[discobay]

You'll need to book in advance to meet little KIA - who do you think runs the GeoBaby website?

[sunniefaith]

Originally Posted by discobay

You'll need to book in advance to meet little KIA - who do you think runs the GeoBaby website?

Hahaha...I can just imagine the 5 year old with glasses sitting at his laptop...

[KnowItAll]

No glasses ... but the rest sort of matches.

He leaked launch plans for one of our newer sites to his classmates today.

But .. we're digressing.

[pkrs]

Thanks so much for all your post but no one has actually said if australian int school has a good reputation or a bad one?
Is there a nice suburb near the school that has lots of parkland and is quiet and leafy?

[discobay]

AIS's reputation is not bad but I will leave it someone else to give a first hand experience reply.
Kowloon Tong is nearby and is a well-to-do area with very nice properties with prices to match. There is a park down the road which may suit your needs too.

[hottie]

It has quite a good reputation. The facilities are excellent, teachers good, good parent involvement and close to the train station.

It teaches lots of Chinese in the Primary section which a lot of the other Int'l ones do not do.

It has several meal styles. One is delivery from a Chinese restaurant, another is an Aussie style tuck-shop with meat-pies etc.

You need to pay a whopping debenture (bond) for every child you send.

There has been some politics behind the scenes. I have only been half listening, but from what I remember the head who opened the school was good, s/he left and the next performed badly and resigned (under pressure?) and then next is proving to be okay so far.

Heaps of kids commute from Saikung, Clearwater Bay and HK Gold Coast - all places you might like to consider. The school buses have bus mothers as well as drivers who look after the kids and basically do a home to classroom service.

[Tung Chung mum]

Hi, My kids go to AISHK (Australian International School HongKong) in primary. They settled in very quickly, as most newcomers I hear of, do. They love it. There are school buses and they kids love them. We do not have a bus come to our area so we drive the children to school and back home again. Parking is not very good around the school, but you learn where and when to go. You can also park at Festival Walk shopping Centre and it is a few minutes walk to the school.
We send a packed lunch to school, as we did in Australia, with the occassional treat of ordering a hot meal at the cafeteria or a snack from the Tuckshop.

Extra Curricula activities are quite good but lacking a little in the sport department. It is good to be able to do activities at the school without running all over HongKong!

Excursions/fieldtrips and 'camps' are great.

My oldest daughter says it is great to have a little bit of Australia (home) for her school.

Holidays and curriculum follow NSW except the school has a month off in the middle of summer (July).

Teachers and the school community are wonderful.

Hope this helps. Just ask if you need anything else.
Good luck.

[pkrs]

How does the bond/ depenture work? Do they invest that money and proceeds go back into school? How mush is it usually?
What suburbs are in hong kong gold coast?

[sunniefaith]

Think Gold Coast is in Tuen Mun

[hottie]

I think with the debentures, they put the money in the bank and earn interest of it and return the original amount back when you leave. Another money spinner.

I have heard of depreciating debentures too where you lose 10% a year off the capital as well. There are all different levels of Debentures and if you buy the highest your child is guaranteed a place. Sometimes the school tries to insist that you buy a company debenture (ie your work pays it) because they are more expensive.
Prices should be available from the school. I think HK$60K for the cheapest and $1M for the Gold one.

http://www.goldcoasthotel.com.hk/home.html