Dover Court school bus

[ffsgrelier]

Good evening,

A quick query for anyone who knows the system of private school busses.

Have visited Dover Court International School and were very impressed with the teachers and the feel of the school. Not too overwhelming and very nice.

Our 2 boys are due to start there in a few weeks time and are very much looking forward to it.

However, we have discovered that the boys (ageed 6 and 4) would have to be picked up at 7.15 am every morning from our condo by the school bus in order to start at 8.30. is this common ? I am a newbie here and haven't yet mastered the mrt or the public bus system but could anyone tell me any options they would consider to go from the Clarke Quay area to Dover rd and how easy / difficult this would be?

any replies would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Frederique

[micknlea]

That is very early for their buses, Clarke Quay is not that far away. Mind you we are in the Holland area and it used to take nearly 40 mins door to door from Dover (I drive mine now).

All school buses take a long time to pick up everyone since they go door to door, it sounds like you must be one of the first pick ups for that bus. How long did they say the bus would take? That is a long ride for a 4 year old. What about at night? What time are they expected home? Are they a first drop off at night? Normally that is the way it works if they can do it.

Public transport can be hard, the MRT will get you there, but the walk from the station to the school is quite a way, and it could take just as long causing you to leave at the same time. Not too sure about regular buses. You can check on the bus websites for routes etc and timetables. Here are the sites but can't guarantee you will find a way there.

http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/journeyplan/step1.aspx

http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/busguide/guide.asp

Quite a few people use taxis as well, sometimes with a few kids it is not that expensive.

The other alternative is to go only one way on the bus, perhaps only do the homeward bound trip? Quite a few people do this.

Welcome to Singapore and I hope your boys enjoy Dover Court, mine do.

[ffsgrelier]

many thanks for all the info you gave me. I will check the websites tomorrow.

i am also so glad you wrote about your children being happy in dover Court, as a mum, i cannot help but sometimes second guess myself and worry about having made the right choice or not. Your message has put my mind to rest a bit more.

My 2 boys will be respectively in reception and year 2. Which classes are your children in ?

The people working in the bus service have said it would be about 4.10 pm before the kids arrive in the evening and i believe it would be even later for our older one if he has any ECA. All in all, it sounds almost like a 2 hour commute for the boys and am a bit doubtful it would be good.

Still i can't get over the fact it would take 40 min from holland Village, it was so near when we got the taxi to Dc today !

Thanks again for your message
Good night

frederique

[micknlea]

That's OK, glad to help, but I don't know how far you will get with the bus websites, it can be difficult to try and find a route if you are not sure of the exact whereabouts that you have to go. Try also looking at the streetdirectory site to give yourself an idea of the surrounding roads.

I too could not believe that our bus could take that long to get from school to our place...it takes us about 12 minutes in peak morning traffic. Needless to say the boys will never go back to the bus when they can have an extra half an hour in bed. The home trip wasn't as long, but it is all because you get door to door service and so they have to go all over the place. Remember too they are doing it in peak traffic times. All the school buses do it for all the schools so it wouldn't matter where they are going it would be the same sort of thing.

Good luck with the start of term, I am sure they will like it, very friendly teachers and staff, one of mine is in year 2 as well, just had their Easter Assembly before breakup for the holidays today...it was lovely.