School Placement Exercise for returning S'porean children

[jtoh]

Just wanted to add this. If your child is a very strong student and has his eye on the top schools, then you might prefer him to take PSLE rather than rely on SPERS. That’s because with SPERS you’re subject to the vacancy available in the school. I know of someone’s child, who took SPERS and was offered the top schools in his list. Unfortunately, although he put his preferred top school as first choice, he was eventually given his 2nd choice. If this child had taken PSLE, chances are he would have gotten in to his preferred top school based on his PSLE aggregate.

[hoskins8h]

mommyNg:

Do you know how kids (or your kids) are doing/coping after returning to Singapore in sec sch, especially for those who got the chance to go into the better schools, e.g. RGS/RI, NYGH/HCI, IP schools?

It depends on the kid but most do fine, some even more outstanding than before because now motivated to \"catch up\". Some may require help in weaker subjects, eg Mother Tongue, English or Maths. Attitude of the kid is important because workload is heavier in Singapore system (even non IP); some might rebel at having to work harder but that's a fact of life now (school and work!). By work load I dont mean academics only, CCAs, school support activities, Community Service all take up time and add stress.

In terms of syllabus, language is obviously one that carries over from primary school so need to pay attention. Not much disadvantage for Science as material in secondary school generally dont rely too much on primary school science. Math topics also generally new. If child has trouble with subject, need to work at it, not blame it on not attending Sing primary school.

There are many educational pathways these days to university. The trade off tends to be if you get selected for elite program, you get priveleges to go to next stage , but work load is higher. Eg, only 25-30% of RI(JC) intake comes from O levels, the rest is IP. Eg GEP students stand better chance of getting into good IP schools through DSA and thus dont need to do well at PSLE. I didnt understand the new elitism until fairly late and nearly didnt select an IP. Children are adaptable and you may want to try stretching them.

[hoskins8h]

jtoh:

Just wanted to add this. If your child is a very strong student and has his eye on the top schools, then you might prefer him to take PSLE rather than rely on SPERS. That's because with SPERS you're subject to the vacancy available in the school. I know of someone's child, who took SPERS and was offered the top schools in his list. Unfortunately, although he put his preferred top school as first choice, he was eventually given his 2nd choice. If this child had taken PSLE, chances are he would have gotten in to his preferred top school based on his PSLE aggregate.

My own observation so far suggests that SPERS Sec-1 postings have been better than parent's expectations based on performance at overseas school. I gather that all sec schools have to set aside a certain percentage for students returning at Sec 1. Dont know if there's this quota for entry at higher years. Would suggest to mommyNg to observe the situation as SPERS first started for 2007 intake and the observed statistics might change.

[mommyNg]

jtoh:

Just wanted to add this. If your child is a very strong student and has his eye on the top schools, then you might prefer him to take PSLE rather than rely on SPERS. That's because with SPERS you're subject to the vacancy available in the school. I know of someone's child, who took SPERS and was offered the top schools in his list. Unfortunately, although he put his preferred top school as first choice, he was eventually given his 2nd choice. If this child had taken PSLE, chances are he would have gotten in to his preferred top school based on his PSLE aggregate.

Thanks jtoh! Ok, my daughter is registered in a primary school that has affiliation to an IP school (but the cut-off point is pretty high, 250 - you probably can guess which school she is in!!). So we are not sure if we should take the PSLE or SPERS route. Probably both as risky? Because it is hard to predict her performance 4 years down the road.. she is doing pretty well now but there is no guarantee of her performance in P6. Any advice?

Also, do you know why that someone's child was not given first choice but his 2nd even though both were in his list? Is it because the \"scores\" are invisible to us but visible to the schools so that they can still \"compare\" and decide between eligible students?

[mommyNg]

hoskins8h:

My own observation so far suggests that SPERS Sec-1 postings have been better than parent's expectations based on performance at overseas school. I gather that all sec schools have to set aside a certain percentage for students returning at Sec 1. Dont know if there's this quota for entry at higher years. Would suggest to mommyNg to observe the situation as SPERS first started for 2007 intake and the observed statistics might change.

Pardon my blurness... how to observe the situation for SPERS? Through grapevine or ask MOE? :?

It's heartening to know that most kids can adapt pretty well to Singapore education system despite being away for quite a while!

Thanks hoskins8h for sharing!!!

[mommyNg]

Another question… did any of you (or your friends) brought your child back for GEP screening/selection, and perhaps successfully get into the programme? I remember somewhere in this forum someone mentioned they brought their kid back for GEP screening, passed, but didn’t get through the selection round.

[hoskins8h]

mommyNg:

[

Pardon my blurness... how to observe the situation for SPERS? Through grapevine or ask MOE?

