Job Discussion Forums

[guru]

How much does it cost to school kids in hk? Can kids go to local schools and what are they like?

[Freddie_Unbelievable]

Get out your check book guru because it's expensive. So expensive, in fact, that it is probably best to leave them at home with the neighbours.

If your a rich NET be ready to fork over a $1,000 US a month-minimum.

One idea might be to just send them to the park with a book and a Phillipina maid. Probably much cheaper and she can iron, too!

[Roger]

My figures are not recent - somebody should update them, but try I can:
The ENGLISH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION used to cost (in 2000, last year of my sojourn in HK) some $47'000 a year, not counting transport (school bus or private car), food etc.
Other schools are rather more expensive, with one or two exceptions, one being a private school run in Discovery Bay on Lantau Island.
At such rates, you might consider enrolling your kids at a reputable school in the mainland (though there are very few that compare to ESF!0. I hear that private schools in the Guangzhou area charge around 30'000 to 40'000 RMB (but that's for full-board).

[guru]

So what do nets with kids do? i'm not a net yet but would like to become one. my kids are only primary school aged. what about local schools? the fees seem ridiculous.

[once again]

Both posters are right in that schools that cater to english speaking studetns can be very expensive. From what I understand they can range from 35,000 to 75,000 HK per year at primary level. But Freddie is right in that if you get on to the NET scheme and have a reasonable amount of experience and qualify for the housing allowance it is possible that for only one month's salary you would be able to school your kid for a year. Many expats here that are not on expat packages do genuinly struggle with the fees. There is however one school I think, on one of the outlying islands that is a government school but due to demand does take in English speaking kids and hold classes in English. I am not totaly sure of this however, just remember reading something in the newspaper about it.
Someone I know has just enroled his kid at the Delia school of Canada, which is costing around 35,000 a year I think. It is not one of the best schools but one of the better priced ones. If you are really serious about it I suggest you contact NESTA who are an organisation set up to help NETS in HK, and they should be able to give you some good advice.

[Joshua2006]

ESF has gone up and will continue to do so now they are losing their government support.

KIS is 80,000 a year.

If you don't have a parent who speaks Chinese then good luck getting into a local EMI or CMI school.

[sistercream]

Having fun with the necroposting today, Joshua ?

As for foreign kids going to local schools, the EDB has a number of schools specifically for non-Chinese speakers, and a few others which run dual-stream English/ Cantonese. For whatever reason, most of these seem to be in the New Territories/ on islands. I know a number of expat kids attending these.
Then there are the Direct Subsidy Scheme EMI schools: highly competitive entry, but non-racist - I've been surprised to see some of their classes in uniform, somewhere like St Paul's College has a higher proportion of caucasians than some of the "international" schools.

[80daze]

Hi all,

I am married to a Chinese lady and we have a young girl - we are currently teaching her English and Mandarin. We want to live in HK (or Taiwan) possibly next year or the year after - I take it from posts above that it would be best to teach her Cantonese rather than Mandarin.

If we teach her Cantonese could she get into a state school? or would we have to send her to a non -state school?

Thanks for any advice.

[sistercream]

If you end up in Taiwan, then Cantonese won't have been any use - except perhaps, for getting your child accustomed to 9 tones and unvoiced final consonants that also happen in Taiwan Minnanhua.

If your girl is already making a start on characters, then I'd use traditional rather than simplified, as they are what is used in both "outlying areas."

It's probably better to concentrate on Mandarin in any case as Cantonese is diglottal, and the written form is much closer to Mandarin than it is to spoken Canto (despite the increasing use of "slang" characters). There are also some government supported (DSS) schools here which use Mandarin/ English rather than Cantonese as medium of instruction.

[GreatApe]

I agree with sistercream above, but am a bit dumbfounded as to how she maintained the patience to respond to such a generalized post.

Raise kids? ... live in a country? Want to move? Good Luck!

--GA

[TeacherTim]