Paya Lebar Methodist Girl's School (Secondary)

[UnLuckyOrLucky]

To be honest, I am as clueless as you where this CCA bonus points are concerned. Just know that if one score an 'A', he/she will be entitled to 2 bonus points.

Yesteraday in Parents meet Teacher session for my Sec 4 girl, they briefed about the various H1, H2 subjects, but strangely nothing was mentioned about CCA or maybe I didn't stay back for Q&A session. The China thingy also came out from there.

My elder girl didn't buy any assessment book for her studies. She just relied on friends (group study in the Starbucks Cafe in Coronation Plaza can you believe this?) and teachers for help. Theirs are IP programme so daily work carries some weightage and then final exams carry something like 50% that sort of thing. So it's like consistent efforts are needed throughout the year. Just heard them emphasizing this year is so so important for them so better don't mess up etc etc... China thingy also came out from there

Please don't use my elder girl as a good example because last time I toiled and sweat and burnt midnight oil for subjects like Geography/History but I look at the way she studies I couldn't stand it. She studies with her i-gadgets on or beside her and makes me wonder even more how she can concentrate like that. And she must go to bed early or she can't concentrate the next day. Anyway, so it's different folks different strokes.

Yah... to say that I don't feel a tinge of sourness whenever I saw these FT in our schools or other places is lying. I know their presence here are good for our Singapore but still... ..hmm the feelings is no good if you ask me.

But what to do? I guess this is the only way for us to be on our toes at all times right

[zhenx]

Wow your girl is so cool. Does that explains your ‘name’? Which area are you putting up? PLMGSS and NYGH are way apart. I am in Serangoon.


Schools are like battlefield these days. Last year, I read Hist and the Indus Valley Civilisation could be lost to the Aryans invasion. Hmm… what about ourselves now?

Besides my girl, my P5 son is also starting to ‘fight’ now. Suddenly school started introducing algebra which was only briefly taught in P6 previously. Now I am torn between who to coach 1st.

Your girl in PL taking HMT?

[UnLuckyOrLucky]

Oh it's a long story about my 'name' :roll:

I banged into some bad luck last year but in the end thought maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe I should change my name now
Yes, my girl took the HMT in PLMGSS.
Why did you say that to get into Music Aesthetic, she can just enroll herself in it? In fact she took a test yesterday, and today she told me she can now pursue the Ace Aesthetics programme. Hope she can excel in this area of her strengths. How about your girls' strengths? Is she more a science stream person (more logical) or a humanity sort of person (more illogical with a lot of zest on life if I may stereotype )?
I'm staying near Lorong Ah Soo so it's pretty near for my girl to go to PLMGSS, within 10-15 minutes time!

[UnLuckyOrLucky]

By the way, may I know which primary school is your girl from? I think perhaps you should spend more time coaching your son because waiting till P6 then gear him up for PSLE may be a little too late - too bad I knew it only later.

[zhenx]

I think ACE has 2 types, aesthetics and academic. To get into ACE academic, the pupils must achieve a certain t-score and pass an aptitude test. They are for Geog, Science (?) and maths (?), I think. My girl didn't pass the tests. The pupils will join another class during curriculum time. She prefers maths and science.

My girl was absent on the day to sign up for ACE music so she missed the first lesson.I called the music teacher and she said just join them in 2nd lesson. No test or document needed.
Why I ask about HMT is because eligibility for HMT is based on psle overall and hmt result. For S1 MT pupil to take HMT, minimum requirement is to obtain A2 in S1 overall exam. However, there is an entry test prior to the transfer and her friends who top the class or at least got a merit in psle HMT did not manage to pass the test last year end. So tough.
Nowadays my son's pri sch also screen their pupils before recommending HMT. In the past, the 2 best classes will do HMT by default. So is it because of....you know...so need to raise chinese standard?
For the pri sch, I will send you a 'pm'.

[zhenx]

UnLuckyOrLucky:

By the way, may I know which primary school is your girl from? I think perhaps you should spend more time coaching your son because waiting till P6 then gear him up for PSLE may be a little too late - too bad I knew it only later.

Ya, you are right.
Your girl is pretty good. Juz some 'fine-tuning' and I am sure she'll excel in PL!

[Houddington]

Dear parents,

I'm from plmgss. Regarding te CCA issue, number of As for performing arts is about 90%, and about 60% for sports.
Feel free to enquire more about this school. Ace programs, etc.

[UnLuckyOrLucky]

Dear Hoddington,

Thanks for your clarifications. I think earlier, Zhenx has a question on "May I ask, for CCA, can uniform group pupil achieve the 2 points bonus by S4 if she is just an ordinary member who attends regularly?"
I wasn’t able to advise her on this so if you could kindly enlighten, I’ll be glad and I’m sure Zhenx will do.

My question will be, if my girl is already in ACE Aesthetic programme, is it a must that she has to take up a performing art as her CCA?

[Houddington]

\"attends regularly\" differs from \"participating actively\". I'm not so sure about uniform groups. However, as long as you don't skip cca, unless you really have to, and try to compete in some competition, I think it'll be fine I'm getting that A1 or A2. If youre still not certain about that A, I suggest that you take up a second cca (which is quite slack since attendance is not compulsory) In the second cca, you could take part in some competitions, depending on which one you join. And competitions are not compulsory too! Even if you don't win, you still get cca points! Yayyyyy! Zhenx, hope this helps.

@UnLuckyOrLucky: sorry, but I'm not able to give you a definite yes or no, but I THINK it should be a no. Aesthetics is about music and violin and guitar, from my point of view. Performing arts is pretty large. Theres drama, dance and many others which are not related to aesthetics, making music and things like that. So, i think taking up a sport/uniform group cca is alright.
Btw, regarding the cca points, if you're in ACE programs, especially math, it really really helps with your points. (I'm in math and science) because there are TONS of opportunies to compete. And if you win, you get BONUS. Plus the teachers are usually better!

[zhenx]

Hi Houddington! It’s great that finally a pupil from plmgss has stood forward to answer our queries. Thanks, unluckyorlucky, for posing that question about cca pts on my behalf. So sweet of u. So now my girl knows what to do - volunteer to take part in competitions such as drills and cheer leading. They are not compulsory so she likes to shun away.


For ACE aesthetics, there is no need to take up an instrumental cca because pupils will be advised to take up a 2nd instrument (usu violin), if she is only competent in one. They can find their own private tutor or the school will pool the pupils to engage one to come to school. My girl thinks it’s too tedious to pick up another instrument for examination purposes so she quits. But she enjoys learning guitar taught during the normal music lessons. FYI, try to learn the guitar seriously in S1 because in S2, they have to play it for music exam. Some of the girls start to panic now because they are not aware of it earlier. Btw, for the 1st half year, they’ll learn harmonica. 2nd half will be guitar.