All About Pri 1 Registration for Foreigners & Phase 3

[Julia Wu]

Want to share my experience on Phase 3 registration here, leaving some information for foreigner parents next year.


MOE announced vacancie at noon 29th Aug. Only 8 seats left in Seng Kang Primary.

30th Aug, I got up at 4am in the morning, arrived at main entrance (gate1) of Seng Kang Primary school around 5am. I saw a parent already sitting there (with his own stool). He told me he just arrived 10 min before.

5 min later I found there was a sign board at the gate saying "please queue at gate2". I walked around and found gate2, there were another 2 parents already waiting there. I called the parent at gate 1 and joined the queue at gate2 together. (Be careful, otherwise you came early without any result).

We voluntarily kept a piece of paper with sequential record of when we arrived. The first one came at 2am, secound around 2-3. By 6:10, all 8 vacancies are filled.

At 7:00 we were allowed to go inside the school and issued an official sequencial number by a teacher according to the sequencial we voluntarily kept.

Later there are some more parents came and was adviced to go to other places.

[bettydraper]

Hi tankee, expat parents can be kiasu too!


I can share my experience now that this whole thing is over.
My husband and I woke up at 5:30a.m. to queue up for the registration at Queenstown Pri (at this point only 24 places were left for the Phase 3 registration). When we arrived 20 minutes later, we were given queue number 16. We were very relieved that we had made it, as shortly before 7:00a.m. the last queue number, 24, was given out. After 7:00a.m. the school guard was turning away other parents and telling them to head to another school (New Town, perhaps?).

According to the security guard, the first parent queued up at 12 midnight. Other dads and mums followed around 3:00a.m., then more of us a little after 5:00a.m. The parents were from England, Spain, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Germany, Netherlands, India, Philippines, and Ireland.

The registration process started at 8:00a.m. and it was orderly. I was surprised that the school had set up 24 seats (same number as the remaining places at the school) at their front lobby for the waiting parents. I had imagined we would be standing/ camping outside the gate at dawn… The administration was helpful and courteous with all of us whilst we filled out the forms. Our registration lasted less than half an hour. It was nice to see the children coming in to school that morning as I suppose we were imagining what it would be like when our kids start P1. So yes, we are looking forward to our child being in Queenstown Primary next year!

[tankee]

:congrats: bettydraper !


and thanks for sharing your experience in phase 3 registration.

[newcity1]

Hi everyone,


Let me share the experience of my hubby’s friend at Phase 3.

There were around 30 parents (including himself) queued up at Canossa Convent from Friday (27/8/10) itself. After the declaration of results by MOE on Sunday (29/8/10 - Canossa Convent- 2), all of them except first 2 rushed to Macpherson Primary where they were given some kind of token no. (may be to avoid any confusion later). My hubby’s friend thought that this token is the confirmation of the seat and he queued up again at Canossa Convent for waiting list from Sunday till Monday morning. Poor guy, it was only when he reached at Macpherson Primary on Monday(30/8/10) for registration he realised that the token no. issued was not the confirmation of place in school and by that time all the vacancies were filled. Any way he managed to secure a place for his daughter in Farrer Park Primary School.

[qms]

:thankyou: for sharing your experiences, bettydraper and newcity1! It's great to see more and more foreigners sharing their experiences here.


:congrats: bettydraper for getting a place for your child!

:congrats: to friend of newcity1's husband, too.

[Julia Wu]

I heard from Principle of Seng Kang Primary that last year, they turned out had to do balloting, due to too many parents for phase 3. I guess the parents last year did not keep a record of sequence before the school issueing offical tickets, which is creating problem. Parents next year, be careful!

[qms]

Julia Wu:

I heard from Principle of Seng Kang Primary that last year, they turned out had to do balloting, due to too many parents for phase 3. I guess the parents last year did not keep a record of sequence before the school issueing offical tickets, which is creating problem. Parents next year, be careful!

You mean balloting at Phase 3? I thought registration was on first-come-first-serve basis? :scratchhead:

[Julia Wu]

Yeah, it should be first come first serve. But think about it, too many parents started queue long long time before the school started issuing official ticket. And when the school start issuing ticket, nobody could tell who came first who came later, what would they do? Compete who was stronger and who ran faster? I guess what they could do it only balloting…so crazy!

[tankee]

Julia Wu:

Yeah, it should be first come first serve. But think about it, too many parents started queue long long time before the school started issuing official ticket. And when the school start issuing ticket, nobody could tell who came first who came later, what would they do? Compete who was stronger and who ran faster? I guess what they could do it only balloting....so crazy!

This \"compete who was stronger and who ran faster\" reminds me of amazing race :lol:

Gate open, contestents ran in and grabbed numbered stickers to determine their sequence :roll:

[tankee]

newcity1:

Hi everyone,


Let me share the experience of my hubby's friend at Phase 3.

There were around 30 parents (including himself) queued up at Canossa Convent from Friday (27/8/10) itself. After the declaration of results by MOE on Sunday (29/8/10 - Canossa Convent- 2), all of them except first 2 rushed to Macpherson Primary where they were given some kind of token no. (may be to avoid any confusion later). My hubby's friend thought that this token is the confirmation of the seat and he queued up again at Canossa Convent for waiting list from Sunday till Monday morning. Poor guy, it was only when he reached at Macpherson Primary on Monday(30/8/10) for registration he realised that the token no. issued was not the confirmation of place in school and by that time all the vacancies were filled. Any way he managed to secure a place for his daughter in Farrer Park Primary School.

Started queueing from Friday :!: :faint:

I do believe that there are more than enough places for all children, but a matter of which school.

The misunderstanding is so unfortunate, but then again maybe all may just turned out to be better.