Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary
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Jennifer:
One parent once said, \" it doesn't take a genius to know that CH is the top class. All the top in cohort prizes go to them.\"dyh:
They will not tell which is the best class. Banding would only start from P2 to P3. So P1 pupils will have the same classmates in P2. All these are considered because the principal is concerned about students in weaker classes feeling inferior at present, based on her conversation with them.
I doubt any difference will be felt for the present classes. Everyone already knows which class has the better students. Sch can change the class name, one needs only to look at who are the pupils in the class, one will know the std of the class.
At present, P1 pupils are not streamed at the start of the year. If no streaming at end of P2, then cant tell. Come P3 still cant tell. But which class is the old CH is likely to be out in P4 since the sch has this year end prize giving scheme for top pupils in each subj (cant remember is it top 10 pupils?) in addition to top 3 class positions. The name and the class are announced when the pupil gets onto the stage to receive the trophy. From past observations, almost all prize holders for top subj come from CH. Then based on who is in the next year P5, again which old CH can be deduced.
Maybe it will be more difficult to tell apart which is old FA, GR, etc. But old CH can be derived at fairly accurately. JMHO -
markfch:
Basically, i think it is a good programme. Implementation will be difficult because it will definitely face with parent's resistance. From my point of view, NYPS has taken the wrong step. It must be implemented across the entire cohort and parent's must not have the option to opt so that all kids will benefit from the programme.
I was kpo-ing at the NYPS thread and read that the sch gave parents a choice whether to participate in this about-to-be-launched collage programme or not. Apparently most parents there were not in favour of this initiative so they opted out.php:
\"Cottage\" class is a new pilot project and I don't think it will come to PHPPS soon.
If PH decides to implement this, wonder if PH will give students the flexibility to opt out? Personally I'm also not in favour of this programme as I prefer ds to be in a group that is of similiar standard so that teachers can focus on teaching at a level that's most beneficial to all. I mean I put myself in the shoes of those teachers. In a mixed ability class, I'll naturally focus my attention on the weakest students so that they don't fail. But the end result may be that the faster kids will feel bored and unchallenged. If they focused on the faster students, the slower ones may become demoralized.
Actually I'm quite confused with the mixed signals that MOE is sending. On one hand, there is this banding scheme to group students of similiar stds together. On the other, they're trying to experiment with this. :? Obviously I do not have the full picture so I may mis-judge the effectiveness of this new initiative. But I know I'll take some convincing it's for the better.
The \"collage\" class will be the form class and the kids with be together for certain subjects mainly non-exam subjects such as CME, PE and etc. For example if there is a project for CME, the brighter kid will be appointed as the group leader and those with less abilities will be as members of the group. In this case, kids will learn from each others and they will be exposed to skills such leadership skills, interpersonal communication skills and etc...
Apart from that, they can do subject banding for the entire cohort for subjects such as Maths and CL. The kids will go to different classes based on their subject abilities. This will not affect their pace of learning.
The school may go to the extend of creating different level of worksheet, maybe L1, L2 and L3. Kids with less abilities will have to compulsory attempt L1 worksheet but they are allow to skip the L3 worksheet. If your kid is of high abilities, then he will have to attempt up to L3 worksheets.
As i mentioned earlier, the implementation will be difficult. It will be up to the individual school how they carry out this programme. On the whole, i think it is a good programme as kids are given the chance to mix around with other kids with different background. Just treat it as a NS preview for your kids or like in your workplace where you will meet and interact with all sort of people. -
php:
I agree with this.Apart from that, they can do subject banding for the entire cohort for subjects such as Maths and CL. The kids will go to different classes based on their subject abilities. This will not affect their pace of learning.
The school may go to the extend of creating different level of worksheet, maybe L1, L2 and L3. Kids with less abilities will have to compulsory attempt L1 worksheet but they are allow to skip the L3 worksheet. If your kid is of high abilities, then he will have to attempt up to L3 worksheets.
Parents also hv to learn to manage the feelings of their child and affirms other non-academic attributes of their child.
Most importantly, the sch must hv good committed teachers across the levels. No point having a good system but non-committed teachers to execute the work. O/wise only ended up with dissatisfied parents like me who feels that it is impt to go to a better class. -
Maybe I’m a skeptic. Too many factors involved to make it works.
If Grace Fu is made the Minister of MOE after the next election and drive this hard, maybe it will succeed but I’m still having my doubts. Idealism and actual implementation can be miles apart even though the program itself is good. MOE is one of the hardest Ministry to restructure and thus far do not have a Minister that stays long enough to do the work. Will have to wait and see. -
I attended my ex-primary school class gathering during this CNY and my FT for P5/P6 was there. She taught in PHPPS for a period of time. She asked about my girl and wanted to know where my girl is studying. When she heard Pei Hwa, she told me something…overall is a good school but there is one thing you can’t find in other schools…the students will go to the extent of comparing the amount of homework they have. they will question their teachers why the other class is having the worksheet and they don’t have…i wonder whether the kids ask for themselves or the parents get the kids to ask their teachers???
