Choosing and Evaluating Primary Schools

[titank]

Lee Peng:

My husband is an old boy of Tanjong Katong Primary and we stay within 1km of the school. I am not too sure how good the school is. I heard it is up and coming, but don't know abt the culture and discipline there. I heard a lot of expat kids are there. Can anyone out there share with me about the school? How strong are they in their mother tongue? Somemore now MOE said their plan is to get all primary schools to be in single session by 2016. Now Tanjong Katong is only partial single session. So not too sure will it move to convert to single session. Any one has any idea about it?


How about Ngee Ann primary? Any parents with kids in Ngee Ann? What is the culture and focus in the school? How's the principal there? From the past academic achievements, it seem that Ngee Ann outperforms Tanjong Katong. But I stay within 1 to 2km of Ngee Ann. Not too sure of the chances.

My preferred choice is of course, Tao Nan, but being in phase 2c for Taonan seems to be pretty slim chance based on past registration history, although I stay within 1km.

Hope someone out there can enlighten me soon. If I go for Tanjong Katong, i need to register next week!

Heard about Tanjong Katong Pri is somehow like River Valley with certain percentage of Foreigners students. It would be good if can enter Tao Nan but to ballot seem really depend on luck.

There is an open house for Tanjong Katong Pri on 17 July 09 at 2pm to 4.30pm.You may want to go check it out.

[k_s_cheong]

ChiefKiasu:

ttyh:

...But not all schools has open house, right? I don't remember popular schools like rulang, nanyang, ai tong has open hse...

You are right. That's why we normally have a thread each year for parents to post notices of which schools are having open houses and when.

So ChiefKiasu, where can I see this thread? Thanks.

[tankee]

it is in this subforum ... :?


http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=404

[Lee Peng]

Thanks Titank. Unfortunately the open house is after phase 2a2 registration. If I were to decide to go for tanjong katong, to secure a place, it is best i go for phase 2a2 since my husband is an old boy of the school…


I missed the open house of Ngee Ann Primary and now they say I can’t visit after open house.

[kanghu]

Hi.

I am contemplating registering my son to Poi Ching Primary School next week.
I am qualified and have done the PV service.
They called us up to register next week and don’t have to ballot even though we are staying in Simei which is more than 1 km away.

I like the school due to its emphasis on Chinese and of course English - both being mandatory first language.
The facility also looks good based on my visit to the school during PV.

My concerns are:
1. Will there be too much home work?
This is a SAP school. I am concerned that there are so much school work that I have to spend all my time sitting with the kid just to see through he does the homework and help him out in case he has problem. I understand I would have to spend some time with the kid for school work but hopefully not too much (what is too much? more than 2 nights is considered too much to me).
Can anyone share any experience on this with Poi Ching?

2. Is there any small van school bus service which bring my kids direct from Simei (yes, I am staying in Simei) to the school instead of the big standard school bus which will make long distance travel routing through all neighborhoods to pick up many kids before reaching school?
What time does the kid normally finish school for Primary One?

3. Does the school mix good and poor students together?
I know that schools nowadays try not to name the classes as A, B, … F with A being the best class and F being the poorest class. They try to name them using some words/phrase which make it not so obvious which is a better class and which is not. But I also heard there are schools whereby the litterally mix the top student with middle standards students and then the middle standard students with the poor students. I really don’t quite like the later idea. Which is the case for Poi Ching?

4. How does the school care for kids who are slower learner?
Do they push parents to have the kids go for tuition classes?
Do they have some tuition class or special arrangement to help them?
I am asking this because my first kid is ok on his learning progress but my second son who will register the year after is a bit slow in his learning.

Any advices are, especially from parents who have kids in Poi Ching studying, will be very much appreciated.
Thanks.

[mummyloves]

Lee Peng:

My husband is an old boy of Tanjong Katong Primary and we stay within 1km of the school. I am not too sure how good the school is. I heard it is up and coming, but don't know abt the culture and discipline there. I heard a lot of expat kids are there. Can anyone out there share with me about the school? How strong are they in their mother tongue? Somemore now MOE said their plan is to get all primary schools to be in single session by 2016. Now Tanjong Katong is only partial single session. So not too sure will it move to convert to single session. Any one has any idea about it?


How about Ngee Ann primary? Any parents with kids in Ngee Ann? What is the culture and focus in the school? How's the principal there? From the past academic achievements, it seem that Ngee Ann outperforms Tanjong Katong. But I stay within 1 to 2km of Ngee Ann. Not too sure of the chances.

My preferred choice is of course, Tao Nan, but being in phase 2c for Taonan seems to be pretty slim chance based on past registration history, although I stay within 1km.

Hope someone out there can enlighten me soon. If I go for Tanjong Katong, i need to register next week!

Have you registered your kid? I am registering my ds for Phase 2B next week!

[sunset_dae]

can anyone comment on bukit panjang primary school?

I c the ranking of primary school, it seem that the school is dd quite well in academic

[schellen]

sunset_dae:

can anyone comment on bukit panjang primary school?

I c the ranking of primary school, it seem that the school is dd quite well in academic

Have you checked out the Bt. Panjang thread yet?
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=486

[tamarind]

xuanxuanwu:

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


Dear all

Now, we are living in the Jurong west . My daughter was born in July 2006. we want to find a new location ,area to move to . the major purpose is : there are good primary school and within 1 km. we can do the volunteer parents for the school but got good or high chance to enter into that school. better got 2 good schools within 1 km. we don't mind to buy a new house nearby. Do you have any suggestions or advices? thanks to all in advance. we are really very poor info about it. need your help.

Do you mean moving out of Jurong West to anywhere near a good school ? If you can afford to move to any part of Singapore, and I assume you want the best school in Singapore, then definitely move to beside Nanyang primary school Around Bukit Timah Road and Farrer Road. Lots of houses there. RGPS also in that area. Also one of the top schools in Singapore.

[dan]

pinky:

Agree with titank, after all Guillemard is also quite far from Clementi too.

I have relatives whose kids are in SH and KH, quite favourable comments
from them too. SH has GEP too so the standard should be comparable
with NH.

If you have a look at SH and NH PSLE results for the past yrs, I personally find that SH's results is skewed because of their GEP students i.e. main cohort of SH not performing as well as those in NH. Well, I dont have the actual stats but this is how I see it.