Primary One School Orientation

[Strawberry Milk]

ChiefKiasu:

I don't see why not. You're not planning to slander the school or something, are you? :mrgreen: At most it seems like just a little admin hiccup and good for them to take note for next year's orientation. Like the others said, perhaps your friend can get help or even meet some other parents with children in the same school.

Dear Chief,
Thanks for the advise - my colleague's gal school is Corporation Primary School.

Any parents whose child in the same school has the similar experience; please help.

Thank you :lol:

[tanzyjac]

We attended my daughter's school (in BP, registered at Phase 2CS) orientation on 8 Nov. We were told to go straight to the hall, my daughter was brought to sit in front of the hall according to her class. The school's principal gave a lengthy speech on the rules, regulations and things to do during the 1st day in school... he spent more than 1.5hrs talking on and on. In the end, the events schedule was jeopardized (it had indicated that the principal's welcome speech is only 45 minutes). It was so disorganised that at the end the P1 newbies were quickly ushered into their classrooms to do a assessment test. The emcee asked the parents to stay in the school hall to watch cultural dance performance by 4 groups of students and listened to more talks by volunteers and dental nurse. Guess what? Some of parents ignored the emcee, they walked out of the hall to follow the P1 children into their classrooms. After all the activities in the hall, parents were then ushered into the classrooms to fill up the forms while they brought the children back into the hall to watch a cartoon video. --- UPSET and DISAPPOINTED because school committee is so disorganised.


Luckily I received a call from another school on the following Monday offering my daughter a place in their school (we were placed on waiting list). We then attended their registration/orientation on 15Nov.

HAPPY AT LAST - The school placed about 10 stands at school's front porch, each stand has the class name on it, e.g. Pri 1/Excellent etc. There were about 3 prefects in charge of each class. One prefect brought us (abt 3 families) to the classroom, introducing their school compound along the way. At the classroom, the teachers passed us some forms to fill. They also explained to us what to expect during the actual P1 orientation day on 30 Dec. We were given a Parent Handbook to read through. My daughter was also given an activity workbook to do to prepare her for a assessment test on the orientation day. We also paid $5 for '1st 5 days healthy set meals' for my daughter.

At the school's canteen, vendors were selling school books, uniforms, school shoes, bags. They were also very orderly. They used canteen's benches to form a maze - one way in, the other way out. There were no cutting queues etc...

Overall, we are glad we managed to get our child into this school (also in BP).

[Strawberry Milk]

tanzyjac:

.


Luckily I received a call from another school on the following Monday offering my daughter a place in their school (we were placed on waiting list). We then attended their registration/orientation on 15Nov.

Dear tanzyjac,
My colleague was so excited when she read your e-mail and really felt happy for you. Do you mind sharing which are the 2 schools in BP? Perhaps you like to PM me.

Thank you.

[tanzyjac]

Sure. I’ll pm you

[ChiefKiasu]

I guess the lesson learnt from this thread is that schools still have to work at wowing us parents AFTER we've gotten into the schools :). We all know how hard they worked during the open houses in June while trying to introduce themselves to us.

[jedamum]

ChiefKiasu:

I guess the lesson learnt from this thread is that schools still have to work at wowing us parents AFTER we've gotten into the schools :). We all know how hard they worked during the open houses in June while trying to introduce themselves to us.

Chief, while my boy's school has yet to win me over totally as i still find that they can be clearer in their instructions to parents, my boy is totally won over by the school after they showcase their performance to the kids and their mascot during the orientation. My boy told me that he feel that the school is a 'good' school.
He happy, I happy.

[ChiefKiasu]

jedamum:

Chief, while my boy's school has yet to win me over totally as i still find that they can be clearer in their instructions to parents, my boy is totally won over by the school after they showcase their performance to the kids and their mascot during the orientation. My boy told me that he feel that the school is a 'good' school.

He happy, I happy.

Wah... you lucky. My recollection of my son's orientation in Konghwa was how the English HOD impressed me with her command of language despite Konghwa being a SAP school. In fact, I don't recall a single word of Chinese spoken throughout the meet-the-teachers-in-the-school-hall session. No performance or anything else. Ended up with a pasar malam in the canteen where service providers tout their school bags and transport services.

[winth]

Hi, how do I know when the primary school is having orientation?


My boy is born 2003, so does it mean that the up and coming orientation is meant for my boy? Sorry, I’m really outdated on this.

Haven’t been to any orientation yet, thought it was suppose to be near June next year during registration?

[ChiefKiasu]

winth:

Hi, how do I know when the primary school is having orientation?


My boy is born 2003, so does it mean that the up and coming orientation is meant for my boy? Sorry, I'm really outdated on this.

Haven't been to any orientation yet, thought it was suppose to be near June next year during registration?

Open House (June) = Before you sign up... no commitments
Orientation (Dec) = After you have successfully registered, preparing your kid to go to P1 in that school

So I think orientations aren't for those of us who don't have kids going to P1 NEXT year.

[winth]

wow... thanks for the definitions.