We applied to be Parent Volunteer (PV) for Northland Primary School, but alas, we weren’t chosen to serve. This post is to share my experience and tips for parents.
tldr; To stand a chance, you need to be Singapore citizen, and stay within 1 km. Check their website regularly, because they won’t email you (your fault if you miss the balloting date).
We applied to 3 schools - Chongfu, Northland, and Anderson - and so we get to see how each school carry out their PV selection. Every school does it their own way.
When applicants exceed 20..
Phase 2B has a minimum of 20 vacancy. Therefore PV will usually limit to 20. And popular schools will have more than 20 applicants, so a selection process is required.
For Northland this year (where P1 enrolment in 2021):
- 121 applicants!
- 20 PV places
Remember: this is merely to become a volunteer. Once selected, we have to serve 70 hours.
IMPORTANT: You must stay < 1km
From the 121 applicants, they further filtered out applicants for the balloting. To qualify, you MUST:
- stay < 1 km
- is Singapore citizen
This year, only 80 applicants qualified for the balloting.
I highlighted this point because I was disqualified because we stay 1.2km from the school. Honest to god I have every intention to move house to within 1 km, so I feedback to Northland principal:
We subsequently changed address to within 1 km, and therefore qualify for the balloting.
Check their website regularly
A strange thing about Northland is that they won’t notify you of the results. No email.
You’re responsible for checking their website regularly for:
- application datelines
- results of qualifying for the balloting
- balloting date
Live Balloting
Northland does a live balloting where all parents must be present. Due to COVID-19, they use Google Meet, which I am glad since that save time, and I can use my phone throughout the 40 minutes 😂.
They carry out a fair and open process.
For each of the 80 children, they show the name on ballot slip, fold it, then put in.
Alas, we have no luck for the 20 places, nor the 8 reserves.