2012 P1 Registration Exercise for 2013 In-Take

[kylie72]

it’s been four days since i faced the horror of missing out in the balloting at Maha Bodhi. Have not been able to eat, sleep or work properly till now. On top of the heart bleeding disappointment which I know needs to be cast aside for now, is the very daunting task of placing the son in a decent school in phase 2Cs.


The only schools available within 1-2km are eunos primary, damai primary, bedok west primary and east coast primary. These being among the least popular of schools, have had almost totally no info/discussion on KSP so far. My fear of enrolling the son in these schools is that the extremely low take-up rate even at phase 2C would mean a huge, perhaps >50% of foreign students in the final makeup, and I have heard in some cases chinese as mother tongue students are the minority. This worries me sick as the environment would mean even greater difficulty for my son to improve his rather umm… basic level of chinese.

I plead with anyone who has some experience dealing with these schools to provide some info on them, any info at all, good or bad. Would also be great if someone can tell me I have other options apart from these schools.

Also, I have put myself on waitlist at telok kurau, which going by demand, looks pretty decent. Any info anyone? Does anyone have any idea when is the typical period when there are most withdrawals from average schools, when the waitlisters can smell a chance? Thanks a lot to anyone with info.

[Blessedwife]

kylie72:

it's been four days since i faced the horror of missing out in the balloting at Maha Bodhi. Have not been able to eat, sleep or work properly till now. On top of the heart bleeding disappointment which I know needs to be cast aside for now, is the very daunting task of placing the son in a decent school in phase 2Cs.


The only schools available within 1-2km are eunos primary, damai primary, bedok west primary and east coast primary. These being among the least popular of schools, have had almost totally no info/discussion on KSP so far. My fear of enrolling the son in these schools is that the extremely low take-up rate even at phase 2C would mean a huge, perhaps >50% of foreign students in the final makeup, and I have heard in some cases chinese as mother tongue students are the minority. This worries me sick as the environment would mean even greater difficulty for my son to improve his rather umm... basic level of chinese.

I plead with anyone who has some experience dealing with these schools to provide some info on them, any info at all, good or bad. Would also be great if someone can tell me I have other options apart from these schools.

Also, I have put myself on waitlist at telok kurau, which going by demand, looks pretty decent. Any info anyone? Does anyone have any idea when is the typical period when there are most withdrawals from average schools, when the waitlisters can smell a chance? Thanks a lot to anyone with info.

Sorry to hear that you was balloted out in 2C.
I can understand how you feel even though we managed to ballot in our preferred school.

Before the balloting, I kept asking myself and hubby what are we supposed to do if we fail to ballot in because we had ready planned and registered our son with the student care which is in the school compound and we liked the environment too after visiting many other student care which are very run down.

I thought to myself WHAT IF we cannot get in ??!!

I know is easier said then done but don't look back. It's a good thing
That you put yrself under waiting list. It might help if any parent decides to transfer their kids to elsewhere. I think before the school starts or before orientation day, we might see withdrawals from some schools.

All the best

[Blessedwife]

Kagillus:

I hope that parents who secured a place at distance school in phase 2b (old boys or girls) can try on waitng list to transfer their kids to nearby school. Pls create some vacancies to exchange for ppl who stay nr by. Pls think of the p3 Cca n travelling incurred. Not juz cos it's a good school. Thanks to all parents.

Good point

Hopefully there are such good and considerate parents out there :xedfingers:

[Blessedwife]

Mummymama:

Same here...:( Im still feeling upset after so many days. Friends have been consoling me telling me things happen for a reason, blessing in disguise...I very much want to accept their consolations, but i cannot convince myself. Now, Im overwhelmed with the dilemma deciding for another school come 14-15 for 2Cs. And I dread to think what will happen next, if there'll be another balloting session that we might to go thru...

:hugs: I can understand no matter how your relatives or friends console you, you will still feel disheartened:(

Pls remember to put on waiting list as some parents might withdraw should they have a change of mind or they managed to transfer their kids to another school.

Cheer up and all the best to both of you :xedfingers:

[kylie72]

Blessedwife:

Sorry to hear that you was balloted out in 2C.

I can understand how you feel even though we managed to ballot in our preferred school.

Before the balloting, I kept asking myself and hubby what are we supposed to do if we fail to ballot in because we had ready planned and registered our son with the student care which is in the school compound and we liked the environment too after visiting many other student care which are very run down.

I thought to myself WHAT IF we cannot get in ??!!

I know is easier said then done but don't look back. It's a good thing
That you put yrself under waiting list. It might help if any parent decides to transfer their kids to elsewhere. I think before the school starts or before orientation day, we might see withdrawals from some schools.

All the best

Have put myself on wait list ... thanks, wishing you the best too..

[Mummymama]

Blessedwife:

:hugs: I can understand no matter how your relatives or friends console you, you will still feel disheartened:(


Pls remember to put on waiting list as some parents might withdraw should they have a change of mind or they managed to transfer their kids to another school.

Cheer up and all the best to both of you :xedfingers:

Thank you blessedwife.

I've put myself on waiting list & keeping fingers very cross; May the day come...

Hey, congrats on your successful ballot

[Zeng]

kylie72:

it's been four days since i faced the horror of missing out in the balloting at Maha Bodhi. Have not been able to eat, sleep or work properly till now. On top of the heart bleeding disappointment which I know needs to be cast aside for now, is the very daunting task of placing the son in a decent school in phase 2Cs.


The only schools available within 1-2km are eunos primary, damai primary, bedok west primary and east coast primary. These being among the least popular of schools, have had almost totally no info/discussion on KSP so far. My fear of enrolling the son in these schools is that the extremely low take-up rate even at phase 2C would mean a huge, perhaps >50% of foreign students in the final makeup, and I have heard in some cases chinese as mother tongue students are the minority. This worries me sick as the environment would mean even greater difficulty for my son to improve his rather umm... basic level of chinese.

