All About GEP

[jtoh]

What’s most important is whether your child wants to be in GEP. If he wants to be in GEP, he will make it work. He will make friends, he will adapt to the new environment, he will try his best in the challenging curriculum. If he doesn’t want to be there, it’ll just be harder for him to adapt to new friends, the environment and curriculum. Go for the talk. They’ll tell you that attitude is paramount.

[hquek]

cafemug:

Thank you all for your quick replies! It definitely make me feel better. We have yet to decide whether to take up the offer. It sure is a tough decision to make.

definitely not easy choice to make. We went for it after asking DS if he would be fine to drop out should it not be what he wanted and he said yes. Few months down the road, he can't imagine being anywhere else.

Life got tougher, he went from someone who could sit back after school to having to scrabble to do homework until evening in P4, relax in P5 (I dunno why and how) and then having to work till 8/9pm on homework and what nots. Never did hear him grimace and complain about making the choice to gep. Used to think that it was tough to stay on the program, but then it's not. If you don't meet the 70%, they will give you chance and teachers are there to guide the kids and provide help. So if anyone really go back to mainstream, they probably made a firm and very conscious effort to get their child out.

[fable]

hquek:

cafemug:

Thank you all for your quick replies! It definitely make me feel better. We have yet to decide whether to take up the offer. It sure is a tough decision to make.

definitely not easy choice to make. We went for it after asking DS if he would be fine to drop out should it not be what he wanted and he said yes. Few months down the road, he can't imagine being anywhere else.

Life got tougher, he went from someone who could sit back after school to having to scrabble to do homework until evening in P4, relax in P5 (I dunno why and how) and then having to work till 8/9pm on homework and what nots. Never did hear him grimace and complain about making the choice to gep. Used to think that it was tough to stay on the program, but then it's not. If you don't meet the 70%, they will give you chance and teachers are there to guide the kids and provide help. So if anyone really go back to mainstream, they probably made a firm and very conscious effort to get their child out.

I agree. We were really in two minds about taking up the programme - after all, he was quite happy where he was, could handle schoolwork fine (tho he was never a top student), and had time for his many other interests. But at the end of the day, he wanted to try it out. And while it hasn't been pain-free (my son's organisational skills are awful so the biggest challenge was filing his stuff and managing all the papers he received!), at the end of these 3 years, no matter what his T score, I am happy that he had this opportunity to learn lots of random things and find out that there are folk out there as odd as he is.

Apart from a short period in P6, he continued to have time to do his homework (and corrections, and filing) as well as balance that with various outside school activities. Like someone said before, how stressful the journey is depends alot on parental expectations. I think if you enter this programme with a view that its an adventure and a fun journey for the child to learn more about themselves and a wide range of things, as opposed to a programme to give them better grades or a shortcut to a premium secondary school, then it works out better. If you think you'll be stressed that they're not being prepared for PSLE or that the topics they're studying are not directly relevant to exams, then I think perhaps the GEP might not be the right fit...

[cafemug]

Thank you all for your precious replies. I’m really touched seeing so many of you sharing your experiences and thoughtsw .

Tomorrow’s the talk. Hopefully we will make the best decision. To go or not to go. And which schools to choose.

[fable]

cafemug:

Thank you all for your precious replies. I'm really touched seeing so many of you sharing your experiences and thoughtsw .

Tomorrow's the talk. Hopefully we will make the best decision. To go or not to go. And which schools to choose.

You'll still have some time to think about it after today's talk. We found that at the end of the day not all our questions were answered and it was a leap of faith we had to take. So alot really depended on whether our boy wanted to take the jump. As much as he did choose the GEP and are glad for having had the opportunity, I think the process of thinking through our options was as important as the final decision we made. There really is no objectively right or wrong decision - just one that is right for you at this point in time

[Cattac]

I have a few queries, hope someone kind enough to help me out


What are the opportunities available for this group of GEP students in terms of stretching them after primary school in IB, IP or GE based education, would they still be segregated into GEP classes or all mixed abilities classes?

would the GEP students still get the privilege of GEP education once they are in secondary school?

