sleepy:

MMM


I called kawai but was told they only conduct individual lesson.
I prefer group lesson, at least can sit in. Otherwise my blur blur girl will not know what to practice at home :lol:


Hi parents

any recommendations for group lesson?

There are some schools out there that allow the parents/guardians to sit in during an individual class. One of the reasons I switched my girl out of Cristofori, to Stellar(in Bishan).

Typically group classes are more of an introductory class, and not really into piano playing. Thus might only be good for kids who are just starting out.

You might want to check with various schools, to see if they allow you to sit in, cos some schools' group classes also don't allow parents to sit in.

Hi,


My daughter has just switched from Cristofori to Stellar Music School. Reason being that the performance exposure in Cristofori is practically nil. The only performance she gets is in the group class, which isn’t much. We want to get more exposure for our kids.

At Stellar, they organise yearly school concerts, and every student gets to go on stage and perform in a concert hall. Granted, it was compusory to purchase 4 tickets for the concert, but we think it was well worth it.

My daughter is also taking violin lessons with Mac’s Music School, since she was 3. Fees are expensive, but they have 2 performances per year - mid year concert and end of the year X’mas public performances. Also, the school stresses a lot on the musicality - feel of the music.

My 2 cents worth.

ChiefKiasu:

With respect to the Ai Tong and Pei Hwa cases, I'm not sure what happened or whether it was a misunderstanding, but the idea of having deadlines on Phases is to prevent exactly things like that from happening. If you \"forgot\" to register in time, then you have passed up your chance to do so, and that should be the end of it. No excuse should be accepted either by the school or the authorities, otherwise, the whole system breaks down.

Yep, this is what all parents that I spoke to thought of, except caroline.

BTW, Ai Tong had said that it was MOE who advised them to take the places out of 2B for these 2 applicants who missed their deadline.

Still waiting for reply from MOE on this.

:x :rant:

Hi,


From what I read, what Caroline2sg is saying is that it is ok to be unscrupulous, and that the ends justifies the means.

What about being in the shoes of the parents in Phase 2B??

This incident only shows that applicants in Phase 2A and above are of such high priority that it overrides everyone else. BTW, even the PS for MOE had stated that this should not be the case.

caroline3sg:

eelsemaj
Someone analyse the situation as: applied for 2nd choice sch (under 2A2) to secure a place first and then call up 1st choice sch on 2nd day of 2B, if sure get in without ballot, withdraw from 2A2; after noticing some changes in 1 - 2 vacancies in 2A2 & 2B.

But we won't be able to do a corresponding link between the 2 sch.

So Aitong case could be someone within 1km wanted this sch as first choice but unsure of balloting distance, so registered in 2A2 of 2nd choice sch. After calling sch to cfm no ballot for within 1km, apply here and withdraw elsewhere, leading to 2B reduction.

This is speculation but I guess, if many people are aware of such strategy, more would follow suit. You would see more of such cases in future as compared to this yr about 2 cases for several schs.

As this is speculation, we don't know how true it is. Take it with a pinch of salt what Aitong said.

But then again, what happens if you are in that person's shoes? You would want to maximise your chances, isn't it?

Hi,


Spoke to my MP last night. He had spoken to the perm sec for MOE last Friday evening, and got a reply that this should not be the case - ie. places should not be taken out of phase 2B to satisfy applicants who had forgotten to register in earlier phases.

We are waiting for an official reply from MOE.

Hi,


Didn’t realised that this is happening in other schools as well. This really looks bad for the ministry.

Hmmm … maybe we can collate all our details and send one big bomb to the ministry.

I have already written to my MP, and will be going for the "meet-the-people" session tonight. This is going to be at Bishan North.

Anyone wanna come join me and talk to him about this matter?

Title: Vacancies in Ai Tong School for phase 2B


Hi,

We are registering our kid for Ai Tong, under phase 2B, 1-2km.

During the registration, we started with 41 places. On the second day, the number of places suddenly became 39. Reason given by the school was that 2 places were given to families who forgotten to register during the previous phases. Also, MOE had approved this, and had directed ATS to take the places out of phase 2B, leaving the places in 2C as it was before.

Now, there are only 5 places, with 9 applicants.

We were so fed up with this move, and had written to MOE about it. Still waiting for a proper reply on this.

:x :rant: