Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ?

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 09 Dec 2014 03:50:02 GMT

phtthp — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 03:50:02 GMT

Sharmaine06:
Hi Parents,

I need some advices from the experience parents here especially from those parents that children has produced good PSLE results. My son is in the top primary school but sad to say his result is within the 20 - 40 percentile of the school, which means he is within the last 3 classes out of 13 classes ( 4 classes are GEP).

Due to this excellence performance in CCA a neigbourhood primary school has approached us to conider allowing him to transfer school. This school is the national champion in that CCA. They offer to look after his overall welfare in term of both acaademic & CCA. They will put him in the best class & with special attention from the teacher.

My concern is, he is already primary 5, should I allow him to transfer school? What are the considerations.

Thank you in advance for all your advice.

you need to check that particular school's Transfer Application form, you're interested in.

because some primary schools do not allow Transfer at P5, since Psle preparation actually start in P5, not P6.

in some schools' Transfer Application form, there is a clause or condition, that state that :-

for example

\"Parents should not Transfer child, if -
your child will be sitting for Psle at the current year of application, or the following year.\"

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Sat, 14 May 2011 04:12:08 GMT

mrswongtuition — Sat, 14 May 2011 04:12:08 GMT

Firstly, how does your boy feel about this change?

How does he feel about having to leave behind his current friends, some of whom he may have known since P1?
Is he willing to take up the challenge of being a new school with new teachers, uniform, environment and friends?
Have you brought him to the neighbourhood school to take a look and speak to the P/teachers?

As a P5 kid is older and usually start to want to have a say, it's good to keep your child actively involved in all discussions. Let him know your thoughts and worries and let him think about it too.
Ask him what does he really want and how does he think this change of school can benefit him? Talk to him about the implications & possibilities. Be honest and lay it all out. He is old enough to think.

And what's the 'back up plan' if he feels miserable at the new school after the transfer? How are you going to encourage him? How is he going to encourage himself?

Also, how will he handle peer questioning? Students at the new school may ask him why he wants to change from top school to neighbourhood school (some of them may see him as a 'failure' in the previous school, thus jumping into a neighbourhood school). How are you going to prepare him for such questions?

As a parent, I would take the step to transfer to neighbourhood school if my boy is ready for it. Also, don't 100% depend on the school to help him academically. Be prepared to pump in the extra help (either by yourself, your spouse or a tutor).

What's most important is your child's feelings about this move to another school & how you can support your child in this move.

I hope you and your child will make a decision that makes all happy, with a great ending to inspire other parents that having kids in neighbourhood school or top school isn't the most important, but the parental involvement and support that's the most important.

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Wed, 04 May 2011 05:42:06 GMT

Sharmaine06 — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:42:06 GMT

Yes, more or less we have decided but there are still some details to work it out before we are comfortable to sign on the dotted line. As this is a major decision we just want to be sure & seek more opinions as we do not want to be over shawdowed by looking at all the good stuffs only & missed out on the bigger picture and we may regret thinking why didnt we ask this or why we did not thought of that…etc.

Some of the advices are useful to help us in making this decision & help DS to adjust to new environment.

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Wed, 04 May 2011 05:20:37 GMT

JRLam — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:20:37 GMT

Sharmaine06:
Hi All,

Thanks for all the support given here, now I know where to find your nick : )

I do agree that to excel in sports you need commitments, good time management as well as family support. We want him to be happy & earn self esteem from his own acheivements which he cannot get from his 'branded school' as the school simply told us that they have too many CCAs & do not have more resoucres to put into DS sport. His result is always below the median of his school standard no matter how hard he tried. There are just too many HW which is impossible to finish at times. To be fair the school really have very high academic standard & offer a broad base education but other than that, in my opinion the school does not proivde good character development as they are too result oriented.

It seems to me both you and your son have sort of decided anyway

It is important that your son is happy in whatever he is pursing, and you know it is required a lot of hard work, not play-play type. Everyone works and performs better in their areas of interest, even in adults' corporate workd. Maybe your son is the late-bloomer type, so he may still excel academically in whichever secondary sch he is going to based on the 'output' from this neighbourhood sch, especially if his self -esteem is high given the recognition he gets from his CCA achievement.

