St Margaret's Primary

[Tan Olivia]

Can i check with you ponyo what time do they start school? 730am?

[jacsplace]

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.

[Tan Olivia]

jacsplace, your child is in which level?

[Tan Olivia]

Can I check is SMPS a resource school for special needs kids?

[ponyo]

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.

[ponyo]

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?

[foreverj]

jacsplace:

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).

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?

[jacsplace]

Hi ponyo, yes she’s in 1C.


Hi foreverj, I think the school you’re describing is what moe wants every singapore school to be and so that’s what they all strive for. In terms of niche, SMPS is pro netball. That was a disappointment for us as our daughter is more into art than sports! The P1s just started gym in term 3 and she’s not enjoying it. But anyway, she’s been attending a private art school for the last two years so we’ll just continue that as that’s what she loves.

As for talking to the principals, I called to make an appointment. Much better than trying to get their attention at an open house.

[lovejoypeacce]

Tan Olivia:

Lovejoypeace, are you carrying out an active role in the PTA? What are mummies suppose to do for PTA?

Yes I am actively involved in PTA. We help to run classes for parents/girls, organised the teachers' day dinner, Family Day, liaise with teachers/parents etc

If you have the passion and time(not necessarily full time :)), we would like to hear from you!

[foreverj]

jacsplace:

Hi foreverj, I think the school you're describing is what moe wants every singapore school to be and so that's what they all strive for.

haha, r u saying the school i m describing is only possible in my dreams? granted MOE has a huge population and hence a wide variety of children to manage, there's only so much the school can do. so i'll be more realistic n hope i can create that kind of \"love for learning\" envt in our own home, at the very least.

jacsplace:

As for talking to the principals, I called to make an appointment. Much better than trying to get their attention at an open house.

thats not a bad idea. but frankly we dun have that many choices of schools to choose from as we are more or less at the mercy of the system we r under. but given that u've been thru six schools before u decided on SMPS, i think we r pretty safe