Parents

I hope this email finds you well. As we approach the end of the academic year, we are writing to share some essential updates regarding the annual rollover of our systems and the next phase of our transition to our new learning management and student information system, ESF Hub.

As part of the next wave of this rollout, you may have already either attended our recent webinar or received the video recording along with a comprehensive information pack. Below is some important housekeeping regarding the current ESF App and what you can expect moving forward. 

To be clear, from next school year you will not be using the current ESF App, rather you will receive information later in the Summer with information regarding downloading and logging into our new ESF Hub.

Key Housekeeping & Deadlines

• Downloading Reports and ePortfolios: If your child is transitioning from one ESF school to another, or is leaving ESF, please ensure you download all student reports and ePortfolio data on or before Tuesday, 14th July 2026.

• App Deactivation (Annual Rollover): To ensure data security and maintain accurate system records, we will be logging all users out of the current app. On Wednesday, 15th July 2026, all parent, staff, and student accounts will be deactivated on the current ESF App.

What to Expect: Moving to the ESF Hub

Following deactivation, your school will transition to the new platform for the upcoming school year.

• Account Credentials: We will send your new ESF Hub login credentials and setup instructions to your registered email address during the first week of August 2026. Please keep an eye on your inbox for this communication.

• Dual App Usage (For Specific Families): If you have children attending a school that has made the move to ESF Hub and another child at Discovery College (DC), Sha Tin College (STC), or South Island School (SIS), you will be required to use both apps simultaneously over the next 12 months as we complete the foundation-wide transition.

We appreciate your patience, cooperation, and understanding as we work to deliver a more secure, streamlined, and efficient platform for our school communities.

If you have any questions ahead of the launch, please refer to your information pack or reach out to your school's IT support team.

Best regards,

Rob Shorthouse

Director of Strategy and Communications

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Disclaimer: This email is for informational purposes only. If you have any concerns or questions, please reach out to your school office. We value your privacy and strive to provide a safe digital environment for all users.

Parents

As we enter the final few days of term, I know that some of you still have some questions about the fee levels for ESF Renaissance College Kindergarten. Your children are moving to an amazing new school, and we want you to be happy not just next year, but throughout your entire time with us at ESF. With that in mind, I have included some more financial information in this message.

Over and above this information, we want to do everything we can to support you as you make the move to the new school. Our current financial assistance scheme has, traditionally, only been open to parents with children in one of our primary or secondary schools.

However, given the unique circumstances of this move, we have decided to open this scheme to any of you who need it and meet the criteria. You can find out more about this scheme - and submit an application by visiting our website at:

https://www.esf.edu.hk/financial-assistance-scheme/

Turning to the fee increase, as we explained during the webinar and also in our written communication with you, the reality is that the running of this new school is more expensive than your current one - 23% higher based on budget/projection of the two schools. This differential is exacerbated by the fact that EDB did not approve our proposed fee structure for this current year, meaning that, at present, you are paying the fee levels for 2024/25.

When you look at what contributes to the extra expense, it falls into three main categories: staffing and medical costs, facilities costs and additional operating expenses. 

As our CEO explained earlier this year, we are committed to recruiting and retaining the very best teachers in all of our schools. We operate in a highly competitive market and we have to ensure that our salary package stacks up against other school groups in Hong Kong. The salary increase that we award our teachers and staff across ESF is balanced out by the fee increase.

In addition to this - and similar to many organisations here in Hong Kong, ESF has seen a dramatic rise in our medical insurance premium. It will rise by almost 30% in this current year alone.

When it comes to facilities cost, we have had to invest heavily in the new school. The entire cost of this is not being borne by you. As is standard practice, we have amortised this cost over the entire term of the lease we have for the school. This means, in practice, that you are paying your share of the costs only for the year that your child attends the school. This amounts to approximately $9,000 per child per year, which represents 41% of the fee difference between the two schools. On the other hand, the facilities cost of ESF Tung Chung Kindergarten is low as the major renovation costs have been fully amortised.

Another factor is that the operating costs are higher for the new school. As well as things like utilities in the much larger space, we have bought a whole range of new equipment that your child will enjoy when they make the move. 

