UWC Dover / Tampines

[What's the difference?]

I have a 4 year old child and we are moving to Singapore next year.  It's likely that we'll apply for UWC and get onto their waiting list as early as possible.

My husband will work near the Bugis MRT station, and we are not going to have a car.  So we plan to live near our child's school and rely on public transportation and maybe occasionally taxis to work/city centre.  It seems to me that both UWC campuses are not very different in terms of their distance from Bugis.  (Maybe UWC Dover is a little bit closer.)

I would appreciate some information about the two campuses of UWC.  Are there any significant differences in terms of teachers' qualifications / teaching methods, etc.?  Are the nationalities (of both the children and the staff) pretty much the same in terms of diversity?  UWC Dover seems much bigger.  Does it have more and better facilities then the new campus, or the difference is only in terms of the number of students?

I know I can find out the answers to some of these questions when I actually go and visit the school, but it would be helpful if I can hear from some of you who have looked at both campuses.

Thank you.

[have a look]

There was a discussion about this recently - have a nosy through the archives and I am sure you will find it.

I have a friend with a child at East and my child is at Dover.  We have found that teaching qualifications and methods are standard across both schools.  There are great teachers (and some not so in our humble opinions) at both.
Don't know about nationalities...
 
East is slowly moving everyone to the Tampines campus, which looks fantastic to me.  Parents at East have moaned for the past 2 years about their facilities,  but Dover will be the "poor cousin" once Tampines is finished.

[Both]

We currently have children at East.  We had originally put them there while we waited for their names to work to the top of the Dover waiting list but we have been so happy with the East campus that we took our names off the Dover list last year when they were offered places at Dover.  It's not that we think East is better than Dover, just that they are happy there and we are happy with the school so do not see the point in disrupting them by moving.  From my limited experience and swapping notes with parents at Dover (some of whom have used both campuses), the curricula are the same, the teaching standards are comparable (many of the East teachers transferred from Dover) and the ethos is identical at both schools.  I would echo what the PP said, as in all schools, there will be some teachers that are perfect and some less so.

At the moment my major headache is having children at both Ang Mo Kio and Tampines, so the school run is a pain (especially because we have a younger child at nursery elsewhere).  You can overcome that by putting your children on the bus, but mine hate it.  I just have to keep reminding myself how much easier it will be next year when they are all in the same place and that the Tampines campus will be state of the art.

 If your children take the school bus, bear in mind that proximity to the school does not always mean a shorter drive.  Ours would be picked up over an hour before school starts if they took the bus, and we live 10 minutes' drive from school, friends who live about 25 minutes' drive from school are collected 40 minutes before school starts.  If you live at a condo with lots of UWC children, they might have an 'express service'.

So in answer to your question, there are no fundamental differences between the two school; class size, ethnic mix, curriculum, teaching standards etc.  The AMK campus lacks a swimming pool, extensive sports facilities etc.  These will be available in Tampines next year, but in the short term the children have to be bused to municipal pools etc.   It comes down to where you would rather live.

[What's the difference?]

To have a look: I tried but couldn't find what I want to know.

Thanks to Both for your detailed reply.  Very useful info.  I'll probably apply for both.

[shortie]

I had a look as I remembered the thread - here's another bit of info for you

East Mum
Guest
   
Re: UWC East Coast - what has your experience been so far...
« Reply #3 on: 16 June 2010, 22:59:51 pm »
Quote
Cannot compare it to Dover myself because I have never had children there.  I do know people who have transferred from East to Dover because of proximity to their homes though.  Each of them (having had a year at each campus)  has said that they are totally equal in term of ethos and standards.  Some prefer the larger campus atmosphere at Dover, others prefer the intimate nature of the temporary campus at AMK.

The feedback from the IB inspection team has, by all accounts, been very positive.  They apparently said that the school had the feel of one that had been established for well over a decade and did not feel like a fledgling school that was still finding its feet. 

We can only compare it to the other 3 international schools that our children have attended.  It has been head and shoulders above the others in terms of outlook, ethos and development of each child's strengths.  That said, only you can decide if it is right for your children.  No school is perfect for every child.