Hong Kong

[hongkonger1]

Hi mumsnetters!

Any fellow mums living in the uk now that used to live in hk? Do you miss it?

There's lots I prefer about HK: the schools, public transport, cheap easy places to eat out etc. Prefer the less crowded more space of the UK - though that of course depends where living here.

Same. Interesting you say schools. Why is that?

I also used to live in HK. Moved back in 2022 after 14 years. Was a year earlier than planned but ongoing covid school closures broke me.

I miss the v easy and fun social life, endless good restaurants, junks, the amazing hiking/ trail running, helpers, my gym and the convenience of a v compact city.

I don’t miss small apartments ( although i do miss the convenience of renting), pollution, summer heat, traffic and worrying about getting put in a quarantine camp for having an illness that the rest of the world stoped stressing about 12 months previously

I personally think that on a like for like basis ( ie compare uk private to HK international) that Uk schools are better, and my dc went to a “first choice”
international school. Facilities are better, specialist teaching starts earlier, and I also prefer sport being integrated into schools rather than having to do it all as ECAs.

Yes covid broke me too. The constant worry of being separated from your children.

I also agree that schools in the uk are overall better. However I'm starting to think that we are so time poor in the uk. Long commutes and with high tax we both have to work.

I often wonder whether overall the kids would be better off with having parents around and present more so than being at the 'best school' and having a big house and garden and having family around in the uk.

yes i miss hk so much like ferry to cheung chau, dhelpers, alphardriver, dc activities, sandilands, airport express, bus 1x, taaaax,
tasty food

feel more at home in hk than uk, but we did deliberately try to live in a local way including with work

uk is embarrassing with dire public transport, dirty, beerculture, public debt

we have plenty of friends who live between both

you can live uk without commute if prepared to be urban, although for urban children a house, garden, country, rivers, prob feels sublime

school-wise a child does not need THE PERFECT school, proof of this is success from lots of places, but rather to consider imho that you are raising an adult not a champion foal who will crumble at 16 - i dislike in uk is alot

eg children seem to be classed apart and it’s eg all in for school sports with some desperate parents on the sidelines with no thought to whether they will continue this sport into adulthood,

also england these days is v judgey :)

hk often seemed so sweet and kind with children, physically holding them alot, yet i also like japanese style for raising little ones and in fact futon would have been more practical with little children esp in hk flats if humidity is under control.

what else do you not like about uk atm?

This is a brilliant thread. To bring this back to life, as it's a topic very close to my heart:

At the primary level, do you think British curriculum international schools in HK (say Harrow, Malvern, Shrewsbury, ESF) are on par with say Guildford High, Wimbledon High, Kings College School, Holy Cross Prep, and so on?

yes i do, so long as there is proper cooperation and coordination between the mother ship and the hk campus, done well it is excellent and has potential to be outstanding.
would be nice to hear any first hand experiences

Hi, do many people living in HK send their children to uk boarding schools? I’m asking about native and ex pat families. Just wondering if they use education consultants or how they find good British schools if living overseas?

Yes, it’s not uncommon from Year 7/9 and it applies to both expats and Hong Kongers. Expats tend to just know about uk boarding schools as they’re from that demographic. They tend to select the schools that still offer genuine full boarding- Marlborough and Oundle are v popular and Downe and CLC for girls- or choose somewhere close to family who can do exeats etc. Locals often use consultants to identify some options and IMO often get shunted into some fairly second tier schools such as those where boarders are v much a minority. However this is largely because the number of Chinese ( mainland plus HK) pupils looking for places in uk boarding schools exceeds the capacity of the top tier schools who cap international student numbers and numbers of any one nationality.

Thank you, that’s really helpful

Well firstly some of the schools you mention are IB PYP schools, not ENC, so it’s hard to compare directly. Personally I would not recommend PYP and even teachers I know ( socially) in the PYP schools find it problematic. One other thing that is a bit crap about HK primaries is that they start specialist teaching relatively late- normally only in year 7, so prior to that English, maths, history, geography, science etc are taught by the class teachers. Also they just don’t have the facilities that uk prep schools have due to the density of the city. This is especially true of the newer schools like Malvern and Shrewsbury. This means that sport is pretty limited. However that is partly just a feature of HK- there’s v little inter school sport. Kids who play team sports primarily do so through sports clubs.

I think generally uk preps are better at holistic development but that’s partly because that’s what parents want. HK parents tend to more heavily prioritise academics and ECAs that translate directly to admissions “pluses” for school or college. You do what you’re good at. There’s less of a “have a go”
ethos.

Remember that the majority of children in international schools in HK are not expats. Some newer international schools have barely any expats so they’re essentially local schools teaching a non local curriculum.

Jumping in here as considering a move out to HK...

Particularly keen to know what is considered a good salary (piece of string question, i know...) as I'll be the breadwinner... 2 kids 8 and 10, looking at the French International School as they are fluent in French and I'd like to keep it up (we are Brits living in Europe now). Likely to be on a local contract too, so the numbers have to add up!!