Pat's Schoolhouse

[Busymom]

smurfy:

empressplace:

May I enquire when your K2 child started spelling this year and do they have Show & Tell sessions?

for my k2 child.. Show and tell officially started this year, term 1. there was a piece of paper inside their communication book.. telling them the theme of the show and tell, and which week they were supposed to perform.. e.g. each week on a friday.. 3-4 kids perform the show and tell within their own class.

My DS' communication book doesn't even have this piece of paper. We are totally ignorant until my DS told us that he has to bring something to school for show and tell. Totally not aware of the schedule. And when he was late for school that day, I got a SMS from teacher saying that he missed it. Think he reached school at 9.10 or 9.15am. I was like :whut:

Pretty sure had it been my DD's teacher years ago, it wouldn't be so harshly handled.

[Busymom]

breezie80:

btw, the PE prog is across all Pat's centres.

Oh is that so? I am not aware of this. Wonder if this was the reason that DS said last Thurs that he had to wear sports shoes to school?!

Already, his Chinese S&P is on alternate week with English S&P (and I feel short-changed for that as there is one day each week where he doesn't get EP, which is supposedly a daily program). Why can't his centre just do weekly Chinese S&P instead?

[Busymom]

breezie80:

princesskaris:

Any differences between Lim Ah Pin and Aroozoo branches ? I'm not very happy with the switch from speech and drama to PE class too. Why do the kids need to have so many outdoor activities when they have outdoor activities every morning? And why replace speech and drama class instead of other enrichment classes? Is it because Pat's English teachers are not up to standard to teach Speech and drama? I seriously wonder.


I seriously need to consider whether to let my child continue pre-school there.

That's exactly my thoughts! have u tried asking the principal? i think the swimming lessons etc are also removed for other branches. I know serangoon does not offer.

Anyway, swimming is an optional program which you have to pay if you want to sign up for it. In our DS' school, they still have it but it is at the expense of English and Chinese S&P whereby they combine both by alternating between English and Chinese on bi-weekly basis. That's why my DS does not have any EP on the day when others go for swimming lesson as we didn't sign him up for swimming.

[Busymom]

smurfy:

LAP branch english speech n drama oso removed and replaced by PE.


i know LAP branch stopped offering swimming coz of the timing issue, due to some government guidelines. Keyboard not too sure status.

Do you mean Harmony Road? I was told a year ago that it will be removed eventually when the current batch who have had it graduate. The idea is not to introduce to the new playgroup students, but those who have started doing the program should be able to continue till graduation.

[Busymom]

empressplace:

applemum, thanks for the information.


However I thought this system is not efficient/ideal. Why should the parents not be kept aware of the learning progress and participate in it or at least reinforce teaching at home? For example, if the child is not spelling words properly, an accurate assessment should be given to parents and remedial action should be suggested to parents. Perhaps some simple correction exercises over the weekend would help. Why wait till P1 to struggle?

In my own memory of spelling ....ahem..decades ago, spelling means learning a list of words, being tested on a specified date and doing some corrections if needed. What's wrong with this simple method?

The children will get the spelling lists when they are in P1. For me, I am happy that I am not given the spelling list to teach my DS. The children spend so much of their time in school as it is. We shouldn't be taking over the teaching from the teachers, a complaint that many parents with older children in primary schools are harping about.

If you feel that your child needs to memorize spelling, you can come out with your own list, or use the high frequency word list. My older child is in P3 and I don't find her being in any worse off position despite not having any spelling list to memorize when she was younger.

[Busymom]

mtdt:

My boy was ex Pats kid... now in P1. Sad to learn the changes in PATS.


Eng S&D - is getting more and more impt as it would help in kids Show and tell in future. After the year end concert - all the kids were also given a Certificate of Distinction on DRama by a UK uni. Will this be gone too?

Chi S&D - also helps kids to have more love in the language using interesting chi stories and acting out. I rem my kid love all the chinese S&D time.

Spelling - same as applemum. Although there was no spelling list given, we do see the spelling book at the end of each term. According to the trs, they dont need to give spelling list to prep the kids as kids are expected to spell via phonics and not rote memory. It was indeed a useful way to teach spelling as it would works wonder after that...

Chinese ting xie - no way its going to be phonics based but kids do get it right and rem the words longterm.

Well - I would say the old ways of pats teaching does works. but I would be sad/angry with the removal of the enrichment classes offered.

Agree with everything you wrote above. However, during my DD's time, I don't know if there was any spelling, as we didn't see any spelling book at the end of each term. But this is still fine with me, as long as she has a strong foundation in the language which I believe Pat's has taught her well, spelling can be picked up.

[Busymom]

smurfy:

i have seen no spelling booklet... though i know my k2 boy has spelling every week....


my child is complaining of lack of playtime now.

No spelling booklet for us too, and I am not aware if he has any spelling..

Yes, he complains about having little playtime now, something which my DD didn't complain about when she was in K2. My impression of her K2 years, very fun and spending lots of time on the year-end concert instead of actual work in classroom

I think even Pat's has caught up with the primary one stress?

[Busymom]

smurfy:

\"the good, old experienced teachers.. have turned into teachers' mentors.. and they do not teach a class.. but to mentor the newbie teacher.. \" <- hearsay during a birthday party.

I don't think this is true. Maybe only the principal doesn't teach, the rest including VP are definitely taking a class of their own.

[Busymom]

mtdt:

applemum:

Maybe I am a lazy parent. So I was happy I did not need to reinforce anything at home. The teachers did alert me immediately when there were other problems.

haha... think we are the same pattern.
Guess boils down to the communication between the parents/trs.

Another good pt I can get is the kid is more independent. I do not need to sit down with the kid every week now to go thru his spellings...

Me three! I must be also a lazy parent. The fewer things that I am asked to make my child memorise, the better.

But I agree feedback is important. If there is a persistent problem, whether academic or behavioral, teachers should inform parents about it, not wait for parents to find out subsequently from the child like ages later. :gloomy:

[Busymom]

empressplace:

applemum:

I just remembered that I used to receive weekly update (via a piece of A4 size printed paper) on what was taught. The teacher even provided tips to parents on what to follow up to enhance the learning for the week. But I did not bother to do anything though. Is it still in practice?

Yes, it is. At one point it was uploaded on the parents' portal but it was not timely. Now we seem to be back to the paper updates. The update is so brief that it is pretty useless in my opinion.

What I get now is the same as what my DD got 3 years ago - one piece of A4 size paper. You mean you were getting more before?

After the initial 2-3 weeks in K2 for my DD, I think we were asked to go to the parents' portal. To be honest with you, I much prefer that they give this A4 size paper as I don't go to the portal at all; I ended up with nothing from her K2 years (not that I read if I am given that piece of paper, but I want it, even if it is just a false sense of security to me).