Maha Bodhi

[MMM]

My girl encouraged me to PV as she said it will allow me to see the school :lol: I also enjoy it as it was my alma matter so I wanted badly to see the school. But only the common area and never get to go to classroom but my son's class happened to be feature in the ppt on school website so I got to have some idea how it's like. BTW, how did your kids get into MBS??? I am always curious about it as i realise it's usually the following 1) ex-students 2) SBF member/ those with religious leaders recommendation 3) lucky parents.


Do you intend to go to school to buy textbooks???? The operator is now popular. Besides exercise books, buddhist books,etc... I was thinking of buying from nearby popular (I did that last year) to avoid the queue or out of stock situation.

Which BC are ur kids at??? My kids are at Napier and does sat 8.30am class. My girl is keen to change to literacy circle next year. All native teachers as well but smaller class size so more attn and teachers are definitely very encouraging. But my hubby felt that BC is still a better choice and also felt that for literacy circle teacher to make such a comment, it's something that my girl has build over time and not becoz of few days at literacy circle. We shall see as we signed up for 1 yr class.

But I like literacy circle's approach to creative writing as they introduce more structure. I am planning to send them again for dec hols.

During pre-school my kids only did phonics enrichment for english at Jan & Elly. When I looked at how well my girl's P1 classmate can write a grammatically perfect compo during P1 SA1, I do have some key learnings. Currently, I've started my nursery child on phonics that is supposed to last till she is K2. My P2 girl only did that when she is K2 so I always feel that her phonics is not as strong as my P1 who did up to advanced level. I also plan to let my nursery do a english program at literacy circle when she is K1. I saw their materials and typically by K2, their students would have covered writing, comprehension,etc.... For BC, their pre-school seems to be centred towards reading and S&D only.

How about chinese? Do you send your kids to any? My kids are with Molin. My P2 girl only started in K2 as well... I was a relaxed mum But key learning again, my nursery going started this year and is starting to recognise quite a no. of chinese characters. I hope by P1, she has that \"chinese power\" and will do better than her siblings.

BTW, I just started my kids on chinese speech & drama at the recommendation of my girl's CL teacher. This teacher is ex-MBS teacher who taught there for 10+ years. I enrol them as I hope that they can speak proper chinese, develop an interest for the language and also at the same time help them for oral exams. So they do alot of rou kou ling,etc... i observed that in the process, it encourages my P1 boy to recognise more chinese words as no hypy is provided for most of the worksheet.

So much things to share :lol: How about science for your P3? Is it tough? We got no more slot for enrichment lessons as our weekends are really packed with that..... I hope I do not have to slot another science lesson :? I let my girl attend the discovery science camp during dec hols last year. Also get the young scientist mag to get them interested in the subject. So they enjoy readng those. OMG.... hope I am not scaring all the 2010 MBS parents with all these comments. Pls view me as the more extreme/ ks type.

[jsmum]

I am ex-student. Was studying at their very old site at Geylang lor 34 then.


My kids are at BC Tampines. I also know 3 other MBS kids studying there. I also sign up for a year at BC (6 mths x 2). See how it goes. If my kids enjoy the class till end of term 4, I will consider extend another 6 months. There is a $100 discount for signing 1 year but I did not sign for a year this year because I did not know if classes are enjoyable. My gal stopped LW in the middle of P2 because she did not find the class enjoyable (reason: most of her friends left that year). So I have to withdraw my boy who was in P1 then. He was so sad when I withdraw him. No choice because I do not wish to run 2 centres for english enrichment. Luckily found a slot for P2 and P3 at BC this year.

For chinese enrichment, my kids are with Hua language ctr. I have not seen any MBS kids there yet. For my boy his results was close to 80 marks which I felt is very good since he started chinese enrichment only at P1 and could not even speak any proper mandarin then. Hua weekly in-class papers and even ting xie are similar to MBS. Mock exams and mock oral are given to the kids prior their school exams (heard tsien xia also does that).

