Sunday, January 7, 2018

Prep transition

So term 3 and 4 the year before prep,  there are prep transition sessions. There were 8 over these 2 terms. They were short (45mins) sessions to help introduce the idea of the primary school environment and the teachers to the kids.

There were also concurrent parent information sessions to help parents transit too. Eg. The parents association,  the uniforms requirements, the principal, the school grounds,  etc.

Another aspect of my transition that helped is talking to the kinder mums who have an older sibling at the primary school already. I asked them about uniforms, what the teachers are like,  if their child coped well,  etc. All were really helpful with the information.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

How to choose a school?

Actually I'm still not sure if I've picked the right school. It's definitely not the best school. It's a convenient school for us as it's walking distance.

So one website that is available is https://www.myschool.edu.au
It says it has an  index of community socioeducational advantage (ICSEA). No matter how I read it sounds like socioeconomic status of the school community. So I guess the higher the number the better off the students' families are.

They use the naplan testing here.  I don't really know what they test on these tests yet.  Apparently some schools are pretty relaxed about this. 
One way to see if a particular student cohort has added value is to look at this chart.  If they are about national average then the school is performing pretty average. If the school is doing better than average than that is evident on this graph.

We also did the school tours to have a look at school facilities and to meet the principal and to get a feel of the school.

Negotiating the education system in Melbourne

Because we don't have experience with the education system in Australia except for tertiary education, it's a learning process for us. And of course we'll keep comparing with what we did or had.

So far the ranking of students in Singapore is higher compared to Australia students. Whether this be in literacy, numeracy.  What are they doing right? What are we doing wrong? And how can I supplement my child's education experience to get the best of both worlds?

With 3children, we are going via the public school system. End January would be the start of prep where my 4 going on 5year old enters primary school. Into the big world. I am worried as the environment is no longer controlled and small. I am worried that she will be bullied and isn't resilient enough. She is excited to be going to big school.  She is all ready she thinks.

Hopefully we manage to provide you a description of our experiences in this country's school.