james401

I have an opportunity to move to HK with my family.

We have 2 young children 6 & 2. I have heard it is difficult to get places for children in british / european schools - appreciate any advice on this.

As I would be working on HK main island I am not sure whether it would be best to get a place on there or commute. I will have a budget of aprox. $30-35000 per month for housing - will this get me a decent 3 bed place in a good area - on or off the island?

Appreciate any advice anyone can give on good areas locations to live in for a british expat family!

ex reg

School first.
Everything else follows on from there.

penguinsix

Hi,

Exactly as ex reg said. Schools are first, then you find a place to live.

The situation in the International Schools is extremely difficult. How difficult? Well some families move to Singapore, some families leave the kids behind with a spouse, others don't even come to Hong Kong. Yea, that serious.

The 2 year old will be ok. Plenty of time there and many private pre-school options and whatnot. The six year old will be right smack in the middle of lower primary school, which (so it seems) is the most difficult to enter (fwiw, it seems that a number of expats come to HK 'about that time' in their lives or career, i.e. kids around 5 or so, such that places are very hard to find for them).

You need to be on the phone TODAY with the various schools to see what possibilities exist. Kellett is the British school, but I wouldn't limit yourself to just a 'British or European' system and look at others like the Canadian school, Australian, HKIS (American). ESF is the government funded English schools which follow the UK system, but they are dependent on where you live so a bit of a catch-22 until you get here. DSS is Direct Subsidy Scheme schools which has some schools teaching in English. You can go there while you wait for an international school spot. Really the best approach is a 'shot gun'--aim at as many as possible and hope one has something.

June is when many banker / finance contracts expire, so there is movement this month off the waiting lists. Unfortunately most of the schools will be pretty full on the lists but you should still start calling.

Kellett School
HK International School
Canadian School
German Swiss
French International
Hong Kong Academy
Chinese International
Independent Schools Foundation (ISF Academy)
English Schools Foundation (ESF)

and many many others. KCIS, Delia Canadian, American International.

$30k will go much farther off the island than on. If you must live on the island look at areas like Kennedy Town but generally you'd get more for your money on the other side. I would recommend getting a place closer to your school rather than closer to your office. Your kid's commute is probably more important and the after school playmate scene as well is often very localized to where a school is situated.

discobay

Penguin missed Australian International off the list though he mentioned it earlier. Term dates are a little weird with them. Don't get fooled into the smoke and mirrors that is ESF. They have a particular arrogant and stubborn management team and have hiked up fees more than I can remember to the point where you wonder if their government subsidy means anything to us parents.

hong_konger

As already mentioned schooling is currently the biggest issue in HK for newcomers.

Don't worry too much about finding somewhere to live that is close to school. There will be many school bus options available to many parts of HK. HK really is quite a small place and the public transport system is second to none. HK35K will get you a decent 3 storey 2100' village house with garden in the New Territitories or a small apartment on the island, but you will need to shop around.