Hwa Chong Institution (High School)

[Lion_king]

Needlotsofhelp:

Me too very upset with the whole transport arrangement. :mad:

DS told me he will take school bus back to HC around 6pm.
I rushed from United Sq to HC after dropping DD off for 5pm class. Waited at HC open carpark till 6.30pm. DS sms me to say will be late, but not sure how late. So I rushed back to United Sq thru heavy traffic to pick DD at 7pm. Then rushed back to HC thru even heavier traffic. Reached HC around 7.30pm and no sign of DS. Tried calling and sms DS but no reply. Panic. :frustrated: Hungry. Then DS sms to say will be very late and stop calling him as his phone batt left 4%!! He said bus will reach CCK at 7.45pm. Now I'm truly mad, as I got a presentation to a client next morning and still left quite a bit to touch up. Finally, bus reached HC around 8.30pm. Reached home around 9.10pm. DS bath, dinner, then immed homework and revise for test next day! Scolded DS for not giving accurate timings. :mad: Now after reading all these posts, I feel bad scolding him. Sorry, DS.

Very disappointed. Had expected a lot more from a school like HCI.

Hi :yikes: 5
Finally someone out there speaking from the heart & share the same feeling!

[looking4Tutor]

Lion_king:

Hi Otah


I agree that they have grown up and they have to learn to be independent. However, this event supposed to be a compulsory event & we, parents r totally unawared of the last- minute changes. From our perceptive, the school should have the responsibilty to make sure that they sent the boys back to school, if not we should be notified. The truth is no one knows what will happen. What if there's a case of mishap that happen to your son? Will u still be proud of him coming back by himself? Do u think it will be much too late to point finger at either sides? Do u think the school will be responsible? Dun let it happen as 'Prevention is better than cure'. Address to the problem now, dun procrastinate !!

Why don't you just go to the school office and clarify the matter, rather than off loading your ill-feeling against the school in a public forum for days?

[ks2011]

I don’t understand why taking a train by himself is so dangerous for your ds. My dd from RGS also had to attend such an activity and took a bus and then train back home. The school had only arranged one-way transport to the venue.


She followed a group of girls back to the MRT. Let them learn. Taking bus and train in Singapore is perfectly safe.

[sausage]

[

Very disappointed. Had expected a lot more from a school like HCI.[/quote]

I share the worries of all parents too when our children are out by themselves… but what do we expect the school to do ? Send SMSs to inform parents of the delay or send an apology to sec 1 parents in ISP the next day for messing up their plans ? I waited for my DS for 2+ hours in the open car park too but delays and hiccup not expected during a wet weather + sporting event in the jammed pack Chua Cho Kang areas + MRT line construction work nearby etc ? Who knows the schools and their seniors may be working hard to plan for alternatives for them ? I heard the whole event ended 1030pm.

May be the school should have done better is to learn a few tips from the partner school opposite on how to manage parents’ expectation.

TGIF

[ApronMama]

ks2011:

I don't understand why taking a train by himself is so dangerous for your ds. My dd from RGS also had to attend such an activity and took a bus and then train back home. The school had only arranged one-way transport to the venue.


She followed a group of girls back to the MRT. Let them learn. Taking bus and train in Singapore is perfectly safe.

I also remember my ds chose to come back on his own directly from CCK by public transport last year as it is more direct than going back to school. Probably most sec 1 are still in their early stage of taking public transport, but very soon they may tell you they do not want you to fetch (may be paisay liao) and they can come back on their own. So it is good to teach and orientate them how to take public transport earlier, before sec 1 begin, the kids learn very fast.

[wonderm]

sausage:

[

Very disappointed. Had expected a lot more from a school like HCI.

I share the worries of all parents too when our children are out by themselves… but what do we expect the school to do ? Send SMSs to inform parents of the delay or send an apology to sec 1 parents in ISP the next day for messing up their plans ? I waited for my DS for 2+ hours in the open car park too but delays and hiccup not expected during a wet weather + sporting event in the jammed pack Chua Cho Kang areas + MRT line construction work nearby etc ? Who knows the schools and their seniors may be working hard to plan for alternatives for them ? I heard the whole event ended 1030pm.

May be the school should have done better is to learn a few tips from the partner school opposite on how to manage parents’ expectation.

TGIF[/quote]

My ds also opted to take the school transport back to HCI. However, due to the delay caused by bad weather, he had to come back on his own and reached home after 10pm. I read from the ST next day that the sports event only ended about 9pm. My ds also rarely takes public transport, but he managed to get to the MRT with his friends and changed bus on his own. We are so proud of him and think it was a good experience for him.

