I paid application fee of HKD 20,000 back in Jan of 2011 for both my children for kinder section. But anyways the principal that I met said bluntly we do not take kids with problems and your kids have problems and we are a business, so that was the end of the conversation and sorry they are both out but if you want to apply again we welcome (yes for me to pay another HKD 20,000).
I didn't know about special educational needs not apply to all but they surely do not have decency to say we do not take kids that have speech problems and we definitely do not take kids that have ADHD symptoms. I have provided my son's evaluations and reports and he is a year behind his age. They could have said sorry we do not provide the support for those kind of children after holding their applications for 6 months?
My daughter was rolling on the ground when she interviewed with ESF and lack social skills, but then she was 4. But she is getting much better after she started ESF.
Schools everywhere are full not just AIS because of the mainland Chinese. That is why a lot of mainlanders want their children to be born in Hong Kong hospitals to get legal Hong Kong permanent residency. The Hong Kong people are complaining cause not only the International Schools are pack but even the local schools are packed since 2006 with the baby boom.
So the best thing is to open a school and you sure to have students.