phtthp:

Straits Times, 7 April 2012

parents rent condo within 1 km, for better P1 balloting chance :-

http://www.edvantage.com.sg/edvantage/photos/1243954/Parents_rent_condos_for_better_P1_balloting_chance.html

I have a story to tell - I have 2 children, 7 years apart in age...my youngest daughter just completed her PSLE last year.

My eldest son was attending NYPS as I am an alumni there. At the time, we were living in Bishan, couldn't afford a place near NYPS. The school bus would pick him up at 6am as it was one of the first stops on that route (which also means one of the last stops when coming back).

His entire LIFE from Primary 1 to Primary 4 was to wake up at 515am and goto sleep at 1030/11pm. He was tired all the time.

His results were quite bad during these years. We were called in to see the principal many times, being threatened that our son would be thrown out of the school. But we couldn't do much more for him, his days were already fully booked with tuition and other enrichment activities. Deep down, we knew we had to cut down on his daily commute time.

Luckily, for us, and terrible to say, SARS came when he was in Primary 4. Property prices plunged, we found a place within walking distance of NYPS and bought it, moving in halfway through the school year.

The change was unbelievable! In that half year, his days became : wake up at 645am goto sleep at 9pm. But because there was practically no commute time to talk about he could spend more time on his school work instead of sleeping on a bus.

He became happier, we became happier, we didn't have to see the principal again!

He did well enough in his PSLE to get into RI....back to Bishan!!!

The property prices had started climbing, and we put our condo up for sale in Bukit Timah to move back to Bishan.

By then, it was time to decide on a school for our DD. We were not going to send her to NYPS while we lived in Bishan. So we just chose the nearest school available, again, within walking distance. It was not a branded school, there were vacancies in all phases!

Her days were also, wake up at 645am goto sleep by 9pm. She was happy, we were happy, we never saw the principal!

She, too, got into RGS.

What does this mean?

From our experience school distance > choice of school!