Primary School Question

[BeerForBreakfast]

I sia suay??? I think you are the only one in Sg who doesn’t recognise those schools as ‘international schools’. Whether they qualify as international schools are not measured by your yardstick. They are recognised by the governments in different countries as international schools. If I sia suay for calling them international schools, then Sg and at least China govts are even more sia suay lor.

Hahha this is a shock! So are you saying that SG and Chinese governments are the only two countries that recognize them as international schools??? If not, please say what countries recognize them.

You said " They are recognized by the governments in different countries as international schools". What countries are those? You mean other countries' government (eg. Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, US) have a list of schools in other countries that they "recognize" as international schools??? The effort to compile such a list would be extremely exhaustive, inhumanly exhaustive even, do you know how many countries there are on this planet and how many schools are there in ALL the countries?! If you say the government recognize the international schools using the curriculum of their country, that makes more sense and sounds more believable.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

I sia suay??? I think you are the only one in Sg who doesn’t recognise those schools as ‘international schools’. Whether they qualify as international schools are not measured by your yardstick. They are recognised by the governments in different countries as international schools. If I sia suay for calling them international schools, then Sg and at least China govts are even more sia suay lor.

Nobody on this platform would be thinking of the international schools you were talking about because we are not expats and it’s common knowledge that those schools are for expats’ kids.

You sound totally like someone in his or her own world. I know of someone like that. He says by his yardstick, degrees other from NUS and NTU are not degrees. And those who do not go to NUS and NTU via 2-year A level programme are not real graduates. Siao de.

You can have your own yardstick in your own world and the sia suay one is you. Not me.

Those schools add the word International because they are local schs that offer IB and want to attract foreign students. You are a Singaporean, why would you consider them International??! It would not be the case, unless you are thinking like the foreigner.

To foreigners, these names (ACS, Hwa Chong and SJI) are indeed foreign. To us Singaporeans, they are "international"? Are you sure you are not the one whose citizenship is suspicious yet you have the gall to accuse me.

I know there are Singaporeans enrolled in those schools and when I hear of them, the thought International school totally do not cross my mind at all!! I have heard of people saying they know so and so whose kid went to those schools and we just say oh they chose to pay through their nose and go to an IB school in Singapore so dumb LOL. To me International schools means Singapore American School, German School, Lycee Francais de Singapour because I am Singaporean and those schools to me are foreign.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

You are spot on. Just to add, there are hundreds of Singaporean students studying in our French, Canadian, American schools. As long as one of their parents are of that nationality.

If there is one parent of that nationality, yes.

But those people are not thinking of those schools. They were thinking of ACS, Hwa Chong and SJI offering the IB program lah.

 

[katenash]

Hahha this is a shock! So are you saying that SG and Chinese governments are the only two countries that recognize them as international schools??? If not, please say what countries recognize them.

You said " They are recognized by the governments in different countries as international schools". What countries are those? You mean other countries' government (eg. Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, US) have a list of schools in other countries that "recognize" as international schools??? If you say the government recognize the international schools using the curriculum of their country, that makes more sense and sounds more believable.

Must it be recognised by the countries you approve again then can be ‘different countries’? I am not an expert at international schools and I don’t do research on schools but at least I know the IB diploma or certs given by these schools are fully recognised by international standards. Please don’t sia suay yourself when you don’t know anything about the subject. Everything also need to be by your own yardstick - that’s really a twisted mind there. What you type about the schools and system/s in Sg exposes your ignorance and how out of touch you are.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

Those “real” International schools, like the other bro mentioned, one can enter by obtaining prior approval from MOE. The sense I got is that they are less strict for secondary schools compared to elementary schools

The 3 “local international” schools, I only know they all offer the IB programme - not my interest area to find out more in detail

Yep. They are just local schools offering the IB program. You are not missing anything because you basically pay through your nose, while your child is still remaining in Singapore. There is no incentive for Singaporeans whatsoever, as doing the standard A level program in Singapore will be much cheaper yet still allow the student to go overseas.

 

[katenash]

Those schools add the word International because they are local schs that offer IB and want to attract foreign students. You are a Singaporean, why would you consider them International??! It would not be the case, unless you are thinking like the foreigner.

To foreigners, these names (ACS, Hwa Chong and SJI) are indeed foreign. To us Singaporeans, they are "international"? Are you sure you are not the one whose citizenship is suspicious yet you have the gall to accuse me.

I know there are Singaporeans enrolled in those schools and when I hear of them, the thought International school totally do not cross my mind at all!! I have heard of people saying they know so and so whose kid went to those schools and we just say oh they chose to pay through their nose and go to an IB school in Singapore so dumb LOL. To me International schools means Simgapore American School, German School, Lycee Francais de Singapour because I am Singaporean and those schools to me are foreign.

People who choose to enrol their kids in those schools are dumb? Dumb but earn millions - I really want to be dumb, man! Better than not having a choice but have to put kids in gangster schools and then don’t even get to go to a uni, and then laugh at others say they dumb lor.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

Serious? I didn’t know Oxford has become so lousy. From what I know, many Sg parents are still willing to give an arm and a leg for their kids to go Oxford. Then what is/are the better unis nowadays?

