The first step in finding out more about St. Nicholas’ and whether it’s a good fit for your educational goals is to submit your email and receive Admission’s newsletter Blues News, to get a feel for student life and community goings-on. Once you’ve submitted the inquiry form, we can offer you many opportunities to visit us throughout the school year.

We seek children who together represent a broad range of experiences and backgrounds and who, with the support of their family, demonstrate the motivation to get involved in school life at St. Nicholas’ and beyond. In general, successful applicants show strengths in three different developmental areas:

ACADEMIC

Your child is not expected to know everything. While we require a solid foundation in English literacy and numeracy, we also look for potential and a willingness to listen, learn and embrace challenges.

CO-CURRICULAR

Your child has a spark. We look for a cross-section of talent – in arts, athletics and other co-curricular activities – and children with potential to contribute to school life beyond the classroom.

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL

Your child is an individual and part of a larger group. We look at social skills and overall self-regulation – inside and outside the classroom. Above all, we consider the whole child.

Unfortunately, we do not offer any Pre-Nursery classes. The youngest child we can admit is 2 years and 8 months when they enter St. Nicholas’ for Nursery 1 (n1), which is equivalent to Kindergarten 1 (K1). However, we have very limited spaces in our Toddler programme and the minimum age of admission is 2 years old. Please contact us at [email protected] for more details.

The class size depends on the size of each classroom, which ranges from 15 to 26 students. The average teacher to student ratio is from 1:5 to 1:8.

There are no whole-day classes at St. Nicholas’. Nevertheless, we offer a wide range of after-school programs for children.

Although we do not implement the full Montessori pedagogy at St. Nicholas’, we integrate all five areas of the Montessori curriculum into our N1 to U3 program, including Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language (English and Chinese) and Cosmic Education. All classrooms are equipped with the full range of standard Montessori teaching aids. Our faculty also attends training regularly to stay updated on the latest Montessori research and teaching methods.

St. Nicholas’ does not have mixed-age classes in our regular program, but rather offer three distinct levels: N1, L2 and U3, following Hong Kong’s preschool curriculum. Nevertheless, there are ample opportunities throughout the school year for the three age groups to mingle and learn from each other, such as musical performances, sports day, festival celebrations, arts and science projects, community service, after-school programs, outdoor and global education ventures.

Our children are exposed to both the English and Chinese languages, and all three dialects: English, Cantonese and Putonghua throughout the school day. Our Native English speaking and Native Putonghua speaking teachers collaborate together with our local teachers in both whole class and small group instruction.

The school day is 3 hours every day, either in the morning or in the afternoon. The day starts off with students taking their body temperature and disinfecting their hands at the school gate. They then choose various ways to greet their teachers and fellow classmates as they enter their classrooms. Learning begins with either an English or Chinese circle time with the whole class. Afterwards, the class breaks up into smaller groups, in which children can interact with the English or Chinese class teachers in a more intimate setting.

Our graduates are accepted to the most prestigious primary schools in Hong Kong and occasionally abroad. Most of them receive multiple offers from a number of private, Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) and international primary schools.

Students work with our executive team to learn about schools and programs that best fit their educational goals. We assist students to put together applications, prepare for entrance requirements and decide ultimately which school will be their ideal match.

Please visit our Schools Placement page to see which schools our graduates have been accepted to over the years.