School Hunting

*photos inserted in this entry are not in line with the topic discussed, just to add some colors to the entry. Photos of the kids doing their sensory play. Getting their hands in jelly.

How time flies, elder 2 turning 6 soon. Thus the school hunting getting more tense. But actually it shouldn’t be coz the father already said they are going to the usual Sekolah Kebangsaan. In fact we already registered them last year. BUT deep inside I wish to send them to Integrated Islamic School, but there are a long list of consideration to be done. One of the issues are most integrated schools are are mostly shop lots or houses. We would want our children to have grounds for them to play sports, grass…not cement ground. Husband came across a saying that says a good school is one with big school field, i think what the phrase meant is, the bigger the field, students will ended up doing more physical sports, and when the students are actives, so do the brains, thus the school produce smarter kids. (just an anology i could think of) . Besides school facilitis, logistic is also an issue. I heard a lot that Adni is good, but too far away. The mileage, the toll and oh the traffic. And of coz, the fees too. Adni seems to be more expensive than the other schools i look into. Well, they have proven their school has good quality, that explains the price i guess.

I heard good review of ISSA too, price is not that expensive comparatively to other schools. And the fees are to be paid monthly (even better). Most other school, i notice the fees are to be paid each term. It would be a lot for us to pay up front for 2 kids’ fees. Another plus point for ISSA, they have secondary too…you will have option of doing Tahfiz too. At the end of form 5, insyaAllah the child will be Hafiz and at the same time sit for their SPM / IGSCE. Anak anak kan saham akhirat. Masih teringat my secondary ustazah used to say to us “if kamu jalani kehidupan dunia ni macam syurga, kelak nanti balasannye neraka. dan jika kamu jalani dunia ini macam neraka, kelak nanti balasannye syurga” Please do NOT take the word literally, of coz she doesnt mean life now is like hell. What she meant is if you live your life according to the permissible and prohibited in Islam, you will get the reward in hereafter…but if you live your life as you wish…kelak nanti balasannye di akhirat. She elaborated, dunia ni kan banyak godaan, so be patient and strive for the aakhirah, where u can have anything u desire and the best part is…that would be forever . Dulu masa kat UIA, impressed dgn those who can speak both english and arabic so well. Yes, honestly..i do feel less of a muslim for not knowing the arabic language. I believe kids pick up languages better than adults. Would be nice to see my kids know arabic well.

Oh there is another school, GreenView Islamic school, from the website, it stated that at the end of Year 7, students will finish studying all of Arabic Grammar which would enable them to understand at least 50-60% of the Quran. Something i really wish my kids could achieve. Oh and they are using the Cambridge Primary syllabus, not the government KSSR. Sounds interesting BUT it is at shoplots. However, the advantage they have as compared to other school using shop lots is, they have front huge public field in front of the school. Thus they will have their PE at the field. If you are interested to enroll in this school, their Year 1 starts at age of 6 years old and their semester starts in September as opposed to usual January intake. Thus supposedly if im interested to send elder 2 here…they should already be in Year 1 starting September last year.

Other integrated islamic school that i know of are; Itqan , At-Taimi in Subang, Integrated Islamic School Kota Damansara (shop lots), Baseerah in Gombak, Khalifah Model School in Ampang (heard very very good review of this school). Logistic will be an issue if their school are far coz i have to be back at my area to send younger 2 for their kindergarten. Thus i cant afford to be stuck in jam for long. Oh and also, even if i dont mind…will have to consider expenses of petrol and toll too. Kay maybe its time to consider NGV fot our starex…haha

Another reason im considering Integrated School is sbb the aspect of their basic deeniyah. They will study it as a whole not a separated subject on its own. If they go sek kebangsaan, petang they will go sekolah agama. I prefer if evrything is integrated in. Honestly, something i wish i had when i was schooling.

Tapi yes, ade pros and cons to everything. One of the common issues i heard is about the teachers turn over rate…these private school, teachers slalu tukar2, well i dont blame them. if dapat better offer somewhere else, sure lah pegi kan..huhu. And another issue raised is their multiracial friends. They will not mix with the diversity of culture we have here in Malaysia.

I would really love to send them Integrated school…but after much research pun kang bapak budak suruh anta sek kebangsaan je, errr. Tapi kenapa now ministry fickle minded eh? non stop tukar itu ini…arrgghhh. and the fact they have about 40 kids in a classroom of standard 1 is really a turn off for me. I dont blame the teacher…they have 40+ newbies in the classroom..that is definitely not easy to handle. Oh and i was wondering, sekolah yg berprestasi tinggi tu…is it because mmg teachers are very good or students are from well to do family and can afford extra classes outside hence the good performance. This was something i experience when i was in secondary school…almost all my classmates pegi tuition, some even went for History tuition, and i know off friends yg pergi tuition for subject Moral. Ade yg pergi 2 different tuition for their bahasa melayu subject. Well, I dont wish to go any further in this takut kang ade yg misunderstood im condemning our government teachers. I know they are bunch of dedicated people but they are also loaded with lots of paperworks and what not, how are they supposed to perform their best when they have tons of reports to do and such. And also because at the end of the day i might ended up sending them there too…

And for the private school sometimes you love what the founder or principal aspires to accomplish, but implementation wise by some of their teachers may not be up to the standard set. Best is to pay a visit to the school.

Kay back to my concern, i would really want to see my children practising the islam way of life naturally, and most importantly willingly. Having everything integrated in their daily life, i hope this would be a big help in materializing it. Of coz parents play important role too, no doubt on that. My hope is that they would become mature and wise, and see things holistically. I had people raising the issue of their future, takut tak dapat masuk local uni and such, i believe everything has been plan by Allah. Insya Allah they will have their place to further their studies later on. Dulu most friends yang i impressed with at UIA, i got to know mostly came from private sekolah agama…hence the consideration here.

oh the other day i passed by Sapura Smart School, it made me wonder takde ke muslim yang kaya raya yang nak tolong set up kan such school with infrastructure and facilities like that?