School for my 3 yr old

Would love to hear from those who have experience in this, my son is turning 3 and I am starting to look at some schools for him, so far I think KANG CHIAO BILINGUAL SCHOOL is my top choice. Do anyone here send their kids to that school or know of someone that does? Or teach there? Would love to learn more about them besides what I have found online and from a short visit.

Also any other school to consider? I am pretty open to good choices except the Taipei American School.

Thanks in advance.

:slight_smile:

There are so many options. Where do u live, which area are you looking to send your child to, bilingual or English only or Chinese nly, full or half day, Montessori, etc. Be more specific and we can help.

1 Like

it depends largely on which kang chiao. my son goes to the lower one in Bitan (there’s another further up the mountain) and it’s fantastic. lots of day trips, swimming once a week, cookery classes & a real focus on vocational rather than academic lessons. The teachers are also brilliant going above & beyond their duty.

my niece goes to the older school in xindian proper & she enjoys it but it is more academic based. Other that I can’t tell you much.

914~ Area I am pretty open, guess anywhere in the greater Taipei city or county I am okay with since my wife is free all day and can make the trips. We are looking for bilingual.

StuartCa~ I went check out the one in the moutains in Xindian (青山校區), besides the price everything seem real nice. Is that the one you said have a lot of vocational rather academic lessons?

yeah that would be the one

thanks!

Take a look here: forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtop … u#p1277566

Found it. This is the thread I was looking for: forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtop … t#p1203842

Have a look at my recent post about the French Section at TES. It could be a good option depending on your family background.

Thanks everyone! Me and the family went checked out the school in April and thought for Pre school it seem safe enough. We got some mail with an invoice for 65k nt and went a head and paid it to reserve a spot for my 3 year old who will be close to 4 when school starts in Sept. I will update more when he starts school.

Hi tonyp747, I saw your thread as I was researching for info on bilingual schools in Taipei. Like you, I’m also interested in enrolling my kid (4yrs) in Kang Chiao. However the mixed reviews regarding this school made me really nervous… I realize it’s been a few years since this thread started, but if you are still available, would you mind sharing your experience about Kang Chiao?

Many thanks in advance!

Yuteh Private Kindergarten of Art
http://www.happytot.com.tw

Fantastic school.
Focus is on the arts, hands on activities, outdoor play, developing coordination, exercise as well as a bit of English.

The campus is really large, has a fantastic outdoor play area, a tortoise, rabbits, bikes and a lot more.

PreK has a student teacher ratio of 5 students to one teacher. K has 10 to 1.

The teachers are excellent. We have been very happy sending our child there.

Which campus are you interested in?

I have friends who send their kids to the 青山 campus. And based on their glowing recommendations, I’ll be sending my son to the preschool next year.

I work as a teacher in the high school program at Kang Chiao.

I’ve read many mixed reviews on Kang Chiao and I believe all of them, both the positive and negative ones. In my opinion, it’s a great school… but you have to remember that it’s not perfect. Every school has it’s limitations and here’s what I believe are Kang Chiao’s limitations:

  • It has private management, which means that they’re primarily interested in making a profit
  • Management tries too hard to cater to the whims of parents. One parent thinks that the school is too strict and another thinks that it’s too lenient. But they try too hard to please everyone rather than saying “this is who we are.”
  • Management is more concerned with maintaining the lowest common denominator (keeping the school safe, etc) than making the school excellent. In other words, they don’t like to take risks.

But despite these setbacks (remember, other schools will have different setbacks. None is perfect), I believe that Kang Chiao is a good school. They will take good care of your kids. Will your kid grow up to be a genius? Well, that depends more on you than the school you send your kids to. Are they perfect? No. Could they improve? Absolutely. Are they the best? The jury’s still out on that.

Thanks for the quick responses! It’s all much appreciated.

SuiGeneris, Yuteh sounds like a wonderful school. I will have to look it up as I haven’t heard much about it or done any research on this school.

Caspian, I’m interested in the 青山 campus as well. I’m glad to hear a positive review about Kang Chiao as the reviews on internet are mostly negative (not to mention some awful news regarding the school in recent years).

