P1 registration

This year it's my turn! That's what I email my ex-colleagues about 3 weeks back.

At GF, there were many female colleagues of my age, some of them with kids older than Lynn, some with younger kids. P1 registration is a very "happening" affair at my old company. There are usually a lot of opinions, and statistics to discuss about. Some parents go all the way out for good schools, while others hold pretty strong view about the education system (ranking/pressure etc). Bottomline, this topic or event is full of excitment for everyone, no matter if your kid is registering during that year of not.

From the time that Lynn was 3, Wk and myself have started planning. Call me Kiasu, I gladly admit. I believe in doing research. No matter which school she goes to, it should be our choice rather than "no choice".

We are not those that move in order to get to certain schools, so we looked at the schools in TPY, where we live. There are 4 schools within 1km of our home, and a few others in 1-2km. Out of the 4, 2 are very good schools - Pei Chun and CHIJ. Soon we realised that both schools usually do not have enough vacancies for those <1km applicants, so balloting is required. To avoid balloting, we can apply for PV (parent volunteer). Finally, we decided that we do not want to spend the time doing PV, because the school nearest to us, Kheng Cheng, is a good neighbourhood school (not as good as PC and CHIJ, but a very decent one). KC wins in terms of logistic (it's nearly just "downstairs") and less pressure (this is one of my key consideration).

In my heart, I still wish that she can go Pei Chun. It is not the academic that I'm eyeing, but I believe that good "chinese" schools have very strong morale and values education. So I mointored the situation for the next 3 years. Every year, the chances in balloting was always about 50%. I knew that if it's 50% I wouldn't go for it. If I had wanted Pei Chun, I should do PV instead of playing with luck.

This year, the rules were suddenly changed, such at only SC < 1km gets the first pirority. I thought that it means hope. However, it turned out to be the same - about double the applicants for less than 40 vacancies for Pei Chun.

So finally we registered Lynn at Kheng Cheng like we had decided years ago. After the close of registration, I was so surprised that KC applicants within 1 - 2 km needs to ballot too. Apparently, KC had gotten very popular in the last few years (every year its statistic look more and more challenging). It had proven itself to be a good neighbourhoold school over time. I'm so glad that we made it without balloting. Who knows if next year onwards KC also need balloting for <1km!

Some opinions that I would like to share, to whoever out there is willing to consider my views:
(1) Know the schools around your neighbourhood early. Some popular schools' PV scheme starts as early as when the child is 3 (application, selection, and then 2 years of service, to be completed before P1 registraton).
(2) Check the distant, check the registration/balloting history
(3) Decide on what's important for your child and your family. These are some of my friends': Brand name/acedemic, affiliation, logistic, co-ed/non co-ed, values (chinese/ christian/neighbourhood), pressure