My family will be moving to HK from the US this summer for my husband's job. Our number one concern is to find a good school for our nine year old daughter. After some initial research, we put in an application for year 5/year 6 (2012) at Kennedy. Just received a notice from school yesterday asking us to bring her over for an interview this Friday. That means we have to fly back to HK asap.
On one hand, we are happy that a space has opened up, but it happened so fast that I am not sure we're ready to commit.
For one, we have to make a special trip, quick, to make the interview. Also, if she is accepted, we have to pay for the tuition from March to June to hold the space even though our daughter won't join the school till after summer. (I wanted her to finish her current school year before moving, also need time to prepare for the move, even though my husband has already started his job.)
I am also a little bit uncertain since we haven't toured the kennedy yet, nor did we get the chance to fully explore other international school options.
Would like some advice here:
1) Are ESF schools general good? We do want a school with high expectation on academic though not too much of drilling like many local HK schools. Lots of extra-curriculum activities would be desirable. How would you compare them to other international schools (i.e. Canadian international, French international, etc.)?
2) Specifically, any comments re Kennedy? We also have an option to do a corporate surety that allow us to pick another ESF school. And we are open to live anywhere to be close to the school. Is any ESF better than other?
I kind of want to know if we should grap the space fast even though we haven't got the chance to explore other options, and to pay the extra amount of money (like $40000 including the airfares) in order to hold the space till next school year.
3) Also, my daughter is a shy girl. Is the interview tough? Any advice on how to prepare her?
Any tips and advices would be highly appreciated. Thank you again!