Pei Chun Public

[iluvjr2]

Callie Tan:

Hi iluvjr2,


Thank you so much again... am really thankful that PCPS parents are always ready to share in this forum.

May I check is there a column in the CCA form to indicate our intention to opt out from swimming? How to opt out??

Yes LJ I know!! hehehe... my P2 girl is going to Jacobs Ballas @ Botanic Gardens next week as part of the LJ programme. However I didn't know it is mandatory by MOE... thought it is an initiative by PCPS.

Initially I have no qualms about staying back on friday for HCL. However, when I was trying to arrange my girl's enrichment classes I start to realize that all afternoons will all be taken up eventually... just a bit concerned that my girl will be burnt out... but this is something I have to teach her to cope with lah... Yes everything must think positively!!

Oh Oh but this 01 picture VS 04 pictures compo thingy is something I don't know at all!! Why the difference in PCPS??? How did you know this?

Yes I do agree that different teachers work differently, and the teachers' workloads are heavy. However, consistent communication with the parents is essential... need not be weekly but a monthly email would be good. An email to 30 students' parents... I think it's worth the effort mah. And according to my friends with kids in ACS, MGS and SCGS, they said that the school does set some min guidelines for all FTs to follow... to ensure that FTs know what to be expected of them.

I filled up the form last week... it's a green form... asking questions like what we think of PCPS efforts in cultivating a holistic character in our kids etc... Totally have no idea what the school has done for these areas how am I supposed to rate?? So instead of rating, I put \" I don't know\" in most questions....

This swimming is not part of the general CCA program hence you do not do the opt-out in the CCA form. This extra swim safer lesson comes with a fee. I recalled the school gave another form together w a list of other programs (such as the malay language etc) at beginning of this year. That is the form that you should complete.

I wrote to our CL teacher this year in order for me to better understand why PCPS is so special in terms of CL compo. Frankly speaking, I do not like the idea of doing one picture at P3. There will be a big gap between the P3 compo and P4 comp. I hope my DS will not have a shock come next year when he is required to do 4 pics in P4.

Below is the extract of the response from our CL teacher regarding the rationale for 1 picture CL compo:

[i]1) Compo –one pic
Yes, we acknowledged that the format of P3 CL compo is different from EL, in fact, we may be the only sch in Singapore doing this. Rationale: Pupils learn EL Compo writing in P2. As for CL, they started by constructing simple sentences in P1, then learn to write 5 sentences about a picture in P2. It is a fact that the majority of Chinese Race pupils (about 60% now?) come from English Speaking homes, hence, though pupils in Pei Chun learn “Higher Chinese”, the language, when compared to EL, is actually their “second language”. Pupils in general are fluent in EL, thus they can learn to expand the story and learn more expressive vocab at a faster pace. However, in the case of CL , pupils are usually lacking in vocab and even do not know how to write a complete grammatically correct CL sentence. Therefore, we find it necessary to train pupils well in their foundation years to express themselves accurately in CL, which is why sentence construction was emphasized in P1 and P2. In P3 we focused on training them in expanding the content of one picture. We used one pic instead of 4 (BTW, PSLE have 5 pictures plus 1 question mark) with the intent of training them to write in detail. Perhaps this is best explained in Chinese, so pardon me,
我们要训练学生把一张图看仔细，写仔细，而这需要一定的想象力。学生必须写出人物的对话，心情/表情和动作。(in my opinion, it is more difficult to write on 1 pic instead of 4, therefore pupils are not “shortchanged” in the training of skills) If pupils can write one pic in detail, it is our hope that when it comes to 4 pic in P4, they will have no problem. Actually this is explained in our 作文校本，which is actually their 作文file. During SA1, it is not the first time that pupils were required to focus on the pic contents. Since the first compo practice, I have repeatedly reminded them, and have even brought to their attention that CL compo requirement is different from EL compo. I acknowledged that some pupils are confused between the two, and they may even be some whose tuition trs taught them the 4 pic writing techniques and they are even more confused. Nevertheless, whether it is during exams or daily practice, when pupils write “beyond” the pic, they are not “penalized” as in marks will be deducted. As the instructions of the paper indicated:
仔细观察这张图画，然后根据图意，以至少50个字写一段话。你可以写出图中人物在做什么、说什么，以及他们当时的心情。We look out for contents based on the picture itself, if pupils wrote beyond that, the marker simply do not take that part into consideration. Therefore if pupil A wrote one whole page based on the picture and another page “out of context”, we will grade the first page, which will get quite good grades because for P3, one page is lengthy enough. However, if pupil B wrote only 4 lines based on the pic, and another 1 ½ page “out of context”, of course the 4 lines do not warrant high marks because he/she most probably would not have written enough about图中人物在做什么、说什么，以及他们当时的心情.
The school’s CL writing package takes the gradual approach in teaching pupils the skills of CL writing. We started using this package in 2009. Though the first batch of P3 using this approach will be sitting for their PSLE only at end of the year, we are confident that they will perform just as well as their seniors, if not better

[mamemo]

Like all parents here, yes, I agree that the communications part is lacking. In fact, this year seems to be worse than last year.


