He isn’t currently in the top of his class but also not in trouble with his teachers to get himself into remedial lessons. He shared with me half the class went for remedial lessons. I am pretty happy that he is able to cope independently.

From my observation, the exposure he got from the program is pretty good. They practiced mind mapping for a couple months in P4. Their essays are a thousand words? They do poetry, they do blogging with their English teacher and are kind of forced to manage their own emails and softcopy documents like working adults. I never get to see their math papers though. I must say that their teachers are also many times more engaged and responsive than most of the teachers he had in P3 and before. They even respond on weekends within the day … which I didn’t expect them to. As long as the kids can cope, I feel the 3 year exposure is pretty awesome and we are only paying a nominal primary school fee here to get all these extras. The best thing is, he has less idle time at home now. Getting 70+ is pretty common too and it’s no longer the 80+ or 90+ we use to see.

My problem with the GEP entry was our logistics administration. Our home is kind of far from all the GEP schools. In the end, a school quite a distance from our home was assigned to the boy and the school bus service provider didn’t want to serve our location initially. Fortunately, MOE jumped in to help here, but it was still painful with the kid needing to endure an hour + bus ride each trip.

Do continue to encourage your kid, this is just a small hill to climb which will give them the experience to overcome bigger challenges in future.

I would say that GEP is not only challenging in terms of the curriculum, but also needs a strong sense of ownership and independence from the kids. It is more difficult for parents to keep track of their work (many in loose worksheets) and catch them in time if they miss deadlines (so many of them). They also need to make sure the very nitty gritty stuff, like filing being done timely and neatly (necessary for revising). More challenging for kids who are not naturally tidy and organized.

1. Is my boy spaced out because he couldn’t understand what the teacher was teaching? Are the topics too advanced? But he told me he does understand, and his school worksheets were mostly correct.
   Science is being taught more inquisitively rather than prescriptively. So sometimes it would not be straightforward to grasp the exact concepts being taught and have a satisfying direct answer to the questions. What might help is that after he learns certain topics, go back to some mainstream material to ensure those must-know concepts went across and those good to know materials are there for them to enhance their understanding and knowledge.

2. Did I make a wrong choice to put him into GE? Maybe he is only interested in Science but now for whatever reason, his teacher hints that he is not doing well.
   GE parents need to face the reality of looking beyond academic rigor for a great score in PSLE, but an avenue to pick up useful skills as a lifelong learner. My child enjoys the camaraderie with a bunch of like-minded students, like they went ahead to memorize the first 100 decimals of pi or the entire periodic table just for fun, but these have absolutely nothing to do with tests, not to mention PSLE. On the other hand, the test scores that come back time to time could be shockingly low (like 2/10). It is more important to understand whether the child is learning what needs to be learnt (again, referencing mainstream material), and able to rebound from setbacks (when they are being stretched) and continue trying. Those are way more precious lessons for their future.

3. Is GE selection really foolproof? I think half or more than half of the kids in GE class went for GE enrichment since P2 onwards (kids talk in school).
4. Is my boy at a disadvantage because he didn’t attend any rigorous enrichment that prepare them for GE? Since other kids have attended the outside GE enrichment, they would’ve probably expect what will happen when they are in GE?
   3 and 4 are effectively the same question. It is the mindset of the kid and their parents that would enable them to thrive in GE. No enrichment would actually prepare enough for this.

5. Should I pull my boy out from GE? He didn’t show signs of stress and he isn’t the kind to get stressed easily but I’m afraid with more comments from the teacher, he’ll start to feel stressed.
   A lot of resources are dedicated to these kids, and teachers would keep a close eye on whether they can cope or not, and be given timely intervention if needed. I think it is very important for you not to freak out. Try to demonstrate to your child about positive thinking and growth mindset. Scaffold your child via patience and kindness to their setbacks.

I have always wanted to make study fun for my kids. But now, seemed like fun is not the word to associate with studies anymore.
Growth always involves discomfort, but the satisfaction of overcoming challenges with a bunch of like-minded buddies at this age sets them up for life.

It could be that the pace and intensity has changed (the honeymoon is over?) and he is having to adjust. Or that he is no longer as interested in the subject as before? Or something else is absorbing his attention now. It might not be studies-related at all - perhaps issues with classmates, or CCA, or his latest hobbies?

Enrichment can be a double-edged sword - it can seem that it helps children perform better in the short run, but it could inhibit independent learning in the long run. If your son feels that he is managing and learning, then I wouldn’t jump into extra classes too soon. It’s still only P4, and there are still more than 2 years to go to the end of Pr school.

You say you want to make studies “fun” for your kids - that’s great, but things do change as the child advances. Once into upper primary, while there should still be some fun, the child also needs to develop discipline, how to push through hard things, to be bored sometimes, and learn how to cope when things don’t go his way. As he gets older, into sec school and beyond, the periods of having to work hard, struggle, and face disappointments and setbacks will only increase. No-one ever got through sec school and beyond on fun, and kids need to learn the joy that comes learning through effort (and sometimes pain).

Just some thoughts.

I empathized with your concern as a parent of a GEPer. Now, my kid has long graduated from GEP and is a young adult awaiting uni. But your kid’s experience somewhat mirrored his. He was also not top 3 in his pri sch prior to GEP but did well enough to get invited on stage for some prize presentations. HCL was his only Achilles’ heel; he was comfortably proficient with the other 3 subjects.

So imagine my shock when he came back with his first term GEP Eng test paper and got 23 marks. Now that I looked back, it was quite funny coz upon seeing that figure, I did a quick mental calculation and my initial impression was that it was 70+% and consoled myself that although that reflected a drop, it wasn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things. Later my kid corrected me that it was upon 40, not 30. That represented a drop of more than 30% from P3 to P4! His Eng basically fell off the cliff. My jaw dropped (but I was careful not show it in front of him).

I don’t have all the inputs to your qns but will share some observations that I think are relevant. I feel that the GE selection is by and large accurate as I’ve the benefit of witnessing the progression of some of my kid’s frens, from P4 all the way to A Level. Vast majority (easily > 90%) of them aced PSLE and latter on, A Level. That trend of being academically excellent was unerringly consistent.

With regards to the issue of others prepping themselves for GE selection, I feel that you don’t need to bother yourself with it. Why concern yourself with what others do? With the removal of GEP DSA, it sharpened the focus back to true learning and reduced the pressure to be competitive with other batch mates.

Last of all, you do have the prerogative to remove your kid from the program. However, if I were you, that’s the last thing I’ll do. The reason is this - I don’t want my actions in any way to condition my kid to think that whenever he hits a roadblock, he seeks avoidance and simply capitulates. I think that’s extremely damaging to a kid’s psyche in the long run. I can lower my expectation but he should go thru challenges, as long as his mental health is not affected.

It is early days yet and rereading your post, I perceived that you’re more stressed than your kid while he seems to be enjoying the journey so far. One suggestion you could try is to discuss this issue with him (on the possible reasons for his GEP Sci tr’s comments) and find ways mutually agreeable on the best approach forward to improve the situation. Your kid sounds like a bright child and I suspect that you don’t even need to provide any solutions for him. Just ask the right qns and he’ll be able to come up with the ans himself.

One thing I aware is that it is not easy to give constructive feedback and very often, the provider does it with good intentions. So give the tr the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

Good luck.