Criteria for a Good Student Care Service (BASC)

[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)

[curious_mom]

I have been assigning work to my child and marking it at night. Most of the time I end up not being able to go through the mistake with her because it’s so late and both myself and my child are too tired.


If the student care can offer tuition it will be wonderful.

I do agree with the point about CCA; in which most of the time will be spent in school and now I am tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to bring my kid back to the student care next year when she is in P3 and CCA ends in the afternoon. Any advice???

[tph452sg]

Hi All,


Any comments on the BASC inside the school itself.
Anyone has good or bad experience on it.

The Pri Sch that i targeted to send my kid to has a BASC.

:lol:

[curious_mom]

For one; you save on transportation. Every year it’s increasing by $5 !!! In addition; if your kid has CCA; they can just walk back to the student care; it’s within the school so I guess it’s safer.

[Luvkid]

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?

Hi curious_mom,

The BASC my boy is attending has been doing the vice versa of yr girls centre. Bcos my boy is in the afternoon seesion, his homework, if there is, will be finished at night. Me so far never missed his homework. Other than asking \"any homework\", i check on his bag personally every night

In the morning, I will send him to BASC for his breakfast at 8.30am, followed by 9am they will start doing ASSEMENT BOOKS (purchased by the centre, we pay for it), some day (beginning of the week) doing English & Chinese Spelling. Around 10 plus, shower time & get change. 11am-Lunch, 11.45am-set off to school. HOW I DARE TO LEAVE THE HOMEWORK to the centre where time is limited??

Have u checked with the centre whether possible to have yr girl doing assesment books (u purchased lah) on top of her homework? She is in the morning session, i guess.