Here is my offer as an answer.


- P1 is still fairly play time kids would not have any trouble adopting. There has been a big jump to P2 though.
- I personally do not like the focus on 3 subjects, but that would be the same in all public schools here.
- There will be limited play time, usually only at recess time.
- To my regret I have to say PE, Arts, Science, anything beside the main subjects is also kind of a stepchild, but in particular PE.
- There is not much room given to develop social skills. Most come from a Child Care and they know the "skills" needed.

In my personal opinion the subject and the contents of what is taught here in Primary is good and actually of a high level. Yet there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of the delivery and methods used.

For example, if the child has to do a composition many times this is fabricated by an eager parent, and not by the child himself or herself. Or for a self-introduction in mother-tongue it is valued if the child rattles the details down like automatic. In Germany the teacher would ask question for both counter-checking if the child has really understood what he or she is saying. German teachers would not prefer textbook perfect compositions at this age, but they want to see the child has done it (mainly) himself. I could give you more examples but that would be going too far here.

Yet I should also mention it very much seems they are working on exactly these things, such as the bandwidth, actual comprehension, and the child’s independence and confidence.

Overall it very much depends on the form teacher your child will get, and probably only in the second place on which school he or she is. Sometimes a form teacher can be the best teacher but it just does not match with an individual child. We have been very lucky with ours, my son loves her.

I have deepest respect for the important and difficult work teachers do. Please people, refrain from interpreting bad things in what I said.

I would like to offer my views in form of a brief summary of my impression for the first year at BTPS.


- Big step from P1 to P2: There is a sudden huge leap in terms of homework amount and demands from P1 to P2. I believe a slow transition would be better for the kids.

- Competitive environment: Many things are being made to a kind of unproductive fight or competition, even the smallest things like getting into a simple CCA.

- Homework: I was quite surprised seeing how the tool homework is being used. I thought homework is to train and re-affirm things which have been taught in the class. In Singapore so it seems a lot of homework is to facilitate the actual learning.

- Amount of tests: The amount of time spend on testing surprised me as well. There are several tests every single week. While I agree there should be some form of measuring the progress, monthly or even quarterly testing would be good enough, at least during Primary school. More time could be spend on actually learning.

- The early streaming: I am absolutely not against dividing the pupils into different classes with regards to their abilities. But the way how this is done should be rethought. I can't explain here in detail.

- Seasonal workload: There are certain times when my son had so much homework that he had to stay up late to finish. A few times even staying up he still could not finish everything. It is not the amount of work he got on one subject, but all the subjects combined were too much for him to finish. He did work but the teacher still wrote in his book a remark \"you need to do more\". That's very encouraging, isn't it? Other times he had absolutely nothing to do for 4 weeks. My impression is learning should be spread more evenly over the year. The amount of homework should be a bit better aligned in between the subjects, so not everything comes up at the same time.

- Narrow education focus: I think the focus on 3 main subjects (English, Mothertongue and Maths only) should be reconsidered. I very much think a broader education early is better. PE, creative activities and science should receive more attention from P1 onwards.

I think some of the above has to do with the Singapore schooling system in general, and not only with the BTPS. And - please people, do not feel offended. I am not here to offend anyone, and nobody needs to feel that way. I am just giving my impressions. In general I am very glad my son can go to BTPS. Most of our neighbour kids go to one of the nearby top schools that many parents here love and strive for. But if I compare what they actually learned, I got to say in some aspects BTPS is realistically seen better. For example in Mathematics my son is further than most of the neighbour kids. His form teacher is very very good with teaching maths.

:snuggles:

For us orientation was in the afternoon, can’t remember time anymore. No need to panic there should be some more information in your mail soon, or just call them up. You will be happy to see the BTPS is something like an international school, your child will be exposed to many different nationalities which is really good.


From CCK I don’t think it will take 1 h to travel. May be you wanna do a test ride before. That way you can show your child also what will happen. If you combine the trip with a lunch / dinner there is plenty food near Beauty World station.

School officially starts 7:30, bus number 173 stops right in front of the school. You might want to be there 10 minutes earlier.

paithorn:

How is the traffic condition when sending to school?

I have a differing view to this than my predecessor. My son is going to BTPS since this year. I feel the situation is far from satisfactory. But it's not the schools fault, they and the traffic marshals work hard to ensure safety and good relations with neighbours. Here is what I think:

1. A number of parents seem to believe their kid can not walk even the shortest distance. Children are dropped right in front of the crossing, in front of the school gate, or at the bus stop, blocking and disturbing flowing traffic, endangering other children, and hindering the bus 173. This point is always highlighted by teachers, security and the principal ... and some parents just don't seem to care.
2. Some parents drive too fast for such a small road. They seem to be always in a hurry getting to work, but this is dangerous for such a congested traffic situation.
3. Bus no. 173 drivers seem to avoid school children! I guess some more parents would send their children with the bus, if there were 2 or 3 busses coming up in a short interval around the school's knock-off times. But reality is, busses pass the school empty 13:29 when knock-off is 13:30. Just silently observe the situation for a week and it will be clear what I mean.
4. The stretch of road leading to the school with sheltered pavement is used as a car park which makes a narrow road even narrower. It should be used as a drop-off, and nearby unused school ground should be used as parking opportunity for those parents who wish to walk their child right to the gate.

The one point that I believe the school can improve is the situation at the gate. There are too many people on a too small space waiting. 'Though this is not the major problem, I think it would be wise thinking about how some more space can be allocated for the waiting parents. As for the parents I would like to suggest a rethinking, if it is really necessary bringing a child until the door-step.

:thankyou:

1. As from what I see CCA’s start from P2. There is soccer and rugby with regards to sport activities.

2. Any white socks will do.
3. Any white plain white colour sneakers will do. Lucky this school is not so "branded".

I have my son at Carpe Diem @ Jalan Jurong Kechil. I feel the fee increase is quite steep. Now they are at S$ 930. If there will be another price increase within the next 24 months, I will think about changing my son to another CC.


+ near by
+ the teachers: good Chinese teacher, my son likes her, professional English speaking teacher from the Phils
+ I am happy about my son’s academic progress, but I am probably not as "demanding" as some
+ nice extra activities such as field trips

- lack in terms of physical activities
- unnecessary frequent clothing and bedsheets changes
- using chemicals to kill hand bacteria instead of stronger encouraging good hand washing practice

Carpe Diem Jalan Jurong Kechil is the my sons fourth CC.