CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity

[Ritz M.027536]

hi guys, my girl will be starting P1 next year… just wanna knw… on the CHIJ website, it says tht there is silent reading at 7.20-7.45am.


is this for every student? or for those weak in reading?

and why do the students need to stay back till 4pm on thursdays? is it coz of extra classes? or 'coz of CCA?

[mrswongtuition]

Just sharing my experience with tutoring girls from OLN.


1. They do have alot of remedials for weak students. However, depending on the teacher, some of the remedial may not be beneficial and I have a parent who pulls her girl out of these remedials.

2. Again, depending on teacher, they usually teach at a slow pace, finishing short topics in like 2 months. Which means they RUSH through the other topics 1-2 weeks before exams/tests. This is very frustrating for the students as they did not have adequate chance to practise questions on those topics (especially for Maths & Science).

Example (P3 Science):
Topics to be covered: Diversity (Classification, Plants, Animals, Fungi & Bacteria, Materials) and Cycles (Animals, Plants, Insects, Matter)

Most schools finish Diversity in Sem 1 and Cycles in Sem 2.
By now, most schools are on Cycles (completed animals, plants - on insects now). However, my P3 students from OLN are still on Diversity (Materials - just started). This means that they have less than 8 weeks of school weeks to complete Cycles! Cycles is a large topic with alot of discovery and concepts. I have no idea how much the girls can understand the topic if it has to be taught so quickly in such a short timing.

Another example (P5 Science):
For SA1, they were taught the topic on Cells just 2 weeks before exams. However, in the exam paper, more than 50% of the questions were on Cells!

In my school, we set the exam paper according to the amount of time we spent on each topic. Which means that if we spent 50% of lessons in Semester 1 on topic A, 50% of the marks in the SA1 paper will be on topic A. However, it seems that the teacher in OLN either does not practise this or has no time management in teaching the topics on time.

3. Silent reading is school-wide. It's every morning, before flag-raising. It's to inculcate a habit of reading on a daily basis to improve English. It's best for you to purchase a few suitable books for your girls to bring to school to read. My students usually borrow books from my collection of storybooks as they can finish 1-2 books a week and their parents are not willing to buy so many books for them every month (plus they have no time to bring them to the library).

4. Common complaint from my students: the teacher used Science lessons for English or Maths, leaving little time for Science (or the other way round, depending on the teacher). They also take up PE lessons for curriculum lessons (which I find is not healthy as the girls also need a break and need to exercise to release some stress).


I think that you need to monitor their work very closely and constantly keep in touch with the school teachers to enquire about their progress. Especially now that they do not have CAs for the lower Primary, it's hard to gauge whether your girls are doing well or coping well until the final exam. They do have mini tests but they are rather simple and test mostly on basic concepts only.

[auntie lynn]

hi.mrswongtuitiom,



thxs for the information given,my girl is going to OLN P1 next year,at least nw i know what’s happening.in any case,has the school been hightlighted about whats happening?shouldnt them be following the teaching speed of all sch?i still have lots to monitor cause i am totally new to Pri sch’s standard now…

[mrswongtuition]

auntie lynn:

hi.mrswongtuitiom,



thxs for the information given,my girl is going to OLN P1 next year,at least nw i know what's happening.in any case,has the school been hightlighted about whats happening?shouldnt them be following the teaching speed of all sch?i still have lots to monitor cause i am totally new to Pri sch's standard now....

According to my students' mums, they've given feedback to the school since P1 but there's no improvement. Also, it depends on \"luck\" cos it really depends on who is their teacher.

[auntie lynn]

thxs for the great info,the only thing i am worried about is my girl’s chinese language,she speaks no chinese,i wonder hw she is going to cope there…hehe.hopefully,she is lucky to get a more patient teacher in this case…

[mrswongtuition]

Another thing to note: Teach your girls to spend wisely. Their bookshop is a super shopping haven for them. Alot of new & "cute" things.

[takeshi80]

Ritz M.:

hi guys, my girl will be starting P1 next year.. just wanna knw... on the CHIJ website, it says tht there is silent reading at 7.20-7.45am.


is this for every student? or for those weak in reading?

and why do the students need to stay back till 4pm on thursdays? is it coz of extra classes? or 'coz of CCA?

Hi, yep. We have silent reading and it is compulsory for all, not only for the weak ones. We need to stay back cos P1s and P2s have some kind of activity for them where they'll play games and sometimes they cook stuff which makes me totally envious cos I'm cooped up in my class having Higher Chinese while P3s and P4s have CCM (Conversational Chinese or Malay). P5s and P6s have Science supplementary while Higher Mother Tongue girls have Higher Mother tongue lessons. Hope I helped!

[Imperfectmum]

Hi, the Orientation day for P1 students is 19 November. School is really very systematic and organized, I have gotten all the pupil forms, stationery and booklists, uniform sizes form, and transport request form. May I know on that day, will there be someone to help us with the uniform measurements, coz I am not sure how to take her measurement correctly actually.


Thanks if someone can offer some advice.

[Michiez]

I hope they will have improvement as I am worrying whether she can cope in primary school and hope she will make good friends there… And really hope there is parents’s daughter here same class as mine so that we can know each other early…

[mrswongtuition]

Imperfectmum:

Hi, the Orientation day for P1 students is 19 November. School is really very systematic and organized, I have gotten all the pupil forms, stationery and booklists, uniform sizes form, and transport request form. May I know on that day, will there be someone to help us with the uniform measurements, coz I am not sure how to take her measurement correctly actually.


Thanks if someone can offer some advice.

Usually the vendor will help.
Experienced vendors can tell you the recommended size just by looking at your kiddo.

Also, they will have sample for you to 'measure' on the spot.