Ngee Ann Primary
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Hi, just wondering if any of the other parents with kids in P1 have the same problem? With the introduction of the PALS programme, the P1 school hours have become really long, from 7.30am to 1.45pm most days. There is only a 30min break at 10.15 for recess.
My poor son has to wake up at 6am to be ready for the school bus at 6.30am. He eats slowly so has only a cup of Pediasure and a slice of bread or a scrambled egg at 6.15am. We pack sandwiches for him at recess but he is either but he is either busy playing or talking to friends and he takes only 1 - 2 bites! By the time he returns from school on the bus it’s already 2.30pm. He only has lunch at about 3pm or so after dilly-dallying a bit. That’s a good 9 hours between proper meals!!
Dinner has to be at 7.30pm latest so he can get to bed by 8.30pm to get enough hours of sleep.
For a 6 year old who is just adapting to P1 life I feel it’s really tough. He has to learn how to wake up super early, gulp breakfast at an unearthly hour, learn to go to toilet and eat fast at recess and have a super late lunch, followed by dinner 4 hours later!
Working adults have a decent lunch hour and I’m sure no one expects to eat breakfast at 6.15am, then lunch at 3pm! I know there’s been some feedback to the principal but what can the school do? MOE expects schools to function this way.
Sorry for this long post…just wanted to find out if there are other parents facing similar problems…
My son has already lost >2kg since starting P1 by the way. -
Aeomi, your concern is the same as mine. My DD is in 1H. I manage to allocate enough time for her to get a decent breakfast. She wakes at 6.15am and we leave hm at 6.45pm, so within the 30mins, she can finish her breakfast and I even manage to give her her daily supplements of fish oil and multi-vits.
As for recess, i m pretty sure my DD manages to finish a bowl of noodle soup or rice. But the portion is so pathetic (i’ve seen it) n not enough even for a P1 kid. DD told me the same thing too.
Lunch is really the problem for me. I have monitored the situation for the past term, and concluded it is really unhealthy for her to take her lunch so late, at around 2.30pm in student care centre. I asked a number of my friends to check how they managed. To my surprise, not all schools have such long hrs as NAPS. In fact, among all the schs that I know of, NAPS has the longest time schedule. A friend of mine told me her kid’s school allows the kids to take a 5-10min break at around noontime for some dry snacks (bread or biscuits) just to assuage the kids’ hunger. I had just sent an email to my DD’s form teacher with this suggestion because my DD has been telling me she’s vv hungry by the time school dismisses. Still waiting for her reply.
Just my thinking, MOE might have instructed the schools to cover the required syllabus, but I think the school has the flexibility to manage the running of their timetables/programmes.
I can’t afford to let my DD go to bed at 8.30pm cos that’s abt the time she finishes her dinner. She goes to bed at 9.30pm, which makes for slightly less than 9hrs of sleep per day. That’s the best I can do. -
i agree with all of u on the long school hr. when DS was in P1 5 yrs ago, school starts at 8am instead of 7.30.
although it is only a 30min different, but it meant a lot to me and DS
i do hope the school/MOE can look into cutting short school hr (maybe just 30min - 1hr) or at least give 1 more 15min break during the day.
not forgetting they have to attend CCA and remedial class when they reach P3 after school. some CCA ends around 4.30-5. by the time they reach home already evening for those staying far from school. their school hrs is longer than our working hr.
when they reach home, still have homework to complete .
dinner will have to be fast and by the time he sleeps is ard 10pm -
KP29:
As for recess, i m pretty sure my DD manages to finish a bowl of noodle soup or rice. But the portion is so pathetic (i've seen it) n not enough even for a P1 kid. DD told me the same thing too.
My kids take 2 portions of food and a packet of milk for recess. After being \"very hungry\" on the way home for a couple of days, DS now packs a light snack to eat on the way home and this had been so for the last few years. DD already graduated from the school.
DS reaches home at about 3pm on normal days and will take a nap after lunch and bath. Homework for my kids had been minimal and they normally start at around 9pm as I normally reach home after 8.30pm. They are in bed by 10pm. -
Aeomi:
Hi, just wondering if any of the other parents with kids in P1 have the same problem? With the introduction of the PALS programme, the P1 school hours have become really long, from 7.30am to 1.45pm most days. There is only a 30min break at 10.15 for recess.
My poor son has to wake up at 6am to be ready for the school bus at 6.30am. He eats slowly so has only a cup of Pediasure and a slice of bread or a scrambled egg at 6.15am. We pack sandwiches for him at recess but he is either but he is either busy playing or talking to friends and he takes only 1 - 2 bites! By the time he returns from school on the bus it's already 2.30pm. He only has lunch at about 3pm or so after dilly-dallying a bit. That's a good 9 hours between proper meals!!
