2013 P1 Registration Exercise for 2014 In-Take
-
Yes, many anxious parents are "kan cheong", can’t wait to enrol their child into a primary school.
-
Yes phtthp, can understand
What happens if all the schools will go for balloting and there are kids who are still not registered ? -
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! -
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…) -
Good luck to everybody that has to ballot.
-
Hi,
Anybody have any idea what will happen tomorrow as, according to the number of places VS applicants, there will be 767 children without a school? Is there a precedent for this? Will the MOE be forced to open up additional classes in some schools? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks! -
gvyong:
Only this year (2007 golden piggies) -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..)
Total number of applicants exceed total number of Vacancies, in phase 3.
Never happen before.
Too many piggies looking for school. -
:slapshead: Too many foreigners in Singapore!
-
phtthp:
I think it's due to the influx of foreigners, not because of golden piggies. I foresee this will occur every year from now onwards. Or is govt going to build more new schools?? Really a strain on resources...
Only this year (2007 golden piggies) -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..)
Total number of applicants exceed total number of Vacancies, in phase 3.
Never happen before.
Too many piggies looking for school. -
jinster:
Too late for MOE to do anything. Open up classes but not enough teachers to teach. The children will probably have to go to international schools.Hi,
Anybody have any idea what will happen tomorrow as, according to the number of places VS applicants, there will be 767 children without a school? Is there a precedent for this? Will the MOE be forced to open up additional classes in some schools? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login