Parenting Views

My views on education, mutilingual parenting and other parenting topics
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June 6, 2011

Preparing for Primary One- Meeting Expectations

Dominique Parenting Views, Thoughts Preparing for primary one, Primary One, Singapore education

Photo by Photoxpress

Now that you are aware of the registration process it’s time to do a check to see if your child has met the requirements for a smooth transition to primary school.

As a primary one student they are expected to be able to do the following

take pride of their own attire and belongings.
raise their hands and ask questions
feed themselves during recess and go to toilet on their own.
communicate with their teachers and peers.
work together as a team and individually.
follow instructions and carry out tasks assigned to them.

Academic Challenges

Even though many schools have done away with the formal semestral examinations in Primary one and two, they are replaced by byte size assessments carried out all through the year. I personally find this more tiring and difficult for the child. He has to ensure that his grades doesn’t slip for all subject as marks are taken from every single assessment carried out instead of just from one test/exam per semester.

I find that the new system expects the child to carry out continuous revision on his part and cramming last minute wouldn’t help. Every fortnight or so they are tested on a component I.e: Show and Tell, Composition etc and there are more tests to prepare for overall.

The past six months I have been doing daily and weekly revision with Monkey Boy. When he returns home from school I would monitor him as he completes his homework and give him exercises as revision from the assessment book collection which we have at home.

If he is having difficulties in any particular component I would let him do additional worksheets or exercises which just focuses on his weak areas. I believe in having him fully understand each topic before moving on so that any queries or weaknesses are immediately addressed.

Even though he is having holidays at the moment but I’m still continuing with coaching him in composition writing for both English and Chinese as they will be having composition writing from next term onwards. I have to ensure that he is able to keep on track with the pace the teachers set in school or even be slightly ahead of school at this stage as they will be going at a faster pace once school re-opens.

Social Challenges

These six months I have learned quite a bit about my first born and adapting to the ” Big Boy School”. He is able to socialize well with his peers but he has difficulty accepting others ideas and opinions during group discussions. I guess that a part of it has to be due to the fact that he is the first born and had been used to getting his own way before his siblings come along. Another factor is that we as parents are more inclined to giving in to our kids when they are very young that they assume that they SHOULD get everything done their way.

It has been a learning process for him to get along and accept others and their opinions and not insisting on being the leader or dictating the direction the group should follow. I too have been learning how to guide him on how to express himself clearly while at the same time excepting others point of view. It is healthy to engage in discussions and have different points of view and he too has to know that his view may not be acceptable all the time. I guess that this is one of the areas which I still need to work closely on with Monkey Boy.

How do you get your child to meet up to expectations?

June 5, 2011

Preparing for Primary One- The Registration (Part One)

Dominique Education, Parenting and Kids, Parenting Views education in singapore, Preparing for primary one, primary 1, Singapore education

Photo by Photoxpress

Entering Primary One this January was a milestone for my eldest son- Monkey Boy. It marked the departure from being a pre-schooler and the start of being a primary school student.

At the start of the year he was eagerly looking forward to being in a new school. However he entered his new school with mixed feelings as he was sad to have to part with his kindergarten friends who have been with him for the past four years.

Even though the actual registration process only takes about 5-10 minutes there was a lot of preparation which led up to the moment where I filled out the form at the general office. I had made my decision of which school to send Monkey Boy to even before he entered kindergarten. I was lucky to be teaching in a good school so Monkey Boy was able to enter under Phase 2(a)2 which was as good as 100% guarantee of a place in the school.

The preparation

Every parent aims to send their child to the best schools. With a solid foundation your child will be able to keep up with his peers or even surpass them in his studies.

For some parents choosing of a suitable primary school for their child takes place 3 to 4 years before the registration date. In bid to get their child in their chosen school they may do one or all of the following.

Shift house to stay within 1km radius of their chosen school.
This has two main benefits. Firstly, it will cut down transportation cost and time to and from school. Secondly, the close proximity plays an important part in consideration for entry if there happen to be a ballot for the phase you are registering your child in.If you are staying outside the marked radius your child would not even be considered if there are already too many people balloting for a place.(As stated on MOE’s website)

2C Supplementary

Places will be balloted according to the home-school distance category in the following order of priority. Singapore Citizens will be given two ballot slips for each child, while Singapore Permanent Residents will get one ballot slip per child.

Children living within 1 km of the school of choice.
Children living between 1 km and 2 km of the school of choice.
Children living outside 2 km of the school of choice.

Children living within 1 km of the school of choice will be considered first for allocation of places, followed by those living between 1 km and 2 km and lastly, those living outside 2 km of the school of choice. If the number of children under the category being considered is more than the vacancies available, balloting will be conducted for that category.

Phase 3

Places will be balloted according to the following order of priority:

a. Children who are Singapore Citizens
b. Children who are Singapore Permanent Residents
c. Children who are not Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents

Sign up for Parent Volunteer
(40 hr community service with the school)This option is popular with parents who have the spare time and have no affliation whatsoever with the school of choice. By completing the mandatory 40 hrs they get a chance to register their child under Phase 2B. This gives their a higher chance of entering the choosen school which annually has a oversubscribed balloting exercise at Phase 2C.Parents would have to take note of the cut off date and interview sessions for qualifying as a parent volunteer(PV). They also have to meet the schools stringent conditions for being a parent volunteer. For many schools the parents would have to register for PV at least 1-2 years before their child enters the school.

Sometimes even if you have clocked the 40hrs it doesn’t mean a guaranteed entrance to the school if there happens to be balloting at Phase 2B due to limited number of vacancies. In this sense PV is not a failproof school entry card for your child and you would have to monitor the school’s PV entry history before embarking on this path.
Join the school’s alumni Being an old boy or and old girl of a prestigious school does has it’s benefit. By being an alumni member you would be able to register your child under Phase 2A (1) and effectively secure a place for your child.
Be an active community leaderBeing an active member of the Residents’ Committee (RC), Neighbourhood Committee (NC), Citizen’s Consultative Committee (CCC), Community Club Management Committee (CCMC) or the Community Development Council (CDC) does have it’s benefit.
If your chosen school is within the GRC you serve and you have an executive status it would enable you the chance of getting a letter signed by your MP to endorse you as an active community leader for priority registration in Phase 2B.