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 12:51:49 GMT

Sharmaine06 — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:51:49 GMT

Hi All,

Thanks for all the support given here, now I know where to find your nick : )

I do agree that to excel in sports you need commitments, good time management as well as family support. We want him to be happy & earn self esteem from his own acheivements which he cannot get from his ‘branded school’ as the school simply told us that they have too many CCAs & do not have more resoucres to put into DS sport. His result is always below the median of his school standard no matter how hard he tried. There are just too many HW which is impossible to finish at times. To be fair the school really have very high academic standard & offer a broad base education but other than that, in my opinion the school does not proivde good character development as they are too result oriented.

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 09:16:57 GMT

3kiddos — Tue, 03 May 2011 09:16:57 GMT

What does your son want to do? I always believe that when a child is committed and has a positive mindset, that’s the first step and I’ll be supportive. From what I’ve seen, the ‘bottom’ kids in top schools do have self-esteem issues as all the attn is focused on the gifted kids, top kids etc. A friend was just sharing that her girls’ P4 class (in a branded school) was told that they would be having a combined camp with ALL the other P4 classes and one child went "now the lousy ones also joining us". woah.

Just to share that as a parent with 2 primary schoolers who are both doing competitive sports and training 3 - 4 times a week each, hubby and I understand the time commitment but we are supportive nonetheless as we see education as more than just academics. And because our kids WANT to train and achieve a sense of satisfaction from their small acheivements in the court/pool (and my kids are not even in the league that your son seems to be in - they wont be poached. hehe), they make sure they complete their HW, assessments as their mummy requires. It does mean less time for computer games/tv and idling.

Obviously, your ds is talented. If you can see him going further in his sport, then quality training (which often, the ‘winning’ schools in that particular sport provide) is a great benefit. So too is training together with peers who are of his level in the sport. And I’m guessing he does want to ‘win’ too right? Which is why he wants to join this school? How is his current school’s standard in the sport that he’s in?

I would also consider the exact neighbourhood school you’re thinking of and the quality of that school. Even among the neighbourhood schools, the quality of their teachers and students do vary a lot. Perhaps yours is among the better ones. In that case, the decision is easier but still not easy. Good luck!

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 08:19:53 GMT

QuiteKSMum — Tue, 03 May 2011 08:19:53 GMT

Hi Sharmaine06,

Sorry if I sound blunt, IMO, this neighborhood sch prob wants your DS primarily for his sports achievements. So, I'm not sure if you were to t'fer him, how long does the sch expect your son to \"serve\" them? If even in P6, he's still expected to take part in competitions, then I'm afraid that he might be too stretched...even if the sch does give him better teachers etc...physically he might be over-stretched...

My son did his PSLE in a neighborhood sch last yr - even amongst the top 3 classes, the standard varied q.widely. Only in the BEST class, the lowest T-score is ard. 234 ( I think, if not min 230), but the kids in that class are really stretched to the max - as these are the kids who are depended upon to bring glory to the sch. If your son has to spend much more of his time ( compared to his Best class classmates) outside class (due his sport domain), then his self esteem etc might take a bashing, IMO. The level of competition amongst kids in the BEST class is also v.intense, even in a neighborhood sch.

Unless you expect the Ts in this neighborhood sch to be able to give your son an almost one to one kind of attention, then I think it's better to depend on yourself - by providing him with the necc academic support ( outsource maybe) for PSLE than put your faith in the sch. Just my honest 2 cts, since I have no experience with sports domain kind of child...

All the best... :celebrate:

P.S. My nick is QuiteKSMum, not Greenbelt...

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 05:26:14 GMT

Sharmaine06 — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:26:14 GMT

Hi OrangeBelt,

Thanks for the advice and I do not want to go into details. The reason that we are in a dilemma was we want the best for him so the thoughts of having delicated teachers in a good class giving him attention has motivated us to consider. As he is now in a good school but the last few classes, the attention & the forcus are not really to our expectation. There are relieve teachers come & go, one teacher take up 3 subjects & went on medical leaves 3 days straight, home work done but not collected & etc…

Anyway thanks for the advice, really appreciated, we are still considering & have not made the decision yet.

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 02:52:35 GMT

ridcully — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:52:35 GMT

Sharmaine06

I’m quite curious to read that schools go in for ‘poaching’. How did the neighbourhood school know about your boy’s CCA? Is your boy a national champion? And why would they want to recruit him half-way through P5? After all, they will only get the benefit of his abilities for a year.

