Singapore Expats

We arrived in 2011 from Perth where the kids went to a wonderful local school. We started at AIS and both kids (age 8 and 10) are extremely unsettled. The school is too big, the kids are not particularly welcoming and the induction process is fairly basic (one week with a buddy). There is no issue with the teachers or the academics really it's about the support structure. Am I expecting too much or are there other schools who do a better job of accepting new kids? I have not had this problem with my kids before as they are normally easy going and quick to adapt and make friends. Any advice welcome.

SJI International if you can get a place

Just a suggestion, can you transfer to SAIS? I have a friend who transferred her daughter from AIS to SAIS for the exact same reasons you mention. She had one child at each, and they were initially planning to transfer the other to AIS but the younger one was too overwhelmed at AIS. She says she is quite happy with the decision. Since they are owned by the same company it is easy to transfer.

Brooklynjenn wrote:Just a suggestion, can you transfer to SAIS? I have a friend who transferred her daughter from AIS to SAIS for the exact same reasons you mention. She had one child at each, and they were initially planning to transfer the other to AIS but the younger one was too overwhelmed at AIS. She says she is quite happy with the decision. Since they are owned by the same company it is easy to transfer.

A good thought but sadly we only ended up at AIS because Stamford had no spots. Since we already "transferred" from Stamford to AIS we can't go back again. Has anyone heard anything about the Canadian International School?

Canadian International School is another large School, if you are looking for a smaller more friendly school consider looking at Chatsworth, they are small and personal, very good school!!

nut

Just wondering how you have gotten on tiger 9? We are moving over from Perth in July and I have my apprehensions about the size of the AIS as my kids are only 5 and 3 and currently at a small school. Any advice on schools would be welcomed

Hi Caston,
You asked about your 3 and 5 year old and I think the early years are better managed at AIS. But just today someone mentioned their grade 1 was being picked on. So I guess it depends on how long you intend being there. I have looked at most of the schools and think Canadian School is good balance. It's half the size of AIS but has strong core values. Parents there describe it as 'child-centered'. I have never heard anyone describe AIS as this. At the end of the day it is personal preference though so have a look around at class time and play time. Even go at pick up time and try and chat to parents. Moving schools once you are here is extremely difficult and costly so it is important to get it right. Good luck!

I have one child at AISS, and am so unimpressed that I started my second at One World International School.

Its very small, and so far, I am happy with it, although it has only been 1 week,

AISS is more of a business, IMHO.Lots of talk about caring, but frankly very unwelcoming and unresponsive to parents concerns.

One World is also a "for profit" school. Behavioural issues also occur here - with smaller class sizes if a child doesn't fit in there is less wiggle room for finding other friends.

If 'for profit' is a concern, consider trust schools like UWC, or Tanglin Trust, but they are also large schools with 2500+ kids.

Have you tried Avondale Grammar School? I have no experience with it myself, but it's reasonably small and it's Australian curriculum-based, I believe.

We came from Perth 3 years ago and had the same overwhelming feeling about school size here. Looked at them all and signed my 2 up for SJI International. Its a small school with only 4 classes per entry and quite an active school community.

I cant see the problem with large school numbers its the ratio of teacher per children in the class that's more of an issue?

My sprog is at Tanglin trust and the campus is separated into 3 sections infants, junior and senior schools, with different entrances, playgrounds, libraries etc each section is run like an independent entity with different start times. You are not going to have the situation where 2500 students are all running around the same playground at the same time.

At the end of the day its the kids views that important to me, Sprog loves it there and even cant wait to go to school ,

I know the parent take a bit of a dim view on how the fees just seems to be constantly going up, so long as there's a Q at the front door they can keep pushing the prices up.

The school size has probably more to do with the parent's perspective than the child's!

Have you tried Insworld Institute, the classes are only 8 students and everybody seems very friendly. It is run under the British system, so it feels more westernized, I went there to have a look around for my son.

As a parent I would suggest looking at CIS Tanjong Katong.. The PTA is very active.. the atmosphere is very friendly too..