I plead with anyone who has some experience dealing with these schools to provide some info on them, any info at all, good or bad. Would also be great if someone can tell me I have other options apart from these schools.

Also, I have put myself on waitlist at telok kurau, which going by demand, looks pretty decent. Any info anyone? Does anyone have any idea when is the typical period when there are most withdrawals from average schools, when the waitlisters can smell a chance? Thanks a lot to anyone with info.

You are not alone. Many parents who were balloted at popular branded schs
are in similar situations. Thats why some parents opted for an acceptable second choice sch if it was a shoe-in rather than ballot.

You should drop by these schs to take a look and talk to parents during recess or pick up times. For argument's sake, even it is the bottom tier sch, if your kid does well and in top class, he/she is likely to be happy with the special attention. You also have the option for transfer later on even if you fail to secure from the waitlist this time. Good Luck!

[kylie72]

Zeng:

You are not alone. Many parents who were balloted at popular branded schs
are in similar situations. Thats why some parents opted for an acceptable second choice sch if it was a shoe-in rather than ballot.

You should drop by these schs to take a look and talk to parents during recess or pick up times. For argument's sake, even it is the bottom tier sch, if your kid does well and in top class, he/she is likely to be happy with the special attention. You also have the option for transfer later on even if you fail to secure from the waitlist this time. Good Luck!

Yes, I've personally experienced the happiness of being top in a bottom school/not-so-good class. And yes, even in a bottom school it is very possible to achieve the ultimate objective of scoring well in the all important PSLE.

I guess some ballot-victim parents grief because they understand too well the difference in standards that different tiers of schools try to uphold, and the huge impact it has on the children's pace of learning. The parents can try to bridge this gap with personal coaching, tuition, etc. but the effort is exceptionally draining as you would have to diligently research and often guess what the good schools define as 'acceptable' in various aspects of learning.

Take, for example, Maha Bodhi's description of their reading and speech programmes on the website - the short and concise point forms detailing the various aspects of proper speech and reading to be covered gives you an assuring sense of completeness. And you know that as a parent, the programme makes it easy for you to identify areas of weakness in the child's progress. Now compare that to the bottom tier schools which have their program description as just a paragraph of un-informative text and a big photo of the students reading... Unless we are lucky enough to encounter very good teachers in the bottom tier school, the child's performance is going to be generally summed up as 'good', 'very good', 'no good', etc.. and the parent has to research widely and make her own gauge of the child's performance against the good school's yardsticks of excellence. Perfectly doable, albeit a very daunting amount of effort can be projected.

That said, what you mentioned about doing well and being happy in the bottom tier schools i do agree, although I must say I would pray hard that the wait list registration would turn out to be fruitful, though we all know we cannot count on it.

Thanks for your advice and good luck to you too.

[zarahsmom]

r2010,


it seems that P1 registration is like a battle for the future of our kids. as the soldier and defender of our child’s future…

all disciplined soldiers take up their positions and stand firm, and fight the good fight… your kids will know you did what you think is best for them… no matter what is the aftermath…

afterwards, you must rebuild again and be ready for a longer battle…

cheer up! there are many who are still in the frontlines… in the future this episode is something you can tell your grandchildren and be proud you were there for them (in the front lines)

[Zeng]

kylie72:

Yes, I've personally experienced the happiness of being top in a bottom school/not-so-good class. And yes, even in a bottom school it is very possible to achieve the ultimate objective of scoring well in the all important PSLE.


I guess some ballot-victim parents grief because they understand too well the difference in standards that different tiers of schools try to uphold, and the huge impact it has on the children's pace of learning. The parents can try to bridge this gap with personal coaching, tuition, etc. but the effort is exceptionally draining as you would have to diligently research and often guess what the good schools define as 'acceptable' in various aspects of learning.

Take, for example, Maha Bodhi's description of their reading and speech programmes on the website - the short and concise point forms detailing the various aspects of proper speech and reading to be covered gives you an assuring sense of completeness. And you know that as a parent, the programme makes it easy for you to identify areas of weakness in the child's progress. Now compare that to the bottom tier schools which have their program description as just a paragraph of un-informative text and a big photo of the students reading... Unless we are lucky enough to encounter very good teachers in the bottom tier school, the child's performance is going to be generally summed up as 'good', 'very good', 'no good', etc.. and the parent has to research widely and make her own gauge of the child's performance against the good school's yardsticks of excellence. Perfectly doable, albeit a very daunting amount of effort can be projected.

That said, what you mentioned about doing well and being happy in the bottom tier schools i do agree, although I must say I would pray hard that the wait list registration would turn out to be fruitful, though we all know we cannot count on it.

Thanks for your advice and good luck to you too.

You are absolutely right. The better schs may have more resources or motivation to reach out. Take NY for example, whether it is the sch website, the programmes that they have and the timeliness of relevant info that parents should know, they are very impressive and fit the billing of a well run top sch. Having said that, the inferiority of the so called bottom tier schs is usually based on perception. Bec we do not hear them frequently enough does not mean that they are not good. The main difference I think is that the academic ability of the general cohort may be lower than the top schs and frequently parents may be from a lower socio economic group than those hot branded schs. So your kid's company may be different if he/she were to be in a branded sch.

No matter the outcome of your appeal in the waitlist, it is worthwhile to remember that home/parental support for your kid is more impt than any schs can offer. When my friend sent his kid to one of \"the worst\" bottom tier schs voluntarily, I thought he was unfair to his kid. Well his kid made it to national top 10 in the PSLE.