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php:
How about having differentiated questions in a worksheet, instead of differentiating the worksheets. The same worksheet will be assigned to all the banded classes. The high-ability class can attempt all the questions, the middle-ability can also try and do that, as for the weaker ones, they must do the basic questions, yet the rest of the more difficult questions are still opened for them to attempt but not compulsory. Solutions should still be given to these unattempted questions. In this case, they will not feel so 'differentiated' doing only worksheets meant for their ability. They could also be exposed to more challenging questions at the same time.Apart from that, they can do subject banding for the entire cohort for subjects such as Maths and CL. The kids will go to different classes based on their subject abilities. This will not affect their pace of learning.
The school may go to the extend of creating different level of worksheet, maybe L1, L2 and L3. Kids with less abilities will have to compulsory attempt L1 worksheet but they are allow to skip the L3 worksheet. If your kid is of high abilities, then he will have to attempt up to L3 worksheets. -
Trapwithin:
I think the main objective of renaming the classes is not to obscure which class is CH but more to conceal which are the weaker classes. As we all know, steoreotyping has such a powerful effect especially on young children. I can imagine that if a bunch of 8-9 yrs old kids are told they're in the worst class, they will act like the worst class (even if they're capable of better things). Experiements have shown that teachers will modify their teachings based on their perception of the calibre of their classes.
One parent once said, \" it doesn't take a genius to know that CH is the top class. All the top in cohort prizes go to them.\"Jennifer:
At present, P1 pupils are not streamed at the start of the year. If no streaming at end of P2, then cant tell. Come P3 still cant tell. But which class is the old CH is likely to be out in P4 since the sch has this year end prize giving scheme for top pupils in each subj (cant remember is it top 10 pupils?) in addition to top 3 class positions. The name and the class are announced when the pupil gets onto the stage to receive the trophy. From past observations, almost all prize holders for top subj come from CH. Then based on who is in the next year P5, again which old CH can be deduced.
Maybe it will be more difficult to tell apart which is old FA, GR, etc. But old CH can be derived at fairly accurately. JMHO
Though initally I've my misgivings over this & the collage thingy, suddenly the motto of the sch popped into my head and I realised that serving God & nation doesn't need excellent academic results. But empathy & kindness is much needed.
To provide our pupils with an all-rounded, bilingual education that will develop them into responsible and forward-looking individuals who will serve God and the nation. -
php:
When she heard Pei Hwa, she told me something...overall is a good school but there is one thing you can't find in other schools...the students will go to the extent of comparing the amount of homework they have. they will question their teachers why the other class is having the worksheet and they don't have.....i wonder whether the kids ask for themselves or the parents get the kids to ask their teachers??????
Haha. My post above will solve this problem... -
E3:
As what I have said before, it is up to the school how they are going to implement this \"collage\" class approach to make it a success and everybody benefits from the programme itself without affecting the learning pace of those higher abilities students. If this happen, my goodness, definitely more works for the teachers...
How about having differentiated questions in a worksheet, instead of differentiating the worksheets. The same worksheet will be assigned to all the banded classes. The high-ability class can attempt all the questions, the middle-ability can also try and do that, as for the weaker ones, they must do the basic questions, yet the rest of the more difficult questions are still opened for them to attempt but not compulsory. Solutions should still be given to these unattempted questions. In this case, they will not feel so 'differentiated' doing only worksheets meant for their ability. They could also be exposed to more challenging questions at the same time.php:
Apart from that, they can do subject banding for the entire cohort for subjects such as Maths and CL. The kids will go to different classes based on their subject abilities. This will not affect their pace of learning.
The school may go to the extend of creating different level of worksheet, maybe L1, L2 and L3. Kids with less abilities will have to compulsory attempt L1 worksheet but they are allow to skip the L3 worksheet. If your kid is of high abilities, then he will have to attempt up to L3 worksheets.
So all the students will be spread out and the top student or top subject student can come from any class....the possible reason why they are considering changing the class name is to get rid of \"the old thinking\" that Charity is the best class. This is what i think so... -
The school has underestimated our kids’ intelligence level and their KPO-ness. When I was picking my dd home one day, my dd pointed to me a boy and told me that this boy was very naughty in class, lazy and didn’t do his homework and mentioned which class he was from. I asked her how she knew about that since he was not her classmate and she told me "someone" told her…OMG… P1 already so KPO…
why i said that? do you think that changing the class name will be able to hide where all the top students are…if you don’t know where they are, go and ask my girl…hahaha…
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