2015 PSLE Discussion and Strategies

[janet88]

bb_ mom:

DS school only had remedial class in P5. Looks like every school has its own way of administering supplementary class.

I remember my son had supplementary lessons starting in p5.
he was so tired on those days. at p6, I took him out completely.

[iRabbit]

12mum:

For ds (p5 this year), there is a possibility of supplementary class for higher chinese but no dates confirmed. For the rest of the subjects, no news.


I flipped thru 2014 school letters and note that p6 have supplementary classes thrice a week after school. Compulsory.

P1-4, only remedial classes.


But that's for my ds's school.

I don't mind once a week at P5. With 2 CCA, anything more will be too tiring as ds has tuitions on weekdays too.

[bb_ mom]

iRabbit:

12mum:

For ds (p5 this year), there is a possibility of supplementary class for higher chinese but no dates confirmed. For the rest of the subjects, no news.


I flipped thru 2014 school letters and note that p6 have supplementary classes thrice a week after school. Compulsory.

P1-4, only remedial classes.


But that's for my ds's school.

I don't mind once a week at P5. With 2 CCA, anything more will be too tiring as ds has tuitions on weekdays too.

For how many subjects? Meaning his afternoons are all occupied?

[iRabbit]

janet88:

iRabbit:

Do supplementary lessons start at P5 or P6?


I asked in my ds's sch thread before but there was no reply.

With 2 CCAs, I worry that ds may have to stay back in school often.

supplementary lessons start at primary 5.

Thanks Janet. So far haven't heard any news on supplementary lessons yet.

Hope it stays that way.

[janet88]

irabbit,

I receive love letters regarding supplementary lessons not long after school started…I call any memos/letters from school ‘love letters’. kids will put them on my table to sign or acknowledge.
your son is high calibre…you sure no supplementary lessons?

[Imami]

bb_ mom:

DS school only had remedial class in P5. Looks like every school has its own way of administering supplementary class.

I think So (the part in red). Tofu boy's school has announced that supp class will begin in t2 from p1 onwards. The time table is also out. At the moment, it's just \"who\" (will be attending).

[iRabbit]

bb_ mom:

iRabbit:

[quote=\"12mum\"]For ds (p5 this year), there is a possibility of supplementary class for higher chinese but no dates confirmed. For the rest of the subjects, no news.


I flipped thru 2014 school letters and note that p6 have supplementary classes thrice a week after school. Compulsory.

P1-4, only remedial classes.


But that's for my ds's school.

I don't mind once a week at P5. With 2 CCA, anything more will be too tiring as ds has tuitions on weekdays too.

For how many subjects? Meaning his afternoons are all occupied?[/quote]Chinese & MO in the evenings. No choice, ds's Chinese is his weakest link while he likes MO.

[iRabbit]

janet88:

irabbit,

I receive love letters regarding supplementary lessons not long after school started...I call any memos/letters from school 'love letters'. kids will put them on my table to sign or acknowledge.
your son is high calibre...you sure no supplementary lessons?

I assume supplementary lessons are compulsory while remedial are for the weaker students.

[Nebbermind]

Imami:

bb_ mom:

DS school only had remedial class in P5. Looks like every school has its own way of administering supplementary class.

I think So (the part in red). Tofu boy's school has announced that supp class will begin in t2 from p1 onwards. The time table is also out. At the moment, it's just \"who\" (will be attending).

Supp class for P1....your school very the ONZ!!

[buds]

Supplementary lessons for DDs’ school starts at P3. We were informed that it was to build up momentum for the demands and rigour of upper primary syllabus and schedule.


During DD1’s P3 and P4 supplementary classes, they were REALLY supplementary classes.

For English, the teacher covered creative writing techniques, in bite-sized portions weekly. WE (DD1 and I) loved it! Teacher wrote to us to anticipate that our children will be required to carry out a lot of writing. Nearing exam period, teacher will squeeze in oral practice and listening compre. The children will also have group projects, to come up with fun language games for their peers to try out during English week carnival. Booths or tables will be set up during recess for a week.

For Math, the wonderful teacher will cover current Math topics using creative games during supplementary to reinforce topic content. There will be worksheets to be done, personally prepared by him or external resources in his collection. Similarly for Math supplementary, there will be Math carnival as well and children will be in groups to showcase their Math games during recess.

For Science, teacher will cover experiments once or twice a month and other times, there will be quizzes in the form of class games to test their ability to answer in keywords - according to dd, it was conducted like a game show. There will be worksheets to be done to reflect what was covered during supplementary sessions, but no homework.

For Mother Tongue, it was close to what was covered for English. Students take turns to put up short drama skits to encourage use of language and expression, apart from (the rest) what was shared earlier for English supplementary sessions.

All these teachers have either transferred out or resigned / left the service. These are teachers who reel in children effortlessly to love the subject enough, to get them to want to learn more.

In my personal opinion, these are what supplementary sessions are meant to be - to supplement. To enrich children’s minds beyond academics via supplementary activities and resources.

They are greatly missed.

Supplementary lessons since then, became extra lessons - extension of class lessons. Very tiring indeed, for our children’s brains are fried with approximately more than 6 hrs of ‘learning’… on a daily basis. It was worse, when even PE days were not spared. When that happened, I intervened. I questioned the effectiveness of removing PE (which ain’t that many periods) to cover curriculum time.

No. Our children cannot go through school days just sitting down for lessons or moving around only to change classes for other subjects.