[hci_2011]

deleted.

[wiimum]

sausage:

[

Very disappointed. Had expected a lot more from a school like HCI.

I share the worries of all parents too when our children are out by themselves… but what do we expect the school to do ? Send SMSs to inform parents of the delay or send an apology to sec 1 parents in ISP the next day for messing up their plans ? I waited for my DS for 2+ hours in the open car park too but delays and hiccup not expected during a wet weather + sporting event in the jammed pack Chua Cho Kang areas + MRT line construction work nearby etc ? Who knows the schools and their seniors may be working hard to plan for alternatives for them ? I heard the whole event ended 1030pm.

May be the school should have done better is to learn a few tips from the partner school opposite on how to manage parents’ expectation.

TGIF[/quote]


I think for Sec 1s, parents tend to worry more , and be more \"kan cheong\" and it is made worse if you were waiting at the open carpark for hours. I know because I was like that.

However, I have learnt over the years, it is best to just let it be, let them sort it out. If you can afford to wait, then wait. If not, let him take a bus back. If he still hasn't learnt the way, ask him to find out. There are going to be a lot more events that require them to travel to other venues all over Singapore. Worst case, take/share a taxi.

There have been many occasions that my son would arrive home past 10 or 11pm because of school activities. I just make sure I could reach him via SMS and let me know a rough estimate of his arrival time. I must say I have gotten used to it.

However, I might react differently if it had been my daughter.

[Otah]

wiimum:

sausage:

[

Very disappointed. Had expected a lot more from a school like HCI.

I share the worries of all parents too when our children are out by themselves… but what do we expect the school to do ? Send SMSs to inform parents of the delay or send an apology to sec 1 parents in ISP the next day for messing up their plans ? I waited for my DS for 2+ hours in the open car park too but delays and hiccup not expected during a wet weather + sporting event in the jammed pack Chua Cho Kang areas + MRT line construction work nearby etc ? Who knows the schools and their seniors may be working hard to plan for alternatives for them ? I heard the whole event ended 1030pm.

May be the school should have done better is to learn a few tips from the partner school opposite on how to manage parents’ expectation.

TGIF

I think for Sec 1s, parents tend to worry more , and be more \"kan cheong\" and it is made worse if you were waiting at the open carpark for hours. I know because I was like that.

However, I have learnt over the years, it is best to just let it be, let them sort it out. If you can afford to wait, then wait. If not, let him take a bus back. If he still hasn't learnt the way, ask him to find out. There are going to be a lot more events that require them to travel to other venues all over Singapore. Worst case, take/share a taxi.

There have been many occasions that my son would arrive home past 10 or 11pm because of school activities. I just make sure I could reach him via SMS and let me know a rough estimate of his arrival time. I must say I have gotten used to it.

However, I might react differently if it had been my daughter. :-)[/quote]
:goodpost: same here... this is exactly what it is like. For once my boy activity ended so late that he think might have missed the last bus so he decided to take another route and still manage to get home .... yes, we always make it a point that he keep us informed of his whereabout or we will call him. Parents need adjustment too with the kids growing.

[Needlotsofhelp]

sausage:

[

Very disappointed. Had expected a lot more from a school like HCI.

I share the worries of all parents too when our children are out by themselves… but what do we expect the school to do ? Send SMSs to inform parents of the delay or send an apology to sec 1 parents in ISP the next day for messing up their plans ? I waited for my DS for 2+ hours in the open car park too but delays and hiccup not expected during a wet weather + sporting event in the jammed pack Chua Cho Kang areas + MRT line construction work nearby etc ? Who knows the schools and their seniors may be working hard to plan for alternatives for them ? I heard the whole event ended 1030pm.

May be the school should have done better is to learn a few tips from the partner school opposite on how to manage parents’ expectation.

TGIF[/quote]

I don't think it's about managing parents expectations. Whether the school apologise, it's up to them, that's not my point. My point is, this is not the first time the school participate in this event. Have they learned from past experiences ? Where is the proper planning, contingency planning, comms channels? At the very least, some things the organiser could have done: bus number, hp contact of driver/supervisor, hp contact of organiser in case of emergency, bad weather program plan, alternatives routes with directions on printed map etc.

I'm happy for you that you can wait for more than 2hrs patiently. But not everyone has this luxury. My DS can go back on his own too, and I know he can do it no problem. But we cannot assume all boys can do it yet. Being good forgiving parents is no excuse for bad planning and execution.