livingit:

Hi


Is anybody's dd/ds enrolled in Berries Kembangan? My ds has been attending classes since last year and he has absolutely NO progress. I understand that it is only a once a week class and that Chinese is not his mother tongue. Is going for private tuition more helpful?

I started to consider going private now. When he was in N2, we did not really travel or run errands a lot so we (the parents) had no problem in him not attending classes cause we had a makeup class. But only recently do I realise, with not so cheap tuition fee, they are absolutely not flexible about make up classes! They do have for i think the Berries holidays, but outside that, even if you have urgency and can't take your child to classes, it is almost impossible to get a make up class. The best I could come up with was with coming earlier 10 mins at the next class to brief him out of the previous class.

Guess they have one too many pupil there. Some more, even after talking to 3 admins including who I think is the manager there. NO courtesy calls AT ALL on 3 occasions after they promise me to give me news about whether or not he can change class to another day/can come earlier for make up class/can even get make up classes at all.

Does this happen in other branches too? How come they have so many admin there but they find it so difficult just to make a call? They always forget until I ask/remind them about my question, which I think is important because even with him attending classes still no progress, what about him having no make up classes? It's not like ask for a make class every month, or even every term?!

My sister who has just registered her dd there also reported she had the same problem. Is it worth it to attend classes in Berries, do parents whose children do not speak Chinese as their mother tongue make improvement and can cope with lessons in school? Am considering going private or change to another place since Im worried he won't be able to cope with Chinese in P1

My DS & DD are with Berries Kembangan. DS used to be with Berries Tampines. I've never encountered any problem arranging for make-up classes for them @Tampines or Kembangan branches. I don't remembered there is a cap on the number of make-up classes. Due to crashes in kid's school activities/competition/sickness/holidays, I have arranged quite a number of makeup classes. Admin are quite prompt in updating me(mostly call-back once they secured their teacher/class) on the makeup class i can attend. So far, my kids are doing well in their school chinese coursework. Kids are learning higher chinese in SAP school.

mandm:

Hi, ds has just been selected for gep. As dh and I have very little info about gep esp in tao nan (as that would be our first choice of sch), could any kind soul give us some advice on Tao Nan's GEP program pls? For eg, how many days in a week do they have to stay back for extra/enrichment classes? School workload/projects etc.


With regard to Bicep, does he have to go thru test/interview to be selected? For GEP bicep classes, are they held during curriculum hours or do they have to stay back after school?

Any advice will be much appreciated. Thanks very much!

Check yr pm

Dinah:

~ Berries' 特选班 (High Potential Class) ~


Hi! Can parents whose kids are attending Berries' 特选班 (High Potential) share your thoughts? I was told that this class' focus is on compo & compre, and rest of paper will be done in revision manner as they expect kids who qualified for this class can well handle non-compo & non-compre sections.

DS attends P4 HP class this yr. I still see all the components being covered in this class and according to the teacher, she covers more in-depth. Don't remember they do more compo or compre though.
If the kid qualifies, encourage you to let them go for it. The class my DS is in now has less than 5 kids, so lots of attention given. The only disadvantage I see is there isn't many HP classes, and only certain teacher is qualified to teach HP class, so more difficult to do make-up class.

buds:

JAR:

I bought these PM2.5 washable/reusable masks for my kids and families from Shanghai. It is available @Shanghai Watson, Carrefour and Chinese medical shop/pharmacy.

The mask comes with 4pieces of PM2.5 sheets. You are to insert one PM 2.5 sheet to the cotton-like mask(the outer material is not cotton, some special material according to the information on its packaging). You can wash the mask and replace PM2.5 sheet when it gets dirty.
It is available in kid xs(3-6yrs old), s(7-12 yrs old), m(teen) and adult sizes.

It is more comfortable than N95 mask.http://i44.tinypic.com/124u361.jpg\">

I chanced upon these at Groupon SG but I think yours look like they have better fit. http://www.groupon.sg/deals/shopping/groupon-delivery/717124793?utm_source=mashup&utm_medium=cp_3900643&utm_campaign=alldeals

Thanks for sharing JAR, these look really good. Can share how much they cost?

I have a 2yr old that just find it hard to got into the general 3M sizes available.

The mask costs ~28-39.90 RMB per piece depending on which shop you get it from. Same price for all sizes.
There is another PM2.5 mask that I bought too, but I can only find Adult size for this brand.
http://i40.tinypic.com/51vbme.jpg\">

phankao:

JAR:

I bought these PM2.5 washable/reusable masks for my kids and families from Shanghai. It is available @Shanghai Watson, Carrefour and Chinese medical shop/pharmacy.

The mask comes with 4pieces of PM2.5 sheets. You are to insert one PM 2.5 sheet to the cotton-like mask(the outer material is not cotton, some special material according to the information on its packaging). You can wash the mask and replace PM2.5 sheet when it gets dirty.
It is available in kid xs(3-6yrs old), s(7-12 yrs old), m(teen) and adult sizes.

It is more comfortable than N95 mask.http://i44.tinypic.com/124u361.jpg\">

Looks good - how we buy?

Probably you can get someone to help you buy from China or online.
I am unsure if it is really effective though. Thought to share this so that those with kids can consider this alternative mask since N95 is not suitable for kid.

I happened to be holidaying in Shanghai at the time when Singapore was hit by 401 psi and managed to get these masks and an air purifier back.

And no, I don't have spare PM2.5 masks to spare.

I bought these PM2.5 washable/reusable masks for my kids and families from Shanghai. It is available @Shanghai Watson, Carrefour and Chinese medical shop/pharmacy.

The mask comes with 4pieces of PM2.5 sheets. You are to insert one PM 2.5 sheet to the cotton-like mask(the outer material is not cotton, some special material according to the information on its packaging). You can wash the mask and replace PM2.5 sheet when it gets dirty.
It is available in kid xs(3-6yrs old), s(7-12 yrs old), m(teen) and adult sizes.

It is more comfortable than N95 mask.http://i44.tinypic.com/124u361.jpg\">

Wandering which literature book your DD/DS school uses? My DS school ask us to purchase Charlotte’s Web.

My boy was seen by Dr Quah in one of his visits, and upon knowing that he is the one specialist in children, when I book my next appt, I will ask the admin staff which day and timing Dr Quah is in and they always allow me to book appt with Dr Quah.

My DS uses SPI small-size bag from P1-3. For P4 GEP whereby more files and less text/activity books are used, what type of school bag are you getting for your kids? Will SPI bigger version be a good option? Do we need to prepare a separate file folders/tote bag to hold the worksheets?

adafew:

Okie I didn't check on those schools. The school my DS got in (TNS) did not give out the booklist

Taonan 2013 booklist is available from their website.
http://www.taonan.moe.edu.sg/attachments/tns_booklists_2013-p4_gep.pdf

You can download or the bookstore will give you the correct yellow color version.

Some higher Chinese text/activity books are unavailable yet(not fixed yet).

Do check your purchase(books, uniform etc) as I was given the wrong uniform size and only realized it when I reached home.