Under the revised DSA admission, general academic abilities have been removed, meaning to say that no more privileges given to GEP students. Since not all GEP students are equal in abilities in terms of all the 4 PSLE examinable subjects, their overall PSLE score would be pulled down by their weaker subject(s). What opportunities would be given this group of GEP students in terms of post PSLE gifted education?

If they are unable to enter the IB , IP or GE based education, based on PSLE score and school’s cutoff point, what is the purpose of grooming them for 3 years in primary school, only to neglect and penalised them based on the one-off PSLE performance?

They are still gifted children right? But will suddenly be labeled as "normal".

Thanks

[blur_mum]

From what i understand from the briefing, Gep is not the stepping stone for DSA nor a ticket to post Gep classes. If the child qualifies for IP school (via DSA or PSLE scores), the child would hve to compete for post GEP secondary places with all mainstream students on its merit. Selection criteria via various IP schools differ. I believe that if Gep students can get through IP school n meet 70% benchmark during primary Gep, the IP schools would very likely to give them a place. Having said that, it is also possible for mainstream students to join the post secondary GEP after their own internal selection test. Being in GEP doesnt guarantee PSLE scores, as i know of geppers who score only 230 and did not manage to get any CO for DSA. They will go to 2nd tier secondary schools. Having said that, there is no right and wrong decision. Parents know their child well. They need to know whether GEP education is for their kid and whether they will flourish and do well…(Able to manage GEP, DSA, PSLE). We have to use our gut feelings. If they are able to cope, i believe they will have an interesting primary education.

[sean wife]

I would say that out of the entire GEP cohort, probably less than 10% are real gifted in either maths or English…these are probably the ones who have no problems getting DSA into the top schools (which has SBGE) based on their exceptional ability in specific subjects. The rest of the children are what I consider to be high (or v high) ability and probably not that much different from the high ability kids in MS. So this group of children rightfully will need to contest with all the rest of the MS cohort for a place in the secondary school they would like to go to. No special considerations given.

[zac's mum]

In light of: first the official removal of secondary school GEP, and recently the removal of DSA by General academic ability (and possibly in future, specific academic ability), I believe the primary school GEP will "return" to serve its originally intended group of children.


This is what I have guessed over the years, based on my reading between the lines: there is a very small group of P3 children who are extra talented in English literacy (reading and vocab at secondary school level) and/or Math principles (interest, knowledge and application of university level Theorems)…AND are able to think out of the box to solve IQ-type questions…

These are the children who are selected from the tests. NOT those who are musically/artistically gifted. Nor those who are merely good at aceing exams. In fact whether they are good in the usual school exams is an irrelevant predictor. So many cases to correlate this.

However, whether or not the selected kids will benefit from and thrive in the 3 short years of GEP, I believe the most clear-cut cases are where the child is suffering from lack of brain stimulation in the mainstream program. To the point where he’s acting out or stone cold bored & switched off in class. Or no friends because of different brain waves. In those cases, better to go to GEP.

Those who are happy in their current school, very difficult to make the decision. Especially if already doing well academically (can just continue in mainstream and do well in PSLE), or having other sources of brain stimulation (Math Olympiad opportunities, music/art giftedness etc), or maybe strong attachment to current school and friends (for some personality types, familiarity is simply more important than a new opportunity).

In short, I believe the push factors are more relevant in recent years. The pull factors, especially for a short 3-year specialized course, are simply not so alluring anymore. Maybe that’s why the number of classes are being reduced. Falling demand?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on my analysis. Especially from those parents who’ve been through it. I’m just an observer.

[Zappy]

I don’t think there is a falling demand - quite sure that the classes will all be filled if they still keep to the original number of classes. After all, there are some parents who don’t want their kids "labelled as normal".


More likely cause is that the GEP still wants to keep the criteria instead of merely expanding it to the top x-hundred kids. So with the lower number of kids overall in Singapore, if they maintain that cut-off, then the number of kids going into GEP should naturally drop.