sean wife:

Desmo:

Thanks for sharing all your thoughts, analysis of the GEP..


Before the GEP briefing, we were 50-50 on letting our DS into the GEP (he of course is stubborn about staying on in his current school)

After the GEP briefing, we decided to let our DS stay in the mainstream school and not entering the GEP program.

Reason are several :
1) There are not many successful GEP cases showcased (apart from interviews of ex GEP students who are now in the profession of prosecutor and another one as director in trade ministry)
I can only assume they are still trying to collate enough successful cases to boost the GEP statistics

2) Q&A. Very interesting views brought up by existing GEP parents who voiced their grievances that their GEP kids are not 'assured' of a ticket to DSA/IP (despite spending lots of time in their studies). GEP kids also are not 'guaranteed' a place in the post-GEP Secondary school.
GEP panel replied by saying and stressing to the parents that GEP kids do not have privilege. They still have to compete with other mainstream kids on the path to DSA.

3) GEP Kids are only switched to mainstream curriculum after P6 term 2. (of course the GEP panel stressed that GEP program is 'enriched upon the mainstream curriculum') They believed the GEP kids should have ample time to 'adjust' themselves and be ready to sit for the PSLE.
I wonder why then the need to 'switch' if all along the GEP program is 'enriched' formula based on the mainstream syllabus.

4) Emotional state of the kid. This takes understanding of your own child when taking the decision to take the plunge into GEP pool for the next 2 years. For me, I understand my son is still not 'emotionally stable' in handling friendship ties, bonds. If I were to push him into the GEP pool, if he does not cope well and unable to handle the stress, falling grades, loss of friendship, I'm sure he'll be very miserable.

5) Perhaps the GEP panel should come up with the statistic of PSLE score for GEP kids. Afterall, at the end of the day, it's the PSLE score that will ensure a ticket to good secondary schools.

Hence, considering the above points, we've decided to let our DS to be a happy-go-lucky 9 year old kid enjoying and learning what a typical 9 year old kid learn in the mainstream, and not cramping him with skills/knowledge that are at least 2 years beyond him.
Maybe he can cope/maybe he cannot cope. But we'll worry about that when he is ready to learn these knowledge in secondary school.

For now, my DS is so happy that we respect his decision to stay on in his current school. He cannot wait to break the news to his friends/teachers

Point 1 and 2 seems something new in this year’s briefing? Just curious, you mean they invited some parents of ex-GEP students to air their views?

No, during Q&A, got parents whose elder kid already in GEP and now is their sibling also got selected into this year GEP, so they were there attending the briefing. So this parent was speaking from experience that his elder kid 'lost' out in the race to DSA as his kid 'did not have anything' to show to gain entry into DSA (seems his kid did not participate enough in the competitions or something but has been diligently doing all the challenging stuff required of a GEP kid)

Thanks for sharing all your thoughts, analysis of the GEP..


Before the GEP briefing, we were 50-50 on letting our DS into the GEP (he of course is stubborn about staying on in his current school)

After the GEP briefing, we decided to let our DS stay in the mainstream school and not entering the GEP program.

Reason are several :
1) There are not many successful GEP cases showcased (apart from interviews of ex GEP students who are now in the profession of prosecutor and another one as director in trade ministry)
I can only assume they are still trying to collate enough successful cases to boost the GEP statistics

2) Q&A. Very interesting views brought up by existing GEP parents who voiced their grievances that their GEP kids are not 'assured' of a ticket to DSA/IP (despite spending lots of time in their studies). GEP kids also are not 'guaranteed' a place in the post-GEP Secondary school.
GEP panel replied by saying and stressing to the parents that GEP kids do not have privilege. They still have to compete with other mainstream kids on the path to DSA.

3) GEP Kids are only switched to mainstream curriculum after P6 term 2. (of course the GEP panel stressed that GEP program is 'enriched upon the mainstream curriculum') They believed the GEP kids should have ample time to 'adjust' themselves and be ready to sit for the PSLE.
I wonder why then the need to 'switch' if all along the GEP program is 'enriched' formula based on the mainstream syllabus.

4) Emotional state of the kid. This takes understanding of your own child when taking the decision to take the plunge into GEP pool for the next 2 years. For me, I understand my son is still not 'emotionally stable' in handling friendship ties, bonds. If I were to push him into the GEP pool, if he does not cope well and unable to handle the stress, falling grades, loss of friendship, I'm sure he'll be very miserable.

5) Perhaps the GEP panel should come up with the statistic of PSLE score for GEP kids. Afterall, at the end of the day, it's the PSLE score that will ensure a ticket to good secondary schools.

Hence, considering the above points, we've decided to let our DS to be a happy-go-lucky 9 year old kid enjoying and learning what a typical 9 year old kid learn in the mainstream, and not cramping him with skills/knowledge that are at least 2 years beyond him.
Maybe he can cope/maybe he cannot cope. But we'll worry about that when he is ready to learn these knowledge in secondary school.

For now, my DS is so happy that we respect his decision to stay on in his current school. He cannot wait to break the news to his friends/teachers

robieraisin wrote:

>

Hi Hi Robieraisin,
>
> My son is going to the boarding centre
>

>
> Hi Yoshitoshi,
>
> My son is on waitlist.. Hope to succeed entering boarding centre otherwise it will
> be headache for grandma.
>
> BTW, which class is your son in? He's in Resilience. Am excited to attend Orientation
> this friday!