When you take all of these elements into consideration, you end up with the new fee level for the new school. I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to control costs - while not sacrificing anything when it comes to the teachers your child will work with and the facilities that they will enjoy. The school is the largest kindergarten we have and it is going to be incredible.

We are all acutely aware that parents make a huge commitment when they entrust us with their child’s education. We all take this responsibility very seriously and all of us understand that every cent we charge you has to be justified.

The reality is that your new school is more expensive to operate than your current one. 

I hope that this provides you with more context about why we have set the fees at the level we have. 

As always, thank you for your support of your school and of ESF.

Vivian Cheung

Chief Financial Officer

Summer is Just Around the Corner!

ESF Explore Summer Camps kick off in exactly one week on 29 June!

Whilst we continue to accept late enrolments throughout July and August, programmes are filling up on a first-come, first-served basis. Booking this week ensures your child secures their preferred timeslot, location, and choice of immersive programmes.

As a valued member of our community, you can still take advantage of your exclusive 10% loyalty discount to lock in your priority summer schedule.
 

 Your Community Privilege

• Your Promo Code: ESFAPP10

• The Benefit: 10% off all summer camp enrolments

•  View our Summer Camp Guide

We cannot wait to welcome your children next week for an unforgettable summer experience!

Warm regards, 

ESF Explore Team
Sports | Language | Playgroups | STEM | Arts

T +852 2711 1280
http://www.esfexplore.org.hk | info@esfexplore.org.hk

Parents

As you are aware, your school will begin using ESF Hub at the start of the next academic year. This new system will bring everything related to your child’s education into one place. 

With the launch of the new app and web portal, you will be able to carry out operational tasks like reporting absences, giving permissions and finding out the latest news from the school and you will get a whole new level of access to what your child is learning each day.

ESF Hub has a lot of functions and we know that being faced with a new system can be overwhelming. That is why we are going to go slow with its introduction. For now, we want to make sure that everyone is ready to use the basic elements of ESF Hub from the start of the school year - and we can introduce you to the more in-depth functions as the term progresses.

With that in mind, we have produced this handy User Guide for ESF Hub. It will show you how to master the basics and make sure that you are ready for launch. 

We will be in touch again with your log-on details and instructions on how to get started. The current ESF app will no longer be in use in your school, so you will need to download the new ESF Hub app. We will let you know when you can do that.

Your school and the ESF Hub team will also be making sure that you are fully supported when we launch. 

For now, we don’t need you to do anything, other than familiarise yourself with this guide.

As always, thank you for your support of ESF and of your school.

Rob Shorthouse

Director of Strategy and Communications

Parents

Today we are making a significant announcement, one which will help us write the next chapter in our ESF story.

From September 2026, families applying for a K1 kindergarten place for their child will be joining a complete K1-Y13 school system. For the first time, we are directly linking specific primary schools with our kindergartens, in the same way that secondary schools are already associated with primaries.

This means that when a child joins ESF at K1, they will know precisely which school they will attend until they complete their studies in Y13.

The move is designed to deliver key benefits to students and their families by:

• Giving parents certainty and peace of mind about their child’s schooling.

• Allowing schools to better share resources, including specialist teachers and support services across all phases.

• Ensuring that the key transition phases between kindergarten, primary and secondary schools are managed even more effectively.

The move will allow our world-class early years educators to work together more closely than ever to truly get to know each child. Teachers in our kindergartens and their linked primary schools will collaborate deeply to understand each child’s unique learning style, ensuring the transition to primary school is a progression, not a new start.

By completing our through-train model, ESF is evolving from a network of associated, individual schools, into a truly unified education system. For our families, this means greater coherence and a seamless progression in their child’s learning. From the moment they first walk through our gates until they graduate from secondary school, each child will experience a single, connected ESF community.

This is the next exciting chapter of our story.

All of the details about the move, including an interactive educational journey planner, are available at https://join-us.esf.edu.hk/earlyyearsnewapproach. You can also access a full Q&A document here.

Belinda Greer

Chief Executive

Adventure Awaits this Summer!