Just through the gravevine. MOE is generally tight lipped about information. I asked what are the odds of getting first choice, and they read the standard text from MOE website , something like \"depends on vacancies and applicants to particular school\". So why have a list? Again standard website text ... \"child assessed to be on par with the students in the school\". I guess the computer can only accept 6 choices. Methinks they want to avoid having to explain things to some who may inevitably be unhappy.

[hoskins8h]

mommyNg:

Another question.... did any of you (or your friends) brought your child back for GEP screening/selection, and perhaps successfully get into the programme? I remember somewhere in this forum someone mentioned they brought their kid back for GEP screening, passed, but didn't get through the selection round.

GEP screening is useful because I think they select 8% (or is 6%?) after the first round. It gives information about where the child stands with respect to the Singapore student population. Most overseas parents are uncertain about where the child is compared with local standards.
In your case it is extra useful if your child passes the first stage, the PSLE strategy maybe worthwhile because 250 is about the top 10%. I think latest you can come back is P5. If child is in the Singapore International School HK, MOE conducts GEP first round test in the school, but you will have to be in Singapore for the second round. I think you have to write in by June for other places (see website). If child makes it to GEP and you decide to return, there are privileges, such as higher odds of getting into IP through DSA and GEP scholarship for Independent school. But I think child has to go through GEP to get these advantages; GEP bragging rights dont count.

If you decide to return, another way to boost the odds is to get exemption from Chinese, which the school and MOE are likely to give if you give good reason even if the child is doing well in Chinese, eg away from Singapore, dont speak Chinese at home, no Singapore style tuition available, hence child at disadvantage etc. Child should still take MT lessons and keep up, since NYGH is SAP school and will require a standard like A* in normal Chinese. No need to be discouraged by this requirement as about 80% of the national cohort gets A/A* in Chinese. Once you're in the school, you can get feedback as to whether child meets the Chinese standard to get into NYGH even though not taking PSLE Chinese. I know a case where returnee exempted Chinese, got posted to IP school, and appealed and got into HCI. Trick is have evidence that the child is capable of handling Higher Chinese and the reason for exemption is that the child needs time to catch up to local standards since at disadvantage without the local support system (e.g. tuition, daily environment). Besides having one less subject to mug, my feeling is that there is more room to improve in other subjects. About 44% of students get A/A* for Eng, Math, Sci whereas it's 80% for Chinese; which means there is more room to improve for other subjects. So even if you get 100% for Chinese, the average raw score for Chinese is likely to be high and hence Chinese T-score may not be that high. Must qualify that this is my speculation and a lot depends on the child's Chinese standard.

[xxjustakidxx]

hoskins8h:

GEP screening is useful because I think they select 8% (or is 6%?) after the first round. It gives information about where the child stands with respect to the Singapore student population. Most overseas parents are uncertain about where the child is compared with local standards.

In your case it is extra useful if your child passes the first stage, the PSLE strategy maybe worthwhile because 250 is about the top 10%. I think latest you can come back is P5. If child is in the Singapore International School HK, MOE conducts GEP first round test in the school, but you will have to be in Singapore for the second round. I think you have to write in by June for other places (see website). If child makes it to GEP and you decide to return, there are privileges, such as higher odds of getting into IP through DSA and GEP scholarship for Independent school. But I think child has to go through GEP to get these advantages; GEP bragging rights dont count.

If you decide to return, another way to boost the odds is to get exemption from Chinese, which the school and MOE are likely to give if you give good reason even if the child is doing well in Chinese, eg away from Singapore, dont speak Chinese at home, no Singapore style tuition available, hence child at disadvantage etc. Child should still take MT lessons and keep up, since NYGH is SAP school and will require a standard like A* in normal Chinese. No need to be discouraged by this requirement as about 80% of the national cohort gets A/A* in Chinese. Once you're in the school, you can get feedback as to whether child meets the Chinese standard to get into NYGH even though not taking PSLE Chinese. I know a case where returnee exempted Chinese, got posted to IP school, and appealed and got into HCI. Trick is have evidence that the child is capable of handling Higher Chinese and the reason for exemption is that the child needs time to catch up to local standards since at disadvantage without the local support system (e.g. tuition, daily environment). Besides having one less subject to mug, my feeling is that there is more room to improve in other subjects. About 44% of students get A/A* for Eng, Math, Sci whereas it's 80% for Chinese; which means there is more room to improve for other subjects. So even if you get 100% for Chinese, the average raw score for Chinese is likely to be high and hence Chinese T-score may not be that high. Must qualify that this is my speculation and a lot depends on the child's Chinese standard.

Correction: A is 25 percent of each cohort.

[hoskins8h]

xxjustakidxx:

Correction: A is 25 percent of each cohort.

For Eng, Math, Sci, 25% for A sounds correct, means about 20% for A*; in line with a conversation I had with a teacher.
Just to clarify, when I mentioned 44% for A/A* means 44% got A or better. For some reason, the info I gleaned from the \"official\" data do not break down between A and A*.