How to enroll your kid to a popular/famous primary school?

[Thargor]

Just thinking....my kid will be welcomed into the world early next year and I will like my kid to a good headstart and enroll into popular/famous primary school next time. Will of course enroll my kid to a good pre-school first.

 

If the school of choice is not within the 1km radius, what kinda 'volunteer' work do you need to do? Say the school is a quasi-independent school (like St. Nichs)?

 

Some say donation will do, some say must do volunteer work for 2-3 years....

 

Hmm how do you even approach the school to ask about such stuff anyway?

 

Your advices will be most appreciated :)

[Kingcopa]

Just thinking....my kid will be welcomed into the world early next year and I will like my kid to a good headstart and enroll into popular/famous primary school next time. Will of course enroll my kid to a good pre-school first.

 

If the school of choice is not within the 1km radius, what kinda 'volunteer' work do you need to do? Say the school is a quasi-independent school (like St. Nichs)?

 

Some say donation will do, some say must do volunteer work for 2-3 years....

 

Hmm how do you even approach the school to ask about such stuff anyway?

 

Your advices will be most appreciated :)

 

realli kiasu leh. Child still swimming u think of this liao......

 

Personally, popular/famous school dun make any differences. If ur child is bright study whr also no prob. Really pity the children nowadays........ some early expose to stress liao.

[Wind30]

realli kiasu leh. Child still swimming u think of this liao......

 

Personally, popular/famous school dun make any differences. If ur child is bright study whr also no prob. Really pity the children nowadays........ some early expose to stress liao.

 

I think it makes a huge difference. Not because of the teachers or school but mainly because of the classmates. chinese saying, jing zhu zhe chi. I think a child's peers has a great influence on him/her.

 

So it is better to send a kid to good schools whereby the families there are more "kiasu" and less problem families.

 

For my case, both my wife and I are from Rosyth so going to join their old boy/girl association.

[Zniper]

bro, imho... it may not be neccessary tat ur kid hav to go into prestigious sch to excel in the future... hav u ever tot tat nowadays kids really hav too much pressure as their stuffs definitely is a bit more difficult dan b4... and on top of tat, if u wan him/her to learn swimming, music, dancing etc... and scheduling tuition every alternate days... u tink a child can handle so many tings when sometimes an adult oso cant??

u shld let everyting go by nature and tis way, ur child will hav some "free" brain cells to pick up a skill or two in the area they like best... if not, ur child may be in a world left on his/her own cos so many tings but dun noe how to voice out...

PS: let ur kid choose a cca of his/her own liking so tat it can be further groomed, be it sports or music... u can dun take my advise but it's ur own choice...

 

cheers...

[Kingcopa]

I think it makes a huge difference. Not because of the teachers or school but mainly because of the classmates. chinese saying, jing zhu zhe chi. I think a child's peers has a great influence on him/her.

 

So it is better to send a kid to good schools whereby the families there are more "kiasu" and less problem families.

 

For my case, both my wife and I are from Rosyth so going to join their old boy/girl association.

 

poor children.

[Kingcopa]

bro, imho... it may not be neccessary tat ur kid hav to go into prestigious sch to excel in the future... hav u ever tot tat nowadays kids really hav too much pressure as their stuffs definitely is a bit more difficult dan b4... and on top of tat, if u wan him/her to learn swimming, music, dancing etc... and scheduling tuition every alternate days... u tink a child can handle so many tings when sometimes an adult oso cant??

u shld let everyting go by nature and tis way, ur child will hav some "free" brain cells to pick up a skill or two in the area they like best... if not, ur child may be in a world left on his/her own cos so many tings but dun noe how to voice out...

PS: let ur kid choose a cca of his/her own liking so tat it can be further groomed, be it sports or music... u can dun take my advise but it's ur own choice...

 

cheers...

 

You are the man

[Kingcopa]

I think it makes a huge difference. Not because of the teachers or school but mainly because of the classmates. chinese saying, jing zhu zhe chi. I think a child's peers has a great influence on him/her.

 

So it is better to send a kid to good schools whereby the families there are more "kiasu" and less problem families.

 

For my case, both my wife and I are from Rosyth so going to join their old boy/girl association.

 

I think also must see if your child got "material" or not. got "material" go this type of sch ok.... if dun have......... only suffer in there. No good for children.

 

[Yeshe]

correct, if kid can swim, he/she will swim. if cannot swim, dont blame on swimming trunk too big

[Zniper]

You are the man

 

[Thargor]

realli kiasu leh. Child still swimming u think of this liao......

 

Personally, popular/famous school dun make any differences. If ur child is bright study whr also no prob. Really pity the children nowadays........ some early expose to stress liao.

 

Actually...just my personal opinion...it does make some differences...being from a Catholic school myself during Secondary and JC. Differences not in terms of academic....hmm how shall I put it...its more like the 'style' (for lack of a better word) one cultivates.

 

I remember when I was in JC, there was 2 distinct group...those from single sex secondary school...(SJI, Marists, CHIJ, SJC, St.nichs) and those from neighbourhood mixed sex secondary. The 2 groups do not really mix well together.

