DSA 2017

[rsx]

taurbear:

Agree, lack of sleep is a problem.

My DS sleep at 1045 pm to 1 am ( yes in the morning) on average. Good days at 9.45 pm.

No he didn't get any 'free rides' in DSA , but got a WL after interview and test. He is not the only one with a WL in class, some got rejection too. Some of them kept quiet when other boasted of getting COs. I think because he is only gifted in 1 subject ( i.e. translate to super weak in all other subjects which give a not so good average grade). Just getting great marks/bagged top awards for 1 subject is useless for DSA ( at least for him).

No tuition & must live up to teachers' expectations constantly (not mine). It's stressful for him at time , even I feel it from some of the teachers' emails addressed to me. So it's not a great thing to be labelled as Gepper unless you are really gifted in all/most subjects. Yes, then maybe those Geppers will be offered 'free rides' in DSA.

No flaming pls, just giving a honest feedback.

This gives a new thought! Why have a gifted program for all subjects when there are some child who are stronger in a particular? Maybe MOE should do it like the 3rd Language for Secondary and have special programs for Maths, Science, etc and this will allow students with specific strengths to be nurtured and no need to have GEP school but have GEP subject centre! Stress would be lesser on these Kids and less enrichment centre trying to make a buck out of parents and students dont need to study for so many subjects![/quote]


Being a parent of 2 kids going through gep time, I think it's really not about drilling to excellence in a particular subject, math, science or a language.
The kids have been introduced into and guided through so many areas of learning - projects, group project, research in interested science subjects, innovation program (Ivp), exchange study, etc...none of these are text book or exam oriented, nor for any particular subjects. Yet, I have seen them enjoy these learning with tremendous passion and commitment, time and focus. Not only my kids, but many of their classmates that we know when doing group discussion and projects.
It's a very well crafted holistic approach of learning and study to groom the gep kids into all-round and solid foundation building.
In this sense, I feel the gep purpose is very well done, for both the kids and the MOE's initiatives.

[kash313]

hamsterwheelmom:

Just received call from RI coach informing me that my son received a confirmed offer. Presenting CO letters and Principal's talk at 9 am this Saturday (26 August).


Question: Are the P6 students supposed to attend these Principal talks? (He also received a CO from ACSI (Principal's talk tomorrow at 4 pm) and I forgot to ask if students should attend.

Best of luck to all.

:congrats:
If the Principal's talk is on Saturday, results for all domain shld be out before that.

[fable]

broken:

GTGT:

[quote=\"googaga\"]Exactly. Many are sleep deprived too due to the many deadlines from assignments. They too have their fair share of hard work and expectations to meet. In addition, their papers are different from mainstream except PSLE papers. Please be kind & refrain from showing unnecessary discrimination to these kids.

:goodpost:

Unless you are a parent of a Gepper, you will not understand the amount of hard work they go through.

Agree, lack of sleep is a problem.
My DS sleep at 1045 pm to 1 am ( yes in the morning) on average. Good days at 9.45 pm.

No he didn't get any 'free rides' in DSA , but got a WL after interview and test. He is not the only one with a WL in class, some got rejection too. Some of them kept quiet when other boasted of getting COs. I think because he is only gifted in 1 subject ( i.e. translate to super weak in all other subjects which give a not so good average grade). Just getting great marks/bagged top awards for 1 subject is useless for DSA ( at least for him).

No tuition & must live up to teachers' expectations constantly (not mine). It's stressful for him at time , even I feel it from some of the teachers' emails addressed to me. So it's not a great thing to be labelled as Gepper unless you are really gifted in all/most subjects. Yes, then maybe those Geppers will be offered 'free rides' in DSA.

No flaming pls, just giving a honest feedback.[/quote]Wow, that's very late - poor fella. What keeps him up so late? Well done to you and him for making it without tuition!
I am super anal about his bedtime, so mine goes to bed about 9 on days that he has training and 8.30 - 8.45 on other days. I'd like him to get 10 hours of sleep but that only happens during the holidays.

As for this whole sub-topic of \"free rides\". I think the \"free ride\" perception stems from the fact that until this year, GEP kids could skip the GAT / HAST etc tests and go straight to interviews for most schools, and that was considered unfair. But the reality is that if the GEP kids are getting above an 80 mark average in their exams, they are likely to have no problems passing the tests anyway. I think one of the main reasons why there is a higher proportion of GEP kids getting COs and WLs from schools is simply because they have already been identified as being smarter than the average bear. Please don't take umbrage, I'm not saying the system is perfect. I'm pretty sure that some smart kids are not selected, and that some selected are perhaps not as capable as some MS kids, but based on DS' classmates, the GE branch must be doing something right cos there are some pretty amazing kids in his class - throw a pebble and you'll more likely than not hit a kid who is representing school or nation in something or other!

To me, how well a student does, and their likelihood of getting a DSA offer, is a factor of their talent as well as their hard work. Would you say the girl who gets offered a place in a school for winning Nationals in her sport is getting a free ride? What about the boy who represents Singapore in Math Olympiad. I'm sure both have talent, but I'm doubly sure that they work very hard to polish that talent.

So how about we celebrate the achievement of all our kids - GEP, Mainstream or Foundation. Its really nice to get a DSA offer, no doubt (and I'm still waiting to hear if my son is successful in his bid), but there are so many paths to one's destination. The truth is that some will have an easier time than others. I think all we can do is focus on your own journey, take inspiration from others and hopefully somehow give inspiration back to others at some point. Good luck, everyone!

[veryscared]

If there isn't advantages, why would parents send their DC to tuition lessons specially designed for gifted programm?

Don't shoot me hor, but I read on the web before, natural gippers are smart but have behaviour issues, hence they are being grouped together. :? dont know how true is it?

[taurbear]

SOTA results out on portal! We got CO!

[GLORYmum]

taurbear:

SOTA results out on portal! We got CO!

:congrats:

[chrisyellow]

Let’s stay focus on DSA information sharing, for those who wants to debate on GEP related topics, please open another thread. Thanks.

[kash313]

The anxious Mother in me sent email to RI and reply was quiet quick.


Thank you for your email.

Year 1 DSA results will be released by 31 August 2017.
Now I am totally confused :roll: :whut:

[myteapot]

hamsterwheelmom:

Just received call from RI coach informing me that my son received a confirmed offer. Presenting CO letters and Principal's talk at 9 am this Saturday (26 August).


Question: Are the P6 students supposed to attend these Principal talks? (He also received a CO from ACSI (Principal's talk tomorrow at 4 pm) and I forgot to ask if students should attend.

Best of luck to all.

taurbear:

SOTA results out on portal! We got CO!

:congrats:

[chrisyellow]

Informing by coach is not the standard process I believe, so it will be faster. I think the official channel should be from the admin. And the email reply is preset, which might not be according to the latest plan. I believe there isn’t much we can do beside just wait for the email. Good luck to all.