Corporation Primary

[snoorks]

Any feedback on this school. Since Corp Pri seems to be \"under the radar\" school in Jurong West area :lol:

[Kabby]

My son is in P1 this year. He enjoys school a lot.


We chose the school because it is nearby, it has CCAs that our son is passionate about, has dedicated teachers and we talked to the principal who we feel shares the same beliefs as us. That is, to focus on the holistic development of the child.

We are extremely happy with that because he then has time to enjoy other pursuits in school and out of school which we feel is very important.

The other thing important to us is the single-session system. They get to start later at 8am and they can end later at 3pm. That gives the kids time for computer lessons, PAL programme, learning to swim prog (P2) and to carry out their alternative modes of assessment, or do projects.

This 8-3 timing is similar to what schools in Japan or USA or UK have. It's not so packed and rushed in the school day. Only regret is that very few primary schools have a large outdoor playground like schools overseas. But we told him to run around the school garden with his friends during each break. At least that is a change from sitting down for extended periods in his class.

The teachers send out a letter to the parents at the start of the year with their names, emails and contact no.s. I use those or the student handbook to contact them. They are usually good at replying and responding. So far it has been very open communication between his trs and us.

Thanks to LKVM, who had this idea of having a list. :love: :love: :love:

HERE IS THE 2013 LIST of KSP members associated with CPS
(updated Nov 2012)

Primary 5 parents

Champion/dd1/Endurance 1
mercury95sg/dd/
KL

Primary 4 parents

Kabby/ds1/
Dinky

Primary 3 parents

LKVM/ds1/
RJK/dd/
ExpatMom/ds/
summergem
skyozone/dd/
rush1.5
alyn/dd/
ningval
louedy
Albon

Primary 2 parents

Champion/dd2/
cricketer_dad/dd/
queen1108/ds1/
sno_opy/dd/
mercury95sg/ds/
ttmummy/dd/

Primary 1 parents

Dora1/dd/Respect 2

Our alumni

torres79 -
doublesmile10 - 2010 P6.1 - Nan Hua High
songlz123 - 2010 P6.1 - PSLE 267 - Raffles Institution
KiasuAdult - 2011 P6.1 - PSLE 262 - River Valley High


(If you see your name here but have not posted publicly, come and join our community!)

[Champion]

Hi tjm,

It is so encouraging to see your message on this thread ...I always feel that there are not many \"KiasuParents\" parents with children in this school :lol:

My gal she is in P2 this year and also enjoying her school v v much. One reason also because she has v dedicated Form Teacher and she gets along well with all her classmates. DH does mention once in awhile if she is ok if we will do a transfer for her to another school (Just a casual remark) and guess what? Immediately, she burst into tears . So we know that she is comfortable in the school and is learning well in the envt. Although many may give remarks:\"Huh, no exams then how to grade a child's progress?\" But when I spoke to her F.T. during the Parent-Teacher-Meeting, she assured me that my gal is doing extremely well and so long she maintains the standard or better still to strive for a higher level, she will able to cope with P3 next year.

I hope parents, esp those staying in Jurong West, after reading what tjm has written will give a 2nd thought - maybe to consider Corporation Primary too. Just my own little sharing.....

[Kabby]

That’s great to hear! Your dd has settled down really well I think!


When I visit the school, I get a general feeling that the kids are all very happy there. They are lively and spontaneous. Not rigid and serious or stressed.

During the PTM, I feel the portfolio that was shown to us, as well as the alternative assessments, were enough to track progress and evaluate the kids’ learning. I don’t think they are losing out by not having exams. In fact, the papers stated that MOE wants all schools to follow suit by 2013 - scrap exams for P1 and P2. (that’s great cos i still have 2 other kids after this eldest one)

[Giggler1]

Thks tjm and Champion for your feedback on Corp Pr.


