Hi, I was at the orientation as well, but left with a different impression from you. I don't really mind PPT mistakes (she verbally said that parents were supposed to pack snacks for their DS's for the first 3 days of school) or not finding the dental form at first glance (it was in one of the booklets on the seats in the hall - I thought all KSP's would have taken all the booklets!). At least they focused on getting big picture things right, like having teachers guide parents to the classrooms, having 2-3 desks to take the registration forms (in fact, the parents in our DS's class were very courteous, inviting other parents to go ahead of them when there wasn't a clear queue). Have some sympathy for the principal and staff - I can imagine that no matter how hard you plan, every year will have its share of surprises.


My DS's form teacher seemed nice, which means more to me than some of the \"bumps\" you mention below. I also thought it was a nice touch to have some of the older pupils around in the corridors or classrooms to \"jaga-jaga\". I left the school that day feeling happy that our DS is going there.

Looking forward to networking with parents here. Anyone's DS in 1 Tangerine (or TA1 in KC-speak)?

juliemummy:

Dear Parents of Pri 1 (2014) Girls

Hi, I was at the Pri 1 Registration last Friday afternoon. I am surprised that the registration process was not very smooth. For examples,

1. the Principal's PowerPoint slides showed wrong dates for the first week of school and luckily alert parents pointed that out during her briefing on stage. I was surprised she did not even seem to notice the wrong dates when she went through her slides, until the parents pointed out. If these parents did not point out the mistakes, those less alert parents would have copied the wrong dates, and would probably be very confused in the first week of school not knowing the details of the first week's programme for their girls.

2. Almost everyone seated near me were whispering that they could not find the dental registration form when the Administrative Officer pointed out that there are a number of forms in the folder, including the dental registration form.

3. A number of parents rushed to the classrooms to hand in forms after the hall's briefing. When they reached there, they thought they could get the dental forms there. However, it was after a while that someone in the school noticed that the dental form was inserted in the HPB big booklet and started spreading the news.

4. Was there a queueing system in each classroom? I saw one poor staff-on-duty being chided by irate parents who said whover reached the classroom first has the right to hand in their forms first. However, I noticed that when parents started coming into the classroom, they could sit or stand anywhere and no staff-on-duty was issuing out queue numbers. No wonder some of them were upset when they tried to sit at the form checking booths each time the booth was empty.

5. The school bus transport forms distribution was in separate location near the front entrance. When a long queue formed up, the Principal walked past, noticed it but did not address the issue nor talk to any parent. It was a rather chaotic scene. Isn't the Principal supposed to walk around, get to know parents, observe problems and be proactive in solving them?

I am surprised that annual Pri 1 registration in an established school can still be rather chaotic. Shouldn't the school staff know the routine procedure already and prevent such unnecessary hiccups to happen along the way?

The one good thing the Principal mentioned was how the school cares for the safety of their girls (inlcuding no visiting, strict road traffic rules). That part was impressive.

Hope the not-so-good start in the P1 registration will not lead to further unpleasant surprises. Hopefully the existing students and parents can enlighten new parents like myself, as I am getting worried how careful the school is, in important routine matters.

Thank you very much.

singrish:

kwokwc:

I think every school has some issues. Just try to make sure that our kids don't mix with the wrong clique. I was from a very good school, but all along there are problem teens and g**g, I just make sure I don't mix with them.


My kids who are studying in QTPS now are doing fine and I like the way the principal and vice principal's direction.

- Thanks, kwokwc, very sensible words indeed. I have since spoken to people who live in the area and who know ppl with kids studying in the school and they very much echo your praise for the (new?) principal's approach, and feel somewhat more reassured now...

Hi hi, it's been very long since I've written here. I received some PMs recently from concerned parents thinking of registering at QtPS about the issue I raised before, and I wanted to write a bit more to clear the air and dispel those concerns.

We did eventually register and send our DC to QtPS. I have to say that our concerns proved to be unfounded. DC settled in well and made good friends. Also, I volunteered to come to a P2 class to speak to them as part of the Junior Achievement programme that the school organised. In all of our experiences, there were no sign of any g**gs.

I would really recommend QtPS for those still on the fence. It does have a nice community atmosphere and there is a really good Parent Support Group whose members volunteer for things including helping weaker students with learning to read, organising events, etc.

Also, the school was refurbished last year and even has a new multipurpose hall, so the surroundings are quite pleasant too.