 

In Uni, the distinction becomes less pronounced of cos but you can spot a ex-convent girl school very distinctively. The distinctive traits carries on into adulthood.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's more 'superior'. It's just different.

 

Hehe don't flame me hor....just my personal opinion and preference

[Thargor]

I think it makes a huge difference. Not because of the teachers or school but mainly because of the classmates. chinese saying, jing zhu zhe chi. I think a child's peers has a great influence on him/her.

 

So it is better to send a kid to good schools whereby the families there are more "kiasu" and less problem families.

 

For my case, both my wife and I are from Rosyth so going to join their old boy/girl association.

 

Hehe Rosyth is a consideration also for me...and its quite close to my place too leh...heard from wife its very good.

[Scenic98]

you can get a lot of information from KiasuParents.com

 

my kid is in one of those "good" schools because my wife was a old girl. I have friends who are teachers in some government runned neighbourhood schools and some in christian schools. from what i can gather and observe, a school's culture is important. schools that has been around longer somehow can impart some belongingness to the students.

 

good and neighbourhood schools has their own set of problems. "good" schools have to deal with the high expectations of wealthy parents while neighbourhood school have to deal with more social issues like broken family, truancy etc.

 

at the end of the day, MOE deploys the teachers to the schools. the schools do not have a say in that (at least that's what a principal told me)

 

enjoy the first few years of parenthood....once your kid starts school....the rat race really starts whether u like it or not.

[Wind30]

Hehe Rosyth is a consideration also for me...and its quite close to my place too leh...heard from wife its very good.

 

my wife secondary school is St Nics so we are considering whether to join Rosyth or St Nics alumni. Once we join alumni, we are basically ensured 100% a place in the school as we are in phase 2A1.

 

And joining a good school is different from sending kids to many extra courses. I, for one, don't believe in cramming my kids full of courses. I never had private tuition/classes ever in my schooling days but I topped singapore in 'O' levels. I think success in schools is mainly due to

 

1) mentality of the child. how much time he spend thinking about problems, etc? how quick he is to ask for help?

 

2) his classmates. Seriously, you will NEVER top the nation is you are surrounded by "Ok" students. The peers will encourage you to excel. I mean as a kid, how much does he know about the value of schooling?? The things that inspired kids to do well is a sense of competition I feel.

 

BTW, I feel at an age of 6, nothing is set. Unless your kid has some form of in born deficiency, I feel he/she can excel. I gave tuition to a primary 4 school girl in maths. In like 2 years time, I managed to like change the way she look at maths problem, etc. I think all it takes is some interest/motivation and the correct way of analysing things.

Edited September 30, 2009 by Wind30

[Contax]

Just thinking....my kid will be welcomed into the world early next year and I will like my kid to a good headstart and enroll into popular/famous primary school next time. Will of course enroll my kid to a good pre-school first.

 

If the school of choice is not within the 1km radius, what kinda 'volunteer' work do you need to do? Say the school is a quasi-independent school (like St. Nichs)?

 

Some say donation will do, some say must do volunteer work for 2-3 years....

 

Hmm how do you even approach the school to ask about such stuff anyway?

 

Your advices will be most appreciated :)

 

By doing all the above doesn't 'guarantee' that your child will be accepted into the school without any hurdle.

 

My wife has personally know a few neighbours who did all the above but at phase 2b was ballot out and they went to another school nearby.

 

You may want to learn more here:

 

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions...tration/phases/

 

 

Some child are just late bloomer .I have a colleague who came from both a primary school and secondary school who were both non-existence now , done her normal stream study at secondary school , go on to JC(I think is Jurong ) and graduated with a honours.

[Kingcopa]

No worries lah. We all entitle to our own opinion n view.

 

Mayb times have change, what we used to go thru is not applicable in current society.

 

I really pity our next generation now.

[Skunk]

but I topped singapore in 'O' levels.

 

every single subject A1?

 

Anyway there's no such thing as "topped Singapore in O Levels"....every year there are a small handful of people who get straight A1s...thus u can be "among the top" but not "the top" per se.

 

[Altivo]

i'm having the same concerns as you. Wifey and I believe that a good and condusive environment is paramount to the moulding of a kid in his schooling experience. And usually, such schs tends to be the popular and famous ones. When compared to the kids in China and S Korea, what's the pressure here? Those kids go thru cramp schs etc... that's even worst.

[Yeshe]

By doing all the above doesn't 'guarantee' that your child will be accepted into the school without any hurdle.

 

My wife has personally know a few neighbours who did all the above but at phase 2b was ballot out and they went to another school nearby.

 

You may want to learn more here:

 

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions...tration/phases/

 

 

Some child are just late bloomer .I have a colleague who came from both a primary school and secondary school who were both non-existence now , done her normal stream study at secondary school , go on to JC(I think is Jurong ) and graduated with a honours.

 

i agree that some people are late boomers. my cousin-in-law started out in neighbourhood school, didnt do too well, so went to ITE. He topped in ITE and was admitted directly to university. Now early 30s, already VP of a bank.