Choosing and Evaluating Primary Schools

[hocknlim]

Hi,


We live in Woodlands and my 6 year old son has been going to Greentree montessori in Sembawang.
I am just wondering if there are any Montessori inspired primary schools in Woodlands?

If not, for those parents who sent their children to Montessori pre-schools, how does your children coping in mainstream schools? :thankyou:

[janet88]

hocknlim:

Hi,


We live in Woodlands and my 6 year old son has been going to Greentree montessori in Sembawang.
I am just wondering if there are any Montessori inspired primary schools in Woodlands?

If not, for those parents who sent their children to Montessori pre-schools, how does your children coping in mainstream schools? :thankyou:

there is no primary school which is Montessori mind set.
I have a friend whose sister sent her kids to Montessori kindergarten...the kids had a culture shock as mainstream primary school teachers are not Montessori trained. They are trained in MOE.

[zac's mum]

janet88:

hocknlim:

Hi,


We live in Woodlands and my 6 year old son has been going to Greentree montessori in Sembawang.
I am just wondering if there are any Montessori inspired primary schools in Woodlands?

If not, for those parents who sent their children to Montessori pre-schools, how does your children coping in mainstream schools? :thankyou:

there is no primary school which is Montessori mind set.
I have a friend whose sister sent her kids to Montessori kindergarten...the kids had a culture shock as mainstream primary school teachers are not Montessori trained. They are trained in MOE.

I agree, there are no Montessori (or even Montessori-inspired) primary schools anywhere in Singapore. At most, they allow hands-on learning during one or two special periods a week. The main subjects English, Maths, Mother Tongue are all taught according to MOE way.

For P1 Maths, MOE has spent money to buy Math “manipulatives” materials for each child in each school, such as table top balance scales, and Montessori-like counters rods and cubes (albeit plastic ones) for the kids to learn + - x regrouping etc. in a concrete tactile manner. How often the teacher actually allows them to use these during lesson time, is questionable. My son is a tactile/kinesthetic learner. I had to buy these materials myself to coach his learning at home. Once he grasped the concepts with the concrete tactile method, then he could easily apply the concepts on paper in written format like the other kids.

He was in a normal sit-down kindergarten in the mornings but also attended Montessori kindergarten in the afternoons. For those kids who have only experienced Montessori way of learning till K2, I suggest you send them for some sort of external sit-down type of enrichment lessons in a classroom where they can learn to receive instruction from the teacher for long sessions without walking around freely. Even holiday program will help a bit. Otherwise they will tend to be disruptive in the P1 classroom - no clue about appropriate classroom behavior.

[sky minecrafter]

Hi hocknlim, my kids are all Montessori-trained, & we've had no adjustment issues. Why don't you speak to your preschool, ask them how they're prepping the children for primary school; they're obliged to give you a satisfactory answer. Jmo.

[3999]

hocknlim:

Hi,


We live in Woodlands and my 6 year old son has been going to Greentree montessori in Sembawang.
I am just wondering if there are any Montessori inspired primary schools in Woodlands?

If not, for those parents who sent their children to Montessori pre-schools, how does your children coping in mainstream schools? :thankyou:

My girl studied in Greentree Montessori too since 20 months old and she's now in P5. She has no problem in adapting to the \"classroom format\" during P1. At her time, Greentree provided bridging session for the kids to get use to traditional P1 classroom style. Half a year before P1 school start, they would have to sit at the desks for lessons (versus previously just sit and gather around on floor for teaching), have to raise hands for speaking (versus previously can just voice out for opinion), have fix lessons and time table, have to do homework and tests (no homework and tests before).

It's a shock at that time when I first saw her test results during the bridging class (couldn't complete and low scores), so I set the correct expectation when finding her the primary school. Instead of top branded schools, we looked for a good disciplined school above average. She wanted girl's school, so we got her a girls' mission school at the end.The primary school did help the girls to adapt to primary class in the 1st and 2nd terms, so no issue in transition from Montessori kindergarten to primary school.

Hope this information is useful to you

[zac's mum]

I just came across this news on Sassy Mama newsletter. Apparently there is now a Montessori primary school in Singapore, the very first of its kind here. It is a private school though; not under MOE.


Link: http://lodestarmontessori.com

[despmom99]

gnil07:

Hi! I’m new here and have 3 kids.. will be registering for my girl in 2019. kinda overwhelmed with the registration now.. Would like to seek your opinions on the schools.


We live at Lakeside area and within 1 km is only Lakeside primary sch. I was from River Valley Primary (RVPS). We are considering the following options:
1) go for RVPS in phase 2A & send her to student care.
2) use my in law’s address to register for Rulang which is within 1 km under phase 2C. I’m not sure if I can still send her to student care since I registered using their address.
3) go for Lakeside primary under phase 2c.

Which option would u go for?


Thank you in advance!

I would go for option 1 if I have private transport to send her to school in the morning. Option 2 - u can try this if you go for PV or Grassroots

[dase]

Hi I am PR and my daughter is born 2014. We leave 300m from River Valley Primary school but unfortunately I found out just not that PV is closed and thus my chance to get in are very little (always balloting for SC). Which other schools you reccomend near Robertson Quay which has an holistic approach and is not too competitive? Thanks for helping and guiding.

[dase]

Hi I am PR and my daughter is born 2014. We leave 300m from River Valley Primary school but unfortunately I found out just not that PV is closed and thus my chance to get in are very little (always balloting for SC). Which other schools you reccomend near Robertson Quay which has an holistic approach and is not too competitive? Thanks for helping and guiding.

[dase]

Need help dear KS. I am a PR and leave 200 meter from River valley primary school. My daughter is born in 2018 and unfortunately I missed the PV enrollemnt date. I have a few questions 1) if I read correctly the statistic (sorry I am new) there is zero chance to get in RV aim 2C for PR, correct? 2) if yes which school should I try to PV (if still open) or to enroll in 2C ? I have St Margaret, Anglo Chinese, Zhangde, Alexandra, cantoment. I am looking for an holistic, non stressful and non competitive school. For me the PSE results are not very important. What would you reccomend for me to do?