I've alr list this sch as my back up plan if we not able to get into West Grove after phase 2B. :lol:

[ExpatMom]

Hello,


My son will be going to P1 next year and I'm looking at the different options in the Jurong West area for him. Since he's an expat, I wanted to see whether any other foreigners have had any difficulties with their kids transitioning at Corporation. My son is a very outgoing kid and has many friends at one of the local preschools, so I'm not too worried about this, but wanted to hear what other parents had to say about it. I am also particularly interested in Corporation since the principal has spoken out against using corporal punishment. I recognize many parents here may be ok with that, and I respect that, but it is nonetheless an important criteria for me and my family.

The single session sounds more productive since I know I can barely function before 7am. When I was a kid, the first class of the morning was always the one I made the lowest grade in because I was never quite awake enough to let the information take root. So am I understanding this correctly that P1 and P2 do not have any exams?

Thank you in advance for your input.

[Kabby]

Hi expat mom,


Perhaps you can pm me. Especially if you have many specific questions to ask.

I too was initially worried and concerned if my son can adapt to the schooling system here even though hubby and I went through it fine. It's just because of the difference in focus and the pace.

My son is very happy there now. If you notice, Corporation did not have a high take up rate with Singaporeans. Although, they have 10 classes of P1 kids this yr, but some 20% at least, enrolled after the last phase for Singaporeans. So I am assuming that 20% at least, are foreigners.

Some Singaporeans do not like that, but I am for it, because my son gets to mix around and interact with kids of different cultures and backgrounds.

I think we should not place too high an emphasis on academic excellence at such a young age, and instead, let them experience and explore as much as possible. I am saying this because I have many friends who dissuaded me from registering him in a school with too diverse a mix, because they feel the academic results of the cohort will be affected, since the range of abilities is wide.

I'd be most happy to share more with you, just pm me!

[ExpatMom]

Oh no, I am totally against corporal punishment. Sorry if that wasn't clear. We moved from the US where, as I'm sure you know, corporal punishment is a big no-no. Knowing that a school is likely to use negative reinforcement is a big showstopper for us. It's not that I expect my kid to be a misfit, but kids can and do make bad decisions for a variety of reasons, and I don't want to send him to a school that is likely to hurt him when he makes a bad decision.


Hm, 20% foreigners does sound promising. With those odds, he won't likely be singled out for being so different from the rest. I was a bit worried when I saw they didn't teach Tamil as I figured the variety of kids would suffer.

[Kabby]

Which 2nd language would you be likely to choose?

yes the school offers chinese and malay. Indian students take their mother tongue classes after school at the language center. Because of this, indeed, there aren’t that many Indian kids taking Tamil in the school.

Ds1 has an Indian classmate who does that. Some other Indian kids take either Malay or Chinese as their 2nd language.

I didn’t see any Americans amongst his P1 schoolmates yet, but as you mentioned, your son is in a local kindy? I think he’d be fine. The diversity is more of the Asian countries, although ds1 says there is a Caucasian girl in P6 in his school. He says she speaks like his former teacher (last yr in kindy) who is Australian, so maybe that’s where she’s from.

Welcome to Singapore and I hope you are having a good time here.

Are you a SAHM? Do you have other kids? I think you live in Jurong West right? If you want more local Sg friendly faces, I’d be happy to meet up and show you around. I had really hospitable and helpful friends and neighbors while I was in the US and China and I would pay it forward if I could.

[ExpatMom]

He's learning Chinese now. At his age, it's a perfect time for him to learn the nuances of the language since it is so different from other languages. Not to mention, I need a translator when I go visiting China.


I don't expect there to be any Americans in his class (and really that's fine-- I didn't put him in the public school system to be surrounded by kids like him), I just don't want him to be automatically singled out and ridiculed for being different. But that hasn't been a problem in his local preschool. He's so friendly, I'm probably just worrying about it too much. He's had such a great experience so far, and he loves school. I just want him to continue to love school for as long as possible. I made a great decision with the preschool, and I want to make an equally good decision with the primary school.

I'll send you a pm.