Singapore Expats

Hi everybody,

I am considering putting both of my kids on the waiting list of UWC. But there is one big issue I do have with their procedures.

My daughter is born beginning of Dec. When she is moving to UWC , she needs to step back one class eg. given she is in 1st grade now - she needs to do the 1st grade again.

Students need to be born until end of Sept. for the following classes.....

My daughter is not a genius but she is quite smart and absolutely one of the best in her class. But UWC says, that this school is so highly demanding that even the smartest kids could have problems. And there are no exceptions with regards to the age.

I hardly can believe this. Why should my daughter step back one entire class just because she is 2 months to young for the "UWC measurements"?

Is anybody in the same position or can help out with some ideas?

Thanks
xx

i guess no way out there.

things are amazingly inflexible here in sg.

i experienced 2 cases:

1. i walked in a starhub outlet to apply for moblie phone, internet, home phone and cable tv services. the staff really worked very hard to fill a pile of different forms for different services i applied for. actually, most of the contents were same, name, address, etc. i justed wondered why don't they just prepare one form including all the services they provide, then they just need to fill name and address one time, and mark which service is needed or not. if they do all these work with computer, things would be even simpler. it took me more than 2 hours to finish all the paper work. when i left, i found that their door's already closed.

2. my baby daughter was born and i make the birth certificate in the hospital, and went to our embassy to apply for passport for her. then i found there were 2 problems, the baby name and our address must be amended. so i had to go to ICA to make a new birth certificate. the staff was really friendly and nice. the ridiculous thing was, he had to make a new certificate with baby name changed but the address remained incorrect, let me sign on it then go to destroy it. and then make a 2nd new one with address corrected. i really feel it's funny and annoying.

Same thing applies to Tanglin Trust, their cut off is End of August. Our second one is born September 1st, but it doesn't help at all

That is incredibly frustrating. I was told in the US my daughter wouldn't be ready for Kindergarten in 2006 but here in SG she was in K2! She's a December baby and was reading already!

The age thing is really a bummer--obviously you've spoken with them and they're not budging, sorry. Some of the other International Schools are a bit more flexible-esp if they do "assessments" or your child before recommending a grade. I know SAS does this and it helped one parent leap their kid forward a grade.

Sorry!

To be fair - every school has a cut off date. If a school's cut off date was 31 December and your child was born in February you will still have the same issue.

It is not only about academics - it is also about maturity. If the age gap in a grade is too wide, you will find a wide variety in not only academic ability but also maturity.

I am a UWC mom and I know of other parents who also hated the idea of their child starting the same grade again. Some even as old as Grade 7. But in every case that I know, the child adjusted just fine.

It is much easier with a first grader. The bigger question for you should be the school itself - is UWC a good fit for your child?