West Spring Primary
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I have been reading these posts on and off. I am what you would call a lurker and not an active poster in the forums. However some recent events this year has made me extremely disappointed to the extent that I regret putting my son and faith in this school. So here I am to both vent out and get opinion and also to provide support to those who don’t agree with the overly sugar coated, Disneyland version of the school painted by the uber positive supporters.
Note to the cheerleaders - other posts in this forum corroborate some of my experiences so you may want to restrain the general offence you seem to take for every dissenting comment on the school.
My son will be going to P6 next year. Like all parents we have been monitoring his grades which took a huge dip in P5 and when we asked the teachers we were told that P5 is a huge jump from P4 and it is natural for children to struggle. That is the common consensus generally across the board in other schools as well and am okay with that. What I am not ok with is
a) When an entire class fails their maths in the exams regularly over the year.
This is after we felt that we had prepared my son well enough - the usual drills - assessment books, top school papers, everything that every normal parent would do for their child.
This is after the maths teacher told me that my son has a good chance of improving in SA2 when I spoke to him to see what help we parents can do to help my son do well.
b) When teachers can’t give honest answers to parent’s feedback and instead rely on stock answers. This happened during the PTM. The form teacher kept giving stock answers when I questioned why some papers were being set so tough.
c) When the school doesn’t allow parents to speak to all the teachers during the PTM. And when they have just one PTM a year - what about end of the year review? Isn’t that another opportunity to take stock of the situation?
d) When the school focuses more on students repeating verbatim word by word and not testing their knowledge. Had an exchange with the science teacher who insisted that scores were not given because the keyword was not there. But the explanation of the concept was correct in normal english and easy enough for a layman to understand. So the school is obviously more concerned about students who are able to vomit without understanding. My son was disappointed naturally so I told him am happy with his knowledge to cheer him up.
(And we wonder as a society why we are not creative enough - ministers tell us to be more creative when the entire system is hell bent on destroying it)
e) When, in the name of preparing students to be resilient for failure, the school sets really tough papers to the extent that students get demoralised. And the stock answer is that it helps them to be resilient. It does when they fail once and they fail forward. Meaning they get up and can do well the next time around.
Sadly that is not the case. When they set tough paper after tough paper and every time the child has to work harder for no reward, it only demoralises the child and eventually apathy sets in. which means they stop caring about their studies and sets them on the wrong path eventually.
I am also aware that there are a lot of parents who are disappointed with this school and are slowly venting out (like me) so dont be surprised if you hear more comments similar to mine.
I do also have to credit this school though. They have a fantastic marketing spiel on holistic education and learn through play. Fantastic enough for me to get sucked into it - carrot head as they say.
There are some good things though - CCAs are part of the day’s timing so the kids can come back home before 3 or 4 pm, focus on values and character etc.
That said, the weightage for those things is lower than the primary purpose of the school - educate and impart knowledge.
Looks like Disneyland from outside but frankly it is a Halloween park.
Really looking to change school if possible. Either Greenridge or Beacon. It may be too late in the day but if I can do something to salvage a year for my son, and an important year, why not? -
Hi Sidrobson
I understand how you felt. My P5 child practically failed all the papers this year! It becomes a setback to them. We as parents were totally shocked as I don’t expect my child to fare so badly that they can’t even pass 1 subject. Even with tuition, they still failed. There must be something wrong! I wanted to pull them out 2 yrs ago but hubby objected. So the decision to stay put is totally a bad idea. For now, we just have to struggle with it! :xedfingers: :?: -
sigh
I echo sidrobson and chatelaine have said. I know for a fact that I am not the only parent that feels this way. Please parents, and sidrobson and chatelaine, it is high time we bring this up to the minister.
I amdisappointed with West Spring. After receiving my child’s results, and also speaking to other parents as well from different levels, it is truly puzzling why i feel my child is not performing up to standard, up to the standard of the children from other schools…my own tuition agency tutor told me when she compared the students. On top of it, parents r being blamed that we are not doing a good job…
Am I a kiasu person? Sure. But this is my kid’s life. We cannot play play with the academic so that they can learn to have character…is it possible to do both at the same time? I am put off when the "chearleaders" suggested that we do not care for our kids’ characters because we are focused on academics. No, we are focused on both and the school is failing at BOTH.
"cheerleaders" just because sch dont focus on character doesnt mean the child has no character. it is our job as parents, and our religion to teach it as well. pls dont act so concern.
please the whole point of a school is to ALSO impart knowledge and get students to be academically strong. yes we dont want to overemphasis…doesnt mean UNDEREMPHASIS.
