International Schools-for 5yr to start Jan08 (ERIS, Avondale

[micmcb]

We are kiwi's who have been living in Sydney for 2yrs. My husband has just got a new role up in Singapore (in fact the contract hasn't even been signed yet) and they are expecting him/us up there in Jan. My 5yr was enrolled to start kindergarton in Jan 08. My delimma at this late stage of the year is finding an International School that can take my son to start in Jan08. I'm not even contemplating some of the bigger schools as I know there's no chance. The other schools I've looked at are:
ERIS (availability)
Avondale (availability)
CIS (availability at East Coast campus)
ISS ?
AIS (couldn't get in until July08)
Does anyone have there children in at these schools and what are your opinions.
Thanks for your help.

[Taga-Bukid]

My 2 daughters are currently enrolled @ ISS. I only looked at 3 schools and it was the only one that could accomodate both at the same time. They only started a few weeks ago (2nd week of November).

I have a 4yr old and 8yr old. The 4yr is in K1 and the 8yr old is in K2. Since your child is fairly young, I don't think it will make much of a difference in terms of programs, at least not at this age. My 8yr old was in the 3rd grade in the USA and they put here in the 2nd grade because of her age. Again, my wife and I think that at this age (5 yr), it's more the socialization than the actual course content that is important. Most of them will be the same in terms of course content: art, a little bit of basic math, spelling, basic words, shapes etc.

Am I happy with ISS? Can't really say at this point, at least with regards to my 8 yr old. I'm beginning to realize that even though it's IB accredited, IB in and of itself cannot be evaluated by a mere semester. You have to look at it holistically as the program is designed in this manner (multiple years). Coming from the USA, I tend to look at results on a class per class basis. I'm not happy that my 8yr old daughter isn't challenged in her current class. As an example, she can do 3 digit multiplication and the class is still doing single digit addition. They're supposed to provide some additional callenging homework, though. It almost seems like that within the context of an IB program, it's not very flexible. In contrast, our 4 year old is doing well and no complaints. Again, we consider the socialization aspect as the most important. For your 5 year old and the 2 year duration of your husband's work, he/she would be fine @ ISS - IMHO.

With regards to the school itself, the administration is pretty helpful and responsive. For both grades there's 2 teachers, a main one and an assistant. The facilities are somewhat aged and they don't have a pool, nor a gym, at least none that I could remember. They do have some agreements with another facility for pool useage. Teaching staff appear to be caring and they limit class size to ~20 per class. I looked at the security and it was fairly safe. They keep the kids in the higher grades (Grade 5 and above???) separate. They try not to comingle the 2 populations. Teachers haven't had very high turnover. From what I remember asking, their teachers have been there teaching for at least 2 years on average. It is an IB program. Something to consider for the long term.

You could always use ISS as a starting point until you get here and do a better search and then subsequently transfer to another school that you feel comfortable with. One item to note is that the Singapore American School (SAS) has referred students they could not admit due to space limitations to ISS.

Good luck.

[foong70]

Hi there! I have done the tours for most of the schools here in Singapore. We were looking for a school with extraordinary care for the child, great communication between parents and teachers and an excellent curriculum. I'm sure UWC is great but we found a school we were happy with before we visited the campus.

On your list, I would say either Avondale or CIS are the way to go because:

Avondale: It is a new campus and the teachers there will bend over backwards for your child, and I met the principal, whom I was very impressed with. When I visited the school, they only offered prep to Year 2. It said the max amount of kids they could put in the school was about 275 - a nice cosy feel to the school. They were going to put in a pool and the canteen sounded like the meals were prepared by Jaime Oliver! I think the school was claiming that it could offer a more exclusive education than AISS. My boys were at AISS and we pulled them out after a year - lots of problems which I won't mention on a public board! I would never put my boys back into the school even if there was no room left in the other schools and it was avaible. To be fair, heard the secondary school was fine.

One of my sons is now in Chatsworth although not in the East. I really like the school and how the teachers all seem to know all the kids names. it is a caring community too.

[micmcb]

Hi,
Thank you both very much for your responses. It's a very hard decision to make without visiting the schools yourself.

Avondale Grammer does appeal to me, size wise and teaching NSW curric. However I've heard that the classrooms are actually one big block with dividers up between the age groups. I don't know if this would be very good for my son as he is easily distracted. What was your view on the classrooms?

[kopiqueen]

I'm a writer for a local magazine and I'm working on a story on homes and their proximity to International Schools. I hope some of you can help to give some insights on the following questions:

Would you especially choose to rent or buy a home that is close to your child(ren)’s International School? Why or why not?

Is the rent for an apartment/house close to an international school in the suburbs comparable to the rent for an apartment/house in the town area?

Are you willing to pay a high rent or high price for a home just to be near an international school?

I'd really appreciate your comments. You can e-mail me at [email protected] if you do not wish to post your reply publicly. Please include your name, nationality, number of children and their age and the area where you live at the moment. Thank you very much!

Rgds,
Melissa

[Greta]

We are starting our 6 yr old at ERIS in first grade in a couple weeks. We are moving her from Seattle for six months. Please feel free to e-mail me ([email protected]) in a week or two if you are interested in knowing more. Best, Greta