School Placement Exercise for returning S'porean children

[hoskins8h]

turquoise:

hoskins8h, if you are exempted from CL at PSLE, can you take HCL in Secondary School? I'm wondering because I know if you are exempted from CL at PSLE due to a learning disability, you will not be permitted to take HCL nor 3rd language in Secondary School. Is it different for returning overseas students?

If you have exemption due to learning disability for MT, then it's illogical to take HCL at O level. Some returning Singaporeans are pretty weak in MT and exemption is natural. For some others, while the child may cope, the child may be at a disadvantage due to not having the local learning support, eg suitable tuition, Chinese lang media exposure. Even kids who attend international schools in China may be weak in Chinese as the schools may cater to an international crowd and treat Chinese as enrichment subject.
My older child is taking HCL in secondary school. As I mentioned, one returnee exempted MT made a successful appeal to be admitted to HCI at sec 1. Going through SPERS, 3rd lang option is not given, but I think if you appeal, can get it.

[turquoise]

hoskins8h:

[If you have exemption due to learning disability for MT, then it's illogical to take HCL at O level. Some returning Singaporeans are pretty weak in MT and exemption is natural. For some others, while the child may cope, the child may be at a disadvantage due to not having the local learning support, eg suitable tuition, Chinese lang media exposure. Even kids who attend international schools in China may be weak in Chinese as the schools may cater to an international crowd and treat Chinese as enrichment subject.

My older child is taking HCL in secondary school. As I mentioned, one returnee exempted MT made a successful appeal to be admitted to HCI at sec 1. Going through SPERS, 3rd lang option is not given, but I think if you appeal, can get it.

Thanks for the info.

[mommyNg]

hoskins8h:

If I may guess, you're probably not based in Asia, so having access to Chinese education at the required level may prove difficult overseas and the decision to exempt may come naturally.

Thanks hoskins8h for your helpful advice!

We are currently not based in Asia, but my daughter has been going to a Chinese afterschool class everyday that is taught by Chinese locals for the past 2 years. Last year, when we came back for summer, she joined her P1 class for 2 months. There, she took a Chinese class test (Higher Chinese), and she scored about 96%. But I think her reading/comprehension is better than her orals/writing skills anyway (the test was mainly made up of MCQ, cloze passage, hanyu pinyin). I also suppose P1 standards are much easier than upper primary? Then, another consideration is we are probably moving to China next year, in which case we will be sending her to a local international school which follows the local Chinese system for Chinese and American for others (e.g. Maths, Science). So I'm just thinking whether such exposure would be good enough for her if her MT is not waived.

But then again, we can always ask for waiver first and then decide to withdraw the waiver later, right? Do you know when must we submit our waiver?

[hoskins8h]

mommyNg:

hoskins8h:

If I may guess, you're probably not based in Asia, so having access to Chinese education at the required level may prove difficult overseas and the decision to exempt may come naturally.

But then again, we can always ask for waiver first and then decide to withdraw the waiver later, right? Do you know when must we submit our waiver?

Yes, I would suggest that you ask for waiver first then if you change your mind, can always register for PSLE Chinese at the beginning of P6. I know a case where waiver was turned down when parents asked for it after more than a year. However, in this case, parents were not unhappy as there were reasons for not exempting. mommyNg, I sent PM to give you my views on your situation.

[mommyNg]

hoskins8h:

Yes, I would suggest that you ask for waiver first then if you change your mind, can always register for PSLE Chinese at the beginning of P6. I know a case where waiver was turned down when parents asked for it after more than a year. However, in this case, parents were not unhappy as there were reasons for not exempting. mommyNg, I sent PM to give you my views on your situation.

Thanks hoskins8h!

:thankyou:

[vnchjpth]

Hello everyone!


Just signed up myself here and hopefully I come to the right forum Wondering is there anyone here had experience dealing with the Sper exam? My DS attended the exam 2 weeks ago and now we are waiting MOE to inform the result Maybe someone could help me to understand more about the whole process? Thank you!!

[hoskins8h]

vnchjpth:

Hello everyone!


Just signed up myself here and hopefully I come to the right forum Wondering is there anyone here had experience dealing with the Sper exam? My DS attended the exam 2 weeks ago and now we are waiting MOE to inform the result Maybe someone could help me to understand more about the whole process? Thank you!!

MOE will email you (check MOE website for date) a list of schools that your child is \"eligible\" out of which you can select 6 schools in order of your priority. If your DS does well, all schools (except girls school of course) will be on the list, otherwise some of the top ones wont be on the list. Please refer to previous posts on this forum. I had 4 days to submit the selection online. Posting results same day as other PSLE students (22 Dec), via email.

The posting is final (since no PSLE score to compare), except the tricky part is if you get posted to a SAP school which may require child to sit for a Chinese test. Danger is if the school rejects based on the test, you are out of the system and have to approach the other schools directly (at least that's what MOE told me). NYGH say their requirement is equivalent of A* for CL (not as scary since 80% get at least an A in CL) or Merit for HCL. May not be a problem is your child is strong, perhaps you can call the target school, send samples of school work etc to get comfort that your DS will not be rejected. I dropped all SAP schools since I didnt have time to sit the test before the selection.

Another warning:- I've learnt that one of the IP schools called the parents of an overseas student and asked if the child was returning to take up the place otherwise they would give it to someone else; this caught the family off-guard. I think you should ask MOE what the policy is, because my guess is the child can hold a place through LOA. I think returning singaporeans have a week to register, unlike PSLE students who only have the next day.

[hoskins8h]

If you are not in Singapore on 23 Dec and after, you should get a proxy to register your child in the school he is posted to.


http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/secondary-one-posting/files/s1-proxy-form.pdf

You'll need to supply copies of birth cert of child, ICs of both parents and proxy, and proxy needs to bring IC. (It's written on the form). Suggest you also authorise proxy to apply for LOA (Leave of Absence) on your behalf.

[vnchjpth]

Dear hoskins8h,


Thank you so much for your clear explaination. :thankyou:

It has been a nerve racking experience dealing with the school application process. After hearing so many stories about overseas childern facing hard time finding a suitable school back home, we are really counting on this MOE Spers.

In the previous years the questions of SPERS exam was told to be easier than of the DSA. However, this year was a totally different case, according to friend's kids who took both. I regretted for not preparing DS earlier, especially for math. As only later I realised that many children stopped schoolling from June (summer holiday) and just soly concentrated on the tuition. I didn't understand the exam could be as competitive as this until I saw hundreds of kids in the Suntec convention hall where the exam took place. Thus for those who intend to do the exam next year, I would strongly suggest to start planning earlier. Especailly for kids who are so used to the international school system, SPERS is a completely different experience.

Again, thank you :rahrah: hoskins8h :rahrah: for your very helpful input. Now, I am crossing fingers for the result. :xedfingers:

Cheers!

[vnchjpth]

Have you heard of any cases as in \"Appeal Applciation\" for returning Sporeans? Some school websites ask the returnig students to submit their appeal form (PDF form) along with past transcripts/cert./achievement to the respective school for reviewing and the result will be out in the last week of Dec. It sounds very similar to the PSLE appeal process, except that the schools do not ask for PSLE scores in RS's cases. Is it a new practice as I never heard that before? :?