Cannot spoonfeed overnight. You can do a simple google search on which universities are the ones producing the most Nobel prizes, which universities have the highest and most generous endowment and strongest in science R&D achievements and excellence. Go interview overseas scholars from Raffles and Hwa Chong JC. They will tell you.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

People who choose to enrol their kids in those schools are dumb? Dumb but earn millions - I really want to be dumb, man! Better than not having a choice but have to put kids in gangster schools and then don’t even get to go to a uni, and then laugh at others say they dumb lor.

Do you think the SG parents would be enrolling their kids there if the kids actually made the cut to go to Hwa Chong (A level) and ACS Independent (IB) ? These fake international schools are just offering the IB program. Do you know the normal ACS Independent (not the fake international) also offers IB program?

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

Must it be recognised by the countries you approve again then can be ‘different countries’? I am not an expert at international schools and I don’t do research on schools but at least I know the IB diploma or certs given by these schools are fully recognised by international standards. Please don’t sia suay yourself when you don’t know anything about the subject. Everything also need to be by your own yardstick - that’s really a twisted mind there. What you type about the schools and system/s in Sg exposes your ignorance and how out of touch you are.

Yeah they are recognized because the IB cert itself is recognized, just like the A level cert.

There is nothing international about the schools except their target clientele and the fees.

 

[katenash]

Do you think the SG parents would be enrolling their kids there if the kids actually made the cut to go to Hwa Chong (A level) and ACS Independent (IB) ? These fake international schools are just offering the IB program. Do you know the normal ACS Independent (not the fake international) also offers IB program?

I shared that I personally know those kids and parents I mentioned in my post/s. Of course I know they can’t make it to the IP/IB schools via their PSLE scores. And of course I know too well the local secondary schools that offer IB and IP programmes. I went through the process of selecting secondary schools for my kids. The way you type sure doesn’t make others think you went through that process.

Having head knowledge is different from having navigated the system yourself.

And just because these kids are unable to ace their PSLE today doesn’t mean they won’t be able to do well for IB eventually. These are supportive parents who can afford tons of tuition for their kids.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

I shared that I personally know those kids and parents I mentioned in my post/s. Of course I know they can’t make it to the IP/IB schools via their PSLE scores. And of course I know too well the local secondary schools that offer IB and IP programmes. I went through the process of selecting secondary schools for my kids. The way you type sure doesn’t make others think you went through that process.

Having head knowledge is different from having navigated the system yourself.

And just because these kids are unable to ace their PSLE today doesn’t mean they won’t be able to do well for IB eventually. These are supportive parents who can afford tons of tuition for their kids.

Okay. So you seem to know that the locals who have enrolled their children there, the children failed to make the cut to Hwa Chong and ACS Independent (the non fake international).

Anyway there is little point in arguing further, to me these schools are schools set up by local institutions I am super familiar with, names I grew up with in SG, and they offer IB program and hope to attract rich ASEAN foreigners and they have also become the fallback of locals whose children failed to get into elite high schools under the normal scoring system and the parents are the type who refuse to back down and tell their acquaintances their children are in some non-elite school. You also seem to know all these points (that these are local schools offering IB, and set very high fees, etc) its just that you somehow feel it still feels like an international school to you, but it does not to me. It is just a difference in opinion on what an international school should feel like.

Nothing more to argue on.

We can return to the Property chasing for Pri school topic.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

I shared that I personally know those kids and parents I mentioned in my post/s. Of course I know they can’t make it to the IP/IB schools via their PSLE scores. And of course I know too well the local secondary schools that offer IB and IP programmes. I went through the process of selecting secondary schools for my kids. The way you type sure doesn’t make others think you went through that process.

Having head knowledge is different from having navigated the system yourself.

And just because these kids are unable to ace their PSLE today doesn’t mean they won’t be able to do well for IB eventually. These are supportive parents who can afford tons of tuition for their kids.

Just my opinion: for the fees that they are paying at these schools based in Singapore and the students are still in Singapore, like living no differently from other kids in MOE schools, same exposure being in Singapore, the parents are better off sending them overseas for high school straightaway.

 

[Clazav]

The part in bold is what I thought for awhile, until I started noticing more parents of the last couple of years (very very recent thing, maybe about 2 years at most) who got conned by CCP propaganda of the China rise, either sending their children to places like Berries or speaking to toddlers in Chinese. I also notice more private preschools now advertising that they have emphasis on Chinese mother tongue to cater to this duped market. As a parent, if you want to avoid preschools with such phony nonsense, you can look at either church based kindergartens or the anchor operator preschools like My First Skool and Sparkletots that have significant enrolled students from minority family.

