All About GEP

[MdmKS]

NatTif Mummy:

I do not know what this gep dingy is abt few years back. When my gal got selected, with no extra coaching, I simply told her \"fast moving vehicle move to the right, that's why you have to go to gep.\"

She is a fast learner, by 8pm daily she will be playing with neighbour's dog downstair, yet top her level. She told me she actually felt bored in class. She hates the gep label from day 1. I still do not know how this programme will affect her in long run, but I see her becomimg a independent learner and her thinking is more mature than cousins of the same age. To what I see, it's a fruitful 3 yrs for her.
My niece, who is a yr younger, also in gep, needs alot of coaching and guidance from my sis. I feel stressed just by seeing the mom screaming at the gal to do this & that homework every weekend.
For my younger gal taking the screening test this fri, well, slow moving vehicle better keep to the left.

I agree that the labelling of gep do more harm than good to the child. Hopefully something can be done to remove this labelling. The enriched programs overall is fine so long as the child enjoys it.

[Merlion]

Sorry, I am just curious ... how can a teacher in JC or university knows if a student is previously from GEP? :?

[edanson]

Father of 3[quote]I only heard AMEC when my boy was selected this year in P6.[/quote]
Yes, me too.
I only heard of it this year but my understanding from the school is that it is a 2 hours lesson conducted in the school by GEP maths teacher. My boy has to stay back to attend the lesson. Not too sure if it is really good.

According to my boy, there are normally about ten students attending the lesson.

[tankee]

NatTif Mummy:

....\"fast moving vehicle move to the right, that's why you have to go to gep.\" ....

....slow moving vehicle better keep to the left.

:goodpost: agree with you. GEP is not for everyone.

It is better for slower moving vehicle to keep left than try to keep pace with faster moving vehicles in the right lane and risk burning out the engine.

Likewise, fast moving vehicle should stay right as going at constant slow pace is equally bad.

While all of us believe and hope that our kids are the smarter ones, we should really open our eyes and not force them to be what they are not. Slower moving vehicle in left lanes can still be successful and be happy in life.

[Fairy]

tankee:

NatTif Mummy:

....\"fast moving vehicle move to the right, that's why you have to go to gep.\" ....

....slow moving vehicle better keep to the left.

:goodpost: agree with you. GEP is not for everyone.

It is better for slower moving vehicle to keep left than try to keep pace with faster moving vehicles in the right lane and risk burning out the engine.

Likewise, fast moving vehicle should stay right as going at constant slow pace is equally bad.

While all of us believe and hope that our kids are the smarter ones, we should really open our eyes and not force them to be what they are not. Slower moving vehicle in left lanes can still be successful and be happy in life.

Albeit all these talk & discussion about GEP:
- the anxiousness & desires of parents of P3 or younger kids trying/hoping to get their kids in the programe,
- the unfair advantage accorded to GEPers as alleged by parents whose kids are not selected for the programe &
- the pride & defensiveness of parents whose kids are already in the programme.

I would like to share that nowadays, this GEP label is really only for 3 years, ie. P4 to P6 of a GEPer's school life, defintely not a life-long label as claimed by some. This has been the case since MOE has decided to 'discontinue' the GE programe in secondary schools and let the various IP schools run their own 'gifted' programe.

At these IP schools, students are from both GE & mainstream. There is no separate programe for those coming from the GEP, no separate label/class for these students as GE students and no special treatment for these group of students. The majority of them are still grouped together to enable the teachers to plan the delivery of their lessons as these group of students had already had a headstart in independent learning. In fact, at top IP schools, those from mainstream are also high achievers and are integrated among the primary GEP students. By about a month after settling down in the new IP school, the acronym GEP would have been totally dropped.

Perhaps, the 'GEP label' were only 'stuck' with those from the earlier batches whom MOE constantly tracks to measure the success of their programe. I believe it's matter of time before MOE totally abandon the primary GE programe.

[mathsparks]

Fairy:

At these IP schools, students are from both GE & mainstream. There is no separate programe for those coming from the GEP, no separate label/class for these students as GE students and no special treatment for these group of students. The majority of them are still grouped together to enable the teachers to plan the delivery of their lessons as these group of students had already had a headstart in independent learning. In fact, at top IP schools, those from mainstream are also high achievers and are integrated among the primary GEP students. By about a month after settling down in the new IP school, the acronym GEP would have been totally dropped.


Perhaps, the 'GEP label' were only 'stuck' with those from the earlier batches whom MOE constantly tracks to measure the success of their programe. I believe it's matter of time before MOE totally abandon the primary GE programe.

Hi fairy,

I think some distinction is still made at lower sec.

