CHIJ St Nicholas Girls'
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Perhaps suggest to Anna (school bus operator), whether possible for any of her school bus drivers that pick up children from Braddell / Novena / Toa Payoh / Bukit Timah canal area : can detour a bit to your Newton area, pick up your 2019 P1 daughter as a last stop, anywhere along the way, before exit to Expressway (highway), turn into St Nick (Ang Mo Kio, Street 13) ?
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Hi, I’m new to this forum. My dd might be transferring to St Nicks P3 next year.
Just wanted to ask your views on whether you think St Nicks is holistic, ie places emphasis on character development, pupils’ well being etc, or it’s geared more towards academic?
If your child is currently in St Nicks, would you mind sharing about her school experience? Is she enjoying school?
I’ve read some of the previous posts and it seems quite a competitive environment.
Tk you! -
What was your question ?
Your question is, "Is it competitive, studying inside St Nick ? "
Currently, due to streaming at the end of P2 into " Top 3 " Primary 3 classes, it caused stress to St Nick parents (pupils), and you will find some very competitive P2 students, amongst their fellow classmates, because of streaming.
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Example (real-life incident, sharing )
Some of these P2 students are so competitive, that they chased after the Top girl in class, keen to see her Report card content.
Strange thing is, this pupil is not even close to the Top girl, hardly even talk to her in class before & weirdly, suddenly out-of-the-blue start asking the Top girl : how many marks did she get, for whatever subject, she’s trying to compare herself with ?
Now, a logical question that pop out in our adult mind is, How come this pupil, behave like this ? Who taught her ? Strange, isn’t it ?
Some more, this pupil so young, only P2 (8 year old), already behaved like that ! Probably taught or "trained" by her kiasu mother, to run after the Top girl in class, asked such personal detailed questions, regarding people’s Exam marks .
Why want to ask ? because this P2 pupil want to compare : is she better, or is Top girl better, in certain subject ? Shocking behavior, coming from a student so young, at 8 year old !
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However, going forward, from 2019 onwards, since Moe had done away with P1, P2, P3 SA1, so Lower primary not competitive.
If your girl transfer into this school, no more P3 SA1. She only need encounter streaming, end of P4. This is the only time where she faces competition, from school-mates.
Since MOE had already removed odd-levels SA1 exam, de-emphasized on grades (score), it is only a matter of time before all primary schools in Singapore one by one, eliminate the existence of Top 2 classes in Upper primary (P5 and P6) : as it is causing a lot of undue stress to students, during streaming. The growing trend, coming from the Top, ie. MOE directive, is that "All classes to become Mixed-ability classes". And a number of primary schools had already implemented this, ie. abolished "Top 2 classes", including most of the GEP schools, inside the Mainstream classes.
If do away (abolish) with current P5 "Top 2 classes", P4 students won’t feel so stressed, during end of P4 streaming, since pupils will just be streamed into P5 "Mixed-ability" classes.
When will this happen, in St Nick ? Going forward, let’s hear from Principal (Mrs Fiona Tan) -
Speaking as an old girl of St Nicks, I must say that our old principal Mrs Hwang, was really visionary, ahead of her time. In our days, she had already implemented “no class rankings”, inter-class and intra-class. We had no external stress to compete with one another. The only “competition” came from within, to better our own selves.
Moving forward, once MOE implements the changes across all schools, I hope this stress-free environment will be pervasive in all schools. The improvements are already obvious in my son’s school. -
Tks for your input, phtthp and Zac’s mum.
I celebrate the move towards mixed ability classes. I think for a child’s social and emotional development, this is the right way forward.
I hv 2 other questions and would love to hear your thoughts
(1)From your experience of St Nicks, would you think St Nicks adopt a holistic approach to education ie not just focussing on completing the syllabus, but carve out time to incorporate other activities that build the children’s character and develop life skills?
(2) are pupils’ well being being considered in the implementation of programs/activities… for eg planning of time table?
I read on previous posts that some teachers hold their pupils back from recess to do corrections and they don’t get to eat. Is this a common practice?
Is there supposed to be a snack time within the curriculum? Is this implemented across the board or depends on whether the teacher wants to give the pupils a break?
Tks for your input -
chealtin:
Actually, depend on which class they get streamed into, at Upper primary.
I've read some of the previous posts and it seems quite a competitive environment.
Tk you!
Some girls are very relaxed.
Eg.
There is this P5 student who after go home everyday, don't study, can play with her dog whole day. Her parents both busy working, also don't bother, if she pass or fail her tests.
In contrast, if get streamed into Top few classes, chances are because they don't want to end up bottom of the class, so they tend to be very competitive, & hardworking.
Eg.
In recent 2018 P5 SA1 Maths : it is common to see many pupils scored 91 & above (A *) for Maths, in Top class. Placed on top of the Teacher's table, one can see a high pile of A* SA1 Maths papers, stacked up.
Eg (another)
Even if no subject Tr, no Form Tr is inside their classroom, automatically they will find something to do, to occupy their time.
So, if u happen to walk past one of the P5 Top classes, either find the girls doing their homework, or picking up a book to read, or studying on their own. -
P1 2019 WhatsApp group
https://chat.whatsapp.com/Jz6RPurWREBBvJuH8wtWWJ -
CHIJ St Nicholas Secondary Open house, on Saturday (24 November 2018), 9 am to 4 pm, after the release of 2018 PSLE results
https://sg.theasianparent.com/secondary-school-open-house-dates-2018/ -
Dear parents,
May I know is anyone of you are in the PSG? I would like to join the PSG and was wondering how do I go about it in joining?
Thank you! -
Hi, have any parents receive the invitation letter for P1/P2 Award Presentation from school on coming Wednesday? How do we know the cutoff score of the top 15% in the cohort for the excellence academic award?
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