CHIJ (Kellock)

[guqin]

Excellent news! See you all on 11 November!

[Clarie79]

Guqin, yeah! Am glad the registration is over and confirmed!


Btw, any experienced mummy can share what to get during orientation?
- how many sets of uniform and pe attire should I buy?
- where else can we get if they are oos?
- are the textbooks available at POPULAR? if can get fr POPULAR, think there will be some discounts for members
- how many school exercise books, jotter books do we need to buy for pri 1?

Am getting excited for the orientation so these qns just come to my mind. Pls advice. TIA

[nansk]

Clarie79:

Guqin, yeah! Am glad the registration is over and confirmed!


Btw, any experienced mummy can share what to get during orientation?
- how many sets of uniform and pe attire should I buy?
- where else can we get if they are oos?
- are the textbooks available at POPULAR? if can get fr POPULAR, think there will be some discounts for members
- how many school exercise books, jotter books do we need to buy for pri 1?

Am getting excited for the orientation so these qns just come to my mind. Pls advice. TIA

Congratulations!

I had the same questions last year

- how many sets of uniform and pe attire should I buy?
3-4 pinafores, 2-3 white shirts, 2-3 PE T-shirts and shorts, 5 pairs of socks, lots of black hairbands/rubberbands/pins, 1 dark blue or black jacket, 2 pairs of white shoes, 1-2 backpack(s), 1-2 water bottles.

- where else can we get if they are oos?

For socks and shoes, Bata.
For jacket, there was no stock for the first half of this year(!) We bought one from Gap Kids.
For PE attire, there is a shop in Chinatown that stocks them. The school will provide the contact.
For white shirt and pinafores, a lady called Magdalene supplies them. The school will provide the contact.

For backpack, I am of the opinion that the so-called ergonomic backpacks are too expensive and too heavy. We bought regular Disney-themed ones for around $30 each.

For sticky name labels, SIOU Marketing http://www.siou.com.sg

are the textbooks available at POPULAR?
There are no textbooks for P1. The school will issue worksheets to be done at home. You will need to buy lots of diff. coloured files, one for each subject, from the school bookshop.

how many school exercise books, jotter books do we need to buy for pri 1

None for English and Maths. Only for MT and that will be indicated in the stationery list given by the school.

Do get all the stationery in the list, even the one marked \"non-essential\". We found that almost all of it was needed later and it's not convenient to go to the school bookshop just to pick up an extra set of colouring pencils..

[nansk]

junemum:

Hi nansk, is there any shelter if we need to drop off our child during rain? Are we able to drive in sch compound?


And are there any tests on the child before she was assigned to her class. I mean like asking parents whether their child has any enrichment class during her k2....etc. So the average one will be group in same class while the smarter one will be group in another class. This is what I heard at other neighborhood school.

Hi junemum,

Sorry, I just saw your post.

I am not sure of the shelter, because we don't drive. Our dd takes the school bus.


>>are there any tests on the child before she was assigned to her class

I found CHIJ Kellock is not too pushy on academics in the first year. They do conduct a reading readiness test on the orientation day, when they guage which girls can read simple sentences and which cannot read at all.

For girls who cannot read at all, I believe the school will conduct catch-up lessons in December. If your dd can read basic Kindergarten readers, she should be fine. If she cannot read fluently yet, and you are able to work with her now, I highly recommend working through a free booklet called Blend Phonics (http://www.blendphonics.org) This programme took my dd from knowing only the letter sounds to reading at the second grade level. We worked through it in 3-4 months during her K1 year.

Also, I understand that during Term 1 and 2, the school conducts remedial English and Maths classes after school hours for students who need extra help.

I have subscribed to this thread now, so do post back if you have more questions.

[Clarie79]

Hi nansk,


Thanks for replying! You are very helpful! I've got a few more questions, hope you can help me again.

1. For P1, no textbooks?! does that differ from other Primary schools? I rem seeing some P1 textbooks in Popular. Is Kellock using Stellar prog for their English lesson?

2. I read from the earlier posts that the \"trolley kind of sch bags\" are not allowed in Kellock, is the regulation still inforce?

3. Also, the earlier posts (2009 posts) mentioned that an earlier date will be scheduled for buying stationery, exercise books and sch uniforms. And that the gals will have to wear the uniforms during their orientation. Did that happen last year?

