Opinions of the Primary School Registration System

[MyBaby]

Well, policies do change depending on the national interest is at that specific point in time.


Not sure how many of you remember the time when queuing was done for P1 registration. My mum, not educated and a single parent, has 4 daughters. We were poor, on financial assistance and the goodwill of relatives (the few) who still bothered about us. She heard from a relative that the way out would be to give us a good education and she must send us to the top girls'school.

So my mum queued and successfully got my eldest sister in. The next 2 followed automatically. As national interest at that time was \"Stop at 2\", 4th child does not automatically get admitted to the school. So my mum queued again and got her in.

What I want to say is, as parents, as long as we believe something is important to our kids', we will go all out to do it - regardless of whether are we educated or not, holding high post or not. We will also find ways to get into the \"system\" so that our child has that chance.

I am not saying that there are no loop holes in the current system but until now, I doublt anyone has come forward with a better way. The current system, at least, like one of the forummers point out, make you WORK for what you want for your child. You volunteer YOUR time and effort, something which you cannot susbstitute with money.

And interesting, while we are arguing over what can the government do and making broad statements about P1 registration needs revamp, what about the new immigrants/foreigners who have no affiliation to schools do? This is what happened in my niece's school (and I am sure it is being played out in some other schools too) -

Niece was amongst first 3 in Pri 1. Went to top class and still amongst the first 3 in Pri 2. At Pri 3, there was a big change in the ranking. A girl from China, who transferred in (using her stella results from a neighbourhood school and performing well for entrance exams), came in first, sweeping away best in Math and Chinese along the way. This girl got into GEP, and was transferrred out. Then at P4, another blow-wind-blow. A girl from India came in tops (best in Math and Tamil - also transferred in from a neighbourhood pri school) and a boy from China got best in CL (also transferred case). My niece told me that she now has a new classmate (can't remember the nationality) who just got transferred in ...

So, again reinforce what parents can do to influence things. If cannot get into the school which you want your child to get into, then ask them to study hard, top their neighbourhood school, ace the entrance exams and get a transfer.

Incidentally, this is also what one of my neighbour did. We live within 1 km to a \"premium\" primary school. There was balloting within 1km for Phase 2C. She was balloted out. She registered her child in another school and got a transfer using her daughter's results and CCA records.

Just to share. Happy New Year to All!

INNOVATE:

hquek

Policy makers will not tweak phase 1A as national interest is at stake.

[hquek]

MyBaby:

What I want to say is, as parents, as long as we believe something is important to our kids', we will go all out to do it - regardless of whether are we educated or not, holding high post or not. We will also find ways to get into the \"system\" so that our child has that chance.

I am not saying that there are no loop holes in the current system but until now, I doublt anyone has come forward with a better way. The current system, at least, like one of the forummers point out, make you WORK for what you want for your child. You volunteer YOUR time and effort, something which you cannot susbstitute with money.

And interesting, while we are arguing over what can the government do and making broad statements about P1 registration needs revamp, what about the new immigrants/foreigners who have no affiliation to schools do? This is what happened in my niece's school (and I am sure it is being played out in some other schools too) -

Agree with your posting. And very happy for your family that your mum had the foresight and the determination to change your lives for the better. Kudos to her!! :celebrate:

[MyBaby]

Sharing my personal experience. We bought a condo unit to be within 1km to a well-sought after primary school (Hokkien Hueyguan).


However, we realised that as this is a large development and many families bought with the same agenda as us, there would be balloting for Phase 2C, within 1km. So we decided to do PV to better our chance. I emailed the Principal and got a call from her VP-Admin. She told us that the school does not wish to accept PVs as they already have lots of applicants coming in for Phase 2B based on grassroots and clan. I said I would want to have a feel about the school before deciding whether to take my chance with balloting for Phase 2C. She said ok, took down my particulars and said she would inform the General Office. I went during recess and walked around. I saw kids playing in the field, I heard bits of conversation here and there, I saw the teachers talking to the students but all these doesn't tell much.

So we wrote to another school (outside 2km) for a chance to do PV. I filled in a form, received a phone call to come for an interview. During the interview, I was asked how we could contribute and were told that although the school will limit number of PVs to avoid having to ballot, all these are based on historical data and anything can happen. I accepted, had to ballot in Phase 2B as we are outside 2km. Both DH and I volunteered in the school. I managed to talk to the teachers, interact with fellow parent volunteers (many of whom have older kids who are in the school and hence could tell you so much more about the good and the bad) and got a good feel of the school.

Of course, knowing a school on a more \"intimate\" level has its pros and cons. There are some things that we like and some that we don't. But at least we decide on the school based on what we know at that time and what we think would be the best for my child. I know of a parent who volunteered and later decided NOT to send the child to the school.

Just to add:
- both these schools that I encountered do have some policy regarding PVs in place
- parents whom I interacted with during PV come from all sectors. There is a not highly-educated SAHM who helped out the Chinese Dance by sewing costumes and putting on make-up for the dancers. There is also another lady with similar profile who shelves books in the library.

mummy168:

For discussion

Is PV the only option for parents to get a better feel of the school? Why not open house like what they did for polys, unis?

[tankee]

Busymom:

LOLMum:

just my $0.02 view for q (1) and (2)...

I fully agree with you on your observations. To think all alumni from popular schools must be part of an elite group is an over-simplified picture of the society.

:goodpost:

[MyBaby]

Hi hquek, certainly agree that thank goodness we have a mum who had the foresight and the determination to change our lives for the better.


All of us are professionals now with our own family. My mum has given us the best gift that she can give despite our situation at that time. And this is a gift that even when we are poor, and have no connections, it is still within our reach, achieved through her sheer effort by going early to queue. This is what I believe meritocracy is, which is slightly different from the concept of fairness.

Of course, going to a TOP school was my mum's idea of \"making it\" and we did benefit from a good education. That, however, is not to say that if we had gone to another school, we would not end up what we are today. My brother, who attended a \"neighbourhood\" school, also did very well. Getting into the \"choice\" school is only the first step.

Incidentally, none of my siblings and neither did I send our kids to our alumni though we could have easily gotten the girls in through Phase 2A. Reason - we didn't have a good school experience there. Of course, we get berated by my mum for wasting all her effort but she has since come to terms with OUR concept of what type of school experience and education we want for our kids.

hquek:

Agree with your posting. And very happy for your family that your mum had the foresight and the determination to change your lives for the better. Kudos to her!! :celebrate:

[tankee]

INNOVATE:

hquek


Policy makers will not tweak phase 1A as national interest is at stake.

not only national interest, it does not make sense and would create logistic nightmare.

Phase 1
For a child who has a sibling studying in a school of choice.

[markfch]

janet_lee88:

Thanks for the post. Glad to know there is a mummy who agrees that PV is a great opportunity to know more of HOW the school works.

Make that 2! I also agree that nothing beats being a PV to learn what makes a sch tick. I was fortunate enough to PV at the general office for a week. From that brief experience, I learnt about the constraints and concerns of P, the HODs, the OM. What's their approach to problem solving, how they handle discipline. I came out of the whole experience much more appreciative of the work that they do, work that is usually transparent to people on the outside.

I also know a friend who gave up on the sch she PV halfway thru when she realised that the sch is not the right fit for her ds. These are personal anecdotes, not hearsay from a friend of a friend.

Others can disagree and argue that I've vested interest by singing the praises of PV. I cannot expect everyone to agree with me on a public forum like this. But I'm quite sure that if I didn't like what I saw, I'll give up on the priority registration because I felt that I had a good backup plan to fall back on. As far as my experience is concerned, doing PV definitely helped me to know the sch better.

[3Boys]

tankee:

INNOVATE:

hquek


Policy makers will not tweak phase 1A as national interest is at stake.

not only national interest, it does not make sense and would create logistic nightmare.

Phase 1
For a child who has a sibling studying in a school of choice.

I quote my previous input on this;

\"There are real pragmatic reasons for use of Phase 1\"

[3Boys]

MMM:

To me, this is fair just like a man who inherited wealth from his late ancestors.

You are prescient, I was about to use inheritance tax as a contextual adjunct.

It is actually a matter of philosophical debate as to whether inheritance is in fact societally fair. It forms the basis of inheritance tax in many countries, which in some, can be fairly punitive, and seeks to redistribute wealth to society.

So, no, that a man should live significantly off his forebears' efforts is not a universally accepted norm.

IMO, same for Phase 2A (with some caveats).

If anything, the case for Phase 2A is even weaker than that for inheritance. At least in the latter, the forebear is in actual POSSESSION of the property he may wish to bequeath to his offspring. In the case of alumni, the priority admission is GRANTED by a government policy, the alumni is not in possession of anything.

There appears to be a general acceptance of this, but to my eyes, there is no natural 'flow' as to why a non-active (here's the caveat) alumni's child should be granted priority admission over anybody. Being an alumni of a pre-school, secondary school, JC or university does not grant you priority admission for your children to that institute, does it? Why should it be different for primary-schools? Is it not the outlier and begs for a logical explanation? I do grant the caveat for ACTIVE alumni, however you may want to define it.

The question about tradition (religious or otherwise) has already been discussed, and I believe the consensus was that there is a good mix of cultures in schools anyway and thus is not a big factor.

[janet88]

I know there are parents unhappy with PV (Phase 2B)…successful applicants who get to be PV, finish the hours required but yet balloted out, as well as those who are not successful to be PVs. We don’t know how long this PV thing will last but it has benefitted parents like myself and some others.


As for Phase 1, I hope this will stay FOR GOOD. This is to be fair to younger siblings, and perhaps parents can consider having 2nd, 3rd or even 4th kid.

As for Phase 2A2, imagine this - the parents have already gone through the stress of Phase 2C balloting and registered first child in the school. Along the way, another child comes along but older sibling has already completed primary school. Shouldn’t the younger child have priority to register in the same primary school his/her older sibling studied in ?