What goes into choosing a suitable Secondary School

[turquoise]

daisyt:

When selecting sec school last year, it was a joint decision between me and my girl. Based on her result, I listed out my criterias and she listed down the schools she liked which were within my criterias.


We went to 3 schools open house and made the following observations.

1) Culture of the school
- the students converse more in English or Mandarin
- the notice boards of a few CCAs, how were they presented ?
- the performance of the CCAs during the open house, eg how well the students know their CCAs and present their CCAs.
- the classrooms decorations and cleaness. From the decos, you can more or less tell if the students are bonded to their class and feel at home.

2) Environment of the school
- the toilets are well maintained ?
- the environment of the school, homely ? comfortable ?
- very important, the canteen. Are there many variaty of foods ? Its very important because your kids would eat in school for breaks and lunches.

3) The students
- the behaviour and attitute of the students
- how helpful, how polite, how far can they make us have the homely feeling
- their attitire, how neatly they wear the uniform, school shoes, hair style

Great tips daisyt. May I ask which school your dd is in and how she likes it there?

[daisyt]

joconde:

so does that mean all sec schs will have open houses after PSLE ? where can i check the exact dates ?

Majority of them would have it in May, before the DSA time. Its better to go to the open house of as many schools as you can and if you can. Top ones, good and average ones.

[daisyt]

turquoise:

Great tips daisyt. May I ask which school your dd is in and how she likes it there?

She is in RVHS now and yes, she loves there. I posted a lot in the RVHS thread, you can read more from there.

[turquoise]

daisyt:

turquoise:

Great tips daisyt. May I ask which school your dd is in and how she likes it there?

She is in RVHS now and yes, she loves there. I posted a lot in the RVHS thread, you can read more from there.

Thanks

[chengsmummy]

very good tips, daisyt.


During last year’s secondary selection, my daughter and I made the selection together. I help her list down the schools and she prioritize them.I preferred a mixed school, DMHS, but she chose the girls school, simply because majority of her friends wanted to go to the girls school.

[csc]

A number of neighbourhood schools do have OPEN HOUSES one or two weeks before the release of PSLE results. Watch out for the banners outside the school or check out the school’s website.


My children’s primary school organises SEcondary School Fairs for parents of pr 5 & 6 pupils in NOV where a number of secondary schools will set up booths to exhibit their school’s activities and talks are conducted by the school teachers and even principals too. I remember listening to the VP of RVHS talking about integrated program.

[snowz]

daisyt:

When selecting sec school last year, it was a joint decision between me and my girl. Based on her result, I listed out my criterias and she listed down the schools she liked which were within my criterias.


We went to 3 schools open house and made the following observations.

1) Culture of the school
- the students converse more in English or Mandarin
- the notice boards of a few CCAs, how were they presented ?
- the performance of the CCAs during the open house, eg how well the students know their CCAs and present their CCAs.
- the classrooms decorations and cleaness. From the decos, you can more or less tell if the students are bonded to their class and feel at home.

2) Environment of the school
- the toilets are well maintained ?
- the environment of the school, homely ? comfortable ?
- very important, the canteen. Are there many variaty of foods ? Its very important because your kids would eat in school for breaks and lunches.

3) The students
- the behaviour and attitute of the students
- how helpful, how polite, how far can they make us have the homely feeling
- their attitire, how neatly they wear the uniform, school shoes, hair style

Is IP or not IP school a criteria of choosing a sec school?

[daisyt]

snowz:

Is IP or not IP school a criteria of choosing a sec school?

Hi snowz, for us its not but it happen that her scores and preference schools fall in IP. There are other schools she like not in IP but after finding out more on IP, we decided to go for it.

[turquoise]

snowz:

[

Is IP or not IP school a criteria of choosing a sec school?

That depends on whether an IP education suits your child. If a child is up for the rigours of IP education and is an independent learner, then he/she can consider the IP route. Bear in mind that the IP route is targetted at the top echelon of PSLE students.

[JustKP]

luckystar:

If the child had keep up a good result thru out the years,RI,RGS,HCI,NYGH,NUSH,ACSI -- choose among these branded school based on distance. Cause these are the hottest school among the geps and high achivers.

I should think that Dunman High (DHS) is one of the top as well. They have produced a President Scholar from their very first batch of IP students :celebrate: Moreover, they are effectively bilingual