My kids do not have science enrichment. My weekends are already \"burnt\" ferrying them to just their language enrichment. My P2 boy just told me his classmate is having science enrichment now and he is interested too. Science sounds interesting to him and he always takes his sis P3 science text to look. Science lesson is only twice a week in school (1 lesson 2 periods). General knowledge, English understanding and common sense is impt I feel. My gal enjoy science because it is something new to her even though she gets band 2. Band 1 is very hard to achieve now .

I am kiasu too but I am very lazy. There are no enrichment on weekdays because weekdays are my work days. Lucky the school do not have much homework. I seldom coach them study. Even though sometimes my boy bring back chinese compo to do at home, I made him do himself (I do not check mistakes for him) so that I know his marks if he write it himself (he only can get 5 or 6 out of 10). Only closer to their exams I will coach them at night.

[MMM]

Hi,


Which year did you graduate? I graduated in 1986. This year, I saw few other class/ school mates whose kids are in P1 as well.

Is the trend similar for P3 whereby there are little homework???? My nephew who is in P3 rosyth this year see a sudden surge in amt of homework. It was little at P1 and P2.

Yah... our weekends are just as bad. 8.30am - 5.30pm on sat and on sunday, they just have speech & drama and piano. Fortunately they are not complaining so far as they enjoyed their lessons.

On the band 1 thing... I am just amazed by those kids that did well in PSLE. I suppose they must have scored consistent band 1 results even in upper primary. It's scary to think about it.... Now my kids are only in lower primary and though stressed to ensure they do well, it's only lower primary. In few more years time, I would be stressed abt PSLE... Was told my by my hairstylist whose kids are in St Nic and CH that the kids must start preparing for PSLE when they are P5. Also heard of many kids who did well in initial year but results deteriorated signficiantly in upper primary.... it's just so challenging.

We decided that Manjusri is definitely out of picture for the kids. If they fail to do well, then the girl will go to a convent school while the boy to a saints school. :roll:

[baong]

HI MMM and jsmum,


I am biting my nails as I read your posts :shock:

I hope my son can survive in MBS in the years to come but it seems like extra enrichment is inevitable. H/w I would like to thank both of you for sharing so much, so parents can take note of areas to help their kids improve. Its really nice to know all of you in KSP here.

[chasingjelly]

MMM:

OMG.... hope I am not scaring all the 2010 MBS parents with all these comments. Pls view me as the more extreme/ ks type.

I am glad that you are sharing all these... at least it gives me an idea what to expect when my kid goes to MBS.

[MMM]

baong:

HI MMM and jsmum,


I hope my son can survive in MBS in the years to come but it seems like extra enrichment is inevitable.

Hi,

I can only speak for myself. I've been the enrichment craze type of mum even during pre-school. So it's not becoz of MBS that I'm behaving like that. I've a ex-MBS classmate whose girl is also in MBS P1 this year. She is totally opposite of me. Her girl has no enrichment classes. She still manage to survive MBS. So I think alot voice down to individual parents' expectations. :lol:

If there are good family support, the kids will also do well. Not necessarily those who attend enrichment lessons only. I am sending them because we do not have the resource/ energy to guide them ourselves so we leave it to the experts. Frankly with all these enrichment lessons, I think my kids only belong to marginally above average type but they are definitely not the top 20%.... :roll:

[MMM]

Jsmum,


Indeed they now have new PE shorts. It's unisex with elastic band.

I am in a fix now..... For the boy's uniform, they have the bodhi leaf sewed on the collar. I am not sure if we still need to get the \"The Maha Bodhi School\" tag that comes in yellow for afternoon session and red for morning session.....

Also for the new PE t-shirt.... was wondering where to sew the name tag. Above the bodhi leave like now????

:? :?:

[chasingjelly]

We are supposed to go down to the school nxt mth to collect some lists and pay some fees. Can we buy the uniform on that same day?

[MMM]

Yes you can. Shirley season wear will definitely be there.


Based on last year’s experience, we try to be early, fill up all the forms accurately and fast. Then we move on to buy those stuff. So at that point, we don’t have to queue very long for books, uniform,etc…

[ChiefKiasu]

MMM:

... Also for the new PE t-shirt.... was wondering where to sew the name tag. Above the bodhi leave like now???? ...

You mean these things don't come with instructions? If you bought it from the school's bookstore, can you not call them up to ask?