Choosing and Evaluating Primary Schools

[zac's mum]

hocknlim:

Hi,


My boy will be enrolling to primary school in 2019. We live in Woodlands. I need some advice on primary schools in Woodlands. We prefer to enrol him in a school which practices holistic learning and not rote learning. My son is very physically active. It will also help if the school emphasize on sports and physical education. Can someone advice? Thanks!

Hi sorry I don't know anything about Woodlands schools.

But regarding active kids, what I can tell u is that generally, every primary school has fixed times for PE lessons. It's hard for the child to be \"active\" outside these lessons. Unless there is a big field for him to run around and play soccer etc during recess. Some schools (good to have) have a playground within the school, that helps to exhaust their energy so that they can sit still during lesson time.

What you can do is, during this period (Nov-Dec) bring your son to recce the school compounds in Woodlands. See whether any spaces for him to run around and whether he likes the campus. The security guards may be willing to let u in cos it's off-peak.

Is there any boys school near Woodlands? Because from my comparisons, boys schools tend to insert more PE per week. Can be 3x a week compared to co-ed schools only 2x a week.

[Rang81]

Hi Can anyone advise what are the good school in sengkang beside nan chiau? Can someone please advise about Rivervale Primary? Is it difficult to get PV for Rivervale Primary? Thanks.

[Claudia Lim]

Hi,

My dragon girl is due for Primary 1 registration next year.
My situation, im staying in Punggol where everywhere is always full. I do not want to do volunteering work and only option is phase 2C.
However, im a alumni of St. Hildas primary.
Which do you think its a better option:
1) travel by school bus to tampines daily
2) close eye and see where i can get a slot in punggol and travel by lrt or bus
:thankyou:

[zac's mum]

Claudia Lim:

Hi,

My dragon girl is due for Primary 1 registration next year.
My situation, im staying in Punggol where everywhere is always full. I do not want to do volunteering work and only option is phase 2C.
However, im a alumni of St. Hildas primary.
Which do you think its a better option:
1) travel by school bus to tampines daily
2) close eye and see where i can get a slot in punggol and travel by lrt or bus
:thankyou:

There are quite a number of primary schools in Punggol that are not full even at phase 2C(Supp): https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/punggol/

Why don't u just go straight to any of those at phase 2C? I don't know much about those supposedly new schools, but I don't think they can be awful right? Pls check with your neighbours though, they may be able to provide more reliable insider info...

St Hilda's is quite far away (even if go via KPE?)...and I don't think the reputation of the school (while good) is so fantastic that it's worth sacrificing your child's sleep for. Sorry just my opinion, when weighing the 2 choices.

[lushlush]

lushlush:

Hi, i live in Kovan with 3 girls. 1 of them is registering next yr (dragon baby), and I dont have any alumni. I have signed up for PV for PLMGS but have never successfully been called up for any activities. With my work schedule and their limitied activites, i have almost given up hope of completing the 40hrs.


What should i do? Shld I still try my luck for PLMGS next yr or should I try CHIJOLN which i heard should be less competitive? Im not religious but just so that these girls schools are nearer to me. Im worried as next yr is probabaly going to be v competitive!

Thanks for your advice!

Adding on.. my friend was telling me that as long as u move to within 1km, chances of u getting into the school is very high. Is it true? I know there are balloting and sort, but he was telling me that even at Phase 2c, so long as within 1km, should be fine. At least that was how he got his DD into scgs without any alumni.
Hmm... any advise?

[zac's mum]

lushlush:

lushlush:

Hi, i live in Kovan with 3 girls. 1 of them is registering next yr (dragon baby), and I dont have any alumni. I have signed up for PV for PLMGS but have never successfully been called up for any activities. With my work schedule and their limitied activites, i have almost given up hope of completing the 40hrs.


What should i do? Shld I still try my luck for PLMGS next yr or should I try CHIJOLN which i heard should be less competitive? Im not religious but just so that these girls schools are nearer to me. Im worried as next yr is probabaly going to be v competitive!

Thanks for your advice!

