An Australian parent with two children in our Early Childhood Education Section shared their experience and comments about YCIS.

Q: Where is your family from and what brought you to Hong Kong?

A: Australia

Q: Tell us how you found YCIS?

A: We both searched the web independently and made a comparative list. YCIS was on the top of the list for both of us

Q: What happened when you visited our school for the first time?

A: Our experience was amazing. We were greeted by the admissions team and provided with an introduction to the school. Like many new parents to Hong Kong we were very anxious to secure a place in our first choice school. The staff was very understanding of our situation and worked with us to manage our expectations.

Q: What were the main deciding factors for choosing YCIS for your children?

A: The dual language teaching model and the ability for our children to learn to learn, rather than just memorise things.

Q: What does your son like most about Early Childhood Education (ECE) and what benefits do you think our play-based learning environment offers?

A: Our 4 year old son comes home every day saying that he loves school. When I ask him to describe for me what he loves, it is always different. Sometimes it is the play with other children, other times it is the interaction with the teachers, and sometimes it is the special events on the day. What is great is that he is learning diverse skills from academic to social skills, and having fun at the same time.

Q: What distinguished our Primary school as right for your daughter?

A: The cultural composition of the classroom. We wanted our daughter to really immerse herself in the local Hong Kong culture whilst receiving an international standard education. YCIS provides for this.

Q: What impresses you most about our Primary Programme?

A: Although the medium of teaching is in English, Chinese is an integral part of the curriculum. Also, our daughter is exposed to a broad curriculum that allows her to explore what interests her the most. She has been in musicals, piano recitals, choir, and now is on the student council.

Q: YCIS offers Chinese and English languages. Are your children adapting well to these languages?

A: Very well. Our daughter has been learning Chinese for three and a half years, and was recently highly competitive in the Hong Kong Speech Competition where all the competitors were native Chinese speakers. This is a testament to the quality of Chinese teaching at YCIS.

Q: What are your thoughts regarding home-school cooperation, is it important to your family?

A: It is very important. We don't believe our children's learning starts and finishes at school. We have a responsibility as parents to ensure our children are continuing their learning at home. Instilling a discipline of homework and role modelling values we have as a family are important.

Q: What advice would you give to other parents moving to Hong Kong with their family?

A: We think it would have been really easy to choose an international school based on our home system. But we didn't because we wanted to ensure our children made the most of the opportunity to embrace a different culture whilst learning to an international standard. YCIS has given us the best of both worlds.