Sunday, October 11, 2009

Primary 2 in Singapore

It occured to me, as the year draws to an end, it'd be good to have a summary of
what school life in Singapore is for a Primary 2 child. This is the local 'State school'
no frills, low cost neighbourhood school where one ACTUALLY has to live around
the neighbourhood to be eligible to attend.

Firstly, I will only write up on Primary 1 next year after Mathena goes through the
runs as Letitia was homeschooled majority of Primary 1. After much consideration,
we were accepted into this co-ed, mission school closest to our home. We were
aiming a non-catholic mission school for some pretty obvious reasons but was
dissapointed to find that aside the BIG NAME schools (MGS), there wasn't many
to choose from. This school was at least 2km away.

The Core Curriculum (quite standard) includes:
1) English
2) Math
3) Mother Tongue (Chinese, Indian, Malay)

The 'extra' curriculum that don't weigh much (as the report card only shows 300 points
for the above 3) are:
1) Art & Craft
2) Physical Education
3) Social Studies
4) Moral Education
5) Music

Other non-compulsory but 'must' paid activities included:
1) Speech and Drama
2) Gym
The wonderful thing is, the schools receive subsidy for these extra events and as foreigners
we get a bit of discounts while the other kids mostly get it for free. And paid activities
are runned well and regularly.

In English,
Letitia has regular journal entries with topics suggested by her teacher. She is also
required to be able to present a 'speech' with up to 10 sentences, recite poetry, and
write composition (written expressions) with up to 90 words. As Letitia free falled
into the creme class, ALL the kids are able to achieve these and much more...

In Maths,
I think ALL the timestable are covered, the adding and subtractions are up to
hundreds in their amounts plus they have full grasp of time, money and measurements.
She has also been taught to solve problematic questions with 'rules' and formulas
that took ME a while to grasps.

No comments: