Opinions of the Primary School Registration System

[puff]

stiook:

I have always wonder why does a parent get priority just because he/she attended the school years ago... Is their contribution greater than that of the PVs?

PV contributed 40 hours to the sch.
Ex student contributed 6 years to the sch.

[janet88]

puff:

stiook:

I have always wonder why does a parent get priority just because he/she attended the school years ago... Is their contribution greater than that of the PVs?

PV contributed 40 hours to the sch.
Ex student contributed 6 years to the sch.

PVs contributes 40 hours and some 'disappear' completely after kids get into the school.
For ex-students and kids of ex-students (P2A1/2), it is continuous contribution for another 6 years.

[Jav]

puff:

stiook:

I have always wonder why does a parent get priority just because he/she attended the school years ago... Is their contribution greater than that of the PVs?

PV contributed 40 hours to the sch.
Ex student contributed 6 years to the sch.

PV is contributing because the rule said that by doing so, they get priority, now how does the student contributing by attending the school? It's more of the student is taking (lessons) there right?

[janet88]

Jav:

puff:

[quote=\"stiook\"]I have always wonder why does a parent get priority just because he/she attended the school years ago... Is their contribution greater than that of the PVs?

PV contributed 40 hours to the sch.
Ex student contributed 6 years to the sch.

PV is contributing because the rule said that by doing so, they get priority, now how does the student contributing by attending the school? It's more of the student is taking (lessons) there right?[/quote]The loyalty that ex-students contribute to the school cannot be compared to PVs who contribute time because they want to register their kids there. There are some ex-students who contribute by being teachers there.

[puff]

Jav:

puff:

[quote=\"stiook\"]I have always wonder why does a parent get priority just because he/she attended the school years ago... Is their contribution greater than that of the PVs?

PV contributed 40 hours to the sch.
Ex student contributed 6 years to the sch.

PV is contributing because the rule said that by doing so, they get priority, now how does the student contributing by attending the school? It's more of the student is taking (lessons) there right?[/quote] Students contribute by organized fund raising , spending extra time for cetain cca competition , wining awards , help in buddy system for their lower pri sch mates. Primary sch is not like kindy when the child go to sch attend class n come home. In pri sch students participate in a lot of activities apart of just attending class. These activities often are organize with the help of students themselves n teachers too.

[Jav]

Whatever the students do during their school life is part & puzzle of learning with the school, not a measurement of contribution. How can all those attribute to have more priority in the registration? There is no different, the new kids / students will be more or less doing the same kind of learning with the school as well. Obviously some ex-students go back to become teacher or principal with their alma mater, but how many are there as such that policy is made to cater for all alumni?

[Busymom]

Kissgurami:

galleria:

Hi kissgurami,

Another way shows that the country/school ensure that the locals have priority over PRs n foreigners. But do u think SG does that. PRs here can have rights by just registering and ballot with locals n if got ballot in means that their kids are able to study in public schools.

Her husband is a british and the child was born in England

their system is different from ours.. if you want to be in a good school, being parents , you will need to have the status and $$ into the school and it still depends if the school wants to accept you.

They have state schools (can be known as our neighbourhood schools but the facilities are nowhere our standard, I have been to a couple to have a look)

yes, some of the school have interviews for the parents to assess suitability...

[puff]

Jav:

Whatever the students do during their school life is part & puzzle of learning with the school, not a measurement of contribution. How can all those attribute to have more priority in the registration? There is no different, the new kids / students will be more or less doing the same kind of learning with the school as well. Obviously some ex-students go back to become teacher or principal with their alma mater, but how many are there as such that policy is made to cater for all alumni?

Students contribute to the sch (academy / sport/ cca) to shape the sch into wat it is today. If not for them you won't be eyeing wat u perceive as a hot sch now.
Students also contribute in fund raising in building new campus which they may not have a chance to use when it is complete.
I dun see y are these contribution is deem less than a PV.

[Busymom]

Jav:

6. Some schools are famous for certain reasons, and they must be good that's why they are popular. Heard from colleague of 2 schools at Tampines, Yumin is not popular and left with many untaken seats, while the school just next to it, Chongzheng is overly subscribed. I just wonder why the 2 schools are not merged up and under the management of Chongzheng, it would then creates more seats with better management, parents are happier & pupils are benefited. Those un-popular schools are unpopular because they are mismanaged, can't the un-popular school leverage from the popular school, learn from the popular school's management or just simply have the popular school manage and train the teacher of the un-popular one, sometimes it is just the branding, eg. we have many ACS schools and they are forever popular. There must be something right they have done.

Since you mentioned ACS, the school is popular for a number of reasons. The 2 main ones, in my mind, are:
1. It has an affiliated secondary school. If you kid is above average, he can go to ACS Independent. If not, there is still the ACS Barker to fall back on.
2. The old-boy network. Many ACS boys would never send their sons to another school. Even if the kid is bright and can go to RI, they would still choose ACS Independent anytime.

It is because of the second reason that ACS is what it was and what it is today. I also know of people who want to send their children there precisely of this old-boy network when they themselves are not even old boys (i.e., nothing to do with loyalty for the school). Without the alumni and the network, would ACS be so popular?

By the way, I don't have any son studying in this school and neither do I intend to send my son to this school, even though I stay within 5 mins walk from the school. Just stating a fact that schools are not just popular because they are properly managed. Properly managed schools can become not properly managed over time, and vice versa. There are other factors at play.

[kidznme]

JR:

...But I really wonder if the new Minister of Education is going to review the policy on registration for Primary One.

Someone ever said before...if only our Minister for MOE has kids as young as ours, that would change his perspectives in the issues we parents face today. How many of our former Minister for MOE have young kids? And being in the elite class, their kids would have gone to their parents' old school without the need to battle through the phases including doing PV just like us....LOL...

JR:

...To think that there are children who do not get to the Primary school which is just a five minutes walk from their home just does not seem right. Because of \"luck\" of the ballot, the child have to endure longer distance from home for the next 6 years. That's sad.

Yes, this is really sad and unfortunate. I am one of the suffering parents. My home is situated right smack between two top schools and both are extremely popular (not that I chose to be residing here for the obvious reason but we didn't even think of this situation many years back when we bought this home!). Every year, there are balloting to go through. Do I choose to enrol my kid in one of these schools or do I simply choose to put my kid in another school that is so far away from my current home and torture her physically? It's ironic and does not do justice to myself and my kid if I choose not to try my luck in one of the nearest schools... :skeptical:

For discussion sake, once my Pinoy colleague was asking me about P1 registration and when he heard there is a Catholic school near to his home, he immediately asked me if he is entitled for Phase 2B...sigh...I totally agree with some of you out here. The PRs should go through entirely a different registration phase and not compete with SGs like us. They can do PV and ballot among themselves.

A friend of mine also asked me once about P1 registration and when she discovered that she had studied her last few primary school years in one of the popular schools, she immediately said that she would enrol her kid in her old school. Hey! Why the privilege? Honestly, she didn't even contribute any PV time to the school and yet her kid is automatically entitled for Phase 2A(1)...Morever she can't even remember the last pri school she went to as she changed school thrice so why honor this entitlement to her?...Is this a fair system?