I guess some of the things I wonder about are:

  • are all the teachers certified/qualified in their discipline (more specifically in the elementary and higher grade levels)
  • what is the turnover rates like
  • are the teachers well treated (happy teachers create happy learning experiences)

The main reasons I am considering KC is because I want my son to be enrolled in a bilingual school and it’s the closest one to us. Some of the other schools that I’ve looked into are Lih Jen and Ching Shin, but have not been able to find much info on either schools (at least not on this forum). Thanks again for your feedback. It’s been quite helpful.

Just so you know, there’s currently a parallel thread about Kang Chiao here where I’ve posted more thoughts on the school:

I’ll not trying to say that the negative reviews about the school aren’t true. Rather, when you compare Kang Chiao to other schools, they’re not so bad. In other words, pick your poison.

Yes, teachers are certified and qualified. But note that good teachers are continuously prob promoted to teach higher grade levels and honors courses. So, lower grade levels tend to suffer.

Here’s the turnover rates:
image

I’m a happy teacher. But I know some grumpy teachers. But the happiest teachers I know are ones who came from other schools.

Kang Chiao definitely has its problems. If it were possible for every parent to homeschool their kids, I’d recommend that. But unfortunately, school is a necessary evil. But eventually, our kids will have to learn that it’s a dog eat dog world.

Are you absolutely 100% sure every teacher is certified? I know of many uncertified teachers working in private schools simply because they have an APRC or JFRV. And not all Chinese teachers or “local teachers” have a license either. Those that do are most likely only there until they can land a spot in a public school.

So, if it happens at other schools, it probably happens at Kang Chiao too. I’ve never walked up to another teacher and asked for their credentials.

But when I think about the other teachers in my department, they all know their material. Of course, I don’t see their classes. But they know the bare minimum of what’s required to teach that subject (sadly, that’s all a certification will ensure)

when the laws were changed last year, some english teachers left my kids school. I think it is because they didnt have teacher licence. My guess is most foreign teachers of elementary schools are now certified.

There are regulations to allow non certified local and foreign teachers teach at high schools.

i think lih jen/lih ren has international course. Ching shin has builingual course. There are some more schools with builingual course in taipei and new taipei. In my opinion, they are all similar. They may do open house in maybe march (im not sure, it might be may or april).

Hi Nekojan,

Sorry for the late reply. Time flies… its 2019 and my son is a 2nd grader at Kang Chiaso now.

I have 2 kids a year apart so I spend 4 years at the KC 青山 campus for kindergarten, and it was a wonderful experience, all the staff are nice, from the principle, office staffs, teachers, teacher assistants, nurses to the cleaning lady. Lots of interaction with parents being part of the class, I grew up in the states, so this was actually my first time experiencing how a Taiwan school of any sort works, if you are not expecting an American style school I think this is a good choice compare to the other schools you mentioned. I highly recommend you enrolling your child here. Now … I’m sure you want to hear some of the negative things I ran into, like the other poster said, nothing is perfect, PRO and CON’s to everything. Here are a few things I didnt really like. If you dont plan to send your kid to school via school bus, be ready for long wait in lines, Kindergarten gets bad, elementary is a nightmare lol… I never asked any english teachers about their education but Im pretty sure some dont have what is require to teach in the grade school level, but all seem caring and good at what they do, however not all are from US, some are from England, France, etc… so a simple LadyBug is taught as a LadyBird in different classes, different accent, to most Taiwan parents they didnt really seem to care, but it sort of bothered me lol… but its wasn’t a right or wrong thing, KC is a Taiwanese private school, not an American school, aside from those 2 things I mention, I cant really even come close to poking anything bad about the school, it was a very fun 4 years for both my kids. If you have something you want to ask more direct I am more than happy to answer them. Be prepare for lots of class outing with other parents, enjoy Kindergarten so much fun and so much growing for your child. ( its gets really bad at the elementary level with homework and test etc… )

@MRx747 I apologize for the delayed reply, but thank you for valuable feedback. We will be going to the open house later this month. Looking forward to it, hopefully we won’t be disappointed. If we do sign up for KC, I will come back to share our experiences here.