Hi everyone,
We are an international family (American/Japanese) currently living in Tokyo, but planning to move to Chiba. Like in there’s not a foreigner in sight part of Chiba. My older ichinensei daughter is currently going to public school here and absolutely hates it. She went through Japanese youchien and loved it, but can’t find her place (linguistically and socially) in her current school. Since we are most likely moving soon, we thought we might give Gyosei International (Kisarazu location) a shot. It’s not too far from where we’d be living, but there seems to be very little reviews from foreign parents online. We will be taking a tour next month, but I would like to hear current or past students personal experiences.
5 comments
An “international” school with a Japanese name and a website with a default language of Japanese seems likely to be a Japanese private school with “international” branding targeted at mostly Japanese families.
Contact the school directly. Ask them for information. They can tell you how many kids with a similar background are attending.
I’d consider the fact that putting your kids in international schools that don’t meet Ministry of Education standards can have long-term consequences. A friend of mine literally just left Japan recently after 20+ years and one reason is that he’d put his kids in ersatz “international” schools from nursery school until now when the are about 10 & 8, and realized they were locked in. He can’t afford the good schools (ASIJ, St Mary’s, Nishimachi, Seisen British School) and his kids would be overwhelmed in public schools so he’s gone back to Blighty. Of course, every family has different plans, etc.
We live in the area and toured that same school. As others have pointed out, “international” is a branding moniker, not really a sound indication of the quality of education. As far as international-style schools go, the place is more reasonably priced than other such schools in Japan. However, I did some digging around and as I suspected, they pay their teachers pretty poorly, and I have heard several stories of students leaving there after elementary school sinec the junior/senior high school programs are just not very competitive.
If you value an English-langauge environment highly enough, it could be worth it. But thinking long-term for education in Japan, it might be best to stick with Japanese school. Maybe your daughter will come around. Good luck!
I used to live in Sodegaura. Now that the Costco went up, I’m sure there are a lot more foreign people living in that area. Kisarazu is super close to Yokohama via aqua line. My husband used to commute every day by car. Driving her there is an option if she is super super against regular elementary school.