Hi Mauricemum,


2 yrs ago when my boy was in P1, his chinese teacher also started text 2B in April. It was such a mad rush and he had to learn 2B ting xie! I believe the teacher is rushing to complete her syllabus for the year. They should be revising for SA 1 rather than starting text 2B. As my boy is not good in chinese, rushing through has in fact added on his stress. In the end, I wrote to the teacher, cc Principal and HOD, questioning the rationale starting 2B in April. Teacher called me and acknowledge on this matter. Think HOD is not aware of her speed. In the end, she slowed down her teaching pace and do revision on 2A with the class…

Thanks alarick… How do you get the answer?

Hi, need help on this question as I'm stuck now

Anyone can help?

Gopal drove from port A to port Bwhich was 750 I'm apart at an av.s of 75 km/h. At the same time,Adil drove from port B to port A at an av.s of 50 km/h.
A) how long did it take Before Gopal's car passed Adil car ?
B) how far had Gopal travelled when his car passed Adil's car?

cherrygal:

We can complain and complain about the cost and excessive training for badminton but ultimately, the choice is still ours to make if we want DS to continue or not. I heard from DS that a few of his frens have quit the CCA.


Coach and MSHS' stand is clear... if not happy about the training etc, you can withdraw. There are many others who want to join this elite club...

Trouble is, DS likes this sport so we have to let him continue...

Hi Cherrygal, which level is your boy currently in? I certainly agree with your view. However, on personal note, I felt the school should manage external vendor and not the other way round. By increasing the times of training and changing the mode of training fees, I see no reason why school must conduct selection process at P1 then since the school team will only be selected in P4. To me, everyone can join this elite cca since we are paying for it. It's up to the coach to identify the potential players in P4, be it a once or three times training.

Hi SSmama, take note Sunday training is extended to the public as well. Our boys can attend the make up session during Sundays. To me, I see the coach has no intention of pro-rating fees.

Before the briefing, my hubby spoke to the HOD PE 2 days ago. HOD PE supposed to raise our concerns but instead he gave a brief introduction of badminton background and claimed he had another meeting to attend and step off, leaving the coach to brief us in chinese and answer our queries.


In short, nothing will change. 3 times training from P3 onwards. If it clashes with other remedials, kids can do a make up session conducted on Sunday, which is open to the public (trainings held in the school though). We have to pay till the school team selection process (P4). Once they are in P4, from June, no more fees payment. If boys are not selected into school team in P4, training will be conducted back to once weekly.

Personally, I have doubt as HOD PE did mention that fees is free for school team players only. In addition, DH not happy that HOD PE seemed to shun away from responsiblity by not staying back to answer queries. Though the session conducted by the coach is rather hilarious, it didn’t really solve our concerns. Seems that most parents who atteneded the session are from P1, hence they do not have many concerns as I do.

In short, DH will call HOD PE next Monday again.

I will also be there for the badminton briefing. I hope parents can band together and raise the issues on the fees increment and the number of trainings per week. Find it excessive at 3 times training for my boys. Apparently the coach is chasing for January payment but I have notified I will only pay after the briefing. Personally I felt the notice of fees increment is short (was only notified in mid Jan) and it’s expensive to go by hourly rates given the boys are not even in school team.

SSmama:

Hi VVJJ,


Please keep us updated on this...let's see if the teacher does try to resolve the issue.

Don't know why the entire CCA matter can be become so expensive and frustrating. Back in my school days (which is a long time ago ), we join CCA when we have the interest, we will be accepted even if we know nuts about the sport. Now, CCA has become so \"meritocracy\" based...

Yes please do. Thanks for taking the trouble to speak to the teacher. I believe many parents share the same sentiment ...my DS is in Pri 2 and I'm already feeling the pinch, can't imagine if he were in P3..

There's a parents' briefing for P2-P4 parents on Feb 4--I wonder if it would help if us parents band together to raise the issue of fees. From what I understand, having to pay for CCA in schools isn't unusual, what is unusual is the high amount. I know schools who charge their students something along the lines of $60/70 for choir..and that's for a TERM, not month!

Honestly, I had originally allowed DS to try out for badminton because I thought he would not get in Then he did, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to have a sport to instil some discipline in him. Sure he has improved since last July, but I don't think he's school-team-material..which then leads me to wonder if this investment of $1000+ per yr is rather steep when it's solely for recreation!

