Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary

[janet88]

dyh,

I'm kinda bochap about his 默写/spelling since the start of this year. Just study for it lah, but no need to score 100%...got more impt stuff to do.

I've always though that getting into Pei Hwa was like 'WOW' until the CA1 and Parent-Teacher meeting...just can't make myself convinced with the answers that the teacher gave regarding Science...don't tell me MR SCIENCE HOD is better than all the Science assessment book authors ??

[4lessStress]

Dear P5 Parents,


My son came back with a disastrous result for his science SA1. 64/100.
I am wondering what has gone wrong. Was the paper too tough? I’ve seen the papers and there were many application questions. I am wondering if the students are taught how to tackle such questions in class.
Somehow, I feel that the teaching and the testing are not in sync.
My child is already P5 and it is definitely demoralising to get results like this when he has put in the effort.
P5 results are taken into consideration for DSA application. Sad to say, his SA1 results is no use now.

[Jennifer]

4lessStress:

I am wondering if the students are taught how to tackle such questions in class.

Somehow, I feel that the teaching and the testing are not in sync.

I feel the same way too during my elder boy's time. That's why I made him read the qns and model ans in Janet Sim's assessment books. If think of depend on sch teachers and textbooks, really cant make it.

Your boy still has SA2 to pull up the overall. Continue to work hard and work smart too. A quantum improvement in SA2 may also improve DSA application chances. Just my 2 cts.

[Jennifer]

janet_lee88:

I've always though that getting into Pei Hwa was like 'WOW' until

That's why hubby asked me want to transfer my younger boy out or not?

[4lessStress]

Jennifer:

janet_lee88:

I've always though that getting into Pei Hwa was like 'WOW' until

That's why hubby asked me want to transfer my younger boy out or not?

I know of parents who have transferred their children or are considering transfers for their children. But this is not a good option after P3. If the PHPPS staff and management have \"infiltrated\" this website (which I believe they have), I hope that they know the sentiments out there and do something good about it. Still keeping my fingers crossed.....

[tweet]

4lessStress:

Jennifer:

[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]I've always though that getting into Pei Hwa was like 'WOW' until

That's why hubby asked me want to transfer my younger boy out or not?

I know of parents who have transferred their children or are considering transfers for their children. But this is not a good option after P3. If the PHPPS staff and management have \"infiltrated\" this website (which I believe they have), I hope that they know the sentiments out there and do something good about it. Still keeping my fingers crossed.....[/quote]Actually in every sch there are teachers who have the passion and experience to teach, Same for PH,it all depends on 'heng\" or \"suay\" like lucky draw, who are teaching your child. My child's teachers in fact asked the class who have tuitions. In fact, one student do not have tuition for certain subjects, he was asked \" you got no tuition?\". Guess that when he knows that majority of the class have tuitions, he will be more relieved, not so stressed lor!!!

[Jennifer]

4lessStress:

If the PHPPS staff and management have \"infiltrated\" this website (which I believe they have),

:? why did you say this?

[kohhweelin.010441gmail.010441com]

janet_lee88:

I've always though that getting into Pei Hwa was like 'WOW' until

To me...getting into PH is still like \"WOW\"...

I've spoken to many of my dd's ex-kindy classmates from other primary schools, PHPPS's exam papers are still of a certain standard and quality (EMC) so it could have been worse at some other places...

After reading all the hooha on the science papers, I had a couple of queries to ask parents whose kids had done PHPPS science papers, regardless of level.

First of all, for this SA1 P4 Science paper, I see it as a 'technical glitch', ie. questions not to be tested were set so unfairness arose, a retest was required (though I am not sure whether it's the best resolution). It's a case of setting the wrong questions, but are the rest of the questions poorly set too?

1) What I would like to know is on top of this 'glitch', is the quality of the questions in the paper good? Are they comparable to the ones in other top school science papers? Ultimately, did it assess the kids on what they had learnt?

2) For the P5 paper, 4lessStress mentioned there were many application questions, but are these questions good, thought-provoking questions (set aside the quality of teachers or teaching)? Is it across the board that P5 did badly for science?

3) For the way the HOD science answered Jennifer, it shows his lack of EQ, but are the paper generally of a good standard, a fair and challenging paper for the kids? Cos I assumed he was the vetter, not the setter, he probably did not have the answers to all the questions so came up with some lame excuse.

I am asking all these cos I do not want to lose all hope for PHPPS science. I just want to stand in a different point of view and not attacking the person which gave me an impression of poor science papers.

I hope someone can provide a more diplomatic view on the science papers.

[Jennifer]

E3:

I hope someone can provide a more diplomatic view on the science papers.

I wld be the last person who can give any view becos I do not hv access to other sch's papers. Last year my elder boy did some other schs' papers at sch, but I did not look at the content.

I believe the std of the paper is good. My elder boy who is strong in Science does not score full marks in paper 2 during P5/P6. There is always one or two qn that require application of concepts. The pupil must be able to read the qn closely to decide what's the key point the qn is looking at. My boy sometimes was unable to do so.

But the issue we hv here is not abt the std of the paper. Rather it is how the concepts are taught and how these are linked to applications. It is easy to teach concepts but harder to link the concepts to applications. A teacher can take the easy way out, just teach according to the textbook which is already quite bare.

My P3 boy lost 10 marks each in paper 1 and paper 2. Mostly careless mistakes in paper 1 (MCQ). As for paper 2, he has got the tactic of answering correct but still needs some polishing. For example, the topic Living Things. There are 5 characteristics, one of them: ability to grow. A qn was on plants not watered and soon wilted. The model ans is unable to survive. My boy wrote \"unable to grow\" which is marked wrong. So here's an area the child must be able to know when to change the word to be used for that particular instance. Cannot just memorise blindly. Is this taught in class by the teacher? I doubt so. Then again, do we expect the teacher to teach every single tactic of how to ans a qn?

There was a MCQ qn that has this phrase \"good conductor of heat\". But nowhere in the textbook is this concept mentioned. Is this considered challenging? I just know cannot rely solely on textbook or the sch teacher.

[4lessStress]

[quote]For the P5 paper, 4lessStress mentioned there were many application questions, but are these questions good, thought-provoking questions (set aside the quality of teachers or teaching)? Is it across the board that P5 did badly for science?[/quote]
I was informed that the highest mark for P5 entire standard is 81. Don't you think that is low? I would also like to know what is the standard average for this subject. Will know by next week and post it here.