School of Science and Technology

[vintagecrush1611]

Hi to all parents’ whose child is in SST now, appreciate if anyone can advise how the school culture is like, the academics stress level, is the child happy or regret, etc?

[sandara3]

Hi, my kid is in sec1 this year. The class sizes are small, so everyone gets to know everyone else pretty easily. So far it seems to be a friendly school culture, my kid has made many friends and the seniors are nice also. On the academic side of things, they have a lot of projects, solo and also group work for every subject. So an ability to work well with others is a must. I think during the phase 2 of selection, the school actually look for this trait in the prospective students. So far it seems to be pretty enjoyable, the stress comes from having to handle more subjects and having a lot of group work, but every day is exciting and flies by very fast, according to my kid. So far no regrets sending my kid there, and he has no regrets also. it will be a very fun place if your kid is into STEM.

[vintagecrush1611]

Hi Sandara,


Thank you for replying.

1. You mentioned there are a lot of projects. Are there tests every term? Understand from my friend whose son is in AHS, he has exam every term.

2. How’s the daily school timing like especially after cca? We live in the East so location is actually my main concern.

3. My son likes coding and programming. That’s why we are considering SST. Not sure if you have any comparison with other schs but from what you see in your son’s studies, how different is SST in academics with the rest?

[sandara3]

Hi!

1) Yes, there are tests, but generally... if a subject is tested that term, there isn't a project for it. If the kids did a project for a subject, then it is not tested. I think there were a couple of exceptions, but this seems to be the case. The teachers do seem to prepare the kids well for the tests though. Revision materials is always given through google classrooms and mock tests the week before the actual test too.

2) School usually finishes at around 2+. Mondays and Thursdays start late at 8.40am, but end late at 3pm.
CCA usually ends at 5.30pm (the exception being Robotics which ends at 6pm) and is held on Wed and Fri. Some CCAs are twice a week, some once a week. I have seen some parents form a group and charter a small bus to bring their kids to school, since they live very far away.

3) I don't have any other kids, so I can't really compare, but there is this subject in SST called Changemakers and I think it's very fun for kids who like programming and tech stuff in general. They have this arduino set and they will do some projects with it and they learn basic engineering stuff also (ICs, gates, components, do simple circuits on a breadboard and stuff like that). In sec 2 or 3 they will get to learn coding as well - Python, if i remember correctly.
However, a lot of kids in SST already know how to code even before they start sec 1, but the school do teach them from scratch.

SST also has this optional program outside of academics called SST Inc where they learn to make apps.

Maths and Science are accelerated; i think they cover stuff faster than mainstream sec schools and for some subjects they don't really follow the textbook. Teachers give a lot of their own notes.

[vintagecrush1611]

Thank you Sandara for all info. Perhaps, two more qns.


1. For CCA, is it by audition to get selected?

2. Any idea on the ratio of the students’ races and gender?

[sandara3]

Glad to be of help!

For CCA, they will have a few weeks to sign up for and try any CCAs they are interested in. These are trials/auditions, yes. After that students will have to fill up a form with their top 6 choices and the school will allocate the CCA.

I am not sure of the ratio, but there are more boys than girls.

[Serendipity]

Any parents can share what the DSA process is like for SST?

[vintagecrush1611]

Hi Sandara, I’ve PM-ed you. Appreciate if you could read when you are free. Thanks

[junningjas]

https://postimg.cc/qNq6Jd1W


This year round one is not for every applicant?

Sst going to shortlist based on the 10 achievements?

[phtthp]

junningjas\" post_id=\"2107783\" time=\"1683428848\" user_id=\"200792:

https://postimg.cc/qNq6Jd1W

This year round one is not for every applicant?

Sst going to shortlist based on the 10 achievements?

Yes, correct

Past years : everyone who applied to SST, can take Round 1 test. SST had never used the word \"short-listed\", before.

But wef this year (2023), only short-listed applicants can attend Round 1 test. Not everyone, can.