Victoria Shanghai Academy (VSA) Hong Kong
Reviews & Information

I'm a recent alumni of VSA and find the accusations made below very false. I have heard it has become a 'cool trend' among some students to write negatively about your school, but I hope this won't give discourage prospective students to come study at VSA and get a good education here. Especially those who are looking for a good bilingual school with great teachers who really cares about your well-being. Yeah, perhaps in every school there are some kids who are 'mean' but this doesn't represent the whole student population and of course there are some really nice students and teachers also. In my years here I made such a close-knit group of friends. I think one of the strengths of VSA is the strong sense of community and the amount of resources there are to help you if you look for it. There's areas for improvement for sure but in my recent visit back I saw they have made a lot of changes to the facilities and also Chartwhells is upgrading their food.

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READ IT OR YOU'II REGRET IT-教育的黑暗面/the dark side of education：當你付了大量的金錢，你願意讓你的孩子被剝奪接受ib考試的機會嗎？Are you willing to let your child be deprived of the opportunity to take the ib exam when you have paid a significant amount of money? 一所陰險的學校！！！THIS SCHOOL SCAMS YOUR MONEY!!!!!! If you do not reach a certain score(WHICH IS CONSIDERABLY UNATTAINABLE) they force you to take the VSA diploma which is not recognized by universities and then you realize that you pay an immense amount of school fees. That's very insidious. The school prioritizes attaining high average IB scores at the expense of students' rights to take the IB exam and have the opportunity to get into university. Moreover, this insidious strategy reveals the school's true priorities. Instead of nurturing an environment where all students have an equal chance to pursue the internationally recognized IB exam and gain access to a wide range of universities, they prioritize their reputation and average IB scores. This narrow-minded focus on statistics not only limits students' educational opportunities but also denies them the fundamental right to a fair and equal educational experience. The school also fails to acknowledge that students do not have enough sleep due to stress and mental health issues and excessive workload. This demonstrates the lack of consideration for practicality and student needs. They do not allow students to take the lift after 8:25 which is unreasonable as classes start at 8:30. I strongly advise parents to not put their kids in VSA as the IB is an extremely demanding program and they exploit you for financial gain. DO NOT ENROL YOUR KIDS IN VSA!!!!!! EVERY CHILD DESERVES AN OPPORTUNITY AT A SPOT IN UNIVERSITY WHETHER THEY ARE ACADEMICALLY STRONG OR BAD. YOUR CHILD DESERVES AN EDUCATION WHERE THE SCHOOL VALUES YOUR CHILD'S WELL-BEING, GROWTH, AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. I URGE YOU TO NOT ENROL YOUR KIDS INTO VSA FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHILD'S BRIGHTER FUTURE. CHOOSE A SCHOOL WHERE THEY PRIORITIZE YOUR KIDS' HAPPINESS OVER GRADES.

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VSA is a toxic school. School Staff ignores and embraces bullying. They just want the money, their solutions wouldn’t solve the root problem. Walk away from the bully? Really?! Do our parents pay so much for this? Failed school. Been here for 10 years + and after I graduate I’ll flee this place. VSA stands for Violence Suppression Association!

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The lunch is absolutely atrocious and overpriced, and it is extremely unhygienic and disgusting, the teachers are very horrible and some teachers are exceedingly rude.

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VSA is a good school with a variety of teachers and facilities. These teachers are very wise and insightful.

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The environment is absolutely atrocious

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Study here please, it will guide you across your entire life trust me.

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I have to say though, VSA is a nice school and it's filled with a lot of nice teachers but the reason why I rated a 3 instead of 5 is because: 1. Some teachers have the balls to understand the student's situation(they understand more when they have kids) such as anxiety and when they get bad grades, they do help them but some teachers don't. Back in Y9, I have a science teacher and the grades he gave others were pretty strict. I got a 5 for one of my criteria in my lab report and he rounded down to a 4 and told my parents about it. SERIOUSLY?????? 2. The school lunches were one of the worst things u can find in the school. Sure there's a lot you can by such as snacks, drinks and yogurts but all of them are way too over priced. A lunch costs $32 and it doesn't include anything and a 7cm diameter cookie costs $10. Almost every secondary student in VSA reported this problem to the student council but when the student council quote "Your voice will be heard," It's the opposite thing. Also the vending machines are broken for FIVE YEARS REEEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLYYYYYY??????? 3. When it comes to bullying, the teachers don't really care. I was once in Y3 and someone like my age kicked me in the balls 3 times because I wasn't on his side. I reported to the teacher and she said "No fighting games". I got cyber-bullied back in Y6 and almost the entire class did that to me. Again I told the teacher about the matter and they didn't care. 4. Flex in secondary is one of the most boring things in school. You get to learn about stupid relationships and puberty. Teachers usually have this form where you get to speak up what do you want to do during flex but the form is utterly futile because the teachers never agree with out statement. Overall, this is a pretty good school but when all these matters are solved I will definitely rate this a 5 star.

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VSA is a school where you can learn and have fun at the same time

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4.5 stars. I really liked VSA, and I wish I could give it five stars, but if I'm being honest, 4.5 stars is already a bit of a stretch. The reason: Although the school teachers were very good and nice, the students were often rude and mean. As I looked at the other reviews, I noticed quite a few people observed that unless you were in the school from kindergarten/grade 1, you would never really fit in. I agree - and although sometimes the students make an effort, you know you will never truly replace those bonds. But even aside friendship, the bullying in the school is not to be ignored. EXTREMELY cruel bullying occured to other students as I went to VSA. The one very popular girl convinced everyone else to do the same to one girl - and I'm sure it made her life terrible. All for a bad reason, which I won't state, due to privacy reasons and respecting this girl's privacy. The school teachers were very nice and taught very well, but sometimes I thought that it was TOO easy. However, it was quite light-hearted. I almost never did my homework and simply finished it on the bus because it was so simple. Also, even though VSA focused on well-being, some of the students were really cruel and made other's well-being... well, turn... bad, I guess. The well-being lessons, although very important, were very easy and I think most students just snoozed through it, and it was the perfect lesson to pass notes and whisper to friends. It wasn't really taken seriously by students. How hard would it be to make a slight improvement to that class? Now for the specialist lessons... Overall, I think that it was just fun. It didn't really teach me anything, and it was just a break from class. Maybe others would disagree with me, but from my experience, the classes were just mediocre and didn't really require any brainpower. PE was just being athletic. However, one time there was an incident in which we were required to do a Google Slides about a sport or activity we had chosen to improve upon and our progress. The PE teacher thought only one of our Google Slides was any good, and just because it was prettier than the others, and looked as though more work had been put in - although that was just because it looked nice. He shamed every one of us one by one as he went through our slides - and it was SO embarrassing. During PE lessons, if you were a slow runner or someone un-athletic, people would often roll their eyes, especially if you were in a team with some athletic people. It was embarrassing to be one of those people who just wasn't SPORTY. Drama was fun, in my opinion, there were lots of interesting projects but I didn't really learn much - or anything from it... Other than Wikipedia was not to be trusted. That's the other thing: Why is Wikipedia banned in almost every International School in HK?

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