[Tampines] Primary Schools
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so if we exclude GEP from Tao Nan, Nanyang, ACPS, Catholic High......they would be no better than PLMGS ?
I believe the reason why the governemt had designated these schools as GEP schools in the first place was based on their past track record, no?pebblez:
[/quote]Right..
Then again I would exclude the GEP cohorts at St Hilda's as well as the unofficial top student rankings out of this academic comparison. The GEP program is a afterall a program to identify the gifted so we would expect stellar scores from them.
At the ground level, we PVs don't get to meet the GEP students. The pupils we do meet, we see stark polarization from the top to bottom.
For a non-GEP girls school, PLMGS has sustainably kept its English, Chinese quality passes at a good comparable pace to St Hilda's. Girls from there feed into MGS about at a rate of about 10%, Cedar Girls, PLMGSS, SCGS from our observations.
For St Hilda's, they feed a lot into Anglican High and St Hilda's Secondary School from our observation and insider info.itskryptic:
Actually, just to point out, St Hilda's is stronger academically.
Hi dear,
Yes it is true.
Volunteering regardless of the number of hours, does NOT guarantee a spot, nor mean you will be given extra considerations, that is clear.
In fact, as with all other schools in Singapore, the only guarantee at this stage is if you have another child in the school already.
I know, given we are chatting in this forum in the first place, it is hard for many of us to look beyond volunteering, for the mere fact of gaining school admission as much as getting to get to know the school and the people that makes up the school.
I volunteered at both St Hilda's and PLMGS to even begin to talk about it.
When we first considered volunteering, we had a slightly different objective in mind- that is to get close to the pupils there, and to meet some like-minded parents who might shed some light on raising morally sound children.
In our time at St Hilda's, we did a myriad of activities. Both me and my husband were involved in 2 different learning support programs on a weekly 1.5 hr hourly basis- HARP and RIFP. One encourages pupils to read avidly as the name suggests in exchange for little gifts and rewards while the other is a sort of a supplementary program for weak P1/P2 speakers of the language. Day in day out, we see pupils come, many of them kids of the reading mums (reading mums and coordinators manage the core of the PV program) themselves, most came for the badges and many don't come at all. They read during recess, they read at assembly, they read at the bus bay. And kids will just be kids, we don't see a lot of difference between kids from here or kids down our block. They rush in when the bus arrives and rush out when the bell rings. It was good fun to chat with and watch them though
We saw their prayer sessions nonetheless and whole levels would sit at the canteen while the pastor speaks, that is probably the most amazing thing we saw, kids of all races come together.
We were then also expected to fund-raise, initiate and spearhead raisers and also give our time to help ongoing activities. The idea is to take the work off the school teachers so they have more pupil time. We sometimes spend an entire day after our weekly program or come on a separate day to attend briefings or assist during fund-raisers on the weekend.
Now it may seem we were doing loads and must have been a fulfilling time for us but I must say that this is a hot potato school at the end of the day and loads of people were there because they had an objective to meet and they'd probably will have more objectives to meet until their child successfully goes on to the next stage. The feeling was clinical, almost legal at the end of the day and we cannot fathom our child becoming like that.
Contrastingly, our time at PLMGS was.. gentle. And the girls there were.. just girls. The prayer sessions there were like St Hilda's, entire levels just praying together, Amazing. We saw them dance, go for recitals, serve together, study together and the parents there were friends, real friends, also we go to the same church.
And, PLMGS did academically better or as good as St Hilda's at the end of the day. Different approach, same outcomes.
So... -
Hmm… That I didn’t do diligence to find out.
What’s your take on GEP being in certain schools? Has it been documented?
I had the impression it was zonal rather than track records if you look at the distance distribution. Parents have a big decision to make if they lived in tampines and the nearest GEP centre was in say, Town?
Let’s not continue this academic discussion. We PVed at both schools because it was our choice to make and as a family, also made our decision. We could possibly missed out some aspect another family would have placed heavy stakes on, so please take my observation as research and write your own conclusions:) -
If it is zonal, how would you explain that GEP school RGPS, Henry Park, ACPS, NYPS, Nan Hua are only within 4km from each other?
By your logic, shouldn't MOE spread the GEP schools to different zones : in North S E W Central etc.?
As it stands todays, parents from Yishun, Woodlands Punggol Jurong e.t.c would have to make a decision whether to take up GEP as they are no GEP schools near their vicinity.pebblez:
Hmm.. That I didn't do diligence to find out.
What's your take on GEP being in certain schools? Has it been documented?
I had the impression it was zonal rather than track records if you look at the distance distribution. Parents have a big decision to make if they lived in tampines and the nearest GEP centre was in say, Town?
Let's not continue this academic discussion. We PVed at both schools because it was our choice to make and as a family, also made our decision. We could possibly missed out some aspect another family would have placed heavy stakes on, so please take my observation as research and write your own conclusions:) -
Hi pebblez,
Appreciate the feedback and opinion on your experience with PV. It did give me greater insight. I guess gut feel plays a major role. I am amazed that you could put aside time to PV at both schools! I am a full time working mum so I am wondering how much leave I could take to do such things. sigh.
I think you have given enough inputs, on the GEP issue, I shall not comment. I guess different kid different strokes and most importantly, you and your husband have decided what is best for your child after putting in effort to understand the school through PV.
I may consider doing PV at Poi Ching and St Hilda’s (that’s if I can get a slot in the first place) to understand the school so we can decide what is best for our son.
Take care and all the best. -
How to check what is the vacancy for phase 2B ?
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i’m feeling faint…lol
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Gumbokins:
i'm feeling faint...lol
http://media.photobucket.com/user/bassdom1/media/Smiley%20face/fansmiley.gif.html -
This year, cz & st hildas can so highly sought after… Wonder how Monday will turn out…
Anyone with experience… If p2b needs to ballot, will the balloting be held on Tuesday at closing? or Friday on annoucement day? Tks!! -
mamachen:
Anyone with experience... If p2b needs to ballot, will the balloting be held on Tuesday at closing? or Friday on annoucement day? Tks!!
Balloting is usually conducted on the results announcement day.
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