[abdi]

Have read elsewhere that ESF education is a bit of a 'bargain' in the sense that it is the standard of a private school in UK at a cheaper price. Just curious, do people agree with this ???
Guess I should run one of those 'polls' I've seen on here.

[KnowItAll]

abdi : not sure about the UK prices .. but definitely do think that it is good value for money, specially considering the cost of debentures at the private schools.

The think I like about ESF is that the kids tend to come from middle class backgrounds and few high flyers being dropped of in their Bentleys.

[AnIndi_Chick]

Lol ... I had a chick at my school who drove her own mercedes to school. It was the oddest thing. Chick should have gone to HKIS,

[alexander Bundt]

the ESF announced a fee increase today, for the second year in a row. Primary fees increased by 5.4% to $54,300 and secondary fees increased by 2.9% to $85,000. Both were increased by similar amounts last year.

Anyone considering schools for the first time in Hong Kong should really carefully consider what ESF offers compared to other international schools.

First off, be aware that ESF will charge you for every other thing including: activities (almost none are free at ESF primaries), field trips, class photos, yearbooks, PTA membership, etc. Other international schools include many of these items in the tuition. ESF also like to have monthly theme days that will require you to spend $$ for the appropriate costume. When you add up all the add-ons, you can easily spend another $10,000 beyond the tuition for ESF.

You should also consider that ESF secondary fees are already equal to many of the independent international schools. But ESF fees will rise at a faster rate due to reduced government funding. So you may save a few dollars in primary, but end up paying it all back in secondary if you're still here.

Finally, you should consider what you are getting for your money. ESF primary has 30 students per class versus 25 at many other schools. Reduction of government funding means less money to keep up facilities, hire teaching assistants, or pay teachers a competitive wage. If you want your child to learn Mandarin, consider that ESF primary teaches Mandarin only an hour a week, versus over four hours a week at a school like the Canadian International school.

As an ESF parent, I have to add that I thought it was a bargain four years ago when my kid started school. Now that I know what ESF is really like and what other options are available, I would say its more like 'you get what you pay for.' If you can afford HK$20,000 more, send your kid to a school that's not in a financial crunch.

[KnowItAll]

From ISF's website.

The annual tuition for Grade 1 to Grade 5 students for the 2006/07 school year is HK$95,000, payable in 10 equal installments.

http://www.isf.edu.hk/eng/admissions_ft.html

That + a levy

Kellett

Reception to Primary 6 are HK$92,000 per year, payable in three instalments.

http://www.kellettschool.com/Fees.htm

That + capital contribition and guess what?

The activities charge for each child is payable annually. It covers the cost of general outings and activities.

I don't disagree, that there has been a fair bit of mismanagement at the ESF. I'm not sure if it continues and if they have improved their governance and / or transparency. (Did have drinks with someone involved with them who said "they would never use recruiters and do video conference interviews because it would deprive them of their junkets" -- but that is no different from say my business where corporate VPs would head into town to top up their miles or get new suits made).

Does the 25 or 30 ratio make a difference? Nah.. Lets face it the teachers are going to focus on maximum 5-10 kids and the rest will have to tag along. In any situation I think .. the whole "individual attention" thing is a marketing ploy.

(My freshman classes in Uni had an average of 70-80 kids at the "101" level)

Anyways .. too late for us to be making any major decisions right now, the son's going to ESF -- mostly because we were too busy and lazy to come up with plan b and plan c.

[discobay]

I agree with the apathy but at some point the fee rises are going to become unbearable from a principle point of view. Somewhere along you may need to decide to cut and run.

[appless]

Hi Abdi
from what I know of ESF schools when visiting them I personally don't think that they are on par to 'private schools in the UK' reason why is:
1. the facilities are usually of a high standard and teaching is intense.
2. most private prep schools in the UK focus purley on getting the kids ready to get into good private secondary schools - therefore very results orientated - its fast paced in order to get them ready for the entrance exams for secondary schools. (my understanding of ESF is that the kids automatically get a place at the ESF secondary - is that correct?)
3. you are expected to pay for all the trips, photos etc as well as the after school activities. Parents make a big investment to send kids to private schools in UK and there is an expectation for the schools to deliver results. Good results mean Good reputation. Any schools that doesn't get the results would be unpopular with prospective parents.
4. with ESF primary schools now moving towards the IB -I know Peak School is in transition there will be a big difference and difficult to compare with schools in UK.

My view is that the ESF schools are very close to the top performing local authority schools in the UK rather than private. But I could be wrong. I'm yet to find out.

[babswymak]

I agree with appless... The ESF caters for many middle to upper class families in Hong Kong. Simply local families can not afford to go to such school or excluded because their first language is not English. Please note that a lot of ESF students have private tutorials/teachers to assist them academically. Hence, their examination results are comparable to private schools in U.K. however by far not the best. In fact some well performing comprehensive schools in U.K. do just as well.

My point is financial strength of the parents certainly boost the academic performance of the ESF students. Furthermore, the Asian culture promote strong academic achievement and the ESF should not take all the credit for the performance of their students.

In terms of facilities, private school in U.K. are better and campus far bigger. Do your research before your children attend ESF.