Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) [*IP]

[Choco05]

ms_lim:

Choco05:

Anybody wants to share what CCA they are looking at next year?

My dd is interested on below CCAs. Would appreciate if anyone can advise what are the trial requirements and her chances of being selected :

1) Dance - International (She was in modern dance in pri school)
2) Chinese Drama (no experience but is interested)
3) English Drama (no experience but is interested. Heard v competitive)
4) Handbell (grade 5 piano and grade 3 theory)
5) Strings (no experience but is interested)
6) guitar
7) choir
netball (plays basketball for leisure)

From the training schedule available at RGS website, quite a number of training falls on Fri (coincides with 3rd language). Is this schedule applicable for 2012?

No the schedule is quite outdated. Looks like she has pretty cool choices! For dance they want ppl who can learn dance steps very fast. Eng Drama is super competitive:( Chinese Drama i'm not too sure what they look out for though. Handbells, banana can help with that Strings definitely needs experience. I would have gone for strings but i didn't take grade exams so i figured out they wouldn't recognise me._.

Netball requires height element(so does bball).

[ms_lim]

Choco05:

No the schedule is quite outdated. Looks like she has pretty cool choices! For dance they want ppl who can learn dance steps very fast. Eng Drama is super competitive:( Chinese Drama i'm not too sure what they look out for though. Handbells, banana can help with that Strings definitely needs experience. I would have gone for strings but i didn't take grade exams so i figured out they wouldn't recognise me._.


Netball requires height element(so does bball).

Thanks Choco05 for your valuable advise. Think will have to strike off few from the list and consider others.

My dd is also considering below merit CCAs as well :
1) Editorial Board
2) Debate
3) Robotics
Will you be able to share your experience? Frankly speaking, I am unsure if she can manage with 1 core + 1 merit CCA.

[hipomum]

Can I check if it is definitely for parents to be around in the afternoon on the 1st day of school? What do we go there for?

[ms_lim]

hipomum:

Can I check if it is definitely for parents to be around in the afternoon on the 1st day of school? What do we go there for?

CCA orientation will be held on 1st day afternoon. We can attend to have a better overview of the interested CCA. There is a letter stating the details inside the yellow file.

[Funx3]

ms_lim:

hipomum:

Can I check if it is definitely for parents to be around in the afternoon on the 1st day of school? What do we go there for?

CCA orientation will be held on 1st day afternoon. We can attend to have a better overview of the interested CCA. There is a letter stating the details inside the yellow file.

U Mean, Apart from Us Mummies Going there to Look-see and K-Po

Jokes apart, the last time we go for open house is rather rushed ....
With Most of the Top Gal's Sch holding it on the Same Day ....
If Running to 2 or More Sch, probably would not have time to appreciate the effort the snrs put in showcasing their CCA's.
Also Good Opportunity to talk to some Snrs in the CCA's for those who R interested, esp in those unfamiliar CCA's that's not offered in the Pri Sch

[VALyap]

MummySTay:

OrangeJuice:

Hi MummySTay, we did exactly the same thing as you (DD had no tuition anyway at pri school except for MT). Though i was a bit concerned whether DD cld cope w/o enrichment for MT as she will be taking HCL at RGS but we will monitor situation as we go along.

Glad to find a mummy like you who is not really into the idea of tuition unless nec. DH said he will find it ironical that DD made it to a top school and ye needs tuition to cope - but that's just his opinion lah

:hugs: :hugs:

during the orientation, the P will tell all not to rush for tuition. not sure she will give the same advice this year! It's true, making to top of the mountain should be independent learner……. :grphug: just observe for first 3-6 mths…..

[a child]

ms_lim:

Choco05:

Anybody wants to share what CCA they are looking at next year?

My dd is interested on below CCAs. Would appreciate if anyone can advise what are the trial requirements and her chances of being selected :

