[Bukit Timah] Primary Schools

[tinkerbell]

hi kaitlynangelica,


no, i wouldn't go to such an extreme to move house to be near a school.
i just wanna enter her into a good school where she can perform under peer pressure as her character is as such. but lazy me didn't want to do volunteer work(am working) and didn;t wanna feel guilty depriving her of good teachers & study environment.
thanks for yr info cos i also did not want her to feel deprive of material things just cos her classmates hv it and neither do i want her to turn out to be a snooty gal :roll:

[titank]

Oh the best option is to enroll under old gal scheme with Kellock (CHIJ). You may want to check MGS the past years balloting history for those 1-2 Km how is it like. This would give you a rough indicator.


You also can consider other schools within your vicinity.

[kaitlynangelica]

tinkerbell:

hi kaitlynangelica,


no, i wouldn't go to such an extreme to move house to be near a school.
i just wanna enter her into a good school where she can perform under peer pressure as her character is as such. but lazy me didn't want to do volunteer work(am working) and didn;t wanna feel guilty depriving her of good teachers & study environment.
thanks for yr info cos i also did not want her to feel deprive of material things just cos her classmates hv it and neither do i want her to turn out to be a snooty gal :roll:

Hi Tinkerbell,

My sentiments exactly. That was how I felt when I was a student at MGS. Everyone else had a lot materially and I always felt the need to keep up. But I also want to send her to a good school and Pei Hwa seems an okay option and what I like is it is a christian school as well.

[mummyoftwo]

tinkerbell:

i'm at a dilemna on which school to send my gal.

I live w/i 2km of MGS but i can be enrolled under old girls in KC.
Distance-wise, i can be at MGS w/i 10 mins drive whereas KC will take me approx 20 mins or more.
Results-wise, MGS has been known to generate top students whereas i can get her into KC w/o any stress for me eg.. volunteer work etc (i'm a working mum) or her.
I was told by many that MGS is attended by rich kids ? Just because of their address or its known to be as such ? Could it be a generalisation ?

I also stay within 1-2km of MGS and last year was the registration year for my daughter. I was keen to put her into MGS as it's a girl school and morning session as my son is in ACS and i would like both of them to be in the same session. Unfortunately on the last day of registration, there are only 3 spaces left (with 7 students applying for it). In the end, i do not want to take the risk and put her in Pei hwa instead. I guess at the end of the day, it's what you prefer.

[tinkerbell]

well… previously i was thinking on the ez way out… juz enrol her in Kellock. I was in CHIJ for 10 years … i wld personally feel the stress is not as much as the top schools in the need to perform academically. in fact, they emphasised on values. but somehow in this competitive environment, the need for social networking is also a part of life. i hv secondary school girls & friends telling me social networking is impt and thus the need to send kids to a good school. i do agree to a certain extent but i didn’t want to end up stressing on balloting. so … somehow i gonna figure this out on my own

[karpai]

Hello!


We are a Finnish family who has just moved here for to stay here for 9 months. We have a daughter who is going to turn 7 this week and a son who just turned 3. Our daughter speaks English, our son doesn’t. We would like to find a local school for our daughter and a playschool for our son. I’ve inquired for a place for our daughter in Bukit Timah Primary School and Bukit View Primary School, but they don’t have any vacancies. For my son I have only inquired from the international playschools nearby but would definitely like to inquire the local ones, too. We live in Maplewoods Condo, Bukit Timah Road. We are not that interested whether the school is one of the top schools. We just would like to give our children the opportunity to learn about Singaporean culture, get some local friends etc.

Can anyone help me, any other local schools which I could call to? Any ideas for a playschool for our son?

Thank you for your time!!

[Poonie]

The school term has just started on 2 January. If you are thinking of admission immediately you may want to call the schools directly to enquire.


You can do an advanced search under School Information Service at moe.gov.sg. Select ‘Primary’ and the appropriate Development Guide Plan. The schools within your vicinity are under ‘Bukit Timah’, ‘Novena’ and ‘Clementi’. Get into the school’s website for the telphone numbers. If none of the schools have any vacancies then you might want to cast your net wider to include those in ‘Bukit Batok’ or Bukit Merah’.

An easier way would be to leave it to the Ministry to find a school for you by sitting for a centralised exam. However, this exam is only conducted at year end.

Good luck.

[karpai]

Hello!


We are a Finnish family who has just moved here for to stay for 9-11 months. We have a daughter who just turned 7 and a son who just turned 3. Our daughter speaks English (not perfectly), our son doesn’t. We would like to find a local school for our daughter and a playschool for our son. We live in Maplewoods Condo, Bukit Timah Road. We are not that interested whether the school is one of the top schools. We just would like to give our children the opportunity to learn about Singaporean culture, get some local friends and learn more English etc.

I think I have called all the local school nearby Bukit Timah. I also called schools in Bukit Panjang, Bukit Batok… No vacancies… The only school this far which has vacancies is Balestier Hill Primary but I still would like to try to find a school which would be more easily accessible from our place (we don’t have a car). Can anyone help me?

Any ideas for a playschool for our son?

thank you!!

[winterman05]

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


hello!
I am keen to send my daughter to MGS next year.
But I would like to know how is the school? In terms of the study load, homework load and the expectations of primary ONE.

I mean, I know the rich heritage of the school, it is one of the top schools in Singapore. But I would like to hear of real-live stories of primary schoolers in MGS. Are the girls having a well-balance student life OR is it just study, study and study.

Can share?
Thanks.

[cnimed]

karpai:

Any ideas for a playschool for our son?

Not sure if it's too far, but there's XXXService Provider Name removedXXX behind Rail Mall at Upper Bukit Timah. No personal experience with it, and feedback i've received was mixed - the expatriats like it, the locals hate it. I think it's all about what you are looking for. but in terms of flexibility (2 or 3 days a week), they have that, and you can always go to the cafes at Rail Mall for some quiet time while he's there.

There's also Chiltern House ( http://www.juliagabriel.com/chiltern/index.htm ), generally good reviews.

The German school has a very good preschool programme with good facilities and the rates are fairly reasonable compared to other top private preschools.

Barker Road Methodist Church Kindergarten is a bigger set-up, but well-organised, modern and good facilities. Reasonable fees, and class sizes for pre-nursery (3 yr olds) are not too bad. Transport is a real pain though because there are effectively three schools (kindergarten/primary/secondary) on the same compound and using the same carpark.