2012 P1 Registration Exercise for 2013 In-Take

[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.

[Momo51]

To all who have to go thru the phase 2cs, my heart goes out to you. This is a traumatic experience I don’t ever want to go through again, and honestly, it brought out the worst in some people…and manifesting right in your own family, your own backyard. All I can say is…we should emerge stronger! All the best!

[janet88]

Momo51:

To all who have to go thru the phase 2cs, my heart goes out to you. This is a traumatic experience I don't ever want to go through again, and honestly, it brought out the worst in some people.....and manifesting right in your own family, your own backyard. All I can say is...we should emerge stronger! All the best!

To all the parents who went thru phase 2C, I salute you for the bravery to go through it, especially if balloting was involved. It wasn't easy and definitely heart-pounding waiting for your number to be called. I hope your kids will be happy in another school. A friend of mine secured a place in river valley Pri but decided to give up.

[gvyong]

kylie72:

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.
.

Damai is interesting and it seem to arise from a 1980s project to create 'new generation' schools, although damai has no actual history to speak of. who knows, with a 'Chinese' name, in future it may become a SAP sch or be chosen to host some special program like GEP? (e.g. Rosyth)

[pirate]

kylie72:

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.

If that is your concern, look for a school with PRC students. Opera Estate scored 60% distinction in Higher Chinese last year. Their pass and quality pass rates are also above the national average.

[Sniper Angel]

How to make the P1 Registration that everyone can be happy? Move house, do PV unless you have the $$ & energy to do. If not wait to be balloted out in Phase 2C then :stompfeet:


Reference an article took from today Sunday Times 12 Aug 12. http://i46.tinypic.com/30mxzpg.jpg\">

[Sniper Angel]

Dear Parents,


Phase 2C Supplementary registration at the schools will be held from 14 to 15 August 2012. Results will be announced on 21 August 2012.

Parents can still use the Primary One Internet Registration System (P1-IS) to register their child during Phase 2C Supplementary. If you are registering your child in any of these 42 schools with available vacancies in Phase 2C Supplementary, you may do so from 9am on 10 August 2012 to 4.30pm on 14 August 2012.

All our primary schools are well-resourced with good teachers, suitable facilities and sufficient funding for school programmes. They are fully equipped to develop every child to his or her fullest potential, and there are sufficient school places in every region of Singapore to cater to the needs of all Singaporean children.

A summary of the estimated number of P1 places in the various planning areas and regions in Singapore for Phase 2C Supplementary is listed in the table below.

Region Planning Areas Estimated Vacancies
Central Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Kallang, Novena, Toa Payoh 830
East Bedok, Geylang, Marine Parade, Pasir Ris, Tampines 1416
North Sembawang, Woodlands, Yishun 763
North East Hougang, Punggol, Seng Kang, Serangoon 1290
North West Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang 707
South Bukit Merah, Bukit Timah, Central, Clementi, Queenstown 526
West Jurong East, Jurong West 505

Should any Singaporean child be unsuccessful during Phase 2C Supplementary, the parents can seek MOE’s assistance to facilitate admission for the child to a primary school with remaining vacancies. This will be done before Phase 3 registration begins.