Speeding up single-session move

TWENTY years ago, my mother stood outside the gates of CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' at 5am to queue for a place in Primary 1 for me.

Six years later, I scored a respectable 250 for the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), making it by the skin of my teeth to Dunman High.

But my two younger sisters, by virtue of the fact that we moved, went to neighbourhood primary schools near our home.

Ironically, both of them, products of 'less popular' schools, did far better than I academically. One scored four A*s and an aggregate of 276, while the other, who got her results last month, scored three A*s and 260.

That just goes to show that the primary school one attends does not coercively determine PSLE performance.

So I cannot quite understand parents who insist on sending their child to a popular school. Some volunteer as much as 40 hours a year to school service just so that their child can get ahead of the queue when it comes to registration.

This fraught issue came up recently when the Education Ministry announced plans for all primary schools to go single session. Parents cheered the idea, but insisted also that they do not want popular schools to cut their intakes or run second campuses elsewhere. Such demands cause unnecessary difficulties.

The move to single session already presents enough challenges. More school bus drivers would be needed; they need to be persuaded to give up or delay picking up workers in favour of schoolchildren; more school buildings would have to be built and more teachers hired.

Most of these problems can be resolved. MOE has been ramping up teacher recruitment for years, and is in talks with the Land Transport Authority on the school bus issue. It is the insistence of parents on sending their children to popular schools that may prove the chief stumbling block in having all primary schools go single session.

Currently, only 40 per cent of primary schools are single-session. Brand- name schools like Rosyth and Raffles Girls' Primary are bursting at the seams, despite splitting their pupils into two sessions.

One way such schools can move towards a single session would be to cut their intakes gradually. But parents object, saying this would affect their children's chances of getting places in the schools.

Another way would be for such schools to build second campuses. But again, parents object, claiming second campuses would lack the prestige of the first.

The preferred solution, as far as parents are concerned, would seem to be to convert every popular school into a mega school, with enough space for over 2,000 pupils in a single session and location. But how feasible is that?

Popular Southview Primary in Choa Chu Kang is surrounded by HDB flats. Principal Jenny Yeo said building upwards is not possible because the original foundation is not strong enough. And expanding sideways is also out of the question because of the surrounding flats.

So she has the unenviable task of managing the expectations of hopeful parents who volunteer in the school, while looking for alternatives so that her school can go single session. She has looked around the neighbourhood for a plot of land big enough to contain all her pupils in one session but has not found one as yet.

Parents who fear that failing to get their children into popular schools would jeopardise their chances of getting into top secondary schools, may be reassured to hear this: Half of Hwa Chong Institution's 450 Secondary 1 spots go to pupils from neighbourhood schools. And two- thirds of the students at Raffles Institution come from neighbourhood primary schools.

The PSLE results show that neighbourhood school pupils can perform as well as those from popular primary schools. Take this year's PSLE results, released two weeks ago: Yew Tee Primary's Jamie Foo scored four A*s and 284 points and was just three points shy of top scorer Nanyang Primary Wee Yen Jean's 287 points. And four years ago, Foo Xiang Peng from Seng Kang Primary topped the nation with a score of 285.

Granted, neighbourhood school pupils do not top the list every year, but pupils like Xiang Peng prove that it can be done.

Some parents say they wish to send their children to particular schools not just for their academic programmes but also for the all-round development that established primary schools provide. But many neighbourhood schools also have programmes to stretch their pupils. For example, pupils in Rulang, Canberra and Princess Elizabeth Primary are exposed to literature and the arts as well as mathematical IQ games and competitions.

At Jurong Primary, three classes of pupils from Primary 2 to Primary 5 are put through a challenging curriculum that requires them to do a project in an area of interest so as to hone their research and critical-thinking skills.

North Vista Primary in Sengkang has gone so far as to adopt the famous Italian approach called Reggio Emilia. This involves the children deciding for themselves what they want to learn and the teachers shaping lessons around the wishes.

Greendale Primary in Punggol teaches science from Primary 1, a subject that is usually taught only from Primary 3.

And the list does not stop there: Neighbourhood schools also engage pupils in sports and wellness programmes. Edgefield Primary in Punggol has a dance-sport programme, while Innova Primary in Woodlands has a strong focus on sports and fitness.

The longer parents insist on placing their children in a small group of popular schools, the longer it will take for schools to go single session. And the longer that takes, the fewer children will benefit from single session schooling.

When the time comes for Primary 1 registration for my son, I'm looking no further than the schools in my neighbourhood.