St Margaret's Primary
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Foreverj,
Are you staying within 1-2 km away from the school? -
Tan Olivia:
outside 2km.Foreverj,
Are you staying within 1-2 km away from the school? -
Our dds will be going to the same school. I am also outside the 2km radius system.
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foreverj:
Yes….i rather go for a well rounded school than one that emphasizes of mainly academics. We will never be able to tell our child’s motivation and academic ability at a young age and if she goes to one of those “top” popular school, she will surely suffer if she is not from the top range calibre. She will be pushed so hard to keep up with the school’s academic objective. Not only her self esteem is affected but also her enjoyment of the learning experience. I know also of children from top schools (including St.Nicks, RGS etc) who queued for transfer into St.Marg) and got in eventually and are much happier now. Therefore it really depends on an individual child’s character and competitive nature for the type of school that suits her. As for the case whereby the teacher from St.Marg who was not able to detect the learning issue of that particular child, can you really blame her? She is handling probably 35-40 kids, how much personal attention can there be? My cousin K2 child was in an “elite” kindergarten, the kind that need to pay four figure monthly sum and the teacher ratio was 1: 8 (or 1 :6) max. That child was eventually diagnosed with learning issue in Primary 1 and surprisingly even with supposedly special attention in K2, the boy escaped detection of his learning issue then! Mom was pissed. It was the parent’s own observation that the child was sent for diagnosis in P1. So we should not expect a Primary school teacher to detect learning issue…
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.ponyo:
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! -
moonpie:
Yes….i rather go for a well rounded school than one that emphasizes of mainly academics. We will never be able to tell our child’s motivation and academic ability at a young age and if she goes to one of those “top” popular school, she will surely suffer if she is not from the top range calibre. She will be pushed so hard to keep up with the school’s academic objective. Not only her self esteem is affected but also her enjoyment of the learning experience. I know also of children from top schools (including St.Nicks, RGS etc) who queued for transfer into St.Marg) and got in eventually and are much happier now. Therefore it really depends on an individual child’s character and competitive nature for the type of school that suits her. As for the case whereby the teacher from St.Marg who was not able to detect the learning issue of that particular child, can you really blame her? She is handling probably 35-40 kids, how much personal attention can there be? My cousin K2 child was in an “elite” kindergarten, the kind that need to pay four figure monthly sum and the teacher ratio was 1: 8 (or 1 :6) max. That child was eventually diagnosed with learning issue in Primary 1 and surprisingly even with supposedly special attention in K2, the boy escaped detection of his learning issue then! Mom was pissed. It was the parent’s own observation that the child was sent for diagnosis in P1. So we should not expect a Primary school teacher to detect learning issue…
hi moonpie
tks for sharing yr tots. i agree that learning issues sometimes can't be detected in a short span of time. but the case i was talking abt lasted years n it wasn't until upper pri that the girl got some help as a result of grandparent's interference. nonetheless, even the parents didnt notice anything amiss so yes,it may not be fair to expect the teachers to. they r afterall not special needs teachers nor do they have sufficient time with individual students. honestly the special needs industry in spore may not be as matured as the States so learning difficulties that r not so common may not even be spotted n identified by some of the professionals who have not seen it happen in spore yet.
in any case, these are specific events and i believe no matter what school it is, each wil have its fair share of parents with grievances abt their unhappy experiences with the school. hence its more impt to find a school which broadly shares similar beliefs and values abt educating our children and generally enjoys good testimony/comments/feedback from parents - these wil form a good starting point to finding that elusive \"good school\" for our children. sometimes the best school for one kid may not be the best for another. we just need some time to find out.
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Dear All,
However, there is one thing which I feel that the teachers in SMPS should improve on and that is to lay a stronger foundation for the students. They have set up this COP points and one of the reason was because of the weaker students who have migrated to SMSS. If I have read from the forum correctly, it was mentioned by one of the mummies. SMPS may have used stellar programmes or Marshall Cavendish books, and these are good stuffs that are used in many good schools too. Teachers play an important role in bringing the students up in terms of academic excellence and so beside having character building with the students, maybe teachers in SMPS could also look in areas on their teaching. Should they anchor the students on more tough questions so that they can think deeper and hence able to score better in their academic. What say all of you? -
Hi Olivia,
I agree with that point and felt that it maybe a good thing that teachers also do further raise up the teaching standards so that the students will also be in good stead.
Btw, I am thinking of reg into SMPS? Any advise from anyone? -
Dear Olivia,
The girls already face tough questions, particularly in maths! With what seems like no help from the teacher. We don’t blame him. He has a lot to cover so he doesn’t have time to make sure every girl understands one topic before moving on to the next. Tough questions are fine as long as they are accompanied by closely guided teaching. No wonder parents have to spend extra money on tuition. Teachers, text books, work books, assessment books, past years papers from top primary schools are all not enough. What is needed is one teacher to one child, a teacher who can ensure and guide the child to understand all the different permutations and combinations that are posed in math questions these days. Even my husband, who is very good in maths, is stumped by the complexity of some of these questions. We really wish we had guidance from the maths teachers on how to teach our children. -
jacsplace:
My elder girl in P2 currently and the younger girl will be going to p1 next year , I remember last year we attended a math workshop in model drawing for parents organized by the school , it helps as she has started using model drawing this year and also we're able to teach her on using model drawing for answering questions.Dear Olivia,
The girls already face tough questions, particularly in maths! With what seems like no help from the teacher. We don't blame him. He has a lot to cover so he doesn't have time to make sure every girl understands one topic before moving on to the next. Tough questions are fine as long as they are accompanied by closely guided teaching. No wonder parents have to spend extra money on tuition. Teachers, text books, work books, assessment books, past years papers from top primary schools are all not enough. What is needed is one teacher to one child, a teacher who can ensure and guide the child to understand all the different permutations and combinations that are posed in math questions these days. Even my husband, who is very good in maths, is stumped by the complexity of some of these questions. We really wish we had guidance from the maths teachers on how to teach our children.
For maths, we'll check her daily works and understanding on the concepts taught on that particular topic . Nearer to CA or SA, we will ask her to do more worksheets from the assessment book. So far so good. hopefully
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doraemo:
Dear Mummies,
My elder girl in P2 currently and the younger girl will be going to p1 next year , I remember last year we attended a math workshop in model drawing for parents organized by the school , it helps as she has started using model drawing this year and also we're able to teach her on using model drawing for answering questions.jacsplace:
Dear Olivia,
The girls already face tough questions, particularly in maths! With what seems like no help from the teacher. We don't blame him. He has a lot to cover so he doesn't have time to make sure every girl understands one topic before moving on to the next. Tough questions are fine as long as they are accompanied by closely guided teaching. No wonder parents have to spend extra money on tuition. Teachers, text books, work books, assessment books, past years papers from top primary schools are all not enough. What is needed is one teacher to one child, a teacher who can ensure and guide the child to understand all the different permutations and combinations that are posed in math questions these days. Even my husband, who is very good in maths, is stumped by the complexity of some of these questions. We really wish we had guidance from the maths teachers on how to teach our children.
For maths, we'll check her daily works and understanding on the concepts taught on that particular topic . Nearer to CA or SA, we will ask her to do more worksheets from the assessment book. So far so good. hopefully
Am I right to say that the standard of SMPS is comparable to other good schools? Kindly advise. Thanks!
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