Time schedule & life of Secondary School

[Fairy]

daisyt:

I am wondering how is the time schedule of your kids in sec school ? IP and non IP.


I am a bit worried and lost. My girl in IP, sec 1 and she is like so busy everyday. Morning she has to wake up at 5:30am and I try to insist her to go to bed at 10pm for sufficient sleep.

Every weekdays, she is always so busy, lots of homework and sometimes hardly has time to talk to her because don't want to disturb her.

Monday after 3rd language, reach home about 7:45.
Tuesday & Friday, after CCA, reach home about 7pm.
Wednesday, after either care and share or contact time with seniors, reach home about 4:30pm.
Thursday, no extra sessions to stay back after school hour, so can reach home earlier, about 3:30pm but then has piano lessons at home.
Sunday, almost spend the whole day doing homework or research, starting from 11:00 am till 10pm. In between has lunch and dinner time.

Everyday she is complaining tired and every Monday, she is dragging herself to go school. Saturday is the only time free and we would have some outing on that day so that she could relax herself.

Is this normal in Sec school life ? Already 2 months have past and she is still not getting used to this tight schedule. Is this normal ? She seems not to enjoy sec school life as much as primary school life. Is it common ? I am seeing her smiling face lesser compare to last year. I always talk to her, counsel her and trying to make her happy but seems not much effect. She always give me many negative feedbacks about sec school life and classmates. Any good advices ? Thanks

Like you, I am also very concerned about my son's long hours at school (IP) and his endless projects, assignments and homework.

Mon & Wed - Lesson ends at 3.15pm followed by Core CCA training till 6.30pm
Tues - Lesson ends at 1.35pm followed by 3rd Language at MOELC from 2.30pm to 5.45pm
Thurs - Lesson ends at 1.35pm followed by PSL meetings
Fri - Lesson ends at 12.45pm follwed by Merit CCAs (My son joins 3 merit CCAs!)
Sat - the occasional compulsory CCA activities.

Every morning, he wakes up at 5.30am, leaves the house at 6am and will not be home till almost 8pm, sometimes later when he has to participate in school events. He is usually very tired after hours under the hot sun and standing all the way in the mrt (more than an hours' journey with bus transfer) with a very heavy school bag. He takes his dinner, takes a bath and is back at his desk clearing his homework or at the internet 'chatting' with his project mates on group assignments or doing his e-learning. He sleeps at almost 11pm, occasionally later. I am very concerned about his health and how long he can carry on like that. I advised him to drop his merit CCAs which are not compulsory to free up time for rest but he is unwilling as those are the activities he enjoys. The coming one week holiday is already burnt as he has two overnight camps in school (one for the core CCA & the other organised by the merit CCA). Practically, he will be staying in school the whole week! I believe the school will not 'let them go' without piling them up with homework. I wonder how he can find time to do. Even as I am writing this, I feel stressed by his schedule. However, apart from tiredness, he is coping fine. I wish MOE will step in to limit the number of hours a school can make their students stay in school. When I asked a teacher why the need to overwhelm the kids with work & activities, the reply was, to my surprise,\" ask MOE, it's our education system\".

[karmeleon]

Fairy:

Fri - Lesson ends at 12.45pm follwed by Merit CCAs (My son joins 3 merit CCAs!)\".

What are Merit CCAs?

[phankao]

daisyt:

I am wondering how is the time schedule of your kids in sec school ? IP and non IP.


I am a bit worried and lost. My girl in IP, sec 1 and she is like so busy everyday. Morning she has to wake up at 5:30am and I try to insist her to go to bed at 10pm for sufficient sleep.

Every weekdays, she is always so busy, lots of homework and sometimes hardly has time to talk to her because don't want to disturb her.

My daughter is in a non-IP SAP school. Quite busy too. Also LOADS of homework.

Only difference is that her school is near our house, so she's back home quite quickly. Within 15 to 20mins, she's back. I'm only posting the times that she ends in school, not the time she reaches home, as such.

Mon: ends 2+pm, so back by 230pm, Has tuition 2hrs in the evening.
Tue: CCA until 7pm
Wed: Extra Class until 3.30pm, Karate whole evening
Thur: CCA until 7pm
Fri: ends 2+pm, has piano class, and has tuition in the evening
Sat: sometimes has extra CCA,
Sun: church & extra class in church.

So most days are occupied, lah.

[Zann]

[quote]Thurs - Lesson ends at 1.35pm followed by PSL meetings

.[/quote]What is PSL ?

[iamlim]

My son is in an IP school and my daughter is in another IP school. It’s normal for them to return home after 7pm. They don’t feel stressed so I think that’s OK. Both my kids are in their school’s string orchestras and they have not just piano lessons but also private lessons for their respective string instruments.


I think as parents, we should just support them silently. If we look stressed, our kids will be stressed too! Just take it easy. It’s quite normal in IP schools.

[Fairy]

Zann:

[quote]Thurs - Lesson ends at 1.35pm followed by PSL meetings

.

What is PSL ?[/quote]Peer Support Leaders - every sec 1 class is assigned a few sec4 PSLs. Weekly sessions are compulsory till beginning of term 2. The leaders are supposed to help integrate the juniors into the school & its neighbourhood. There are also team building sessions. I think it also gives the sec 4s a chance to horne their leadership skills!

[Fairy]

karmeleon:

Fairy:

Fri - Lesson ends at 12.45pm follwed by Merit CCAs (My son joins 3 merit CCAs!)\".

What are Merit CCAs?

Core CCA is compulsory and includes Uniform Group, Sports and performing arts (music related with SYF participation). Training sessions are at least twice a week and could stretched up to four times a week!

Merit CCAs are optional. But the school strongly encourage the students to join. These include the clubs & societies like Infocomm, Robotics, Science, Maths, Photography, Publication, AV, Debating & etc. Merit CCAs usually demands shorter hours (aprrox 2) and once a week. However, some, like Debating & Infocomm require more time commitments as competitions are involved.

It is quite common for students to juggle a few CCAs in his school.

[lizawa]

Fairy:

Merit CCAs are optional. But the school strongly encourage the students to join. These include the clubs & societies like Infocomm, Robotics, Science, Maths, Photography, Publication, AV, Debating & etc. Merit CCAs usually demands shorter hours (aprrox 2) and once a week. However, some, like Debating & Infocomm require more time commitments as competitions are involved.

It is quite common for students to juggle a few CCAs in his school.

Hi Fairy,

you child has good time management. it's not easy to juggle with so many CCAs. Already with 1 core CCA, my son is struggling to make time for everything.

[daisyt]

Managing two or more CCAs is really good time management. Her seniors mentioned to them if there is competition, they might need to go back everyday during school holidays, 9am to 5pm. :roll:

[Zann]

Fairy:

It is quite common for students to juggle a few CCAs in his school.

Yes, but not at the expense of one's health. Having enough sleep is very important at the age of growing, especially, even for we adults. Health should come first.

My son's school actually did advise them to choose just 1 CCA cos there will be many activities link-up with the CCA.