Hello:

Some of you were wondering if all people got allocated. I am not sure about all the families but at least in our case, we got a letter offering us a spot in Kranji. I know that at least 9 other people got the same letter, so I guess MoE opened a new class there or something. I think the bit that was most surprising to me on this process was that despite the fact that we are foreigners, on employment pass, and paying Singaporean taxes, our balloting exercise is the same as "international" children on student pass whose parents send them to study, and from my ignorant perspective, do not seem to be paying Singaporean taxes or participate or contribute to local communities. As a result, competition at Phase III was more competitive than we thought. We did not get in for Phase III, but after 5 weeks or so we got a letter offering us a spot in Kranji.
The MoE letter was absolutely clear that we were offered a spot there, but we would not able to make any changes to his enrollment if we registered (no transfers, no moves) etc, and without the flexibility, the 45 minute commute, the lack of support network, transportation and so many more reasons; we decided to start home-schooling him. We have called every school that we had in waiting list as well, with no luck. Anyhow, we took the best decision available for our child, and homeschooling is proving to be the right choice for us. Singapore improves everything all the time, so I am sure, next year P1 exercise will be much better and hopefully with less anxiety.

Hi Jo Jo:

Yes, I am not a local However, I must admit my homeschooling journey has been really good. As foreigners, our children do not fall into that category, so we do not need to file an exception. However, the application (from what i have observed, is not impossible, nor too complex). We decided to do it and we are happy with it. We technically stomped on it because there are no spaces in our local neighborhood schools for our child, but we were always interested. (We did finally get in, but it was too far from our place and we had no support network, transport, etc). We started homeschooling in September, and it has been working really well. I was able to join the SG homeschooler group and I am amazed. There is at least 80 families of all nationalities, but mostly Singaporeans. They have many activities such as Homeschoolers sports day, and Not-going to school day, etc.
Anyhow, I am glad I found the group [singaporehomeschool at yahoo dot com dot sg] and the support we need. It has also been very nice to unite us as a family. Despite both of us working full time, my husband and I help and monitor our son's lessons and we have \"group\" projects. My son also has the opportunity to learn and go into the topics he is really interested (LEGO and LEGO math! who knew !!:)

Anyhow, everyone has a different journey to educate their kids, and each family works with love and with what is available to them. Thanks for your support and take care!

Hello all:

I can't find an exclusive thread for Homeschoolers on this forum, or anywhere. I guess we can start one Kiasu parents has become one of my single points of reference for anything related to raising children here, so I thought this will be a great venue to learn, share and hopefully help each other.

We are newbies at this homeschooling process for our 6.5 year old for Primary 1. We always knew we couldn't afford international schools and also that the chances of getting into a Primary 1 would be tough due to the existing demands in the system. We were right. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade and have fun!

So, hope to find other parents with positive experiences with homeschooling so that we can help our kids together!

I have been looking for a homeschooler support group in SG for a while, but have not had any luck. Their website is down and no responses from their FB page.
Doing some internet searches I had heard of K12 Online program which costs around $5K a year. I considered it initially, and even scheduled an appointment but the curriculum and the vision did not really fly with me. (http://www.k12.com/) However, seems like a great program that targets student needs and abilities as well. (and considerably cheaper than a tuition center too as you can even buy modules)
Anyhow, if there are any parents interested in sharing information, supporting each other and cheering us on, I really appreciate your guidance. Also, it will be great to coordinate some activities together so the kids can socialize too.
Wish me good luck in this new parenting journey! :xedfingers:

gvyong:

Just checked MOE website.


1st day of Phase 3...

2274 kids vying for 1507 places nationwide!!! (if i didn't hv butter fingers on the calc..)

You were right. Here is more info
Phase 3 availability: 1,507
Registered applicants: 2,274
Unsuccessful applicants: 767
Remaining spaces for phase 3: 90 spaces in 14 schools in 9 city areas
Over- subscription average for all areas in Singapore: 167%
Most over subscribed school:
Advise from MoE agent on potential new classes: \"Please go to the school and wait list or come to MoE for advise. We are not able to disclose what advise the agent will give\"
It is unfortunate that Kiasuparents does not provide this information for Phase 3 as there is obviously a need even for children of Singaporean parents to know this info

Area\t School\t \t Avail Reg Left Oversubscription
Tampines\t Griffiths Primary School\t 12\t39\t27\t325%
Queenstown Queenstown Primary School 39\t117\t78\t300%

Hi

I thought I share what I learned today from the P1 registration phase and what is the status on waiting list as per my call to MoE and the schools.
Just registered for P1 2014 at Queenstown. For 34 spots, there were 134 applicants just for the morning registration. I will say, the chances of getting in considering are thin as there were about 10 Singaporean parents already who understandingly, take priority. I called MoE to find out what happens next as it will be very unlikely that we get a spot. I explained that I have approached for waiting list, and both schools claimed they do not hold waiting list. MoE agent said, on Friday afternoon, after 2:30 when the balloting excercise is done,, I will need to go physically to the schools that have spaces available to secure an spot there and apply there. This last registration will be done on a first come, first served basis; and Singaporean children or children of Singaporeans continue to have first priority. MoE apparently have no access to the wait list of the schools and there is no process implemented to review how is this managed and how many spots are available.

The Phase 3 registration process at Queenstown was relatively organized. The principal and the staff were friendly and answering the questions. They had chairs for the parents and fans. However, no access to water/drinks machines. The first step is to get a queue number from the guard. Then proceed to sit and wait until your number is called. Once your number is called, one of 3 agents will check your documents. The wait was about 2 hrs. After than, you proceed to an aircon room (relief!) where they give you a form that you need to complete with the same details as your documents. Another person will take your documents and photocopy them and ask for verification. Then, you are told to wait as a single person is in an office entering your information into the computer. In the meantime, around 10 am, a lady came an informed us that if our q number was over 90, it was better to return at 2 pm as they could only proceed 30 document checks per hour. A lot of people left at that time. However, there were able to process 132 by 11 am. At 11 am they shutdown the process and asked us to come back at 2. In 3 hours about 25 documents were entered into the system and there were 115 people waiting. We were told that at 11 am, the computer entry system is shut down, so if we had not received the pink slip, then we had to return at 2 pm once the system was up again and we will then receive the pink slip.
I will be going back to the school to get the pink slip...
Things I wish I had known:
1. I highly recommend that you take photocopy of all your documents (this is not a requirement), but somebody takes your documents to copy. however, there were about 4 people that were asked for their documents again as they copies were not done properly. Obviously, their information was not entered into the system, and if they were still there, they had to provide the documents again. A lady asked if they were going to keyed in immediately, and the agent said, he did not, so not sure if the person would have to wait for their \"new turn\" after waiting.
2. The MoE requirement said: \"Parents’ travel document/Singapore NRIC/Entry or Re-entry Permit/Employment Pass/Work Permit \" However, we understood to be at least ONE parent, but they meant BOTH parents. Luckily, we were ready.
3. There was no access to the cafeteria, so I would have brought water and snacks.
3. There is no aircon, but fans were provided as well as chairs.
4. MoE nor the schools seems to know the process for waiting list for the schools or how fast they move, so you will have to call every school.

As nervous as I am, I haven't heard of anybody that has not secured a spot in a school, so in God I trust :), and to the schools, I will bring data.
Good luck to all!

UPDATE:
Well, we were not successful in the balloting. Queenstown had 39 spaces, but at the end, there were 20 spots available for balloting. I learned that employment pass holders AND international school students (i.e. parents who send the kids to study here) are balloted at the same level. We were obviously not successful, and the remainder schools have such few number of spaces, that it will likely be another disappointment. Here are some options that I thought for parents of children in this situation...
Option 1: International schools charge an average of $35,000 per year and only really have 185 days of \"class time\", so at least in our case, this is not possible financially, specially if you have more than 1 child. The higher you go in the education system, the higher the fees are. They also mandate that all school trips, outings are also financed and they are over $10,000 a year in some instances. So unless you are an expat with an amazing package or one that gets remunerated so amazingly well that paying the equivalent of a master degree in an american university for kindergarten and primary year; this option is limited.
Option 2: Wait list. I learned that every school manages their waiting list on their own, and there is no government supervision. For Bukit Timah primary, they won't even open the waiting list until October 7. Queenstown, Pei Tong, and Clementi Primary are receiving applications. However, there is no standard system to allocate the spots, so you are literally at the disposal of the professionalism of the staff with no governance programs. However, all the schools did say that about 50% of the kids on wait list do get in finally, but may not be until 3 months after the school term has started (March).
Option 3: Homeschooling, as legally the government does not require that foreigners children to attend school. There is not a strong community of homeschoolers here, so you will likely need to buy \"off the shelf\" programs from companies like K-12 international to support your child. On the other hand, the Canadian government for example, does offer some homeschooling programs for children that although with a lot of restrictions but could potentially work depending on the child's case.
Option 4: There is a very large industry of tuition centers in Singapore, so I guess one could potentially register a child in these programs to attain the student goals on a temporary basis. The issue is mostly with the cost, schedules and lack of the socialization for the child.
Anyhow, hope these updates are helpful for people in the next round.
Thanks and congrats to those who got in!