'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?'

[phtthp]

St Hilda primary is a GEP school.

As such, many parents would have prepared & guided their children well, in P1 assessments.

If the school’s policy had been set such that Top 25 % of entire P1 cohort at year end, qualify to take Higher Chinese (HCL) in P2, yet having scored 97 fall short of entry for HCL, that means many inside the P1 cohort had scored higher than 97, like scored 100, 99, 98. It is that competitive !

Top 25 % of cohort also meant that the other 2 subjects (Maths, English) are also taken into account, not just looking at Chinese marks one subject alone. All 3 subjects are taken into consideration, at P1 level, in computing the Total overall.

Perhaps P1 parents there, their children batch sitting for Psle 2021 under the new AL system, can hold a meeting to discuss with their Principal : if is possible to raise from Top 25 %, to a higher percentage figure, to do Higher Chinese ?

Under the new AL point system, every subject counts. If weak in Chinese but strong in other subjects like English or Maths, the strong subject can no longer "pull up" the weak subject into Total overall, unlike in the current T-score system. (which can allow stronger subject to pull up the weak subject.) As such, many parents begin to worry over Chinese, thinking that perhaps is better to kickstart Higher Chinese, the earlier the better.

[laughingcat]

Actually I think the parents either don’t know or ill-informed. To be eligible for Higher Chinese, the child must attain good score for the rest of the subject other than just Chinese Lang alone.

[sharonkhoo]

This is being discussed in other threads as someone posted the complaint on several threads. I guess the ST picked it up from KSP? Check the "are students stressed" thread.

[phtthp]

Another proposal or suggestion, is -

Get the 2009 born cohort parents at St Hilda to hold a meeting, discuss with their schoool Principal, whether can follow RGPS implementation method (solution) :-

That is, by default, start all P1 students afresh on the same equal ground footing, to be fair to everyone, start all P1s on Higher Chinese. This gives every student a chance, to learn Higher Chinese, from the very beginning.

After all, if under new AL point system, where every subject counts, and many parents in St Hilda want their kids to be exposed to Higher Chinese earlier the better, then it is better to start every pupil from P1 by default in HCL.

Then, come to year end P4 -
if any students cannot cope with Higher Chinese, they can then drop out of HCL, fall back to Regular normal Chinese, at P5 start of new academic year.

if implement this method -
it is far better, because all P1 students regardless of whether they scored 97, 96, 95,94, 93, 92, 91 (A*, start from 91 onwards), or scored Band 1 (from 85 upwards), or Band 2 (70 to 84 range), or Band 3 (50 to 69) or Band 4 (below 50) -
every P1 student has been given a fair chance to learn Higher Chinese, all the way until P4. They are given 4 long years time frame, to learn HCL. If really cannot cope by end of P4, then drop HCL.


Both St Hilda & Rgps are common in that : both are GEP schools, & both are also non-SAP schools.

[phtthp]

Since this scenario had been reported by Straits times, happening inside St Hilda primary -

parents with K2 children due for P1 registration enrolment this year 2017 July, for next year 2018 P1 intake : who "die die" insist on getting their kids to learn Higher Chinese, in lower primary -

perhaps can consider enrolling your child into a SAP school, instead. Then, u won’t complain if your child score 97 so high, yet not given the opportunity to study HCL, in lower primary.

In Tampines, the SAP school is Poi Ching primary.

In other estates, SAP schools located in the east include

Tao Nan
Red Swastika

Kong hwa
Maha bodhi

In SAP schools -
By default, all study Higher Chinese, from primary 1. When reach end of P4, if can’t cope, can drop back to Normal Chinese in p5

[janet88]

97 marks is just short of 3 marks to 100…if that’s not considered good enough, then what is?

this article is perfect for this year’s p1 registration…parents, please consider carefully when you decide on the primary school for your child. primary school is a 6 year long journey. with the new AL grading system, every subject is important.

[pirate]

Maybe should enroll kid into one of the convent schools (not St Nicks) and then complain online got 100 marks for CL also cannot do HCL until P5... :siam:

[phtthp]

besides St Hilda primary, there are also some other Non-SAP schools that implement Higher Chinese at P2. One example is Compassvale primary.


anyone know what’s the selection criteria, set by Compassvale for P2 HCL, or by any other Non-SAP school ?

Will be interesting to see, what kind of selection criteria apply in other Non-SAP schools, over this lower primary HCL selection of candidates.

Is it also the same criteria like St Hilda, only allowing Top 25 % cohort to do, or they more generous, to whoever have the potential to study HCL, just open up the opportunity to them, encourage them to go ahead & learn ?

Under AL system, parents are paying more attention to Chinese, as they are anxious that their children have to do well for every single subject, under AL psle scoring system

[phtthp]

laughingcat:

Actually I think the parents either don't know or ill-informed. To be eligible for Higher Chinese, the child must attain good score for the rest of the subject other than just Chinese Lang alone.

In St Hilda case, when they mention Top 25 % cohort as the selection criteria, that means the school take into account the Total overall for the 3 subjects (Maths, English, Chinese), not just looking at one subject Chinese alone.

We are not sure whether the P1 papers had been set easy, or been set difficult. If they had been set easy, then there will be many P1 students who had scored 100, 99, 98. Hence by the time reach 97, exceeded the cut off.