all across Hong Kong and they have kindys, primary and secondary schools. I brought up ESF because you need to start thinking about primary schools as well. The deadline to apply for a ESF primary school (and some other schools) 2018 intake is this September 2017.
Also think long(er) term. What curriculum would you like for your child, IB or not for example. Do you want a strong Chinese programme, then ESF won't be for you, there are only a handful of true 'dual language' schools in Hong Kong. And last but not least, what is your budget, annual school fees here in HK can easily increase anywhere from 5-10% per year also something to take into account, not to mention the very costly debentures at many schools.
Also consider Victoria. Strong Chinese programme but quite academic and difficult to get into.:
https://www.victoria.edu.hk/eng/Prog...lumStreams.php
Oh yup, just read child speaks no Chinese yet. Forget Victoria then. You could try Right Mind Kindergarten, they feed into some of the more competitive schools such as ISF.
http://www.rmkg.org/?lang=en
Last edited by Mrs. Jones; 18-05-2017 at 11:36 AM. Reason: add link