Choosing and Evaluating Primary Schools

[Brandon.041807yf.041807goh.041807gmail.041807com]

Dear Zac’s mum,


Thank you for your advice and sharing. As our boy is currently attending ARC, an associate school of Pathlight, we have been advised on the criteria and procedure for Pathlight registration. If we were given a choice of the following two options:

1) Put him to Pathlight and transfer to mainstream primary 1-2 years later.

2) Send him to mainstream primary directly.

our concern for option 1 is that it will be difficult to transfer him out from Pathlight to a decent mainstream primary.

Thank you again.

[zac's mum]

I suggest you make more enquiries with ARC or Pathlight about the academic curriculum that the Pathlight P1s will be doing. How different is it from the mainstream 4 subjects? That would give u a clue about how much gap the child will have to make up, in order to satisfy the mainstream school’s requirements. They are likely to look at exam grades (if any), or make him sit an entrance test.

[Hendon]

[email protected]\" post_id=\"2017433\" time=\"1615554100\" user_id=\"152383:

Dear Zac's mum,

Thank you for your advice and sharing. As our boy is currently attending ARC, an associate school of Pathlight, we have been advised on the criteria and procedure for Pathlight registration. If we were given a choice of the following two options:

1) Put him to Pathlight and transfer to mainstream primary 1-2 years later.

2) Send him to mainstream primary directly.

our concern for option 1 is that it will be difficult to transfer him out from Pathlight to a decent mainstream primary.

Thank you again.

I think the mainstream school you are thinking of matters. Visit the school or schools and see if they have had students transfer in from pathlight or in similar circumstances and how things developed for the student.

School culture matters and so do teachers in mainstream schools, and who do change over time. You will probably need to see some structure in place to help kids with special needs.

P3 is also more academically challenged than P1-2 these days, and your child is entering a new school environment with new classmates at the P3 level

[coast]

[email protected]\" post_id=\"2017433\" time=\"1615554100\" user_id=\"152383:

Dear Zac's mum,

Thank you for your advice and sharing. As our boy is currently attending ARC, an associate school of Pathlight, we have been advised on the criteria and procedure for Pathlight registration. If we were given a choice of the following two options:

1) Put him to Pathlight and transfer to mainstream primary 1-2 years later.

2) Send him to mainstream primary directly.

our concern for option 1 is that it will be difficult to transfer him out from Pathlight to a decent mainstream primary.

Thank you again.

IMHO, if the intention is to transfer to mainstream primary later, it may be better to start mainstream directly with close monitoring. Do check with Pathlight how easy or difficult it is to transfer from mainstream if he cannot cope in P1 or P2. MOE has removed exams for P1 & P2 so it is a good start for him to go to mainstream directly without too much academic stress at the beginning.

Also, MOE has early intervention programmes such as LSP (Learning Support Programme) conducted in small groups for students who need additional help with English, Maths or Mother Tongue.

Apart from your concern about difficulty to transfer him to mainstream for Option 1, if he joins later in P3, academic demands will be higher than P1 & P2 as they have to be prepared for exams and an additional subject (Science).

Hope it works out for your boy whichever path you choose. All the best.

[zac's mum]

I took a further look at Pathlight’s website. The kids do not take Mother Tongue lessons at all, [although they do seem to follow the mainstream syllabus for the other core subjects]. So that may be an issue when transferring to mainstream primary (I do not know whether u can apply for and obtain MT exemption from MOE on the sole basis of ASD).


The suggestion of enrolling into mainstream first & see whether he can cope - I’d be very careful to stay away from the so-called competitive schools. The academic pace there is far too fast & the P1 kids there likely have had years of tuition since N2 age.

Better to pick a 2C school that is compassionate towards special needs kids & has good allied educator support (you may still need to hire a shadow teacher out of your own pocket as the schools’ teachers usually aren’t trained in special needs). If u go straight for a school that is undersubscribed even in 2CS, likely the class size will be smaller too.

