Criteria for a Good Student Care Service (BASC)

[bolster]

im a parent and my kid is in basc at one of the centre in the north.

So basically i wrote this to see how the reaction of the parent.
I distorted the letter the centre.

I wanted to check with you parents, which school in the north provide free tuition for the BASC. Was told to pay a premium for this service.

[bolster]

buds:

san76:

[quote=\"bolster\"]Dear parents,


Please take note if you put yr kids in BASC:

1. If yr kid is stupid or slow, please engage tutor to help yr kid in schoolwork. Child care centre do not provide tutor service for BASC.

2. If yr kid declare no homework to the teacher in charge, please blame your kid, do not push all the blame to the teachers or centre.

3. If you are not happy with the centre, just quit and leave.

4. If you do not believe what the teacher complain about your kid, please bring your kid to other centres. It imply no trust on the teacher.

If you trust the school, please shut up and pay the school fee. DO NOT BLAME everything to the school.

The school accept feedback but pushing the blame to the teacher due to your kid laziness and stupidness is unacceptable.

Hi, Bolster,

What is BASC? Really I dont know the meaning. :roll:

Heyya san76,

BASC stands for Before After School Care.
These kinda centres provide care service
for mostly primary school students without
a reliable caregiver at home. The students
can come in before they start PM session,
when their parents drop them off at the
centres in the morning (on the way to work).
Or the children will be fetched by the BASC
teachers ( or walk to BASC if its very near
the school - for older children ) after AM
session to the centres from the primary
school upon dismissal.

BASC not only provides the care... or a place
where your child is looked after in the absence
of the parent, such centres also coach/assist
with child's schoolwork and on top of that (some
centres) may also offer tuition at reasonable rates.
A few centres offer optional enrichment pgrms as
well like IT, Creative Maths, Reading Programme,
Speech and Drama (etc) to parents as well.

Centres near our local pools and stadium facilities
sometimes offer that children pick up a sport like
badminton, swimming, (etc) which is again optional
and such extra curricular activities are allowed to be
done like once a week after completion of the tuition
hours + homework, to promote exercise other than
just school work - at a small fee with a qualified coach.

A good BASC will give parents the ease that the
child not only has lunch and tea break provided,
the school work also covered. Whatever rest provided
is really extra. Parents have other pairs of eyes helping
them watch over their kids in the absence of the care of
full-time working parent (especially when there is a neccesity
for the parents to stay employed). Parents can set their mind
at ease that they can spend better quality time with their child
at home, since the major care and school work has been
assisted by the BASC.

If parents have say 2 children, 1 in pre-school and 1 primary
school... there are also childcare centres that offer BASC as
well. They have separate classrooms for the BASC students
who will be cared for by BASC teachers ie. qualified staff to
teach/manage primary level subjects (ala tutors) and the didi
or mei-mei will be with the childcare teachers in the main class
rooms of the childcare centres.

Different centres provide different care services.
And different centres go by different rules or
protocols and fees. Good to check with each
prior to registration. What is shared here is a
general comment of the BASC service and not
representing any centre in particular, k.

Hope the info helps.[/quote]I have changed 3 centres for the BASC. All 3 centre in the north engage lousy or stupid teacher. Worst, the stupid MCYS state teacher with O level is good enough to take care of the student. End up it is the student coaching the teacher.

Now i wonder, is all the centre like that?

[buds]

bolster:

I have changed 3 centres for the BASC. All 3 centre in the north engage lousy or stupid teacher. Worst, the stupid MCYS state teacher with O level is good enough to take care of the student. End up it is the student coaching the teacher.


Now i wonder, is all the centre like that?

Heyya bolster,

Hope you have calmed down after your angry posts recently...
Having swapped to 3 BASC thus far, must have taken a toil on
you and your child. Hence, the harsh and angry tone from your
first few postings here in the forum. As your postings were rather
vague, i have some questions to clarify the situation you're in...
hope you won't mind. Cos you see... if it is a valid issue, it will be
good for other parents to learn from your painful experience and
through your eyes. All parents wish and want the best for their
children and by having shared your thoughts, we hope to improve
our children's learning journeys and be extra mindful with our
choices in future.. BASC operators can also take from your
experience to hopefully improve their services as well... in general.

