where are the kiwis?

[tjbm]

hi. We are New Zealanders moving from Samoa, where we have been on secondment for 2 1/2 years, to Singapore in Feb. We have a 17 year old who is staying at school in NZ (where he has been for the last 2 yrs) and a nearly 13 yr old boy who will be coming with us. My questions are really about schooling.... where do the kiwis go to school or doesnt it really matter that the term systems are different in most Singapore schools? (we will be paying for school ourselves so AIS is about the tip of what we can manage) Does anyone know anything about ERIS? i cant find their fee structure on their website. What about Chatsworth? The Canadian school also looks ok? I have lived in Singapore before but that was nearly 30 years ago and things are so different now it is almost another world. Any input would be brilliant. Thanks

[kaurikid]

Hi
Am a kiwi.

I believe there are couple of thousand kiwis here these days.

Kiwi kids in UWC,Tanglin, Canadian, pretty much anywhere.

The ER school is an unknown as it is it first year of operation.Good be great or could be a diaster....This is another suggestion.Local International Schools.

There are two new local International Schools which have good reps ACS (International) and St Josephs Intitute(international).Their fees are lower than other international schools and both offer IB and IGCSEs.
SJII has Andrew bennett ex Princpal of UWC.

[Jangal]

Our family are coming to Singapore in stages over the next month or so. I've never lived anywhere but Auckland , so it will be a big adventure. We are also in the process of looking for schools for our two 4(soon to be 5) year olds.We are paying for schooling ourselves as well so are in a similar position. Do the schools mentioned cater for younger children??

[k1w1]

ERIS fees (apparently) are in the region of 12k a year. Heard that through the grapevine, so not sure if it's true or not. If that's the case, then you might be better off going to a smaller International School, like Chatsworth, ISS, EtonHouse. You could drop them a line and find out.

A couple of things that I have noticed about them that make me wary:

-Spelling/grammatical errors on their website

-Promising the world! A new school that is going to be offering three hugely varying and demanding curricula... hmmm, I doubt it.

-Most of their staff are local. Hang on, before I offend anyone - this means that their teaching practices and training MAY be different to what expats are used to. (Not necessarily of course, I have worked with some fantastic local teachers. I have also worked with a few nightmares...) This can also be a sign of a school that is penny-pinching as local teachers do not get expat benefits, and are therefore cheaper to employ. Also note that they are following the Singapore school curriculum (well, one of the programmes they are running...)

I don't know, they could be fine, but I would think very seriously about putting a child there that was at an important part of their schooling. Kindy might be fine as there is plenty of time, but a grade 12 child would be a different matter.

On a more positive note, a new school might be bending over backwards to prove themselves, so they could be a great place to go.

*The above comments are my own opinion and should not be taken as advice or factual representation of the school or its members. I do not wish to be sued.*

[EC]

I agree that the spelling/grammatical errors bother me, especially on a school's website.

My favourite one is the page that lists "Our Teacher's".

But agreed that it could be a good school. The first few years are difficult ones for any new school and the person in charge of the website could very well not be a member of the school. It should still be checked, however.

[tjbm]

Thanks for all the comments. Although we are not first time expats this is the first asian posting and if theres one thing Ive learnt it's to get as much info from as many sources as possible. Mac, who will be coming with us, is a very social kid who often behaves older than his 12 years. While he has pulled great marks for exams so far (sitting exams in Samoa is the best way to tell if the kids are keeping up with their peers in NZ) he is looking forward to the other things schools in larger cities have to offer such as drama that he has done without while living on the rock. I have heard that local schools have a rote and repeat style of teaching, does anyone know whether the local International Schools mentioned have a similar style?

As for typos check out this classic from the AIS website:
What nationalities are represented by the students?
Our school community comprises students from 43 nationalities. As at Term 2 2006, the proportion from the main nationalities were: 676% Australian, 10% New Zealanders, 4% Korean, 4% British, 3% Malaysian, 3% Singaporean, 2.2% Japanese, 1.7% Indonesian, 1.5% South African 1.2% Taiwanese, 1% Chinese, 1% American.

[silverfern]

Hi, we've recently moved from Wellington to Singapore and our 11 year old son has just started at ERIS. The fees are $4,000 per term ($12k pa).

A few typos on a website are the least of your worries when checking out schooling in Singapore. Check out the waiting lists as spaces can be hard to find. Another problem we had was the grading, most schools weren't sure which grade to place him in due to terms, NZ system and age. Bring his school reports and exam results to help them assess the grade.

Good luck with your search.