Like you sidrobson, I feel that the the sch does nt care.
imagine a clinic, the clinic keeps telling everyone it is the best clinic and the most happening clinic…but patients are dying in the clinic… is it a good clinic? same concept, your school many failures, kids education not up to standard… are u a school? get the fundamentals right pls.
I heard there r teachers leaving, good teachers leaving. i concur, there is smthing off about this school. -
How did the pioneer batch of children do for their PSLE?
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sidrobson\" post_id=\"1946114\" time=\"1573615827\" user_id=\"124724:
Just curious. Do you know of any schools that allow you to speak to ALL the teachers during PTM? A teacher may be your child's Science teacher but this teacher may also be the form teacher of another class and hence she needs to meet the parents of her students, too. No?
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c) When the school doesn't allow parents to speak to all the teachers during the PTM. And when they have just one PTM a year - what about end of the year review? Isn't that another opportunity to take stock of the situation?
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My children are not in this school, BTW. I am just curious about this point because it was highlighted by a couple of members here. -
Adrena\" post_id=\"1947830\" time=\"1574395885\" user_id=\"134664:
Hi Adrena,
How did the pioneer batch of children do for their PSLE?
I am one of the pioneer batch of parents in this school. Just to share some information with you, the school pioneer batch did well in the PSLE their score is above national average and 65% of the students did better in the PSLE as compare to their preliminary exam results. All these information is share by the school prior to the release of results on that day. There is no disclosure on the top scorer as nowadays schools are not encourage or allowed to do so by MOE. In fact my child score is good enough to consider for a all girls SAP school in Bukit Timah but I don't think she is the top scorer in the school. I am grateful to the school for providing her a holistic education the for the past six years as I always believe it takes a village to raise a kid. If you wanted to know about the school better you may visit the school official FB https://www.facebook.com/West-Spring-Primary-763228920471063/?ref=bookmarks. Hope I answer your query. :rahrah: -
qms\" post_id=\"1948529\" time=\"1574548893\" user_id=\"5718:
If there is no queue for the teacher, you can have a quick talk for 5 mins. At WSPP, we can only book online PTM slots to meet up with the form (can be any subject teacher) and Chinese teacher only. This year we only get to meet the form or assistant teacher during mid year. They will let you know which subjects the kids are weak in and get them to buck up. :imconstipated:
Just curious. Do you know of any schools that allow you to speak to ALL the teachers during PTM? A teacher may be your child's Science teacher but this teacher may also be the form teacher of another class and hence she needs to meet the parents of her students, too. No?sidrobson\" post_id=\"1946114\" time=\"1573615827\" user_id=\"124724:
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c) When the school doesn't allow parents to speak to all the teachers during the PTM. And when they have just one PTM a year - what about end of the year review? Isn't that another opportunity to take stock of the situation?
...
My children are not in this school, BTW. I am just curious about this point because it was highlighted by a couple of members here. -
any other details about the psle results? better ask first…
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Heard that WPS did very well for PSLE.Many students got into top choice schools with high cut off points.Other subject results were also above national results.
School has a good balance of academic,character development & joyful learning for well-being of students.
Heard many students’ results allow them to be eligible to apply to many good secondary schools & students in fact had to decide which of the many good schools is best for them at secondary level. -
Hi Everyone!
My DD is studying in WSP P4 this year. She's a tough kid and this school is PERFECT for her personality. What I really like about this school are the following:
1) PSG are very supportive and closely knitted. They worked closely with the teachers to bring a lot of fun and knowledgable activities to teach our children about our cultures and the country.
2) The children enjoyed mingling with the PSGs and teachers to learn more.
3) The school organises a very big scale of outdoor play day titled \"Go Out And Learn\" where parents are encouraged to join in. They bring the kids (according to their levels) to Sungei Buloh, Cashew Park, East Coast Park and etc. Its a very big scale event and not easy with all the logistics. Drinks and food are prepared for the children and parents too. (I've been volunteering for GOAL every year and I really appreciate the joy of learning on the kids)
4) The principal is very consistent. She wants the teachers to have work/life balance and the kids to have study/play balance. The kids are rewarded with playtime and they get Legos and chess tournaments...and an awesome area called The Ark where the kids can interact with rescued bunnies, hamsters and etc.
As for the punishments and etc...I never hear my daughter mentioning anything. And I have no problem getting her to school because she loves WSP so much. She appreciates her school, her teachers, her principal and her classmates.
Please feel free to check with me about how it is for the school. For me, I have no problem cos I appreciate single-session school and our kids get to wear PE attire most of the time. Oh and the black shoes...black shoes are the best!
And pls feel free to call me a WSP cheerleader. I wished and hope I sounded like 1. and I do not understand why the haters who left the school don't leave this forum and are so adamant about keeping parents out of WPS.
Cheers and have a good day~ GO WSP GO~ :imcool:
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