4. What were the activities that took place during the orientation last year?

thanks for your help again!!

[junemum]

Hello mummies,

I had just received the confirmation form and my girl is also being accepted by kellock. :rahrah:
Heard there is balloting and one of my girl's schmate couldn't get in. :gloomy:
Anyway she still have another two friends who will be studying with her next yr. Seem like it is popular choice among her group.

Nansk,
Thank for letting us know about the reading. Your list is very great and i'm printing it out to practise with my girl.
regarding the blue/black jacket. That mean we could just use any brand except the school?

[tinkerbell]

Hello all,


Welcome !

To answer some queries :-

1) Rainy Days - Parents are allowed to drop off their kids in the main entrance when it rains.
Dunno what’s the Gate’s name, but its just at the front of the General Office (where you did yr registration)
Otherwise its at the side gate (Gate C) next to the church

2) Blue sweaters - Understand fm my DD, you are allowed to wear blue sweaters, not necessary school ones.
Hwr, i got her a CHIJ blue jacket during orientation. Its really big tho, more suitable for P2-3 onwards.

3) Uniforms on Orientation day - The girls are required to wear uniforms during their Orientation but maybe for some its not available yet or didn’t buy as i do see some girls without.

4) Trolley bags - There are some girls who are carrying trolley bags. Hwr Kellock do not hv classrooms on the groud floor so yr DDs will hv to drag the bags up to 2nd floor.

5) Textbooks - no textbooks for Maths/English but worksheets and a grammer handbook fm Teacher’s production.

6) Orientation Day - they played some games while parents were at the hall.
They are also required to read some English words in order for the teachers to gauge their reading readiness. Its apparently simple sight words, so do not fear.

[nansk]

[quote]1. For P1, no textbooks?! does that differ from other Primary schools? I rem seeing some P1 textbooks in Popular. Is Kellock using Stellar prog for their English lesson?[/quote]
Yes, it is different from some other schools and yes, I believe they use the Stellar programme.
There are P1 textbooks in Popular; we have some Maths textbooks and an English book called My Grammar Handbook which we work through at home for practice.
[quote]2. I read from the earlier posts that the \"trolley kind of sch bags\" are not allowed in Kellock, is the regulation still inforce?[/quote]Yes, I think so, but I'm not sure. My dd did say that P1, P2 girls are not allowed to use the lifts. Wouldn't it be difficult to carry the trolley bags on their back then? (They will be heavier than regular backpacks.)
[quote]3. Also, the earlier posts (2009 posts) mentioned that an earlier date will be scheduled for buying stationery, exercise books and sch uniforms. And that the gals will have to wear the uniforms during their orientation. Did that happen last year?[/quote]Yes. There was a registration day in October when we bought the uniforms and the girls wore their uniforms at the orientiation in November. We bought the stationery in stages (some in Oct, some in Nov, some in Jan) because there was never enough stock of some items. (We were unhappy with the mgmt of the bookshop. It appears to have changed now. Lets see how it goes.)
[quote]4. What were the activities that took place during the orientation last year?[/quote]Parents had to sit through a long, snooze-inducing, acronym-filled, Powerpoint presentation by the principal Sorry, but it's true. We do appreciate the effort and thought they put in, but honestly, the presentation should have been shorter and more succinct.

The girls had earlier been assigned into temporary classes, so they assembled in the main lobby and were taken to their respective class, given the basic reading and writing test and told about the school, its history, rules, etc. They may have been shown around the school facilities (playground, toilet, etc) - I'm not sure. My dd never gives full details of what happens in class, so that is all she shared.

Then the girls joined the parents (sitting separately with their classes) in the auditorium and there were some performances by older girls, such as tap dance and rhythmic gymnastics. These were very impressive and I am sure, inspiring for the first years.


BTW just to clarify on the blue jacket/sweater query - last year there was no stock for the small size school jacket. We kept checking throughout the first half of this year as well. The bookshop did not bother to stock up. So we got the other jacket. If you can get the right size school jacket, do use that. If you can't, make sure the jacket you do get is dark blue or black.

[kids_r_innocent]

Hi…


Thks to those experienced mummies’ advise!!

Can i check if it is necessary to buy jacket for them? What is the main use?

[nansk]

kids_r_innocent:

Can i check if it is necessary to buy jacket for them? What is the main use?

The main use of a jacket is to keep warm when the weather gets cool and windy.