sembgal:

Angry Parent:

As far as I know, the two classes are 4-6 and 4-7 both sharing the same EL teacher. The EL teacher is a permanent replacement and not relief. This was assured by an MOE officer. As for the Maths & Science Teacher, she has since step up in giving remedial lessons for those who did not do well in their CA1. I just hope everything will be fine.

Wonder if you notice that the amount of P4 homework seems to be lesser than P3. Nowadays even have time to do top school test papers unlike last year rushing to finish the school's homework.

True that homework is lesser. But my daughter seems to be busy in anything except studies. Anyway I leave it to her to organise her time. But soon I will be sitting beside her for revision. If your child want to go for DSA in P6, P4 end of year results do matter.

As far as I know, the two classes are 4-6 and 4-7 both sharing the same EL teacher. The EL teacher is a permanent replacement and not relief. This was assured by an MOE officer. As for the Maths & Science Teacher, she has since step up in giving remedial lessons for those who did not do well in their CA1. I just hope everything will be fine.

sembgal:

Want to ask other parents, if the teacher is pregnant and is always on medical leave, does the relief teacher conduct teaching on behalf of that teacher absent? Apparently, I heard that some relief teachers that are good will teach but told lazy ones will tell the child do silent reading and the teacher will sit there and do silent reading too! Tests are coming and how are the children coping? Principal never patrol the classroom is it? Always sit in office? This is happeningto one class in Mee Toh Pri 4 level currently. Aren't other parents concern too?

Dear Sembgal,

Usually the relief teacher will not conduct teaching on behalf of the absent teacher. However, the absent teacher should have prepared assignment or worksheet to be passed to the relief teacher by the HOD on relief duty arrangement for the pupils to do. The absent teachers can actually send the worksheet or assignment via email to their buddies or the HOD on relief duty arrangement. If the system of relief is in place (which include the preparation of worksheet by the absent teachers), this kind of situation should not arise. While it is unavoidable for teachers to go on Medical Leave or Urgent leave, the responsibility in ensuring the relief system works lies in the School Steering Committee which comprises the Principal, VPs and the HODs.

zinc6539:

Not sure if you're still around in the forum, but I have similar situation as you. My P4 girl also did very badly for maths CA1. She scored the lowest in class, even lower than the overall school average. But I have to admit that her maths foundation is quite weak, and she tends to forget what she has learnt. I looked at their CA1 maths paper, and the problem sums were rather difficult, which is where she lost most of her points. I'm now asking her to do some problem sums every day, hoping that practice will make perfect.


My girl's English teacher also just went on maternity leave. I guess the school can't do anything about that, since teachers are also like us. We all want to have our own children. Cannot say because they're teachers, then you don't allow them to take MC or leave right? But I'm happy with her new English teacher because she seems quite enthusiastic. We have already received 2 progress update letters from her. Now I know what my daughter has learnt in class. None of my kids' previous teachers have ever done that before. So I guess the school will do something when they have the resources. Can't have the class getting relief teachers all the time, if not how the kids learn, right?

If you feel that writing to the principal is no use, what about writing to the teachers? They inform parents of their emails at the beginning of every year. My husband and I have written to our girl's form teacher before because my girl kept forgetting to hand in her work in the beginning and her teacher alerted us about that. She was quite understanding after we explained things to her, and she promised to keep a look-out for our daughter.

Hi Zinc6539,

A little bit of my background. I am Mr Chua the father of 3 children now age 15, 13 and 10 and also currently an educator in a Secondary School. My eldest daughter enrolled into Mee Toh School back in 2005, the Pioneer batch when Mee Toh first moved to Punggol. Back then she also faced with no teachers, worst still, no form teacher when she was in P3. Ding Dong here and there for 5 months until such that she failed almost all subjects that I decided to write to the then Principal Miss Fong. She was very efficient and replied the next day to look into the matter. And on the third day she replied with an apology and the action taken to rectify the situation. Though a bit too late for my daughter but I still appreciate her effort even up till today.

She was also very weak in Maths and I asked around my friends until I found OnSponge Maths when she was in P5 and I decided to start her OnSponge Maths from P3 instead of going directly to P5. And almost everyday, I had to sit beside her to guide her even for the P3 OnSponge Maths. She showed a little improvement in her SA2 and I continued with her in P6 in 2010. Thank god she managed to get into the Express Stream now study in a neighbourhood school in Punggol. She is doing pretty well and taking 8 subjects now.

For my son, he is now in Sec 1 in an IP school. He is much luckier than her Jie Jie because he had good teachers in Mee Toh. Teachers like Miss Quek, Mrs Lee and Mrs Ang (Miss Quek is now on study leave). However, things did not went easy for him too when he was in P3. His P3 Form Teacher (2009) happened to be her Jie Jie's Form Teacher too when her Jie Jie was in P4 (2008). And the best of all, her Jie Jie's class and his class was the worst behaved class under this Form Teacher. Her Jie Jie was timid and dared not tell us when her FT asked the whole class to slap themselves. However, my son came back and told me he didn't want to go to school. Until further probed, he told me what had happened. His FT asked the whole class to slap themselves and he felt humiliated when he was not the trouble maker type. So I wrote to the then P, Miss Fong again about what happened but I insisted in my email that I was against changing the FT. So an apology was made by the FT and also methods of handling discipline issues were also discussed with the FT over the phone. However, despite assurance, my son was scared to go to school and insisted that he wanted to change class. I had to continue to encourage him and by saying this to him \"The only way to get out of the class is to study hard\". And he made it and went to 4-11 in 2010. Today, he is in an IP school and also this teacher particular teacher I mentioned was happier and also well-like by the pupils as well as the parents (Feedback from parents that I know). I don't know whether this teacher is teaching lower primary or upper primary now but I am sure this teacher has improved.

I shall not dwell into the current situation using this platform firstly, I have created an uproar over my post which have been deleted by moderator and secondly,I have no confident in the current Principal. I would only share if you don't mind using email. My email is [email protected]