Sigh...only primary school CCA and already so complicated![/quote]


Hi SSmama,

Yes, it's getting more expensive and I wonder what's the rationale for the high charges. It's not a personal coaching from the coach himself. It's a group coaching and some groups are taught by the senior boys from Sec side! My boys are came back from training today and commented that Coach mentioned tomorrow they have to pay the fees. Well, I will not pay till I get a satisfactory answer from the school. Anyway, this increment was only notified to us just before CNY. If there's any increment, it should have been notified to us in Dec. I hope more parents will band together to conquer this issue during the parents briefing on 4 Feb. Personally, I see no reason why deposit has to be paid as well as the CCA is conducted in school. It's not an external enrichment courses whereby deposit is required. Besides, how can I be sure the deposit will be monitored properly and I am able to get back in time should I withdraw my boys. If you notice properly, the registered address of GE Sports seems to be a private address.

spoke to the teacher in charge of badminton training this morning. was told there’s nothing much they can do as it has been outsourced to external vendor- GE sports in this instance. However, I still raised my concerns as school should be responsible for external vendors conducting trainings and not to let vendor takes advantange of us. For my P3 boys, training fees is $160, $192 and $232 for Jan, Feb and March respectively. I still think this is excessive. This is much higher than $120 I used to pay for last year though the coach insisted that it’s due to 3 times weekly trainings compared to twice last year. Plus the fact that my boys are not in school team and the selection will only be conducted when they are in P4. In addition, it’s not even confirmed that they will be selected. This is really an expensive CCA. Personal note is the coach is not friendly, very defensive when I spoke to him last week and this morning, teacher in charge told me she’s fully aware of the coach’s attitude. Shouldn’t the school do something about this? I told the teacher in charge that I will talk to the principal or even bring this up to MOE if there’s no assistance given to the parent’s feedback. Only then did she mention that she will try to solve this within her level and will revert next week. Frustating process indeed…

Hi Beanstalk, my boys are not in the school team. They are in the badminton youth development programme. Honestly I really see no reason why it has to be thrice training once the boys hit P3.


Hi Bigfoot and cherrygal, I certainly do agree that the training sessions are taxing for the kids. In fact when my boys were in P2 last year, the trainings on Sat clashed with their English enrichment class. In the end, there are certain days they missed the trainings or they will leave their enrichment class earlier just to attend the trainings. You can imagine how my hubby and myself had crazy Sats last year with all those ferryings within 10 mins between enrichment class and trainings!
This year, I supposedly scheduled their English lessons to a weekday class so that they can attend badminton trainings at ease. Who would have know that the coach increases the trainings to thrice weekly! The moment I saw the hourly rate, I was like \" this is an increase of at least 30% in fees\".

Cherrygal, I'm also having a dilemma now. Cracking my head whether to drop them from badminton trainings. In fact, last year they are in the wushu school team but after speaking to the badminton coach, we dropped wushu so that boys can concentrate on badminton. The frustating part is the coach did not tell me that effective P3, it will be thrice weekly session. Felt cheated in a sense. I did a rough calculation. The coach might be earning a lot just by judging the number of students they are currently coaching. I can't imagine myself paying abt $400 per month for my 2 boys badminton fees

And now, they are collecting deposit! wonder how they keep record of the deposit and how long it will take for them to refund should we withdraw in the end. I decided to talk to the teacher in charge of badminton next week though I know chances of them reducing the fees are slim.

Hi parents,


Not sure if anyone shares the same sentiments as me. My P3 boys are taking badminton as cca. Trainings are now conducted thrice weekly which I felt excessive as my boys have homework/enrichment/spelling and long list of tingxies to learn weekly. I wonder if it’s a must to have thrice weekly trainings. Presumably if my boys have remedials at later stage, that would means they would need to stay back in school more frequently. Yesterday, they came back with a letter from badminton coach. The charge for the training is now at $8 per hour. That means around $200 per month for each child. Personally, I feel it’s expensive (I have 2 boys!). I wonder why it has to be charged at an hourly rate rather than flat rate. Besides, it’s not competition season. To me, thrice weekly training literaly means more $ for the coach. I spoke to the coach earlier but he doesn’t sound helpful. Keeps pushing responsibility back to the school and said he’s being stressed by the school as well.

Anyone can share your views/thoughts?