So, after submitting our application to this primary school about a year ago, the
moment finally arrived. We arrived at the school early, around 7.05am as we were
afraid of the jam and we managed to get a parking space right opposite the
school. There were other parents and kids that had arrived earlier than us and all
of them were anxiously waiting for the registration.
Upon
arrival, we checked for our child’s name (in alphabetical order) on the board and which classroom she had been
assigned to. There were 7 classes; classes 1-5 with 32 students each and
classes 6-7 with 31 students each.
At
7.15a.m., the parents were seen lining up in front of the respective class
registration tables. At 7.30a.m., parents were registering their children to get the child's number sticker to stick onto their outfit. After
registration, everyone went to the school hall. The kids were lining up
(sitting) according to their respective assigned group and parents were asked to take a
seat for the headmistress’s briefing.
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| Check your child's names on the board |
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| Registration |
 |
| The school hall |
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| Children lining up in their respective groups |
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| Waiting, waiting, waiting ....sad coz no friends |
Once
they had all the children, the children were brought to their respective
classes and the headmistress started off by welcoming parents and thanking the
parents for their application to the school. She spoke in Mandarin and English.
The headmistress explained about the school, school’s syllabus, i.e. LINUS
programme, co-curricular activities, time table, etc. At the end, there were
questions and answers from the parents. The speech was about 1 hour. Then all
of us went to the canteen and bought some food and drinks for ourselves and our
children for when they are out for a break.
Announcements
after announcements, the children were supposed to come out for a break at 10a.m., but
it was delayed. We overheard that the exam started late as the teachers needed to
calm down the crying children before they could start the exam.
My
girl came out at 11.30a.m., feeling sad. She was crying as she wanted her dad
to be with her in the classroom. Other children that came out also cried, a few
of them. She didn’t want to eat.
At
11.50a.m., all parents needed to send their children back to the respective
classroom. Exam for Mathematics started at 12p.m. All finished at 1p.m. HOORAY…..
When
I picked her up from her classroom, I noticed that the classroom’s windows were
covered with curtains and closed doors with 2 teachers assigned to each class. It
may be quite scary for certain kids and can’t blame the kids for being scared
inside the room. It’s a proper exam.
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| Seating position in the classroom |
Inside
the car, I took the opportunity to ask my girl about the questions from
English, BM and Mathematics paper. Here are the following comments (coming from
my soon to be 6 year old):-
(a)
BM
paper - Construction of sentences. A picture of “bread” was given and students
need to construct 2 sentences with regard to “bread”; and
(b)
Mathematics
– calculation (add and subtraction). There were Ringgit and Sen.
Overall,
she said the paper was easy!! She could do it.
For
the exam, there was no mentioned by the headmistress that the results would be
announced. Perhaps, it’s for their own internal assessment of the children.
Conclusion,
these are the things that you need to do and bring on the entrance exam day:-
(a)
Prepare
your children a year in advance for the exam;
(b)
Sleep
early the night before and arrive early for the registration of the entrance
exam. There is empty land beside the school, that was open for parents to
park their cars;
(c)
Bring
stationery and water;
(d)
Prepare
some snacks for break time.
* No documents required
for registration. I saw some parents brought the original birth certificate and
MyKid. Please check for next year’s requirements.