1) Dance - International (She was in modern dance in pri school)
2) Chinese Drama (no experience but is interested) Chinese Drama is a semi-competitive one to me. A good number of interested applicants, maybe around 80, but nowhere near as competitive as English Drama. During the trials they'll ask you to do some activities and also say why you want to join the CCA (all in Chinese), and then act a scene. So you gotta be pretty fluent in Chinese in my opinion.
3) English Drama (no experience but is interested. Heard v competitive) Yes, English Drama is very competitive. 200+ people (my estimate is nearer 150 per tryout date and there are two tryout days). And they accept around 10-15 I think, not sure. But very, very few, at most 20.
4) Handbell (grade 5 piano and grade 3 theory)
5) Strings (no experience but is interested)
6) guitar
7) choir I see that she's very interested in music CCAs, with four in the list. Maybe if you're interested here you should try out for more in this category, like Band. Based on my experience Band has a much larger intake and hence takes in people even if they don't have music background, etc. It's also doing well in SYF so I guess maybe you may want to try for that, so that you have more options, and even if you don't get into the rest band would be safe.
netball (plays basketball for leisure) Netball is very competitive, like the 'English Drama' of Sports. There are two try out days with each day having like six rounds of games, and you have to do well in one game to qualify for the next. About half proceed after each round. :roll: I would suggest you try out for both Netball and Basketball. Basketball is comparatively much easier to get into, and also gives more options that she may want to join because this is the sport she plays.

From the training schedule available at RGS website, quite a number of training falls on Fri (coincides with 3rd language). Is this schedule applicable for 2012?

CCA days are Mon, Tues and Thurs next year (they change the schedule yearly ) with Tues having protected time for Merit CCAs. Wed and Fri have early dismissal at 1 compared to 2 for the other days. Wed is reserved for special programs/projects like Research Studies, Music Elective and stuff. Fri is reserved for Third Lang. That's the general schedule, may not be followed closely.

My comments for the CCAs are above Basically, try to expand each category of CCAs she'll like to join, because many people only get 1-2 or even none of the many they trial for. Also visit the CCAs you're interested in (there'll be a CCA-visitation schedule placed up in week 2 or 3 or something).

[OrangeJuice]

hipomum:

Can I check if it is definitely for parents to be around in the afternoon on the 1st day of school? What do we go there for?

parents are invited to attend but I wont be there as I have a younger child coming home from school around 2:30pm, told DD to be independent, look at CCA herself, find out from seniors and teachers in charge and make a decision herself

[a child]

ms_lim:

Choco05:

No the schedule is quite outdated. Looks like she has pretty cool choices! For dance they want ppl who can learn dance steps very fast. Eng Drama is super competitive:( Chinese Drama i'm not too sure what they look out for though. Handbells, banana can help with that Strings definitely needs experience. I would have gone for strings but i didn't take grade exams so i figured out they wouldn't recognise me._.


Netball requires height element(so does bball).

Thanks Choco05 for your valuable advise. Think will have to strike off few from the list and consider others.

My dd is also considering below merit CCAs as well :
1) Editorial Board
2) Debate
3) Robotics
Will you be able to share your experience? Frankly speaking, I am unsure if she can manage with 1 core + 1 merit CCA.

Haha personally I think Editorial Board is awesome (self-promotion again). Basically we write and layout articles based on topics we ourselves choose, and we peer-edit. After a few rounds, with comments from Editors/Chief-editor they'll finally pass through the teachers and get published - we have about four issues per year. There're also workshops for photoshop and photography and stuff to allow us to do layouts and stuff better, and the seniors are also great mentors and teach you how to layout, choose color schemes, write, etc. During the March hols we got Neil Humphreys to come give a talk You really learn a lot. And Tribune is a small CCA so it's very tightly bonded, we do ice-breakers, have CCA/batch outings, CCA/batch lunch, etc.

Anyway I think you should be able to manage 1 core + 1 merit, no problem. Many many people in my class do that, I do that, banana does that. It's a very very common schedule, more common than you think. Just don't be crazy and have four CCAs, that I don't know if you can handle, though some can. 3 CCAs though is manageable if one or two are one-day-a-week CCAs with lesser commitments, I had that schedule first semester (where I also had ICT, so basically staying back all days till around six and some days with overlapping commitments). But it should be fine, the teachers don't give that much homework and stuff, so I don't really understand friends who sleep at 12. But please avoid the schedule I had if you're taking Third Lang, which is another afternoon till six and with tons of homework and revision needed, you'll probably kill yourself.

[a child]

OrangeJuice:

hipomum:

Can I check if it is definitely for parents to be around in the afternoon on the 1st day of school? What do we go there for?

parents are invited to attend but I wont be there as I have a younger child coming home from school around 2:30pm, told DD to be independent, look at CCA herself, find out from seniors and teachers in charge and make a decision herself

Actually it's fine if parents don't go. My parents didn't go for Reporting Day, not for first day, and they didn't watch the performances on Saturday, because they were busy. It's fine. There were some forms for parents to sign but I told the teacher that my parents were at work, and they told me to get signed at home, no problem.