What are the various other schools' policy on parent visit ?

[qms]

Amos2010:

So is the school really secured ?

Actually, if you find any lapse in the area of security, you should bring the matter up to the attention of the Operations Manager of the school, or the principal. Singapore is generally safe. However, I still remember two boys went missing in the 1980s, and they are still not found today. I am sure you won't want such a thing to happen. Prevention is better than cure. You don't wait for a problem to happen before you start tackling it.

Amos2010:

If so, then why is there still a need to sign in ? What real purpose does it serves ?

The same reason goes to your questions above. True, we are not experiencing the H1N1 outbreak here. But, you must admit that signing in does facilitate contact tracing should an outbreak happens. You won't know if you were a carrier of some virus, right? Let's say another parent is a carrier of H1N1 virus, and unknowingly, went to the school. What would happen if the school needs to close down due to the spread because of this? You would blame the school for not taking the right measures, right?

You also mentioned that not all parents bring their children to schools. However, if the school were to set a precedent, parents will start requesting their maids or the children's grandparents to be in the school, too. Till then, do you still think the school will not be in a \"mess\"?

When you have a procedure, stick to the procedure. Too much exceptions to the procedure will lead to confusion because there are simply too many unknowns.

Cool down. Take a step back, and look at this issue from another perspective. Like what ks2me suggested, maybe you would like to wait for your child outside the school, in a coffee shop or a park, rather than in the school.

[corneyAmber]

Amos2010:

ks2me:

Maybe you can request up to this level in order not to clutter the schoolbag with more containers but waiting in the canteen until lunch would not be ideal.

I did not get what you wrote here. Please enlighten.

What I meant was:

Don't wait in the school, but request to return and go to the canteen to see your child finish lunch(I assume is P1??), collect the lunchbox and bring them home. So this will not clutter his schoolbag with excess baggage. If you take one step back but negotiate for the above, at least you get to eat with him(the time spent also is short enough for them to permit), it is still a satisfactory arrangement, rather then totally being shutoff by only dropping the lunch off.

[daisyt]

In my child’s primary school, the same thing. All visitors, including parents and graduated students must register at the security booth, exchange your ID/student pass for a visitor pass, before going in. However, there is a Parent’s Corner (near the car park and entrance), a sheltered area with many benches for parents to wait for their kids at anytime. Maybe you can suggest to the school to set up such area.

[Amos2010]

ks2me:

What I meant was:

Don't wait in the school, but request to return and go to the canteen to see your child finish lunch(I assume is P1??), collect the lunchbox and bring them home. So this will not clutter his schoolbag with excess baggage. If you take one step back but negotiate for the above, at least you get to eat with him(the time spent also is short enough for them to permit), it is still a satisfactory arrangement, rather then totally being shutoff by only dropping the lunch off.

Thanks ! I found my first reply to you above was too short, and it would give people an impression that I am not polite. I edited it. But meantime, a few other messages came in.

I see you point. Actually, this school does not limite the number of times I visit. I cerainly can go back again to collect the lunch box.

[corneyAmber]

Btw, I don’t find you confrontational at all, so no worries. I believe these are very typical parents’ concerns especially when children are in lower primary level.


Just that, choose the battles to fight, such ones no use fighting, drain yourself only. Just get your objective met to let your child enjoy home-cooked meal and scoot off after seeing to that.

[Amos2010]

I guess I am ok with the procedure for visitor to register and get a visitor badge. It is kind of a common practise everywhere.


However, like I said before, this procedure does not ensure any safety of our children. The guard don’t check against the identity of the visitor against any photo ID, they don’t ask which class your child is in. Maybe he don’t it because he already familiar with the faces. But then, if they are already familiar with the faces, like the security guard at the condo, the residents don’t need to sign in…

Contact tracing…if we are in a raise alert level against a pandemic, we need even better control, we have experienced that, so the current registration process would be too brief for any useful contact tracing purpose.

It is like not here, not there. It is not sufficient to serve any real purpose, yet it is there to ‘do it for the sake of doing it’.

I can think of a better solution, which involve the school purchasing some equipement would be a bar-code reader (like the supermarket cashier) scan the NRIC, which records date and time, and the database will tell if this IC holder has any child studying in the school or not. And this process will be faster too.

I guess the question I really want to ask is - do you school resort to chasing parent out if they think you spend too long in the school ? If yes, after how long ?

[pokemon]

my son’s school also have the same policy about parents not allowing to remain in the premise other than a valid reason e.g going to see the teacher or visit to the office/bookshop. I did get the visitor pass from the security guard actually to buy uniform, but i also did move quite abit to inspect the school premise, so far nobody stop me.


My son has a similar schedule lk yours. Once a week he needs to be in sch early for his cca and follow by enrichment cls. Therefore he will need his lunch and of course snack during recess. At first i did comtemplate the thought of staying behind and wait for him to have lunch, but both his activities tk 2++hrs, guess im not dat patient. I also did think of going out school premise and return later to have lunch with him.

In the end, to save the hassle and my precious time. Everyday of that week, i will pack a more substantial sandwich (ham/cheese, chicken or tuna) or japanese onigiri complete with salad and fruits, all in a lunchbox. So during recess, he will buy snack from the canteen. So far has been a few weeks, it works out well. Furthermore, after his enrichment cls, all the students will be out at the canteen having lunch with teachers supervising them, so my son may feel ‘funny’ if im the only parent there. So far he told me there are no other parents waiting in the school.

Im not sure if the admin will chase any parents waiting there, near to the security guard, there a kinda of waiting area for parents. I guessed that is where i shld be if i want to wait for my son for lunch.

[Amos2010]

Parent need to go to school for a variety of reasons, and to the parent, all are valid: fetch child; buy books, uniform from book shop; talk to teacher; sometime, the child is not feeling well (not really MC, but just mild); some special needs case…


Even if just to see the child, once a while, is still valid - parent’s love !

Even if just to look around the school’s facility - want to know if the school’s is good or not - out of concern, to me is still valid.

Would a parent really ‘loiter’ (definition: •loiter - To stand about without any aim or purpose) in school ? The use of loiter to describe parent’s presence is a bit derogatory.

[corneyAmber]

Amos2010:

Parent need to go to school for a variety of reasons, and to the parent, all are valid: fetch child; buy books, uniform from book shop; talk to teacher; sometime, the child is not feeling well (not really MC, but just mild); some special needs case...


Even if just to see the child, once a while, is still valid - parent's love !

Even if just to look around the school's facility - want to know if the school's is good or not - out of concern, to me is still valid.

Would a parent really 'loiter' (definition: •loiter - To stand about without any aim or purpose) in school ? The use of loiter to describe parent's presence is a bit derogatory.

You decide if it is derogatory or factual after reading this because there are indeed such parents:

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090719-155758.html

[auntieM]

Thanks for the good read ks2me


There are such parents and I know for sure because my DS's classmate have parents like that.. ..

I have nothing against parents' visit to school for valid reasons, but guess for some kids their parents feel that they need to be around school more often till their kiddo settles down.