Catholic High (Primary)

[phankao]

zac's mum:

Hi...any kind souls here can help me? I couldn't an answer from the ChS website.


May I know for Phase 2B Catholics, what documents I need to bring for P1 reg'n? At least one parent's Baptism Cert? How about my boy's baptism cert? Need or not? If dun have his, will
I be moved to phase 2C?

Would appreciate a reply based on yr experience, preferably as recent as possible. :love:

No need parents' baptismal cert. Only need the boy's baptismal cert (Cannot baptise if not at least one of the parents is a baptised catholic!).

[zac's mum]

Icic...thx very much

[Zmummy1]

Hello, any parent can help to advise what to expect for Primary 1 Catholic High curriculum? My boy is entering primary next year in 2013, I am just thinking how can I prepare him for next year in Catholic High.. thanks in advance for any advice...

[Careermum]

Zmummy1:

Hello, any parent can help to advise what to expect for Primary 1 Catholic High curriculum? My boy is entering primary next year in 2013, I am just thinking how can I prepare him for next year in Catholic High.. thanks in advance for any advice...

I'm the relaxed mum type, so I can only give my humble opinion: all my sons attended NTUC childcare, and I find that what they learnt at the childcare is good enough. The childcare has P1 preparatory curriculum that include han yu pin yin, english vocab, basic math concept eg number bonds etc.

So if your son's pre-school prepares them well, you need not worry. If you want to enhance it, you may send him for phonics & reading, and near year end, you may check out advertisements for P1 preparatory courses by the various enrichment centres.

I prefer to let my kids enjoy the last year of their pre-school.

If you want to help to enhance your kid's readiness, perhaps just buy or borrow both english & chinese books to read to them, as the school emphasised bilingulism.

As for math, they can pick up from the school. Incidentally, CHS uses their own Math material, produced by the school itself. It is a very good material to prepare them upto PSLE, so you need not worry.

Also, now P1 has no exams, only amode (alternative mode of assessment) for Term 2 to 4. So it is quite relaxed.

[chschs]

Careermum:

Zmummy1:

Hello, any parent can help to advise what to expect for Primary 1 Catholic High curriculum? My boy is entering primary next year in 2013, I am just thinking how can I prepare him for next year in Catholic High.. thanks in advance for any advice...

I'm the relaxed mum type, so I can only give my humble opinion: all my sons attended NTUC childcare, and I find that what they learnt at the childcare is good enough. The childcare has P1 preparatory curriculum that include han yu pin yin, english vocab, basic math concept eg number bonds etc.

So if your son's pre-school prepares them well, you need not worry. If you want to enhance it, you may send him for phonics & reading, and near year end, you may check out advertisements for P1 preparatory courses by the various enrichment centres.

I prefer to let my kids enjoy the last year of their pre-school.

If you want to help to enhance your kid's readiness, perhaps just buy or borrow both english & chinese books to read to them, as the school emphasised bilingulism.

As for math, they can pick up from the school. Incidentally, CHS uses their own Math material, produced by the school itself. It is a very good material to prepare them upto PSLE, so you need not worry.

Also, now P1 has no exams, only amode (alternative mode of assessment) for Term 2 to 4. So it is quite relaxed.

:goodpost:

Reading is indeed important. Do cultivate his reading interests by reading together with him and slowly transitioning him to read independently. The boys need to bring a story book to school everyday.

For certain Amodes that the boys took for the first time (e.g., Show & Tell, Oral, Grammar, ....), the teachers had mock tests to prepare them before the actual ones.

My boy did not have any prep other than his Kindergarten curriculum too and he did well in his P1. But some parents think that the Maths syllabus is a bit demanding. The school keeps the parents informed what they have covered weekly and if you pay attention to his worksheets (which parents are asked to sign from time to time), there should be sufficient time for you to prepare him before the first Amodes (end of Term 1 or beginning of Term 2).

