Hi,

My boy scored 162 (N(A)) and we stay in Bukit Panjang. We have 2 criteria for selecting the schools a) no more than 45 mins by public transport and b) must have Football CCA… we have the following choices based on 2019 COP

1. Chua Chu Kang SS - 171
2. Unity Secondary - 169
3. Zhenghua Secondary - 169
4. Regent Secondary - 158
5. Greenridge Secondary - 155
6. Undecided…

What are the chances of securing a spot in either of the first 3 considering that N(A) COPs can fluctuate? Any suggestions for option 6? Not too sure about Dunearn Sec, Fajar Sec or Teck Whye SS. How about Assumption English?

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, does anyone know a good maths tutor in Bukit Panjang area who can work with a child who is a bit weak and improve the grades to a B at least?