Cervelo:Hi thereHopefully, someone benefits from this.
My son will be in P4-4 next year (2012). I got him into SAJS because I wanted a Christian school for him. I worship (and serve as a electric guitarist) at an Anglican church and realized back then that I can use the affiliation. Having been in the same church for donkey years, I approached my pastor who gladly wrote the school a very nice letter which got my son through at the 2B Phase without so much of a scratch.
The school is close to where I work although we stay in the West but I place him at the St Andrew's Boarding House which operates til 6:45pm each school day for S$260 per month. The fee will be S$280 next year. Although it is a stretch for my son, having to be in school at 7am, through to 1:30pm and then at the House til 6:30pm when I pick him up after work.
The management and staff have been very pleasant all the past 3 years and the environment works for me. I have never heard any complaining from my son, except for the noise which seems to bug him - I had to explain to him that boys are like that. He does accommodate well into any environment, though. The supervising teacher differs each year and I can communicate very well with them, learning from them how I should handle my son in the school.
On the first day of school (P1), I met a friend whose child was in P6 that year. His immediate comment (in that very brief conversation) was that the school is lax in teaching. However, our experience differs by a wide margin.
His grades for P1/2 were usually 80 odd percent. But the grades went South in P3. I was glad I noticed it just before the middle of the year. He is my 3rd child, I left the education to the school and the supervision to the House, thinking that all is well. My expectation for my son was simple \"go to School for an Education, attend class and pay Attention and complete Revision at home\". E.A.R.
Overall, the school is scores 7.5/10 for me, really. It is heartening for me when my son will come to me every now and then, saying things like \"I wil work hard because my school taught me Perseverance\", or \"Up and On - pick myself Up and move On\". That was how he learnt how to ride a bicycle at P1 after falls and scratches, within a span of 1 over hour.
With the advise of the House supervisors, I put him into a tuition program eventually for both Mother Tongue and Mathematics. His final grades? Math, 86%; MT: 58%; EL: 76% and Sc: 68%. I was hoping that he gets into P4-3 at least but I soon learnt that the classes basically stays the same for all except for the top 2 classes of \"superboys\" who will get to use Netbooks for learning.
I made some checks - one boy in the top 2 class had the same grades as him in Sc. Another boy who has tuition 5 days a week for all subjects (but in a lower class) fared worse than him.
Grades. We are talk about it all the time, don't we.
At this point, I am pretty satisfied with how things have turned out. He's in the school swimming CCA, but plans to join the Chess Club next year because he wants to beat me and his brother at chess. He used to have a class mate who plays rough with him all the time, even at the House. But they are in different classes now.
His experience in the school is actually rather wholesome, in spite of the fact that it is a Boys' school. Watch out for the school bag, it is heavy in my opinion and I always make sure he puts in what he needs to keep it light. This school bag thing has been ignored for all too long.
On the lighter side - as I walked him to school one day after parking my car, he told me that this is how the secondary school boys carry their stuff as his right arm cradled a thick story book. I can't wait to see him in Secondary school. His desire is to get into SST.
I'll end here. I might add if I have the time or more in my mind.
Thanks for your open sharing.
My DS is entering Primary 1 next year. This information seems to reaffirm our choice of school and would be a good guide as he grows older.
We live just opposite the school but were unable to get him into the boarding house (it was full by the time we registered which was on Day 2 of the Administration Day just before Orientation - how was I to know that I was supposed to register the moment he secured a place in Phase 2C?).
My wife and I are both working full time and we have no caregiver at home so now have to arrange for transport after school and also after-school care service for him. I really wish there would be a vacancy at the Boarding House soon. This would really put our mind at ease.
) - only putting him into childcare next January when his brother starts P1. No choice cause we are both working full time. Are you a SAHM Minty?