HK Schooling Questions.

[Beechjet Pilot]

I did my final Sept 25th and was told to expect a start date as SO around June 06.

I will be moving with my wife and kids to HK.
I have a 3 year old who will be going to Kindergarten ones we get there. Were planning to live in DB.

Anyone in that situation? Living in DB area with kids in kindergarten? Which one are they going to? How long to get them in since they can't be put on a waiting list til you actually live in HK? What should I be planning and thinking of?

Thanks for the help.

Beechjet Pilot

[Truckmasters]

I believe you can't apply for ESF until you have an address. However you definetely can apply for any of the international schools before you get here. If you child is 3 now they will probably be close to the requirenents for starting with the 4 year old program at DBIS (school year is Sep to Jul) when you arrive.

[betaboy]

The ESF Bauhinia school in Tsing Yi has plans to move to DB in 2007. It is an excellent school (at least in my wife's opinion), and, like all ESF schools, does not require a debenture (I believe the DBIS debenture is in the order of 100,000 HKD - ouch!), and Cx will pay a higher level of school fees (95%).

To register, you have to provide a local address in September, and be here for interviews in January, for the next September admission.

http://www.dbis.edu.hk/index.php

http://www.bauhinia.edu.hk/

[CallButton]

ESF schools aren't much help for the 1st year as your child will be in kindy, as you said.

There are 3 kindys that your child could attend in DB, none are ESF including DBIS, which has a kindy/pre-school. The standard debenture is $30k HK if there is a spot for your child. After 3 years you get zero dollars back for it. (NOT much of a debenture...)

Another option at DBIS is to pay a capital levy each year of $10k, again if a spot is available. (Doesn't make much sense if you planning to have your child attend for more than 3 years).

The other option is the premium debenture, for $150k. You are guaranteed a spot with this one and it is on-saleable. The only problem would be finding someone to sell it to. There doesn't seem to be a limited supply and if the new school opens and relieves the pressure on enrolments in DB...

It is true that they are planning to open a new school in DB from years 1 - 13 and that it is ESF. The only problem is that there are no start dates for construction and nothing has been finalised. It is to be called an ESF International school which means that there could be debentures and the fees will be higher than a normal ESF school.

Clear as mud?