Choosing a Primary School
Primary 1 Registration happens every year from June to September, and this can be one of the most stressful periods for Parents.
Here lies the traditional debate…Should I go for a Branded School or a Normal Neighbourhood School? Is branding important? Are things like distance important?
As both my wife and I come from quite famous Primary Schools, we had the luxury of choosing from either one of our Alma Mater. Hailing from these schools, I also tend to have a natural bias towards putting my kids into a reputable school.
Branded Schools are always much courted as they supposedly offer the best teachers and best resources. In fact, when your child enters a branded school, there is a good probability that he/she will have classmates, whose parents have a certain social standing as well.
However, a key factor in education is of course the teacher himself. It does not matter how sophisticated an instrument that you put into the hands of an educator, as a skilled craftsmen can shape a beautiful diamond out of any piece of coal. I believe that it is the teacher himself that plays the key role.
After all, all of us remember the classes where we had the most interesting teachers who brought a new “spin” to a topic. Suddenly, core subjects such as Science and Maths were not as boring, when the new creative teacher were able to explain the new theories simply and coherently. Conversely, we also remember the teachers who bored us to sleep with their monotonous tones, and boring teaching styles. And the sad fact, is that these teachers exist in branded and non-branded schools…
American Schools try to solve the teacher problem, by hiring the best teachers. However, after working as a teacher for 2 years, it is practically impossible to “sack” a teacher. This means that bad teachers will remain in the school system for a long long time…
A secondary variable to look out for, is the Leadership factor.
I truly believe that everything rises and falls with leadership. A good thing to look out for when choosing a school is whether there has been a change in leadership in the school. Good academic trek records are determined by past performances, and Principals determine the direction of the school. A good principal determines the morale of the school and how the whole teaching fraternity functions. I have witnessed many schools going up or down in rankings due to a leadership change.
So the Primary school may be good now, but find out if the Principal will still be there, when your child is in his/her 2nd year or later.
And lastly, I believe that every parent should also consider the D word, when choosing a Primary School. DISTANCE is a very important variable in this whole equation. I used to think Singapore is so small, what’s that one hour traveling for a kid? Well, imagine your child waking up at 5.30 a.m. instead of 6.30 a.m. Imagine your child having lunch at 2.30 p.m. instead of 1.30 p.m.
Going to a branded school may be important to parents, but spending one’s time travelling from point A to point B, may be too tiring for our young children, regardless on whether they are chauffeured or not. To complicate things further, when the kids go for CCA or Enrichments, the Distance problem is further amplified. You’ve to drive him down to school and then you ask yourself, do I drive home? Or do I go for grocery shopping for 3 hours? And that’s the reason why you see many Parents reading the Sat papers in the canteen or at the Mcdonalds nearby?
And what if your child forget to bring the File/workbook/exercise book for school, and you need to drive home to pick it up… imagine doing that in the peak hour traffic. What a torture…
If you have a good school nearby, do seriously consider it! Doesn’t have to be branded, cos the sanity you get from a nearby school far outweighs the benefits of the branded school.
August 1st, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Hi Edmund,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog on choosing a primary school. As much as I’d agree that the quality of teacher matters, the truth of the fact is that most children get a new teacher every year and these teachers don’t follow the children through their academic careers. And as with any profession, you have your share of teachers – some are great motivators, some are focused on academics, some on discipline. What you get is a mix bag sometimes.
And I agree on leadership being a factor in determining the success of the school. However, these rankings are purely academic and based on results. If parents are focused purely on academic results, these rankings should matter. However, if parents are focused not only on academics but on character development based on values you support, the leadership and consistent values system at school and at home only helps reinforce each other.
Its been said that you need a village to raise a child. This can’t be more true with our children spending a good part of their day at school and the rest at home. They get more exposed to new experiences than you can control. So choosing a primary school that reflects your home values will make bringing up your child a consistent and self-reinforcing experience.
If there is one more thing I’d like to add to your list, it is about a strong parent-teacher-school relationship. If the school has a strong alumni, it is a good indicator of how beloved the school is and continues to be.
Best regards, Cynthia
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:36 am
Hi Cynthia,
Thanks for dropping by. Yes! Totally agree with you about how we need a village to raise a child. My eldest child goes to a child where there is a very active PTA, however I have not learnt how to maximize the association yet. Instead, the agenda seems to be more of how they can raise funds etc…
Totally agree with you about values!
One thing I noticed about the 2nd video about the Seed school, as they had teachers who totally believed in the child, despite the fact that they were not “Scholar” material. The kind of faith and belief coupled with discipline is imho, a winning combination in life.
A thing I failed to highlight is also the sad fact that in raising a child, it not only takes a village, but that the buck also stops with the parents. Lots of people want to blame a system, or the academic staff, but in terms of values, a child learns from what he/she sees at home. Parents should take responsibility for their children, as they are the best mentors/teachers/role models!
August 6th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Hi Edmund, well said, but I guess its hard to assess whether the school has good teachers/leadership etc so parents fallback on brandnames as a minimum standards guarantee which may or may not be true. Can’t blame the parents from thinking that way because even if the parent has done all his/her homework, there is always a chance that the great principal be transferred to another school, or the one rotten apple among a school of great teachers is assigned to their child’s class, with so many factors out of control, parents may just opt for the “safe option”.
I am personally most concerned about a sense of elitism if I were to send my children to a branded school. I came across these couple of kids who were otherwise seemingly good kids but when I was just randomly chatting to them, one of them suddenly said “Do you know which school we go to?” To humour them I said “No, tell me!” and he rattled off a branded SAP school with a look of pride like I should therefore treat him as some sort of superior being. That kind of behavious really puzzles me since he didn’t even get in on his own merit and, even if he did, since when did one aspect of a person’s life like the school he does to somehow make the person superior to others.
That is really the dilemma I face, competition between wanting a good education for Sophia (which a branded school doesn’t necessarily guarantee) and making sure she develops into a grounded, all rounded individual with a healthy respect for everyone around her for who and what they are.
August 6th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for dropping by again!
Ya…the safe option is something that we took as well! 
But the good thing for us is that we stay near the school, and therefore it is convenient for the kids and the drivers as well! 
Sad to hear about the elitism in the children though. Personally, I believe that they are just “mirroring” what they hear in their homes, and therefore it will be important for us parents to give them a well rounded talk on this issue. It seems that a healthy dose of balance needs to be injected here:)
The good news for us, is that we can still influence our children, as its not too late for us to help them open up their perspectives.
I hope that u do have some options in the “branded” department as well, as the community hours and the ‘non-guarantee’ option is a real killer!
August 8th, 2012 at 12:22 am
Hi Elaine,
I guess parents need to acknowledge to their kids that every person is of equal value, regardless of whether he is chinese or indian, slim or obese, a graduate or high school dropout, from a brand name SAP school or neighbourhood school, et cetera.