Choosing and Evaluating Primary Schools

[Davischew]

Octavia\" post_id=\"1933103\" time=\"1567389834\" user_id=\"161617:

Octavia\" post_id=\"1928960\" time=\"1565847388\" user_id=\"161617:

[quote=Davischew post_id=1928880 time=1565837732 user_id=132882]
wait for the letter from school. should be anytime soon, as last week was long weekend.

:thankyou:

We haven't received letter from school.
Should we contact school or MOE?
I start to get worried ...[/quote]confirmed place nothing to worry. call the school

[dlkc99]

Hi just to be clear. After we got the SMS regarding the confirmed place, we should get a letter? Until now, i have not got any letter from the school. My girl is going into SCGS

[Davischew]

dlkc99\" post_id=\"1933263\" time=\"1567435596\" user_id=\"74631:

Hi just to be clear. After we got the SMS regarding the confirmed place, we should get a letter? Until now, i have not got any letter from the school. My girl is going into SCGS

Yes should have a letter. Wait till next week or just call the school.

[hurlyburly6.019192gmail.019192com]

I’ve a question on choosing primary schools. What are the advantages of going to a GEP school from P1? Are there any? (Apart from the kid not having to change schools if they get into GEP, because that’s a bit unlikely lah.) We could send the kid to a GEP school in phase 2A, but the school is kinda far away and in the wrong direction. (The school is not NYPS, if that makes a difference. :p)

[zac's mum]

hb\" post_id=\"1933273\" time=\"1567440499\" user_id=\"179788:

I've a question on choosing primary schools. What are the advantages of going to a GEP school from P1? Are there any? (Apart from the kid not having to change schools if they get into GEP, because that's a bit unlikely lah.) We could send the kid to a GEP school in phase 2A, but the school is kinda far away and in the wrong direction. (The school is not NYPS, if that makes a difference. :p)

If you don’t think it’s likely that your child will get into GEP, will he/she end up like a “2nd class citizen” in the GEP school? Find out more about that. Ask your alumni contacts with kids currently there (I’m assuming the school was not yet GEP status during your own childhood, so you can’t draw from your own experience).

Looking at the “famous” primary schools’ past year exam papers available online, I notice that the GEP schools (and SAP schools) tend to set tougher/more challenging papers. Is that something that you wish your child to undergo? Assuming that your child is not of that capacity (only you as the parent will be able to tell). Bear in mind that the same child would be scoring well in other “normal” schools, but may fail such tough papers in a GEP/SAP school.

As for whether GEP schools actually provide extra training/enrichment opportunities to their non-GEP students, I will let the parents from those schools comment.

[Davischew]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"1933287\" time=\"1567465655\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=1933287 time=1567465655 user_id=53606]

hb\" post_id=\"1933273\" time=\"1567440499\" user_id=\"179788:

I've a question on choosing primary schools. What are the advantages of going to a GEP school from P1? Are there any? (Apart from the kid not having to change schools if they get into GEP, because that's a bit unlikely lah.) We could send the kid to a GEP school in phase 2A, but the school is kinda far away and in the wrong direction. (The school is not NYPS, if that makes a difference. :p)

If you don’t think it’s likely that your child will get into GEP, will he/she end up like a “2nd class citizen” in the GEP school? Find out more about that. Ask your alumni contacts with kids currently there (I’m assuming the school was not yet GEP status during your own childhood, so you can’t draw from your own experience).

Looking at the “famous” primary schools’ past year exam papers available online, I notice that the GEP schools (and SAP schools) tend to set tougher/more challenging papers. Is that something that you wish your child to undergo? Assuming that your child is not of that capacity (only you as the parent will be able to tell). Bear in mind that the same child would be scoring well in other “normal” schools, but may fail such tough papers in a GEP/SAP school.

As for whether GEP schools actually provide extra training/enrichment opportunities to their non-GEP students, I will let the parents from those schools comment.[/quote]

I don’t agree on the “2nd class citizen”, too strong a word.
The population of GEP is lesser than mainstream. It would be better to say “expats”

[zac's mum]

Ok I made a wrong choice of words/analogy.


What I mean is, are normal mainstream kids in a GEP school, viewed or treated as less intelligent and less deserving of the usual resources/enrichment than the GEP kids? Are they discriminated against? What do the kids themselves say and feel about this dichotomy?

[lee_yl]

hb\" post_id=\"1933273\" time=\"1567440499\" user_id=\"179788:

I've a question on choosing primary schools. What are the advantages of going to a GEP school from P1? Are there any? (Apart from the kid not having to change schools if they get into GEP, because that's a bit unlikely lah.) We could send the kid to a GEP school in phase 2A, but the school is kinda far away and in the wrong direction. (The school is not NYPS, if that makes a difference. :p)

My friend had two kids in one of the GEP centres. DS1 in GEP and DS2 in MS.

He said he felt upset that the majority of the MS kids would just sit on the floor and clap hands when the majority of the award winners who go up the stage to collect awards were always the geppers. Every year it’s the same thing, sit there and clap hands, kind of demoralizing for his younger son.

To be honest, my DD2 said there appeared to be a line drawn between the GEP and MS students in her primary school. Once her class won a interclass Basketball competition and she overhead the MS students saying her class won because the teachers were biased towards the geppers.

Having said that, it has its pros studying in a GEP centre. Perhaps the standard is higher with tougher/challenging papers set and when there’s competition and peer pressure, one would strive to do better.

[sparkling]

Depends on whether you have a school that is close to your home that you are happy with.



It’s not as if every GEP kid will always score better in exams compared to non-GEP kids.

As for non-GEP kids in GEP schools, it’s also a good chance for them to learn to be resilient and confident in their own abilities? I would say the same vice versa for GEP kids if a non-GEP kid does better than them.

Academic grades can only do so much, soft skills are important to succeed in life too.

[hurlyburly6.019192gmail.019192com]

Thanks for the responses! Definitely a lot to think about. You’ve articulated some of my concerns in feeling demoralized at being in the "lower" or less-resourced classes - of course there’s no guarantee that the kid will be near the top in a non-GEP school, but that seems a little different to me. On the other hand yes, it’s a life skill to be confident in one’s own abilities, and I think the kid would do okay in a more challenging environment. (I mean, how do I tell? she’s doing fine in childcare, but it’s a small, friendly, HDB void deck-type of childcare centre - probably not an accurate gauge for primary school.)