Waiting list .... for preschool!!!

Last Wednesday I decided to contact the French  School here in HK as Mathilde is supposed to start in September. After looking on their web site and seeing that they should have contacted us in February to let us know if she is accepted or not. I started to get a little worried. Of all the things I've worried about while bringing up our girls, I never once thought that getting one into a preschool would be at the top of the list.

With Olivia, we applied while we were still in South Africa about 3 months before our arrival in Hong Kong and she was accepted. So with Mathilde I didn't really give it much thought.
Even though I applied and sent off the application form when she was about 15months, I didn't think for 1 second that she wouldn't be accepted.
So after speaking to the ever so polite french lady, I was told that she is now number 26 on the waiting list and that chances of her getting into 'petite section' were next to nil. I know this is completely stupid and nothing to do with this situation but I always feel that when I speak to french people and I don't get my way, its because I'm english. The french have a thing with the english and visa versa.

She tells me that she'll stay on the waiting list for next year where she'll proberly get into 'moyen section'. I tell her to do that but I'll be sending her to an english school ( that is if I can find one!!).

In Hong Kong most of the international schools ask that a debenture be paid. For the french school a sum of 110 000 hkd is paid to the school along with the 3 800 hkd registration fee and 500 hkd application fee. All of this is kept by the school and only once your child leaves the school, will they reimbourse the debenture amount. And on top of that the annual school fees close to 80 000 hkd.

I thought that with her being french ( well, she has a french passport ) , having a sister in the same school and paying the debenture , she would have her place, but no!

So off to find a school. I'm looking at Woodlands and I think if she likes it, I'll leave her there!!  So now its time to cough up another debenture, application fee, registration fee etc and hope for the best!!