Dinner has to be at 7.30pm latest so he can get to bed by 8.30pm to get enough hours of sleep.
For a 6 year old who is just adapting to P1 life I feel it's really tough. He has to learn how to wake up super early, gulp breakfast at an unearthly hour, learn to go to toilet and eat fast at recess and have a super late lunch, followed by dinner 4 hours later!
Working adults have a decent lunch hour and I'm sure no one expects to eat breakfast at 6.15am, then lunch at 3pm! I know there's been some feedback to the principal but what can the school do? MOE expects schools to function this way.
Sorry for this long post...just wanted to find out if there are other parents facing similar problems...
My son has already lost >2kg since starting P1 by the way.
We have to appeal to MOE for guidelines changes. -
Coolkidsrock2:
hi,KP29:
As for recess, i m pretty sure my DD manages to finish a bowl of noodle soup or rice. But the portion is so pathetic (i've seen it) n not enough even for a P1 kid. DD told me the same thing too.
My kids take 2 portions of food and a packet of milk for recess. After being \"very hungry\" on the way home for a couple of days, DS now packs a light snack to eat on the way home and this had been so for the last few years. DD already graduated from the school.
DS reaches home at about 3pm on normal days and will take a nap after lunch and bath. Homework for my kids had been minimal and they normally start at around 9pm as I normally reach home after 8.30pm. They are in bed by 10pm.
DS is in P5 and DD in P2, by the time she came out from school, she is already screaming hunger.
my helper will let them eat at one of the block void deck before taking a bus/cab home. i stay in Tampines.
by the time they reach home, they have to take a shower immediately. weather is too hot.
if they have homework, they will need to complete them before i reach home ard 6plus.
DS has plenty of hw daily from school. beside school work, he also have tution work to do. but i make sure he has at least 1-2hr of leisure time everyday. he can do whatever he likes, most of the time is on his hp playing games with his classmate.
for DD is still younger, so i let her relax a bit more.. -
Hi all,
my twin boys are in 1Love, also facing the same situation:-
Wakes up at 6am - 615am, force feed them with Pediasure + Egg + Ham/Cheese (otherwise they will take ages to finish everything), they are so tired that they simply lie down on sofa and continue sleeping after breakfast…sometimes we even have to help them with uniform so that we can leave by 6:55am latest for the journey to school takes 20m - 25min drive (luckily though)… they can have an extended sleep in the car…We packed milk and snacks for their recess so that they don’t have to queue up and buy food, and they can eat the packed food at own pace (also because from our observation on P1 day 1, the food they bought was pathetic both in quantity and supposedly quality)…by the time they reach the student care…it is already 2:55pm!! Lunch only at around 3:15pm…Just hope that the kids will adapt to it…
Trying to connect to other P1 parents…if you are keen, can PM me…we can exchange information regarding our kids’ homework, difficulties, etc… -
I can see that many of us have the same issues! I am meeting up with my son’s form teacher later to talk about some issues. The suggestion to have a mini-break for some snacks and water is a good one. I’m not sure if the school will be willing to have such a major change as shortening school hours. I’ll talk to her and let all of you know the outcome.
When my son first started out in P1, they were not even allowed to drink water while waiting for the bus. After we fed back to the school at least this is no longer an issue! Hopefully they will consider an additional 10-15min break in class. -
Yesterday, my DD told me "Mummy, have you written to Ms D (form teacher)? She never told me I can eat my biscuit in class."
~ felt so bad when I heard that… Because I had told her on Monday that I had written an email to her teacher to request for a short "snack-break" in class. She must have been so looking forward to having that break.
I just told my DD that Ms. D hasn’t replied me yet, so I’m still waiting. Anyway, another forummer told me to air via the school’s feedback page and I’ve done that as well. Would be good if there are more of such same feedback to the school.
So sad that our kids have to suffer (unnecessarily) from hunger pangs… -
I just received a reply from DD's FT. Not sure if it's because someone picked up my feedback and passed it to her, she did apologize and said she overlooked my earlier email.
Anyway, she replied me saying that she'll monitor my DD in class and also for my DD to tell her when she's hungry. She'll allow my DD to take a snack in class.
Don't think it'll work though because when other kids see this happening, they'll likely want to follow suit.
I think the feedback page is useful. Parents, do send in your feedback to the school on this issue. Collectively, we should be able to persuade the school to listen to us.
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