Hi, Parents,
I registered my daughter at Greendale Pri this morning. Was deciding between edgefield or greendale..
As a new resident at this punggol area, it was tough man!! Know nothing abt the 2 schools. What I did before registration was to log on to this forum page to find out from the parents who are kind and willing to share informations.
Well, I cant deny the fact that there are parents who purposely providing false info.
My advice is go down personally to speak to the Principle, Teachers. Look at the environment, follow your heart and then decide. My hubby & I had a good talk with the principle, Ms Foong & some of teachers. They are very helpful and honest over some issues. We raised our concern over the "special needs" for some special kids and we are pleased with the way Ms Foong has answered.
Most principles and teachers would love to share info with you. I didn't try Mee Toh at all. My kid is under Phrase 2 C (S) because I was trying to register her in Hougang (my daughter is being looked after by my parents and they are staying in Hougang).
It is always not easy to start off with a new school just like us trying to settle down on a new job. It takes time.
I hope all these negative infos, will not stop all the principles and teachers from putting more effort in it.
I believe your effort will pay off. Let's us(parents) work harder to give our support to the principles and teachers out there regardless of Mee Toh, Greendale & Edgefield.
I am sure there are principles and teachers reading those negative remarks abt your school & are affected by it.
If you agree with the comments, then work harder to improve the image.
If you don't agree, then move on. Well, I don't think we can please everybody...
We (as parents) shouldn't stress the teachers too much. It is not easy to handle so many kids in a class though you might say they are paid to do so..(haha)
Though I do not know how well my daughter can cope in the new school next yr but I have confident that the principle and teachers will do their best for our kids.
Now looking forward to 2009.. Good luck to all the parents out there!!!
Best wishes,
Angeline
I agree with littleangeline that we must not judge a school simply by what's said on a forum. The schools are doing their best to serve the community of Punggol and its vicinity. Gosh. If we base our child's education and possibly the foundation of his future on all personal opinions & hear-says without concrete evidence, are we being fair to the schools and to our children?
While I believe parents who share on this thread have no malicious intention to defame any schools or mislead anyone, most of them are laypersons. They are not in education and what they say is akin to our mothers or grandmothers exchanging notes at the market place in days of old.
Afraid of special needs children in your child's school? How long can you avoid the reality of life? If you read widely enough, you will realise that there is an increase of children being diagnosed with certain spectrum of learning disabilities throughout the world, not just in Singapore. How long can you shelter your child from coming into contact with these children? If not in primary school, how about later in life? They are not going to go away. As a society, we should never expect them to be institutionalised and put away for good.
A number of factors may contribute to the growing prevalence of learning disabilities, these include genetics, prenatal influences, labor and delivery problems, chemicals within the environment of the child, the home environment as well as nutritional profiles. The use of drugs or alcohol can have potentially devastating effects on the brain development of the fetus, this can lead to learning disabilities in the child. Maternal smoking can also lead to lower birth weight babies who also may be at risk for impairments in brain development and functioning.
Some of these children's learning disorders are of the mild variety. That is why they are placed into mainstream childcare centres and schools. With proper medication, therapy and mainstream environment, many of them improve over time and can lead normal, healthy lives. Institutionalising them will probably make things worse when they are grouped with the more serious ones.
Instead of avoiding these children like the plague, we should teach our children how to empathise with them and show them compassion. Don't stand at the side benches, point fingers and gloat. Your children may be 'normal' by any standards but you will never know if your grandchildren or future generations might be otherwise. Would you like people to blacklist your own kind and blatantly say they be placed in 'an institute'?
Think again.