ESF Explore Summer Camps kick off on 29 June, and we want your child to be part of the excitement! There’s still time to secure a spot for a summer filled with discovery, learning, and new friendships.

Exclusive Loyalty Offer: As a valued member of our community, use promo code ESFAPP10 to enjoy 10% off all summer camp registrations.

View our Summer Camp Guide

Spaces are filling up fast. Register today to ensure your child doesn’t miss out on an unforgettable summer experience!
We can’t wait to see you there!

ESF Explore Team
Sports | Language | Playgroups | STEM | Arts

T +852 2711 1280
http://www.esfexplore.org.hk | info@esfexplore.org.hk

Confirmation of School Place and Advance Fees for 2026/27 - ESF International Kindergartens

Dear Parents

As we approach the end of the school year, we are writing to let you know the procedure to confirm your child’s place for 2026/27. If you will be withdrawing your child and have submitted the Withdrawal Notice to your school, please ignore this letter.

Every year, parents need to reserve a school place for their child for the following year by making an advance payment of September’s fees as a surety.

Advance Payment

The advance fees for K2 students in the next academic year are as follows: 

Students who will be transferring to the new kindergartens—ESF Renaissance College Kindergarten, ESF Quarry Bay School Kindergarten, and ESF West Kowloon Kindergarten—in the upcoming school year are required to pay the advance fee based on their current kindergarten to secure their place. 

Students transferring from ESF Tung Chung International Kindergarten to ESF Renaissance College Kindergarten next school year are required to pay the advance fees of $10,160 or $11,790 for bilingual class students, which are the current fees. 

These advance fees will be used to offset the tuition fees for September 2026. If there is a revision of fees in the next academic year, the difference will be payable in September 2026. 

Please note that your child’s school place will not be confirmed if we do not receive your advance fees before the payment due date or if there are any outstanding tuition fees on the account without prior arrangement at the beginning of the next academic year. 

Settlement

The advance payment will be debited from your designated bank account on 3 August 2026. Please ensure that there are sufficient funds in the account.

If you have not set up the direct debit authorisation yet, please complete the Direct Debit Authorisation Form and send it back to ESF Centre, G.P.O. Box 11284, Hong Kong by 1 June 2026 as it may take up to six weeks for the bank to process the direct debit.

If your monthly tuition fees are being settled by your employer directly, please make the payment by cheque on or before 15 July 2026:

1. Click here to download and complete the Cheque Payment Slip;
2. Send the cheque payment slip together with a crossed cheque made payable to “The ESF Educational Services Ltd” to “G.P.O. Box 11284, Hong Kong” on or before 15 July 2026. Post-dated cheques are not accepted.

Student Withdrawals

If you are withdrawing your child at the end of this academic year, please submit the student withdrawal notice via the ESF App by 1 June 2026. Otherwise, we will assume that your child is returning after summer and parents are liable for the tuition fees for September 2026 even if the student does not return to school.

Should you have any queries regarding the above, please contact our Billing Team at billing@esfcentre.edu.hk

We would like to thank you for your cooperation on this matter, and we wish your child every success in 2026/27.

Yours sincerely

Vivian Cheung                          Julie Wong
Chief Financial Officer              ESF Head of Admissions

Dear Parents,

Keeping your child safe is our top priority at ESF.

I would like to share our Safeguarding and Child Protection Brochure with you. This document explains how we work to protect your children from harm.

You may be aware that Hong Kong has introduced a new law regarding child protection. As of 20 January 2026, our teachers and staff are legally required to report serious safety concerns to the authorities. We view this as a positive step to ensure children's safety, and all our staff have been trained on this new law.

We want to work closely with you to keep your child safe.

If you ever have a worry or concern, no matter how small, please come and speak to us. It doesn't have to be about a major incident; it could simply be a feeling you have or something you are unsure about.

You can speak with your school's Principal, or contact your school's Child Protection Officers directly. Please visit your school's website and go to the "What we stand for" section. You can find their contact details there.

Our doors are always open to you.

Sincerely,

Mark Blackshaw

Director of Education
English Schools Foundation