Hi robieraisin,

My son also in Resilience Did u put yr name down on the contact list that was circulating around ?

I put mine down but didn't get the full list contact. Maybe can pm each other ?

Hello rain man


My son got into SAJS too for p1, 2015.
Hope to meet more parents here.

Notice this thread is very quiet......

Hi all,

just enrolled my boy for P1 in SAJS next year. Anybody else?

******************************************************
Hi,

Count me in.. Juz got confirmation from school this morning that my boy is IN for Pri 1 next year ! Yippee... (< 1 km Phase 2C)

Such a stressful period for all parents.. *phew*..
guess it's just the beginning of the long education path ahead for our little boys..

Hope to get advice, opinions etc from all Saint Andrew mummies/daddies here in the years ahead

Cheers ... good luck to all parents in the balloting..

Hello


Does anybody have the numbers for Kuo Chuan Presby and St Andrews?

Thanks very much in advance. I will try calling later as well, but thought I can save the admin a phone call if someone posts here.

Thanks.

****************************************************************

Just called Kuo Chuan Presby..

> 20 pple in 1-2km category will by vying for 10 places

I've applied Kuo Chuan Presby yesterday (1-2 km), was told immediately by staff there will be balloting for this category. So now, confirm I'll withdraw since 10 places is too slim to fight. Note this figure does not include online application for today.

Will be switching to St Andrew Junior (< 1km).

Does anybody have figures for St Andrew ? thanks for sharing.

Ribena48:

Thanks Desmo for the detail informations!

u r most welcomed. We all learn from each other's experience, especially with so much variety of enrichment classes out there, to get our $$ (haha..), it's a 'jungle' to me ! It helps to get feedback before we hand over our hard-earned $$ :scared:

Yup, I'm paying the N2 fees currently thru the CDA a/c. Think started paying from the a/c since N1 (if I rem correctly, u have better confirm with school, got short memory, sorry :sad: )

Mab0oLine:

u r referring to the weekend class right? i am looking at the weekday class. twice a week for my 13 mths old gal.

Yup. We attended the weekend classes for the parent-child pgm. Not sure the name of the class, think they have several types. You may enquire at their school for the latest class structure, schedules.

Good luck. Hope your gal enjoys it

Hi Ribena48


My boy now 4 yrs old, attending N2. Fees is about $840 / mth (3.5 hours each lesson, 5 days per week). Need to pay 2 mths at each payment.

Can opt to go for 3,4,5 lessons per week. Fees charged accordingly.

Can be paid thru baby bonus a/c for nursery onwards.

Best to enquire at their school for latest fees, schedules, class etc.

Expensive hor.. but bo bian.. my boy likes the class very much, will cry if I threaten not to let him go if he naughty (wonder if other kids are so keen to go to school )

Anyway, he seems to learn alot from this school, phonics lah, Chinese lah.. Now he's able to read books with simple words all on his own. Some words he may not understand but able to pronounce them quite well (guess due to the phonics taught at school).

But then again, be it enrichment class, nursery, kindergarten, it's not 'one size fits all'. Different child is adaptable to diff type of schools and teaching methods.. so I'll not say GUG is the best (I hve no means to compare anyway, since this is the 1st school we tried and stuck to it till now). But no harm trying out if you feel your child is not enjoying or learning wherever he's at now.

I've another friend who finds her son doesn't like the pgm so quit.

I quite like the personal touch/dedication shown by the teachers. As my son still not completely toilet trained yet, so we let him go to nursery school with diapers. The teacher realized it and brought it up to me and suggested we let my son try it out without diapers. She'll pay more attention to him and try to toilet train him for that 3.5 hours time in school. There are other incidents so far which made me feel this is the school that cares.

Mab0oLine:

Hi,


Any recommendation of enrichment class for 1 yr old? Best if the class conduct in English n Mandarin.

Im thinking of JG or GUG. Any feedbacks?

Hi,
I can share with u my experience with GUG. My son first joined their 1 hr program when he was juz abt 2 yrs old. This is a child-parent program. Children are taught zoo phonics with a new letter in each lesson. Got some hands on activity too, with songs and little dance movements.

The children (including my son) enjoy very much. They get to learn phonics at this age which is a good start for them. Called zoo phonics cos they use animals names to teach phonics and they make it very interesting n fun for the kids to learn. The teachers are very fun loving and what touched me is, there was 1 occasion when a small boy, being restless started walking about and kinda disturbing the class (yes, even with the parent with him !) but instead of asking the parent to hold/manage the kid, the teacher hug the boy & literally sat him on her lap & continued with the lesson, as if it's a natural thing to do ! The boy seemed to like the personal attention & calmed down. This is what I call personal touch.

After 1 year, my son then proceed to 3.5 hrs N1, N2 class which he's currently attending and enjoying very much.

Chinese is taught in N1 class onwards but not the playgroup class in the parent-child pgm.

Hygiene is highly observed with usual temp checks, hand mouth check.
Once, my son has a prolonged nose block (for few days but no fever). Teacher called up to request me to bring son home.

Hope above helps