Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary
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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… -
Trapwithin:
I can think of one suitable candidate : Mr Mah Bow Tan....hahaha.....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. -
php:
The school has underestimated our kids' intelligence level and their KPO-ness.
:lol: -
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.
Sounds exactly like what my Own primary school Class used to have in \"Years\" Gone-by ....
The Students were distributed based on 1st to A-Class, 2nd to B-Class, ....6th to F-Class, then 7th - Back to A-Class again, and so on ....
These were done from P2 onwards .... and we have the same classmates thru P2 to P6, and the same FT during those years as well ....
So for the next few years, Top students can come from any class, be it A-class or F-class ....
Pros and Cons ....
Yes, a well-mixed Lot .... and Teachers need to be Quite a \"Well-Rounder\" to be able to handle such mixed ability Lot - to Inspire the Strong students (Else \"BORING\"-lah), to Help \"pull-up\" the Weaker students (Else BLUR-BLUR-lah).... Very Strong \"Bond\" formed with Classmates .....
Not so Good .... if U happen to be the weaker students and \"Ear-marked\" early in the lower Primary years, then \"Gone-Case\" for the Poor Kid .... Also, Favouritism to the better students .... Afterall, Teacher also \"Human\" what .....
But Guess with Subjects Banding, the situation could improve ....
By the way, My Gal was saying, with subject banding class, at every \"RING\" of the Period, She has to packed like \"MAD\" and rush to another Class for lessons. She's always very envious of her classmates who could stay-put in their own class for the subject banding class ....
Spends at least 5 min before the class can settle down to start Lessons ....
But as long as it Works, Guess a bit of \"Exercise\" in bet Periods won't Hurt .... -
Hi Funx3, wah....u posted at 3 plus am!! No wonder this thread is going so fast...hehe...:lol:
I remember reading somewhere in this thread that besides banding HCL, the school will also band Math. Can you share how it's done at P5 for Math? Will the kids be busy moving classes? Thanks. -
Pei Hwa is popular and has a WOW factor…tough exam papers and fierce teachers. When I meet parents who have kids in other schools, they tell me how academic driven PH is.
I do wish the principal is friendly and acknowledges the students when they greet her. This reminds me of the principal I had in secondary school who only acknowledges the students who have rich parents. :x -
markfch:
Agreed, but people tends to compare from top down and not bottom up.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.
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.
Adults will compare about housing and cars .. so kids will compare on classes and results.
This are not healthy but yet hard to remove.
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