1.When you mentioned \"stupid and lousy teachers\"... strong dislike
there in that sentence... Why do you say so? What encounters with
you or your child that came to that conclusion? Did you have any
kind of expectations as a parent, on a BASC service? Prior to putting
your child through the 3 centres, did you garner all the information
you required to satisfy your needs and the needs of your child?

2.Mebbe, if students coming from lower Primary 1-2... O level holders
can manage okay in their eyes? Did you personally check with MCYS
on that matter or was that the assurance from the centres?

bolster:

Dear parents,

Please take note if you put yr kids in BASC:

1. If yr kid is stupid or slow, please engage tutor to help yr kid in schoolwork. Child care centre do not provide tutor service for BASC

No child is born stupid. Slow mebbe the cause of lack or early preparation
prior to joining primary school... or a particular child may have undetected
learning difficulties... well, few possible reasons here...

A private tutor tho' spends time coaching children with school work and
also introduces learning strategies to children, will not be able to provide
care for children whose parents are working full-time.. A nanny, a maid,
a babysitter or a maid should be in place, if not a reliable BASC. Or
mebbe, staying with a neighbour or at the grandparents could be an
option (if possible).

Not all child care centres provide before-after-school-care services...
And if they do not have a proper classroom catered for this, they
definitely do not have the proper staff to teach BASC students and
hence in this case, will not have the mentoring or tutoring service
that comes with the usual BASC service in general..

bolster:

2. If yr kid declare no homework to the teacher in charge, please blame your kid, do not push all the blame to the teachers or centre.

This sounds like a view from a teacher, cause of the hurt in the comment.
This view on its own reflects almost like a voice of a teacher who has
been misunderstood.

Coming from a parent... hmmm..... let's see...
Communication is a 2-way thing. Both sides -
can work this out.. Initiative is also another thing..
It also does not hurt to check student's school diary
just to double check (cause nowadays most information,
including homework will be jotted down in a school diary..)

For a P1 and P2 child, declaring can be a gradual thing as
they have just only experienced life of a primary student..

bolster:

3. If you are not happy with the centre, just quit and leave.

Again, this comment sounds like its coming from centre staff and not
so much parent, but possible... By all means parents are customers
here and so are their children. To quit will be the easy option out and
solve the problem immediately while parent still continue to scour for
another centre. If coming from a staff, the teacher can always call for
a supervisor/senior staff to come in and mediate a negative situation.
Though, it can be valid that some parents can be a pain... there are
always two sides to a story... two sides of a coin. Centres these days
also include clauses that they hold the authority to ask a child to be
withdrawn due to a number of reasons. If the centre cannot handle,
or refuse to do business with the parent in particular... with this clause
they can do so - provided the reasons given were valid and not due to
petty issues and personal issues.

bolster:

4. If you do not believe what the teacher complain about your kid, please bring your kid to other centres. It imply no trust on the teacher.

If you trust the school, please shut up and pay the school fee. DO NOT BLAME everything to the school. .

Again, this is a communication issue... but trust MUST be earned. Parents
need to work to pay for these additional services and its only fair that the
centre prove its efficiency and standard care with professionalism to earn
that respect. Its not right to simply ask a customer to shut up and pay...
regardless of the nature of service... be it after sch care, product sales,
health services, etc.