At the briefings that I attended, GEP students in HCI are grouped under the iSparks consortium in Sec1/2 while in RI, they are grouped under the Raffles Academy. Only NUSH doesn't distinguish the kids from GEP and mainstream.

Not sure about other ip schools.

[chengsmummy]

mathsparks:

Hi fairy,


I think some distinction is still made at lower sec.

At the briefings that I attended, GEP students in HCI are grouped under the iSparks consortium in Sec1/2 while in RI, they are grouped under the Raffles Academy. Only NUSH doesn't distinguish the kids from GEP and mainstream.

Not sure about other ip schools.

Don't think the GEP mark will only sustain for 3 years.
In RGS sec 1 and sec2, there are 13 classes, the GEPs and the PSLE high scorers are grouped into the last 4 classes(10 to 13), not sure whether they have different program than the others, but I observed that all the students in 113 this year have attended the math olympic competition, where only some students from the other classes were required to attend.
As for Raffles Academy,my understanding is it will happened by end of sec2, those students can score GPA3.8 above can be chosen to join this program.

[Fairy]

mathsparks:

Hi fairy,


I think some distinction is still made at lower sec.

At the briefings that I attended, GEP students in HCI are grouped under the iSparks consortium in Sec1/2 while in RI, they are grouped under the Raffles Academy. Only NUSH doesn't distinguish the kids from GEP and mainstream.

Not sure about other ip schools.

At HCI, all primary GEP students are grouped into ISparks. However, there are also many many students from primary mainstreamers in ISparks. In fact, the 'top' consortium in HCI is not ISparks, but Ortus! (inside info) Anyway, most GEP boys are at RI, so not many in HCI.

At RI, Raffles Academy(RA) is not GEP. RA is a 'gifted' programme for sec 3s & 4s. (not necc from primary GEP). Entrance is by selection, by subject only, based on extra-ordinary talent in that particular subject as spotted by teachers. Students must meet a minimum academic achievement at sec2, and convinced a panel of interviewers that he is worthy of the programme.

At RI, sec1 & 2, six of the classes would have both GEPers & mainstreamers. There is nothing to indicate that they are GEP classes. In fact, the word GEP is not used in RI. For every class of aprox 30, there will be around 5 mainstreamers. The rest of the classes are those who were admitted via Sports/Music DSA. Curriculum accross all the classes are the same.

[MdmKS]

Fairy:

At HCI, all primary GEP students are grouped into ISparks. However, there are also many many students from primary mainstreamers in ISparks. In fact, the 'top' consortium in HCI is not ISparks, but Ortus! (inside info) Anyway, most GEP boys are at RI, so not many in HCI.

What kind of students are in Ortus? if not GEPers, to make it top consortium? From what I know there are still a lot of GEP students choose to go HCI. For at least there quite a lot of GEP students choose to go HCI in my school last year when they were offered both. Are you saying RI has more ex-GEPers than that in HCI? Perhaps. Do you know have the figure?

[zen_mum]

Hi schellen and sashimi!

Wow, husband and wife team, very cool

sashimi:

zen_mum, I'm from the 3rd batch. You?

I was from the 2nd batch. So was DH. There were only 2 GEP schools then if I remember correctly. Talk about guinea pigs...

sashimi:

GEP is not for everyone. It certainly wasn't for me. I *know* I am smart, and I have valuable talents - unfortunately for me, they simply weren't the kind (academic, sciences, maths, blah blah) that the GEP (then anyway) valued. I suffered, simply because of that. Today many of my ex-classmates are doing great in life, they earn more than me, they fly higher than me. Some of them were even counseled by me back in school! (One thing though, almost all the high flyers went science, the arts pple have mostly ended up as teachers - but nothing new for Sg).

Ha, my DH has always said that he suffered tremendously then and till today insists the powers-that-be made a terrible mistake in the selection (usually when relatives ask him to coach their kids through the GEP screening tests ).

I have a number of classmates/juniors who pursued arts degree; most of them are teachers today who are greatly passionate about their job. Many more went into the various sciences though, hmm, probably because they were brilliant in math/science in the first place.
DH wanted to go to a liberal arts college, but was coerced to go to med school instead because most of his family are physicians. His insufferable parents were ready to disown him if he did not comply with their wishes.
As for me, I was not good at anything... Bad at math and science. Not very good with languages. The only thing I could do was argue very well! Not many choices left for a career...

My younger cousins who have gone through GEP tells me that their classmates have gone into hotel management, banking, food sciences, human resources, etc. And many are teachers. I love that

sashimi:

The GEP has probably changed a lot since the 1980s, so I make not judgments on the programme now.

You're right, it has changed a lot since our early guinea pig years. The focus in the curriculum is very different today, as I gather from my young relatives.

So, sashimi, I take it you're not \"celebrating 25 years of GEP\" hahahahaha.