The biggest transition is perhaps the longer school hours and the canteen (buying food on their own after being taken care by P5 buddies during orientation).

Let your boy look forward to his P1 days

[Zmummy1]

thank you all mummy for your advice.. heard so many horror stories from friends.. my main concern is not so much about whther he learn anything.. i just scare that the P1 is so stressful that he cannot manage and loses confidence..


He is an audio person but visual wise (recognition of words) is a challenge. He can just listen and be able to repeat a song or a show. But ask him to read from books is like duh...

He seems to be able to do his work in school and get stars for his work (BTW he goes to childcare and spend like 9 hours in school everyday) but when I practice with him at home, he just cant seem to do it.. and i dunno why.. ask his teachers and they all said he is ok..

[Figaro]

Zmummy1:

Hello, any parent can help to advise what to expect for Primary 1 Catholic High curriculum? My boy is entering primary next year in 2013, I am just thinking how can I prepare him for next year in Catholic High.. thanks in advance for any advice...

Hi Zmummy1, I think you don't really need to plan too hard academic wise cos workload in P1 is really quite light and there isn't much homework. Plus there are no exams in P1. For P2, mid year exams have been scrapped, but there's still final year exam.

A few advice I would give are:

1. Talk to your son about getting ready for P1 at Cat High, as it is a big school compared to kindergarten or childcare. It's better for the boys to be independent as early as possible, so that they can handle money, buy their own food during recess, and eat quickly by themselves. I've seen boys who are really slow eaters or who still need their maids, parents or grandparents to be around during recess.... It would be useful for your boy to visit Cat High, eg. during the Family Day carnival in July to get a taste of school culture.

2. It's good to build up your son's Chinese foundation as early as possible. P1 Chinese is quite OK because the first 6 mths is on Hanyu pinyin only and the spelling words are easy. But the pace gets quite fast after that. Hence start reading Chinese story books etc to build up his interest in Chinese.

3. Personally I was surprised by the amount of show and tell, both in English and Chinese. Useful to get your son used to the idea first, and you'll probably be the one \"scripting\" and preparing the props. The teachers have several practice sessions with the boys though, so there's no need to worry.

4. P1 teachers keep blogs to communicate with parents. You can check out some of them. For example http://onefaithfulness.blogspot.com just to get a taste of the P1 stuff.

And very lastly, just let your son enjoy P1 life!! There's a lot of stuff he can do, eg. read at the library, go to the maths room, take up a CCA (if he's \"talent spotted\"). It's probably the only primary school year he gets to enjoy without much stress cos the pace does go faster after that.

Ditto for the parents... lots of opportunities to get involved in parents support groups, class events, learning journeys etc. Enjoy!

[Zmummy1]

Dear Figaro,


Thank you so much for your advices. Your reply really put me at ease. Agree with you and think will go with that

Wow impressive blog by the teacher.. tough to be one nowadays need real passion to achieve that... thanks for sharing.

[Figaro]

Hi Zmummy1, that particular teacher is very dedicated, energetic and great at taking photos… like a professional. Thanks to her, my son now have many nice photo memories of his P1 and P2 days. She’s teaching another P1 class this year, and may move on to P2 again next year, so your son may miss her. From what I hear from other mummies, not every teacher writes like her.

[phankao]

Figaro:

Hi Zmummy1, that particular teacher is very dedicated, energetic and great at taking photos... like a professional. Thanks to her, my son now have many nice photo memories of his P1 and P2 days. She's teaching another P1 class this year, and may move on to P2 again next year, so your son may miss her. From what I hear from other mummies, not every teacher writes like her.

THat seems to be Mrs Chan's class. Oh, but she can be super-fierce! I always utter remarks under my breath when I hear her scolding the boys, esp the dance boys. But then again, she also goes around hugging all the boys, which I also feel quite uncomfortable with.

Usually the teachers that are good with P1 will continue teaching P1 every year. Bc it's not easy to find teachers that can connect with P1 boys.