[tjbm]

Thanks for your input silverfern. we will probably go for ERIS as waiting lists at the others are horrendous and the fees are, so far, affordable since we will be paying them ourselves. Schools in Samoa are not particularly academic although Mac has had a few awesome teachers in the couple of years we were there whose enthusiasm has been infectious. Last year in particular he was at the high school ( but in year 8) which meant a science teacher teaching science, maths teacher teaching maths etc instead of a form teacher teaching everything as in primary and intermediate which made such a difference although he did sit most of his final exams with dengue!!
Now I guess its to the big question of where to live.....
Tanya

[silverfern]

Hi Tanya

Schooling here is much different than NZ, middle school is when they start breaking the day into separate classes and teachers. The kids need to be more independent with their homework and class schedules which isn't a bad thing. Most kids catch the schoolbus so you don't need to be as close to school as you are in NZ and I assume Samoa.

There's heaps of sports and extra activities to choose from here too, in and out of school. Have a look at ANZA (Aust & NZ Assn). Most areas have local community clubs which offer yoga, karate, cooking classes, music etc. If you are happy to get in with the locals these are great for the kids and parents alike.

Accommodation here is very expensive and seems to have crept up in the last few months. We spent alot of time looking with specific requirements and ended up making lots of compromises. We decided not to go for a condo as coming from NZ meant we were used to lots of space and privacy which you don't get in the apartments. condos do have great facilities like pools, gyms etc although I'm not sure how much people actually use them.

We'll keep an eye out for you at ERIS.

[tjbm]

Travel to and from school and work is something we are used to. In Samoa it took an hour to drop Mac to school longer during the wet season when there is major flooding, roads impassable etc. It will be nice not to have to crawl inches at a time every morning.
Mac is also used to self motivation as noone really cares if you pass or fail in Samoa. I think the pass rate overall is less than half in exams. The teachers dont follow up assignments that dont get handed in they just teach> Mac just happened to strike a couple of teachers who recogised his enthusiasm for learning and since it doesnt happen very often enjoyed teaching him as much as he enjoyed their input. The only good thing academically about RLSS was that the kids all had to sit NZ exams twice a year which gave you an idea of where they were compared to their NZ schooled peers. MOst Samoan kids, whose parents can afford it, go to boarding school in NZ, even at Macs age, like Ben Macs 17 year old brother who is at Rathkeale. Mac would have gone too but not until he was 14/15. There are no after school activities either as most kids are expected to go and help their parents at work. In saying all that Mac loved school socially at RLSS, despite being one of only 5 or 6 palagi in a school of 600 ,(having long blonde hair really made him stand out)and made some great friends. He is looking forward to the next challenge as am I.
On the housing front I realise its not an easy thing to find somewhere that works Im just hoping after having lived in housing in Samoa which brings new meaning to the term leaky house we will be able to find something suitable. High density housing boggles the mind after basic island living though!

[usuallyperth]

Hi ALL

As a prospective employee of ERIS I would welcome ANY feedback on the progress the school is making. My wife and I are looking at joining ERIS. We have two children (aged 7 and 5) and therefore would also be parents of the school. We are currently working in Dubai but are originally from Australia

Cheers

[silverfern]

Hi

ERIS is coming along well since opening in January, the kids are happy and the roll has grown to 180. There is another intake in April and then August. Right now the roll is big enough as they don't really have the teachers or facilities up and running for more. It is definitely a work in progress at the moment as the swimming pool isn't ready yet nor the library but this should be rectified after CNY. The facilities they do have available are great such as the gym and auditorium. The grounds and classes are large and well laid out and the school has a good feel to it.

My son is happy and doing well and we are very happy with the school so far. Because ERIS is so new they are open to change and working through any challenges that come about. In other words, the school is small enough to listen to the needs of the kids and parents.

One thing to note - there is a large proportion of Korean students although this has now been capped as many felt the numbers didn't give the school a true international flavour. Gradually I think this will change as more people commit to the school. Now its up and running a lot more parents will consider the school.

In my opinion what makes a good school is how passionate the teachers, principal and parents are about the kids and their development. To date I can't fault that.

Good luck with your endeavours.

[SouthKiwi]

I am also Kiwi looking to relocate soon with 4yr and 7yr old and have been doing the rounds with researching schools. My problem is that I am not sure where I will be located – so simply researching for now.

I found this a good place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sc ... _Singapore

URL fairly well describes content and they almost all have links
to original site or to content.

[Parrothead]

Thanks for the link!!

[tjbm]

Since I started this thread I thought people might be interested in what we decided. Mac is now at ERIS and loving it. He has very quickly made friends and likes all his teachers (very important for a 12/13 year old). I like the current small class sizes after all the most important resource in any school is the teaching staff. So far so good.