These parents while ingesting all the CCP propaganda about their fake rise forget that the Singapore education system is conducted in English! Every subject other than mother tongue is graded in English. The parents themselves already are low ses , some earn a decent income from jobs that have proven profitable like real estate agents and sales despite their lack of academic achievements and poor English. These parents themselves lack the talents to give their children the best family cultivation they can have, yet they want to make things worse by making their education a cheena one as well by sending them to Berries and cheena preschools. I wonder how they think they can produce children good enough to ace the A level system which is entirely conducted in English and go on to a good university course when the children already lack family cultivation to speak fluently, and their parents make things worse by adding roadblocks to their children gaining currency in English culture in their education journey.

The location is definitely a compounding factor. But there are popular schools in HDB location like Catholic High, St Nicholas and St Andrew's that have more high ses students than Chong Fu and Nan Chiau.

To me, Cat high, St Nick, St Andrew are hardly hdb location. There are quite a big portion of private properties around them.

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

To me, Cat high, St Nick, St Andrew are hardly hdb location. There are quite a big portion of private properties around them.

Mixed. There are some private homes around these schools, and also HDB. i guess I was referring more to the towns they belong to. Bishan. Ang Mo Kio. Potong Pasir.

In the case of St Nicks the private houses around it are all landed so harder for those who plan to move for the 1km priority.

 

[marshmallow96]

The part in bold is what I thought for awhile, until I started noticing more parents of the last couple of years (very very recent thing, maybe about 2 years at most) who got conned by CCP propaganda of the China rise, either sending their children to places like Berries or speaking to toddlers in Chinese. I also notice more private preschools now advertising that they have emphasis on Chinese mother tongue to cater to this duped market. As a parent, if you want to avoid preschools with such phony nonsense, you can look at either church based kindergartens or the anchor operator preschools like My First Skool and Sparkletots that have significant enrolled students from minority family.

These parents while ingesting all the CCP propaganda about their fake rise forget that the Singapore education system is conducted in English! Every subject other than mother tongue is graded in English. The parents themselves already are low ses , some earn a decent income from jobs that have proven profitable like real estate agents and sales despite their lack of academic achievements and poor English. These parents themselves lack the talents to give their children the best family cultivation they can have, yet they want to make things worse by making their education a cheena one as well by sending them to Berries and cheena preschools. I wonder how they think they can produce children good enough to ace the A level system which is entirely conducted in English and go on to a good university course when the children already lack family cultivation to speak fluently, and their parents make things worse by adding roadblocks to their children gaining currency in English culture in their education journey.

The location is definitely a compounding factor. But there are popular schools in HDB location like Catholic High, St Nicholas and St Andrew's that have more high ses students than Chong Fu and Nan Chiau.

Wow it’s either you live in a parallel universe or you need to assess your circle of friends… so far I have not come across sinkie parents who “buy into CCP propaganda”

The real reason why people are sending to Chinese enrichment is because if you flung your Chinese, even the other subjects are perfect, your chance of getting into your school of choice will be badly hurt, esp so under the new AL system

 

[abcde83]

That “liquid breakfast” guy is so out of touch of the Singapore education scene that I suspect he is even a Singaporean with kids !

Talk so much about Chinese schools history and not heard of Chong Fu ? I bet he also don’t know about Red Swastika until the Bentley case.
Don’t even know the balloting scene of 2A1 in the past couple years and writing nonsense !
Don’t even know that only a few international schools limit Singaporean while the majority accept thousands of Singaporean (even with scholarships) from secondary one onwards !

Worse of all, his twisted view on Chinese-oriented neighbourhood school. I wonder how the teaching staffs & students of these reputable/well-run schools feel after seeing his comments.

i agree with you.

oh well. talk is cheap.

 

[abcde83]

still eating pop corn? i see WOT and initial content Im going to ignore this thread already..

especially when someone seems to be looking down on Chinese-oriented or Chinese speaking families/school or whatever..

Ciao!

 

[edmwing]

I haven't really looked at the changes yet (kid not primary 1 yet) but from what I've seen, distance to sch now plays the biggest part in getting a place in the sch?

Yes, it is. Even with alumni might not get in.

 

[Clazav]

Mixed. There are some private homes around these schools, and also HDB. i guess I was referring more to the towns they belong to. Bishan. Ang Mo Kio. Potong Pasir.

In the case of St Nicks the private houses around it are all landed so harder for those who plan to move for the 1km priority.

Understand, then got to really categorise to very specific.
1. Popular schools
a. Completely private (eg Acs, Raffles Girls)
b. semi private-public, (eg St Nick, Ai Tong, Rosyth, Tao Nan)
c. completely public (eg Nan Chiau, Mee Toh, Chongfu)

 

[BeerForBreakfast]

Wow it’s either you live in a parallel universe or you need to assess your circle of friends… so far I have not come across sinkie parents who “buy into CCP propaganda”

Many do. i know that’s their reason because we actually talked and I would ask them what their motivations are. They would then repeat a pile of tripe about the fake rise of china. Perhaps you are the one who haven’t seen enough. If you have not observed something, what do you assume that the “fault” lies with others?