St Margaret's Primary
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ponyo:
thank you ponyo for such a brilliant and honest sharing! many of my church mates have daughters in SMPS too so i know many SMPS girls who love going to school :love: but knowing many people also means there r people who didn't have such good experiences too. one of my church mates transferred the girl out to st nich eventually cos she kept complaining. abt what - am not too sure abt that. the girl flourished under st nich envt. another fren of mine who has a granddaughter in the sch told me the teacher didnt even identify learning difficulties in the girl. eventually becos my fren herself was in the education industry recognised something wrong and was able to advise accordingly, then the granddaughter was able to get some prof help.Hi foreverj,
honestly, when I was choosing a school for my kid, I had some fears too if I was making the right choice. Thank God I knew some mums in church whose kids were already in the school and when I spoke to the kids, they told me they loved school. One even cried when she had to miss school when she was sick. How's that for a testimony? :lol: . Even my kid's kindy teacher who was an alumni herself shared it was a good environment to grow up in. Now that my kid is in the school, I can see that she is in good hands. The teachers are generally very caring and know their charges well. There are many activities to encourage learning (they have a library corner in class so that those who arrive early can read there or if they finish their work earlier they can read the books there). They have a maths room to encourage hands-on learning and a small insectarium in school too. They also have a very good library. Very well stocked and they have parent volunteers (?) to conduct story telling sessions during recess. In terms of challenges, the teachers have also printed their own assessments for the girls. Seriously, I would rather have my kid enjoying school and having caring teachers who will encourage them throughout their learning journey than teachers who just care about grades. I have a good friend whose DS is in a SAP school. The kid was scoring average marks in school due to the many bright sparks around. When my friend attended the PTM, firstly the FT couldn't even remember the poor boy and apologised that she had too many kids. :? :stupid: And then after looking at the report book, she commented that the boy is doing so-so and asked my friend to send him to tuition class. :!: :shock:
Am not trying to sell ko-yote about the school. The decision is ultimately yours. There is much more to learning than just academics. We need to let our kids have a chance to learn through play and enjoy their childhood too...
i m contemplating doing PV so that i can see for myself how is the sch, eventhough i already qualify under phase 2B. haha, dunno if i have the time. wil see how, but am glad that there are many like-minded parents in SMPS. i love the envt u have described! the library, the maths room and insectarium - and the park just outside the school (we've seen the place cos its outside the school) - such a conducive envt for little girls to grow up in! -
Hi foreverj,
yes , if you have the time, do become a PV and see the school for yourself. At least you will have a good opportunity to interact with the staff.
They do have a learning support officer now to help kids with learning disability though I think she is quite stretched. In my kid's class, there is a girl with ADHD (the FT was so stretched...poor teacher) and she is getting help now finally. Poor kid.
One more thing, this year, they have a character badge system so as to motivate the gals to behave well. My kid's FT asked the girls to identify an area of character development they want to achieve in the beginning of the year (helpful, kindness, hardworking etc) and then the teacher will monitor their behaviour in class and reward them accordingly in Term 3 (for my kid's case). Unfortunately, my kid didn't get hers as her FT lost her badge :stupid: 'cos she gave out the badges during the week my kid was sick with HFMD. She was soooooo sad
as she was really working at it.
anyway, glad that your kid will be joining the family. Am sure she will enjoy school. -
Ponyo, you mean they use assessment books titled My Pal for teaching of english, maths? Cool. Just to double confirm before I run over to popular to take a look. I am blessed to have a friend like you to get some advise on. Thanks a million ponyo!!!
Stellar? So the girls just do filing? Wow…any books that the teachers use to guide the students on that parents can also help with the kids at home?
Chinese is it using stellar method too? Wow…sounds so different from what I am learnt in the past. We had textbooks and workbooks. Now…no books…worksheets…like higher level of education.
Yes i agree fully with ponyo that students will only do well when they have consistent effort in their studies. Great minds think alike! -
Can i check with you ponyo what time do they start school? 730am?
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Hi ponyo, thanks for the tip about kit kats. Always great to have a break yah :love:
If I may give my own two cents' worth about SMPS ... to me it's middle-of-the-road. There are no extremes. It's not extremely good, which I like because there's no unnecessary pressure to perform. It's not extremely bad, which I also like because it means everyone's well-behaved!
But like anything, SMPS is not perfect. My husband and I shortlisted six schools and we managed to speak to the principals of five of them before P1 registration last year. All the principals were great, but we finally chose SMPS because Mrs Poey seemed like the most understanding when it came to first-time school. She was the only principal who said she wanted P1 life to be not stressful, so no homework (although my daughter has quite regularly as she can't finish in class).
My daughter's FT is young so she relates to her students very well. She was able to help us out when our daughter got bullied by another girl. Hope the other FTs for the next five years will be as good. But nothing is perfect so just have to make the best of it. -
jacsplace, your child is in which level?
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Can I check is SMPS a resource school for special needs kids?
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Hi Olivia,
no textbooks for English. The teacher uses a big book to teach them vocab, grammar etc. Don’t think you can get the books in the bookstore. Anyway, don’t worry about it. It is really not that tough.
They use My Pals for Mathematics. For Chinese, they do use textbooks (suddenly cannot recall the name…die sign of old age :!: ), workbooks and the teacher also compiles her own exercises.
Assembly starts at 7.50 tho the gals need to be in school by 7.30 if I am not wrong. -
Hi jacsplace,
you’re welcomed! Agree with you that Mrs Poey is a very kind and understanding principal. Hopefully she continues to stay with the school.
Is your daughter in 1 C? -
jacsplace:
hi jacsplace, thanks for your feedback too! we r not parents who r particularly worried about finding a stressfree school but our concern was more of finding a school that is interested in providing a wholesome education so that kids continue to love learning, and grow in areas where they have particular interests/gifts. did u talk to so many principals via open houses or u just called up the principals?
If I may give my own two cents' worth about SMPS ... to me it's middle-of-the-road. There are no extremes. It's not extremely good, which I like because there's no unnecessary pressure to perform. It's not extremely bad, which I also like because it means everyone's well-behaved!
But like anything, SMPS is not perfect. My husband and I shortlisted six schools and we managed to speak to the principals of five of them before P1 registration last year. All the principals were great, but we finally chose SMPS because Mrs Poey seemed like the most understanding when it came to first-time school. She was the only principal who said she wanted P1 life to be not stressful, so no homework (although my daughter has quite regularly as she can't finish in class).
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