English language curriculum at Japanese private junior / senior schools in Tokyo - a great option for hafu kids
I've recently met a lot of foreigners with hafu kids in upper elementary that do not realize this is an option (and I can't find much comprehensive English language discourse on it - you can find tons of discussion in Japanese, I am sure). This has been great for my child and I wanted to put something out there about it.
- Recently (literally just in the last 10 years), a small number of private Japanese junior high / high schools have started 6 year programs at their schools for "kikokushijo" (returnee) kids. A child's father or mother will be posted in New York, London, San Diego, etc. for 3 or 4 years and then return to Tokyo. At that point, their child(ren) are often pretty Western in mindset - and Japanese language abilities may not be super strong.
- The schools that are in this world (in Tokyo) that I know of are Hiroo Gakuen, Hiroo Koishikawa, Mita, Setagaya Salesian, Setagaya Akabane, and Bunsugi. That is also roughly the ranking of "prestige" / difficulty to get in, although that changes year to year. The two Hiroos were traditionally considered the best, but Mita is rapidly rising and the Salesians are also getting more popular and selective - so this fluctuates year to year. New programs at other schools could also start at any time.
- These schools - based on a competitive exam, which I will discuss below - offer combined 6 year programs where the primary subjects (math, history, science, social studies, etc.) are taught in English. "Minor" subjects (art, PE, music, home ec) and clubs / extracurriculars are all in Japanese. There are generally two levels of Japanese classes - "native" and "basic" (the latter for the kids who really were overseas a long time and can't do much more than chat with their parents at home in Japanese).
- Most of these schools (except for Salesian Akabane, where the balance is more even or even tilted toward returnees) have several sections that are not for returnees (i.e., everything except English language learning class is in Japanese) and a couple sections for returnees. For example, a 7th grade entering class might have two returnee sections with 35 kids each and 4 or 5 "hardcore academic" pure Japanese sections of 35 kids each. The two types generally interact in afterschool clubs, but don't share other classes.
- It depends on the school, but the kids range from "barely speak English" to "barely speak Japanese" (although I would say 70 percent ish are at least roughly bilingual). A small percentage of each class (a third or less) have very little English, and start with Japanese-language primary classes that are gradually replaced with English-language primary classes through 6 years - with the goal being English language fluency by graduation. Those kids take a different test than the ones I discuss below. A majority of the kids have native or close to native level English (and some of those also have native level Japanese) and take the tests I discuss below.
- Although these schools are in their infancy, they are developing sophisticated programs for college placement in the US, UK, and Australia. Some are starting AP classes, others have tracks in high school where you can earn the equivalent of a (for example) Australian diploma and increase chances of admission to Australian universities, etc. Top western college placement is not on the level of an ASIJ or BST (yet), but getting to that is a priority.
- Entrance is by competitive examination shortly before a child's 7th grade year (measured in the Japanese way). For true returnees, they can take the exam several times in November / December (before the April start to the 7th grade year).
- However, for kids (like mine) who don't qualify as "returnees" and grew up going to international elementary school, you only get one or two shots in early February. Every February 1-5 in Tokyo, there is a gauntlet of testing - one test per morning and one test per night, for a maximum of ten testing slots slots. Each school I mentioned above gives two testing opportunities. If you take a test in the morning, you generally know if you are admitted by that night - and depending on the result, you can decide where to test the next day. So, if your child really wants Hiroo Koishikawa - but fails the first test - you can strategically pivot to take an "easier" test the next day (or go for broke with Hiroo Koishikawa again).
- I'll note those 5 days are horrifically stressful for students and Japanese mothers. My child had friends who did not get in their "Day 1" target school, and had to make a decision that night to pivot to "safety" school tests the next day. If you get to day 4 or 5 with no admissions from days 1-3, the pressure becomes crushing. Also, some of the top schools' slots overlap, so you have to make hard choices about what to try.
- Some of these schools also have a set of entrance tests for incoming returnee high school sophomores. But generally, it is a 6 year program and you get one shot to get in when your child is in the 6th grade.
- Mita / the two Salesians / Bunsugi (as of now) have their tests entirely in English (with math, reading comprehension, and essay questions). There is also a 10 minute interview, half in English and half in Japanese (I think to check if a child has very little Japanese). But besides that 5 minutes of chatting, there is no Japanese language component at all.
- The two Hiroos need more Japanese - math is tested in Japanese, and there is a Japanese reading comp section. This is historically why they are considered the most selective of this type of school in Tokyo (and need more juku prep).
- Most kids who go to these returnee programs go to juku specializing in "kikokushijo" kids. The two names in Tokyo are ENA and Kikokushijo Academy. To be very clear, I am not affiliated with either juku in any way - these are the same two names anyone in this world will tell you. Most kids study at these juku for 1-3 years to prep. However, we've met people with children who studied for less than year (or even less than 6 months) at juku and still got in.
- So don't give up if you are less than a couple years out from the test - have your child take the juku's range-finding test and they can tell you if your kid is in the ballpark given the time they have left to prepare. These juku have school-specific programs (and in some cases even past tests for the schools) and for certain kids are very helpful.
- If you get in one of these, tuition is much much less than international high schools (ASIJ, BST, YIS, TIS, etc.), or even the lesser international schools. My child's tuition is less than half of what it was at a lower-tier international elementary school - these schools are subsidized by the Japanese government and are considered "real" junior high and high schools by the Ministry of Education.
For fellow foreigners who can afford it (and have hafu kids in elementary school), I urge you to look into this (or have your Japanese spouses do so).
I really think my child (who is roughly natively bilingual but with stronger English) is getting the best of both worlds at this type of school. Their main subjects are in English, but they get a "real" Japanese language class so it is easier to keep up both languages. The cultural aspects of being at a Japanese school are also valuable. Kids who stay in an international school bubble for 12 years - and then go on to live in Japan - don't see how Japanese culture and hierarchy works in the same way as kids that go to Japanese school. Even if the language of these returnee programs is English, the soul of the school is still Japanese, and they get the classroom cleaning, undokai, etc. experience that other Japanese do.
A note - kids who do this probably won't be able to take "hard" science majors in Japanese at Japanese universities. The gap in language is usually too big and if you want that for your child, they need to go to a pure Japanese junior high / high school. But a lot of graduates (that do not go to Western colleges) do successfully take "softer" majors in Japan / Japanese (business, finance, etc.) and succeed - and Western colleges are still an option.
I should say one last thing about diversity at these schools. 90 percent or more of the kids have lived overseas - so their mindset is usually Western. Seeing a hafu kid at school is not shocking or surprising, and my child has never been called a "gaikokujin" or anything like that. But since these schools are primarily for returnees, the actual racial diversity is very low. If there are 100 kids in an incoming 7 grade's returnee program, maybe 15 will be biracial or non-Japanese (there are usually a handful of kids with two Chinese or Korean parents, etc.). So hafu kids (especially those that do not have two Asian parents) do visually stand out, but that's always going to be true if they live in Japan.
Just wanted to put this out there since I've meet a surprising number of foreigners - living long-term in Japan - who didn't realize this world existed and wished they knew about it before their child was too old to test in. It is a very small and niche world, but we are glad we found it.