Phase 2B of P1 registration opens

Phase 2B of P1 registration opens

    POSTED: 22 Jul 2013 8:29 PM

Phase 2B of the Primary 1 registration opened on Monday. The phase is for children whose parents are endorsed church or clan members, community leaders or school volunteers.

SINGAPORE: Phase 2B of the Primary 1 registration opened on Monday. The phase is for children whose parents are endorsed church or clan members, community leaders or school volunteers.

While 'volunteerism' previously conjured images of parents doing tasks like weeding or looking after children, schools say the role of parent volunteers has evolved in recent years.

And it is not only the more popular schools that are now attracting volunteers.

Mdm Diana Loh hopes to enrol her son in Concord Primary School next year, which is within one kilometre of where she lives in Choa Chu Kang.

She signed up as a parent volunteer to find out more about the school, which would also qualify her child for Phase 2B of the Primary 1 registration.

So far, she likes what she has seen.

She said: "I don't really want my child to go to a 'brand name' school and be under a lot of pressure. I want him to grow up in a healthy environment. So I thought that by being a volunteer for this school, I could come in and take a look.

"I wanted to get a more comprehensive picture of this school, so that was my motivation for volunteering."

Concord says that it tries to match parents' interest and expertise to areas in which they can contribute.

Principal Tonnine Chua said that the school also provides training for some parents if necessary.

Mdm Loh currently helps out with the school's Chinese reading programme for lower primary students.

Mrs Chua said: “In the past, parents played a more passive role of looking after the children physically. Now parents are more involved in educating and helping the school to nurture the children… beyond academics, (such as) values and character development.”

Another parent volunteer, Cheng Hui Yan, hopes to enrol her child in Rulang Primary School. Mrs Cheng lives within a kilometre of the school.

She said: “I'm in the finance line, so we offered to give the students financial literacy courses… That's probably the reason why we're being selected. It's quite a unique course that we can provide.”

As one of the more popular schools in the western part of Singapore, Rulang Primary School gets a large number of interested parents applying to be volunteers every year.

The school says it conducts an interview process for every single applicant before a panel committee, comprising school leaders and heads of department, cast their votes.

Eugene Ong, principal of Rulang Primary School, said: "Rulang has in place a transparent selection system which ensures that all parent volunteer applicants, regardless of their profession, education qualification or social background, have an equal opportunity to be selected to work with us to support our school's holistic education efforts."

The school says one important quality it looks out for is an applicant's sincerity in working with the school.

The school took in fewer than 10 volunteers last year as a way to manage parents' expectations, as not all children whose parent volunteers are guaranteed a place in the school.

Rulang has 30 places left for Phase 2B, and balloting may occur if there are more applicants than vacancies.

- CNA/jc

- wong chee tat :)