Adding on.. my friend was telling me that as long as u move to within 1km, chances of u getting into the school is very high. Is it true? I know there are balloting and sort, but he was telling me that even at Phase 2c, so long as within 1km, should be fine. At least that was how he got his DD into scgs without any alumni.
Hmm... any advise?

Your friend is correct in the sense that, <1km category trumps 1-2km category and >2km category.

If you are willing and able to move in time before your eldest's registration (and commit to staying there till your eldest's end of P2), <1km will get you a chance to ballot (if there is balloting). That's what he means should be fine.

Depending on the popularity of the school, for phase 2C, there may be either no balloting (eg. SCGS Tiger year, or Marymount Covent School most years), or there may be very intense balloting odds (eg. St Nicholas most years, I think prob 50-50 chance to get picked?)

If you want to see the balloting history for PLMGS and CHIJ OLGN, you can see here:
https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/hougang/

If you want to risk the balloting, that's fine (I did for DS), but you need to plan a back up school for phase 2C(Supp) in case you get balloted out.

[sherkoh]

Hi, I am new to this board and has a son born in 2014, also a daughter born in 2017. I am having a huge headache shortlisting primary schools for my son as we have just relocated back to Singapore. How do I begin my search for a school that has a holistic approach to education, and not just focus largely on academic pursuits? No preference on area yet as we are still looking for a place to buy. Thank you in advance for any advice.

[janet88]

sherkoh:

Hi, I am new to this board and has a son born in 2014, also a daughter born in 2017. I am having a huge headache shortlisting primary schools for my son as we have just relocated back to Singapore. How do I begin my search for a school that has a holistic approach to education, and not just focus largely on academic pursuits? No preference on area yet as we are still looking for a place to buy. Thank you in advance for any advice.

frankly speaking, i can't think of any school which has a truly holistic approach. since you have a younger daughter, i suppose you would want to enroll your son in a co-ed school in order to have one less headache when your younger one is due to register for p1. it also depends on whether you want to have affiliation to the secondary school. even staying within 1km for some co-ed schools, there is still balloting for popular ones.

[zac's mum]

sherkoh:

Hi, I am new to this board and has a son born in 2014, also a daughter born in 2017. I am having a huge headache shortlisting primary schools for my son as we have just relocated back to Singapore. How do I begin my search for a school that has a holistic approach to education, and not just focus largely on academic pursuits? No preference on area yet as we are still looking for a place to buy. Thank you in advance for any advice.

Since u have a boy & a girl, to simply things, just limit your choices to co-ed schools.

Have u considered you or your husband’s alma mater??

For holistic schools, from my research, there are 2 groups of such schools: Christian and secular.

Most Christian co-ed schools are highly popular unfortunately: Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary, St Hilda’s Primary, Fairfield Methodist Primary, and Geylang Methodist School Primary. (Somebody please point out if I have missed out any). PHPS is a SAP school so eliminate unless your DS’s Mandarin is fantastic. SHPS - I dunno how holistic it is, could be academically-driven due to GEP status. The other 2 are quite holistic but pls check out more.

Secular schools that are holistic (as far as I’ve heard): Cedar Primary, Bukit Timah Primary.

[janet88]

zac's mum:

Since u have a boy & a girl, to simply things, just limit your choices to co-ed schools.

Have u considered you or your husband’s alma mater??

For holistic schools, from my research, there are 2 groups of such schools: Christian and secular.

Most Christian co-ed schools are highly popular unfortunately: Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary, St Hilda’s Primary, Fairfield Methodist Primary, and Geylang Methodist School Primary. (Somebody please point out if I have missed out any). PHPS is a SAP school so eliminate unless your DS’s Mandarin is fantastic. SHPS - I dunno how holistic it is, could be academically-driven due to GEP status. The other 2 are quite holistic but pls check out more.

Secular schools that are holistic (as far as I’ve heard): Cedar Primary, Bukit Timah Primary.

for Pei Hwa, if you are able to spend time to coach your kids in their Chinese, you may want to consider...but it is a SAP school, so it is very academic based. Fairfield has affiliation to secondary but be prepared to ballot within 1km, same goes for Keming which is in Bukit Batok. There is Bukit View Primary.