Parents' value teacher's feedback... It can be frustrating if there are
parents who take pride in their children's abilities and behaviour and
take no heed to a teacher's inner cry for help... how the feedback is
delivered is also important here. If you tell a parent, \"Your child is
super slow.. and not on par with the others in the same level...\" as
compared to \"I think your child needs additional assistance with his
school work to keep up with the rest of his peers, can we discuss..\"
Any parent will find it hard to hear shortcomings of their children but
if the feedback can be delivered in a sincere way to help rather than
pushing the blame and labelling the child, it would be for the benefit
of both. The centre being the provider and being paid for to provide,
it would only make sense that the provider engages in a positive
resolution/intervention for the good of the customer, in this case it
would be the parent and the student.

As a customer, yes, we must also be fair... cannot blame school 100%
unless if there was some major injustice done.

bolster:

5.The school accept feedback but pushing the blame to the teacher due to your kid laziness and stupidness is unacceptable.

Again, this seems to come more from a teaching personnel rather than
a parent... but anyhow... labelling is not encouraged in a learning
instituition or centre and really... even the home. Neither does putting
down a child (degrading) nor threatening a child is able to provide a
kind of healthy practise/norm for positive change in the long run..

The above statement is in irony of each content.
Accepting feedback, means taking it positively... digesting... and
provide solutions if possible. If having difficulty, parents should be
roped in for discussions...

Laziness is not too bad a word to describe non-motivating children..
coming from a parent or teacher... Cause there are children who
behave in that manner due to lack of interest, lack of motivation,
lack of direction or lack of positive environment for learning..

But stupidness... that's a strong label to give a child.
It's like before even half the battle is won, there is
already no hope for the poor child.

[Luvkid]

Hi all there,


Let me share my experience with everyone.

Strongly agree with buds.

I may be a parent who juz want convenient. I enrolled my elder boy to a BASC located next to his primary school. Sheltered from centre to school. Hence no much worry when there is heavy rain. Fees are ok, at least affordable. Indeed very convenient!

Well, everything seems to be convenient for me. But who knows after my boy MASTER some SILLY/NONSENSE or rather BAD words from both existing students & teachers. The teachers are somehow not qualified in terms of academic as my son told me they need to refer to the answer sheet when they are marking assement books. :idea:

Though unhappiness arises, at this moment, i hv no thoughts of withdrawing my son from this BASC. On my part, i put in much effort on BRAINWASHED my son that those SILLY/NONSENSE words are not for GOOD BOY LIKE HIM to use. Well, he accepted. When mistake being repeated in using those WORDS, i will BRAINWASH him again n again... it really get tired..... Teachers refer to answer sheet when marking assement books, i told him the teachers are ensuring they are correct.

My son is still young so easier to TALK to him. But i believe this way of TALKING is going to be part of his primary school journey.

We as parent still need to LOOK AFTER & TAKE CARE of our children school work. We can't juz dump to BASC. It's our responsibility. Spending time with children going through their school work is a QUALITY TIME spent with them too!

[buds]

Ya luvkid,


We cannot change the way of others but we can work
to improve / change our children… while they are still
young. It is unfortunate to hear that bad words are the
ones he’s learning from the BASC centre, but i am sure
when you have to work full-time-you plus minus here &
there just to have the convenience and also to assure u
that while you are at work, your child is not wandering
around the streets with dunno who…

If you do chance upon a better centre, you swap asap…
If you can’t, and as tiring as it may… you hafta sacrifice
time for daily brainwashing that you’re doing now… I
try to talk to my kiddies, that we do not hafta follow
the bad things that other people do because we are
not like them. We are better than them and so we shud
strive to always be better than them. When you see the
kids behave badly, you can feel something twisting a knot
in your heart… that is exactly the feeling i will feel if they
were to be like that, and i will be sad.

Being SAHM, I value financial resources a lot. And i never
fail to remind them that daddy works so hard just to send
them to school, so make us proud… when you have done
well you will feel proud of yourself too, cos you know all
your hard work and efforts have paid off.