Regarding extra classes after school, I thought it’s the norm. I have colleagues’ children in Cat High, who also stay back on some days of the school for extra classes, especially more during P5-P6 to prepare for PSLE. I thought it’s good initiative of PCPS to have these extra classes, as this would help the teachers to have a better grasp of the children’s capabilities and no need to rush during normal curriculum time. And I see these as enrichment classes for the kids by the school teachers, which are much better than external enrichment because at the end of the day, teachers are the ones who set the papers! lol…

iluvjr2, thanks for sharing the information abt the CL compo. I agree on this part: "in my opinion, it is more difficult to write on 1 pic instead of 4, therefore pupils are not “shortchanged” in the training of skills". This is true because 4 pics shows the flow of the story, so there is little need for imagination. During the revision for the MA4, DS tried a chinese compo with 3 pics, and he could write it in a "story" form. For 1 pic, the outcome was more narrative, and he took a longer time, cos he need to think about the flow.

[Callie Tan]

Ok staying back in the afternoons will be a norm… have to prepare my girl…


Well, seems like PCPS has it’s own initiative in teaching the CL compo… will monitor and see how things go…

Really hope that the school can improve the communication channel next year…

[hellopeichun]

Dear All,


I’m new to this forum and hope to be able to get some info.

We’ve registered our child for P1 2013 while living overseas and we are still deciding whether we should return by end of this year so that our child could start his P1 on the 1st day of school in 2013. Or alternatively, next March 2013.

Would appreciate if anyone could share their experience on what to expect on the first few weeks at the school and also

1) How’s the primary 1 curiculum, how often do they have test and do the test count towards the final year marks

2) How’s the first few months of P1 experience at Pei Chun? Do students get lots of homework?

3) Would there be any problem if students start their P1 in term 2?

Thanks.

Michelle

[Callie Tan]

hellopeichun:

Dear All,


I'm new to this forum and hope to be able to get some info.

We've registered our child for P1 2013 while living overseas and we are still deciding whether we should return by end of this year so that our child could start his P1 on the 1st day of school in 2013. Or alternatively, next March 2013.

Would appreciate if anyone could share their experience on what to expect on the first few weeks at the school and also

1) How's the primary 1 curiculum, how often do they have test and do the test count towards the final year marks

2) How's the first few months of P1 experience at Pei Chun? Do students get lots of homework?

3) Would there be any problem if students start their P1 in term 2?

Thanks.

Michelle

Hi Michelle,

For P1 and P2, the work load is quite light... there are tests for each subject every term that will add up at year-end. From my experience, the school work and tests are all manageable. The only thing I wish to hi-light is the first term in P1, the kids will be drilled the HYPY. So, you may wish to take note of this.

[vbcouple]

Hi,

What’s the average decent percentage of primary one? Is there positioning in pcps and if no, what’s the prize giving ceremony about?

[Callie Tan]

vbcouple:

Hi,

What's the average decent percentage of primary one? Is there positioning in pcps and if no, what's the prize giving ceremony about?

I guess this is also the kind of info that the school is not providing readily to parents... You may wish to check with the FT regarding such statistics... however, as there's no PTM at the year-end, most parents probably have no idea at all.... I also not too sure about the prize ceremony....

There's no positioning for the first few years... but my girl's FT will tell me something like \"Top 5\" in class etc... to give us some idea of the standard of the class.

[Table Spoon]

If your kid is one of the top 3 positions in class or has shown the greatest improvement throughout the year or has the best conduct, he/she will be given a prize for the achievement. Parents of award winners are invited to attend the prize giving ceremony.

[minmin27]

Dear mummies, my son is in p1 this year. I was informed by the FT during the PTM in June that there wont be any positioning of the kids. Wasnt give any stats at all and didnt know where my boy stands for his grades. When I questioned my boy, he shared that most of his classmates are clever and only a handful did not fare well academically.


I saw the newsletter on the prize giving and wondered how the pupils got selected. Hmm, with my boy’s performance, guess he may not be the top few to go for the prize giving. When will the parents be informed?

He is moving up to p2 next year and understand that there wont be any changes for his class. Is it correct that all the kids in the same class will move up together? Will there be a change of FT?

Btw, how will the selection of prefects be like in p3? I understand that some of the kids now are selected to be hall monitor and flag duties. My boy told me that his FT said for those who are doing these duties may move on later to be prefect. Is it true?

[Table Spoon]

Many thanks to iluvjr2 for sharing the teacher’s response to the CL compo issue. I’m only reading this today as I’ve been busy recently with my eldest daughter’s "O" Level Chinese paper. She is taking the paper today.


Frankly, I am quite impressed with the CL compo program. I can see the great amount of efforts being put in to create the 作文校本. Each exercise is focus on one expression or action. There are great suggested phrases and vocab yet allowing the kids to put on the imagination hat. When my older kids were in PCPS, they didn’t have this and I find it difficult to coach them on CL compo (I don’t send them to chinese tuition classes). One pic or 4 pics does not matter. It’s better that we take the "bite-size" approach and set the foundation right. It’s rightly pointed out that one pic is in fact more challenging than 4 pics.
Mummies, let’s leave the design of teaching materials and programs to the teaching professionals.

Most schools do not conduct HCL lessons in the afternoons and I was not for an extra afternoon in sch, too. However, do not forget PCPS is a SAP sch and thus need extra time for the program. Lower primary learn di zi gui & has chinese reading periods. P3 onwards they’re exposed to chinese history through stories. I recall that for higher primary, they are taught chinese history in more details and also some chinese literature. Although these are not tested and has nothing to do with PSLE, it’s good experience for the kids (esp if they progress to a SAP sec sch). In fact, my girls in sec sch can appreciate it now. They are teaching their classmates how to remember the order of dynasty - taught by PCPS! They are never confused by the different ‘Qing’ dynasties (all translated to English as ‘Qing’) cos they learnt it in PCPS in chinese. So looking back, the extra afternoons in sch to accommodate the extras, is not too bad an idea afterall…