School for 5 year old near East Coast

[SA guy in the UK]

I arrive on Tuesday and still have no idea where different schools are and how long/easy the commute to them will be. My company will pay for school buses but I do not want my daughter to have to leave too early and my wife likes to take an interest in the kids schools so I would like the school to be close. My company will pay for a British or International Standard School and I have been looking at Eton House, Dover Court and Chatwick(correct me if names are wrong). Could anyone give some advice/suggestions or even a link to a map which shows school locations.

[Eton House Parent]

We live at Siglap (East Coast) and send our kids to Eton House.  It's the nearest school, that we found, which uses a British based system, and so far, we're happy with it.  The kids were happy last term, and they've just started a new term, with new teachers and classes, and they still seem to be happy.  I'm also pleased with their rate of learning too, as they have come on leaps and bounds since they started at Easter.  

For some reason, people often slate Eton House.  I'm not sure why this is, because so far, it's been fairly positive.  I find the administrative staff a bit snotty and useless from time to time - but as it's not them who are teaching the kids - I let that pass!

We also seem to be constantly getting bombarded by invoices for more money from them or the bus company, which is a bit of a nightmare, but if your company are paying for it all, this shouldn't worry you too much (from what I've heard, it's the same with all international schools!).

I've heard good things about Dover Court and Chatsworth schools too - but we chose Eton House because it's so much nearer.  The bus picks them up at 8.00am and they're at school before 8.30 usually.  I'm not sure what the travelling times to the other two would be like, but I would have thought you'd have to add about 20-30 minutes on to that travelling time.  However, having said that, I do see buses from Chatsworth around here, so some kids do the journey.

There's another British based school, which is Tanglin Trust.  So you might want to check them out too.

Hope this helps.

[Brawny]

I had a bad experience with Eton House, bad teacher, too many kids per class and poor management.  But that's just me...

Anywhere on the East Coast means a commute for the kids, if you choose something besides Eton House.  As I prefer my husband home earlier than later, his commute is less than the kids on the bus.  

There are plenty of schools to choose from here in Singapore, many more good schools besides the few you mentioned.  You may want to think about how long on the bus will you tolerate.  Most schools have an 8:00 pick up and 4:00 drop roughly speaking.  Tanglin and the American school have a pick up of about 1 hour earlier.

I have friends that send their kids to Chats and love it, well all the schools are good out here, it mainly depends on what your priorities are.

[SA guy in the UK]

Thanks for the advice!

I shall look at Eton first, can my wife accompany my daughter on the bus for the first few mornings, just to familiarise her with the trip. We have never used a school bus system and have always personally dropped her at her school both in the UK and in SA and would want her to feel confident before doing it herself.

I am not overly concerned with the length of my commute, I presently do 100km each way in an hour and I think I will be improving on that anyway. I also am hoping that the Changi will be an easy commute from the East Coast and that my wife will not have a problem getting into the town centre from the East Coast.

I have found maps with locations of Hotels and places of interest but none with school locations and would like to know if anyone has seen one.

I know that all of this will be easier to sort out once we are there but would like to have as much info as possible beforehand.

Does anyone know when Eton and Chatworths semester starts?

[Loops]

If you're working at Changi - it's about 10-15 mins away by car/taxi - a bit longer by bus.  Orchard Rd is about 25 mins by bus or more if it's busy, but it's bearable!  Taxis to OR from where I live are about $7-8, which is pretty good I think.  

There's a map on-line which you can look at:
http://www.streetdirectory.com.sg:8080/index.jsp

Eton House is down Broadrick Road (off Dunman Rd) - Chatsworth is off Orchard Rd (can't remember the name of the road), and Tanglin is down Portsdown Rd (I think - people will correct me if I'm wrong!!).

Eton House started on Monday, but they will take kids throughout term it seems.  My kids only recently started there and although my 5 year old was nervous on her first day, she loves it now.

You can ride on the bus with them for a couple of days if you want to.  The way I did it was that I took them myself for the first few days (on the public bus), and then arranged for the school bus to pick them up after that.  I was prepared to ride with them, but they were both happy to get on there themselves in the end (having two starting at school at the same time helps, as they've got a hand to hold!).  A lady I know who lives in our condo went on the school bus with her son for the first few days, and there was no problem with it.  If you talk to the school they'll say that parents can ride on the bus if there's room - but I think there's usually room.

It's a bit strange sending your kids on the bus if you're not used to it, because you never get to see the teachers or meet the other parents.  I think we're due a parents evening this term, which will be useful, because I don't even know what my kids' teachers' look like this term!

I know how you feel about wanting as much info as possible, because when we were thinking about moving here, I must have looked at every map and website I could find!  But it still doesn't all click into place until you actually come here and check it out for yourself.

[also]

there is also rosemount kindergarten on the east coast at siglap.

[etonmum]

My kids have attended ETON for 2.5 years now and have loved most of their time there. Teachers can be wful in any school but I would have to say all the "bad eggs" have left Eton now. It is a great school that is growing at a good rate, the academic side of the school is excellent and alot of what the school offers is really positive. My kids are in the higher end primary school now and love it. The class sizes are excellent some are as small as 10 (I believe) the policy of the school is fine. The encourage family involvement  and as the previous psster stated it is the teching that matters not the office staff and not the look of the building.
Worth a serious look

[Brawny]

When I first enrolled my kid in Eton the class sizes were small too, like 12-14.  Within a few months that I enrolled him it jumped by 60+ kids and the classes sizes were maxed out at 22 (24 in my boys class) so if that is a consideration for you, please check the max amout.  A lot of people are leaving Singapore so it may not happen again, but that was too much for his classroom in K-2 (or year 1)
The other thing was they hired a few teachers that were here with their husbands and only commited to 1 year.  How can you own a job you are going to be at for 1 year.  Didn't put their heart into the job and had way too many kids!

So, glad those issues are cleared from what I have read.  Again, I have some friends that are very happy there and "rode the storm out" that I bolted on.  It's very conveinient on the east coast, not a closer school around.

Just check the "max" amount of kids, not just what they have now, you never know when a new wave of people will be moving over, and it's disappointing to have the class jump so dramatically.  It was enough for me to move to a new school where the max was only 17.

Just food for thought, good luck with the school thing, you won't really go wrong whereever you choose.  Just think of what is really important to you, and make sure that is a strenghth of the particular school you wish your kids to attend.