Hi, our dd is 6-yo this year. She hasn’t had any formal piano lessons (only some keyboard lessons at her childcare) so far, but to the extent she is interested she likes play to sing along (i.e. music for her is more a social rather than performance thing). In our opinion, we would mainly like her to learn music for pleasure i.e. being able to play by ear from listening to pop songs, playing as part of a group/band, improvising but I guess she will have to learn some foundation and theory too. We’re really not concerned about grades as an end in themselves. Anyone know / is a teacher that has such a teaching philosophy? We live in the Telok Kurau / Siglap area. TIA.

stetan:

As it stand today, PRs in Phase 1 and 2A will automatically gain places in the schools as there are no balloting conducted in this phases. They have equal priority with citizens


Setup a new phase, Phase 3, specially for PR and Foreigners, MOE said that all primary schools in Singapore are good schoools.....following this logic, we are giving all PR and foreigners opportunity to study in our good schools, we did not take away their chances to study in our good schools....in this way, Singaporeans will have absolute priority for registration in Phase 1 to Phase 2C...in fact, sibilings of PR and foreigners should not have enjoyed priority in Phase 1A at all.....this is fair arrangement....you want to have priority, take up citizenship, serve NS......then you talk about priority....the reputation of our Primary Schools are built by fellow Singaporeans....NOT PR or foreigners.....

Generally disagree with stetan's post, but rather than argue about opinions, I just wanted to point out a couple of facts:
[quote] Setup a new phase, Phase 3, specially for PR and Foreigners [/quote] It is already the case that foreigners can only register at Phase 3.
[quote] you want to have priority, take up citizenship, serve NS [/quote] My son, who is a PR, will have to serve NS.

mumluv:

hi,

I am wondering if parents can drop by the school to find out more during the register action period? I don't see any notice about the school open house on the website, and I find it difficult to choose between haig girls and ij. anyone has any other comments abt the sch? thanks

Hi, we too are finding it difficult to choose between Haig and KC - they both seem holistic and nurturing schools (which we are looking for), Haig seems to have the edge academically and (just based on the girls in my neighbourhood) the Haig girls seem happier / more confident. However, DD is a PR and we live 1-2km from Haig and within 1km for KC, and it looks like Haig is more popular this year.

Only a week to go before our DS starts in P1! We attended the orientation day in November, where he went from "so far, so bad" (in his own words) on arrival to laughing out loud during the short session with his classmates and form teacher, so hopefully he’ll be ready for all that is in store for him next year.


Are there any parents out there who live outside of the school bus zone and who have arranged their own private transport? We live in Bukit Timah, and understand from the bus provider that they can only go as far as the top of Farrer Road.

peterch:

Hi, my DS is in P5 Coral Primary (This is his 2nd year as we just reside to Spore last year). The school is not too popular compare to the other neighborhood school BUT for me, I could see that they have some dedicated teachers who really monitor on the students well. Especially after last year one of the P6 girl rank among the Top Student in Singapore and got into RGS. They don't want to lose the momentum and push the students real hard this year

Hi peterch, belated thanks for this info. In the end, on the day of Phase 3 we decided to take our chance with Queenstown Primary and managed to secure a place there. Hope your DS isn't pushed too hard!!

kwokwc:

I think every school has some issues. Just try to make sure that our kids don't mix with the wrong clique. I was from a very good school, but all along there are problem teens and g**g, I just make sure I don't mix with them.


My kids who are studying in QTPS now are doing fine and I like the way the principal and vice principal's direction.

- Thanks, kwokwc, very sensible words indeed. I have since spoken to people who live in the area and who know ppl with kids studying in the school and they very much echo your praise for the (new?) principal's approach, and feel somewhat more reassured now...

:welcome: wow hands full....3 kids


- Yah, definitely! We didn't bring DS1 down for the registration (us parents were pretty stressed so didn't want him to go through that) but had to bring baby DD3 with us - our lucky charm!

hope your DS got your choice of school. :hugs:[/quote]

- We did get one of the schools we targeted (Queenstown Primary), so v happy. We did get a minor hiccup when someone we knew voiced some fears about the school (see the QtPS parent networking thread) but on speaking to more people I think the issue has been slightly overblown...

Hi everyone, we’ve just registered at QtPS! Was really looking forward to our DS starting next year, until one of my friends said "Queenstown has a g**g issue" and to try to get into any other school at all costs. Sounds very extreme and I think she was referring more to last year’s widely reported incidents and where the perpetrators were supposed to have come from rather than anything about the school itself. From what I’ve read from this forum, I think the school is definitely one moving in the right direction, but wondered whether anyone has any views or experiences of this.