Personally I’d suggest a co-ed school. Boys schools tend to have bullies that pick on the weak or odd. Some neighborhood co-ed schools like Pei Ying, Zhonghua, Elias Park come to mind; they have been in the news as supportive of & inclusive with special needs:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/primary-1-students-behavioural-difficulties-transit-moe-14322192

[phtthp]

[email protected]\" post_id=\"2017433\" time=\"1615554100\" user_id=\"152383:

Dear Zac's mum,

Thank you for your advice and sharing.

As our boy is currently attending ARC, an associate school of Pathlight, we have been advised on the criteria and procedure for Pathlight registration.

If we were given a choice of the following two options:

1) Put him to Pathlight and transfer to mainstream primary 1-2 years later.

2) Send him to mainstream primary directly.

our concern for option 1 is that it will be difficult to transfer him out from Pathlight to a decent mainstream primary.

Thank you again.

If your child were to study in Pathlight, assuming that your child managed to clear & pass Pathlight \"Entrance\" test, been offered a place there -

all Pathlight students
are automatically exempted from Mother tongue.


But,
if you decide to enrol your child into a Mainstream primary school, think not all autistic children can be exempted from Mother tongue.

1) perhaps, find out from Pathlight-

based on past years,
roughly,
how many cases so far (If any), have students successfully transferred out of Pathlight into Mainstream schools, at the end of their P2, and how have they coped so far with the
-
much faster, demanding pace in Mainstream schools, compared to the more comfortable learning pace set inside Pathlight, because the professionals inside Pathlight are experienced, fully understand the type of challenges these children face / encounter ?


2)

Before even applying to exit Pathlight to enter a Mainstream school at the end of P2,

please weigh & consider very carefully the consequences, if after transferred out of Pathlight at end of P2 -

A) your child has been exempted from Mother tongue, but each (P3 to P6) classes have around 40 students, per class


B) MOE did not approve any exemption of Mother tongue at all, for your child

[bibibaba84]

Dear all


i intend to move to within 1km of Nan Hua primary. As i am currently doing community voluntary work in my current RC and most likely I can try to apply for Nan Hua in 2B next year. Any suggestion if 2B for Nan Hua worthy trying？if didn’t get in 2B, what is the good option for 2C? I understand 2C balloting chance for Nan hua is too low to try.

[F3parent]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2017510\" time=\"1615641237\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2017510 time=1615641237 user_id=53606]
I took a further look at Pathlight’s website. The kids do not take Mother Tongue lessons at all, [although they do seem to follow the mainstream syllabus for the other core subjects]. So that may be an issue when transferring to mainstream primary (I do not know whether u can apply for and obtain MT exemption from MOE on the sole basis of ASD).

The suggestion of enrolling into mainstream first & see whether he can cope - I’d be very careful to stay away from the so-called competitive schools. The academic pace there is far too fast & the P1 kids there likely have had years of tuition since N2 age.

Better to pick a 2C school that is compassionate towards special needs kids & has good allied educator support (you may still need to hire a shadow teacher out of your own pocket as the schools’ teachers usually aren’t trained in special needs). If u go straight for a school that is undersubscribed even in 2CS, likely the class size will be smaller too.

Personally I’d suggest a co-ed school. Boys schools tend to have bullies that pick on the weak or odd. Some neighborhood co-ed schools like Pei Ying, Zhonghua, Elias Park come to mind; they have been in the news as supportive of & inclusive with special needs:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/primary-1-students-behavioural-difficulties-transit-moe-14322192[/quote]

zac's mom, i thought boys schools have less bullies and serious incidents of bullying?
specially at P1 where everyone is green

[zac's mum]

Generalizing here…Boys have more testosterone - which tends to cause more aggressive / violent tendencies. If not taught taught correct behavior by parents, the boys tend to act out physically when emotionally stressed.


In a P1 class, transitioning from relaxed kindergarten days, there will be tough days getting used to new instructions & envt etc. Bullies who don’t know how to cope with this will tend to lash out at vulnerable victims around them.

The girls tend to be more emotionally able to cope. Even if they bully, tends to be verbal, no physical injuries involved.

Class of size 30, assuming half boys and half girls even ratio, still smaller chance of being punched/kicked/called nasty names compared to all 30 boys.

[Joelmum]

Shuqun primary