New School

We moved Siyuan to a new school at Tam Tam in Repulse Bay. Nestled in the mountains, just above a reservoir, it's a beautiful location. The air is crisp and fresh enough that you can smell the diesel when a car roars by. Big contrast to Wembley near our place, where kids breath in air from the exhaust of a nearby hotel.
We've been debating a new school for months, as we realized that he just wasn't learning or enjoying his time there. The teachers who we liked had left, and the new ones weren't particularly communicative or clearly favored a few kids. Siyuan, like some others, who were independent were pretty much left alone.
After a year there, he still doesn't want to say the names of his teachers. Wasn't picking up much new vocab in school and there are days he dreaded it.

We checked out a few and settled on http://www.woodlandschools.com/Index.php?_function=AboutSchool&_subFunction=Location&browsePub=
because the teachers impressed us with their expertise and love of kids.  It's expensive though!!
But we were faced with the choice of Siyuan stagnating and not conversing and ultimately failing to make the cut for primary school or paying now and ensuring he gets into an english-based primary school later for his interview in January (yes, HKschools interview kids when they're just 4 for primary school.)

We loved the new place so far. And so it seems does Siyuan. He knows the names of his teachers in two weeks, and came back happy with activities such as Kids in Motion and Library Day. He loved learning Putonghua and can now sing a few songs. The other day, he saw a plane fly by and said Fei Ji.

One day when Siyuan was about to enter school, he jumped when he saw a praying mantis. Before you knew it, a teacher was out there letting the mantis crawl all over him, while gathering the kids around him and telling them about the creature. I guess that's what you're paying for, teachers who enjoy teaching and can react on the spot.
This was in contrast to the principal at his old school, who insisted that we do things her way and wasn't keen to change.