[Bukit Merah] Primary Schools

[brightlight]

Hi,

My choice of schools would be

1. CHIJ Kellock
2. Radin Mas
3. River Valley

[ChiefKiasu]

Hi,

My choice of schools would be

1. CHIJ Kellock
2. Radin Mas
3. River Valley

Good choice, though I feel you should at least drop by Zhangde for a quick look before you dismiss it. New schools are hungrier, and Zhangde has already won a award.

[brightlight]

Thanks for suggesting Zhangde. I will consider it as well.

[astroboy]

1) Just sharing some statements from my mails with CHIJ (Kellock) with Brightlight --> They will only accept parent volunteers after our children are in their school and not before and there will be no OPEN House before the Pri 1 registration. Not really encouraging signals though. Also their website is not very informative....some pages have been under construction since June 2007? Hope they improve in these areas.

2) Tks to Bishan Mom for the articles on last year's balloting results. Really good info. Got a few questions.

i) Let's use CHIJ (Kellock) 2007 results - It says that for Phase 2C, the school will conduct balloting for children outside 2km. Does this mean all vacancies were taken-up at Phase 2C "less than 2km"?

ii) Let's use Fairfield Methodist 2007 results - It says balloting will be conducted for children living within 1km. Does this mean that all vacancies were taken-up at Phase 2B?

Comparing CHIJ and Fairfield, the chances of getting into CHIJ is higher than Fairfiled as vacancies were still available up to Phase 2C, right?

iii) I can't find some schools in the Phase 2B/C balloting. Example is Zhangde. What does this mean? All vacancies taken up b4 it even reach Phase 2B?

This Pri 1 registration is like writing a thesis. The more I know, the more I want to know.

[titank]

Hi All,

I'm now doing research on the following Pri Sch as I'm also staying Redhill Area. For intake in 2010. My most importnat concern where it has to be a morning session & best there is a after school care centre located in the vinicity of the school. My selected choice as follow:

(i) Fairfield Methodist
(ii) Queenstown
(iii) New Town
(iv) River Valley
(v) Radin Mas
(vi) Zhang De
(vii) Gan Eng Seng

So do volunteer as a Grassroot Leader or School is better?
How can we dertermine the percentage of Chinese, Malays & Indians in the school?

[ChiefKiasu]

That's a pretty comprehensive list you have selected . Here's the research:

(i) Fairfield Methodist
Mixed, single-session. Started to get good progress in PSLE since 2004, and did very well last year in 2007. Good mix of sports, aesthetics and academia.

(ii) Queenstown
Mixed, single-session. Good performance in PSLE last year (finally ). Strong focus on court-based sports and aesthetics.

(iii) New Town
Mixed, single-session. Did very well in PSLE in 2004 and 2007. Strong emphasis on sports and aesthetics. Seems to have quite a bit of focus on creative writing with its good performance in such competitions.

(iv) River Valley
Mixed, double-session. Excellent performance in PSLE in 2006 and 2007. Good emphasis on character development and aesthetics.

(v) Radin Mas
Mixed, double-session. Good performance in PSLE in 2000 and last year in 2007. Good support for uniformed groups and cultural dances.

(vi) Zhang De
Mixed, double-session. Good emphasis in character development and aesthetics. Average PSLE performance.

(vii) Gan Eng Seng
Mixed, double-session. Strong focus on aesthetics with a brass band, choir, and traditional dances. Average PSLE performance.

You will get a better chance of getting the morning session in single-session schools. For double session schools, usually P1-P2 are in the afternoon while P3-P6 morning.

So do volunteer as a Grassroot Leader or School is better?

Grassroot more permanent and demanding. School is limited to a couple of years. You decide.

How can we dertermine the percentage of Chinese, Malays & Indians in the school?

Other than Radin Mas, all the other schools should have a pretty normal balance of races in Singapore. You will have to call up the school individually to find out more.

[titank]

Dear ChiefKiasu,

Thank you for the information!Where do you get it like the PSLE scores? I can't seem to find it in the MOE website. I understand that New Town would be merging with Ghim Moh & currently the new school premises would near Commonwealth MRT!

Looks like I have to target at the following school for morning session:

(i) Fairfield Methodist
(ii) New Town Primary
(iii) Quenstown Primary
(iv) River Valley & Radin Mas (Afternoon Session)

Normally we should look at the Principal or The Teachers profile? Best performance Principal that can charge out the best?

So Radin Mas tends to have more Malays & Indians Community against the Chinese?

[ChiefKiasu]

Dear ChiefKiasu,

Thank you for the information!Where do you get it like the PSLE scores? I can't seem to find it in the MOE website....

.... Normally we should look at the Principal or The Teachers profile? Best performance Principal that can charge out the best?

So Radin Mas tends to have more Malays & Indians Community against the Chinese?

Some schools publish them on their websites such as this. As stated, Radin Mas' 2007 PSLE results are 99.2% passes, with 1 student scoring 276/300. The national primary school average is usually around 96%. Normally, a school's PSLE performance is correlated with the highest scorer in the school - so if the highest scorer exceeds 275, the school should be doing relatively well as a cohort. Unfortunately, this is the best tool we parents have nowadays since MoE stopped publishing school's overall PSLE performances, leaving it to the individual schools to decide. So the schools with good results will publish, while those without will probably not do so.

Also, I may stand to be corrected with Radin Mas, since it has shed its "Malay" roots since a while back. It even has a pretty good chinese orchestra! If it matters that much to you, why not just give the schools a tinkle?

[titank]

Wow in that case we have to write to individual school to ask for the PSLE Results? Since my child would be entering in 2010, I should ask for past 5 years PSLE results for reference good enough?

Beside PSLE results, what other parameters can we look at it?

Guess it is much better to perfrom 40 hours in School Volunteer instead ogf Grassroot Leaders.

[ChiefKiasu]

You can try asking the schools for their results, but there's no guarantee they will release the results to you. But if you manage to get it, hey, don't forget to share them with us!