How do you have a DSA offer at this stage?

Is it so easy to transfer from one school to another? Would a CCA reason be substantive enough for MOE’s approval?

Anyway, my two cents worth:

There is a saying that all change is psychological damage even if it is made with the best of intentions. At this stage, moving your boy would be a major upheaval on several fronts (familiarity with school and teachers, friends, routines, expectations) and would surely impact negatively on his academic performance - unless your boy is presently thoroughly demoralised at his existing school in which case a move might be the right thing to do.

Also, I consider the principal reason for schooling is academics. Although I wholeheartedly support widening the curriculum and developing the whole child, I think from a pragmatic point of view in the Singaporean context that you should focus on the academic needs of your boy, not a CCA.

Just my opinion.
R

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 02:04:08 GMT

Sharmaine06 — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:04:08 GMT

Thanks Blackbelt

These points are very good. I will ask the other school this questions. As for my DS he is very interested in the offer as they can provide him with better trainings & more exposures.

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 01:49:10 GMT

IJJ — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:49:10 GMT

Sharmaine06:
Hi Parents,

I need some advices from the experience parents here especially from those parents that children has produced good PSLE results. My son is in the top primary school but sad to say his result is within the 20 - 40 percentile of the school, which means he is within the last 3 classes out of 13 classes ( 4 classes are GEP).

Due to this excellence performance in CCA a neigbourhood primary school has approached us to conider allowing him to transfer school. This school is the national champion in that CCA. They offer to look after his overall welfare in term of both acaademic & CCA. They will put him in the best class & with special attention from the teacher.

My concern is, he is already primary 5, should I allow him to transfer school? What are the considerations.

Thank you in advance for all your advice.

If you take away the 4 GEP classes, is he above school avg? If so, he should still be good. As for the neighbourhood school, what is the main reason they approach you? To rep the school in the CCA and excel? If there is so, will they push him more for the CCA performance rather than his academic needs?

There are other considerations :

1. Affliliation to a secondary school
2. Distance from home
3. Culture of the neighbourhood school
4. Your ds's feelings and thots

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 01:45:16 GMT

Sharmaine06 — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:45:16 GMT

Thanks for all the advice. All are welcome as there are really a lot to consider. Sport school is not a good choice for this sport. The neighbourhood school does not have affilated sec sch but I can get him into an average sec sch which is good at this sport through DSA as I already have offer. My concern is will he be able to cope with the extra trainings & competitions? My target to him is at least to have 220 in the t-score.

Thanks

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 01:36:53 GMT

teh_oh — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:36:53 GMT

Hi,

The neighbourhood school being ‘national champion’, I assume that they are good in sports. If so, and that your child is keen to get into Sports School and if the current top school is unable to provide the same amount of support for him to excel in that sport, you may want to consider transferring if you are going that route (sports school; you should probably check things out with sports school to see what are the options before deciding).
2 cents.

Reply to Need Adv should P5 transfer sch ? on Tue, 03 May 2011 01:27:12 GMT

janet88 — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:27:12 GMT

Sharmaine06:
Hi Parents,

I need some advices from the experience parents here especially from those parents that children has produced good PSLE results. My son is in the top primary school but sad to say his result is within the 20 - 40 percentile of the school, which means he is within the last 3 classes out of 13 classes ( 4 classes are GEP).

Due to this excellence performance in CCA a neigbourhood primary school has approached us to conider allowing him to transfer school. This school is the national champion in that CCA. They offer to look after his overall welfare in term of both acaademic & CCA. They will put him in the best class & with special attention from the teacher.

My concern is, he is already primary 5, should I allow him to transfer school? What are the considerations.

Thank you in advance for all your advice.

Hi Sharmaine,
If the school has an affiliated secondary school, I would advise you to consider transferring him. Transferring him to another school at this point has pros and cons.
My son is not doing very well in his school too...like a small fish in ocean but could well be a big fish in pond if I transfer him to a neighbourhood school. But I don't think he would want a transfer even if he is a top class. His self-esteem would be affected if I really transfer him. Maybe you would like to discuss with your son and ask him what he thinks. Ultimately he is the one going to school and will have a better feel.