Primary school

Fully support this. As a pri sch teacher myself, I honestly rather put my boy in a sch near my hse. Even if he is really academically inclined, I'd rather let him shine in a neighbourhood sch and let him strive to get into a top secondary sch of his choice. As this was what my parents did for me and I felt much more accomplished coming frm a normal neighbourhood pri sch but managed to get to a top girl's sch. As a mom now, if I cld, I wld want to work near my home but unfortunately I was posted to somewhere further away. The sch I'm in is a SAP sch and I've seen how some parents send their kids for extra outside training just to groom them for DSA. This is on top of other enrichment classes. During our 1-1 interaction in sch, I received alot of feedback from my students who are forced to go into a CCA they're not interested in and feel stressed frm all the additional training outside. And it's normal in top schs tt talented students (those with outside training since young) start having CCA immediately at P1 to give them more experience and training in certain sports. While we teachers wld try to help the children by giving feedback to their parents abt how stressed some kids are (which may affect their studies), it is of course up to the parents to decide. Most parents now can well afford all sorts of things but just like you, I also prefer to stay in my BTO so tt I have more disposable income to travel and invest for the future. With regards to moving just to get into a top sch, I guess to each his own. While being in a top sch will undeniably give opportunities to ur kids to access more varied educational programmes (top schs have more funding frm their affiliated associations) but ultimately it also depends on ur kid's abilities and how much you want to 'stretch' him/her. I've seen how some really good ones shine but there are others who struggle. He/She wld have been better groomed in a neighbourhood sch without added stress.

Having taught in one of the "good" primary schools for a while, I find that the main difference lies in the students and parents, not so much of the school. Generally, parents who send their kids to such schools would also have a certain lvl of expectation of their kids, and put in the corresponding amount of effort in their academics. I've heard of P1 kids having extra lessons from Mon to Sun. Fairly sure that's not what I want my kid to do. Building social skills from a young age is more impt than academic skills. Not to say tt academic isn't important, but being good with people goes way further than being good with books.

Your well-being is important, how nice it is to be liability free from housing loan at young age. You get to allocate more time and energy on family. If the school nearby is not famous but it is also having a good reputation or 校风 school culture, why not? In the end of the day, you know your kids better, are they challenge seekers? Will they enjoy the process of hardship in order to stretch their potentials? Cause some kids do.

i did confinement in JB..baby have Jandice in stable condition and confinement centre help to monitor so no need go back sg. all my baby appointments like vaccinations push to when baby is 2 month and my first gyn visit at week 8 ( also 2 month later). u can see if u wanna arrange this way.

I personally feel that there are many parent try to let their child/children do whatever they want to do but have not been able to.

I wouldnt move to put my gal in a gd sch. Normal sch can liao. Dont wan her to have added stress.

i fully agree in "choose what is right for you and your family"