[Luvkid]

Hi buds,


Thanks for sharing. The existing BASC is the BEST CONVENIENT centre liao. It's REAL near his primary school & not too far from home. :roll: There is 1 or 2 located across a street road, which i dun really like especially when there is a need to crosss the road with 1 teacher with handful of students , and when come to rainy day with raincoat or umbrella? Even as early as when he was in K1, i even wanted him to enrol to another BASC which is under operation as the CCC he used to attend during his preschool years. He had been there for 4 years and more or less with the boss & some the previous students from CCC. I found it better for him to adapt with what he is more familiar. After much considering the factor which is SCHOOL BUS TRANSPORT which means an extra expenses. That was about 2 streets away, about 20 mins walk, the bus fee will cost $40 :shock: So, by putting him up at this existing is the BEST CONVENIENT choice for me on top of any unhappiness..... Anyway my main concern is that he is under the centre care in term of meals & revision work without much of my worry.

[buds]

Luvkid:

Hi buds,


Thanks for sharing. The existing BASC is the BEST CONVENIENT centre liao. It's REAL near his primary school & not too far from home. :roll: There is 1 or 2 located across a street road, which i dun really like especially when there is a need to crosss the road with 1 teacher with handful of students , and when come to rainy day with raincoat or umbrella? Even as early as when he was in K1, i even wanted him to enrol to another BASC which is under operation as the CCC he used to attend during his preschool years. He had been there for 4 years and more or less with the boss & some the previous students from CCC. I found it better for him to adapt with what he is more familiar. After much considering the factor which is SCHOOL BUS TRANSPORT which means an extra expenses. That was about 2 streets away, about 20 mins walk, the bus fee will cost $40 :shock: So, by putting him up at this existing is the BEST CONVENIENT choice for me on top of any unhappiness..... Anyway my main concern is that he is under the centre care in term of meals & revision work without much of my worry.

Yep, girl. Good for you.
Least you have the right mentality to stay positive.

Have a fabulous weekend!

[curious_mom]

The student care that my daughter is attending just ensures that she does her homework. They do not give additional work or assessment papers. I am wondering if this is the norm?

[jedamum]

curious_mom:

I am wondering if this is the norm?

some centres provide enrichment while some centres give the kids assessment to work on (be it worksheets or they purchase the books).
bud did some write up http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2557&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0.

[ChiefKiasu]

curious_mom:

The student care that my daughter is attending just ensures that she does her homework. They do not give additional work or assessment papers. I am wondering if this is the norm?

In my opinion, BASCs serve a very important function in Singapore due to the fact that most families have both parents working, and the great focus on academic excellence in Primary school.

BASCs are essentially a substitute for the stay-at-home-parents. As such, the following are important considerations:

Essential requirements:

1. Security
It must be at least as safe as having the children at home, and giving the peace of mind to parents at work that there is some proper supervision of the children.

2. Homework
The service must provide a proper regime of helping the children build up the good habits of completing their school homework before play. The care-givers must go through the homework given to the child by their school and ensure that it is done. This should also include helping the children on their weekly spelling, math mental sums, and tingxie. This can be a life-saver for parents who come home late and can spend quality bonding time with their children instead of being stressed up with having to ensure that their children are keeping up with schoolwork. This also means that you should look for BASCs that cater to a sizeable cohort of students from the same school and classes as your children, as it will allow the care-giver to verify homework, while building camaraderie between the children.

3. Character development
The children may be spending more of their wakeful hours at the BASC than at home. They will also be interacting with other children at various ages. It is important that the care-givers ensure that the interactions are positive and zoom in quickly to nip any instances of bullying or poor social behavior in the bud, because children at this age are extremely impressionable. They must actively encourage children to be helpful to one another, and to participate in team activities.

4. The BASC should be near the school
Beyond Primary 2, the children will be heavily involved in CCA. It may be necessary that the child actually goes to the BASC himself or herself after the CCA.

Nice to have requirements:

1. Web Camera for parents to keep an eye on their children

2. Additional enrichment classes, both academic and non-academic (eg. speed and drama, blading, swimming, basketball, etc). Academic enrichment must not overload the child with additional homework.

3. Value for money (especially during these times)