2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[kitty2]

fifiyeo:

janet_lee88:

Now I am really starting to worry about next year suppl lessons...supposing it's tue/thur, I really want to pull him out of thur class bcos he has math tuition at 7. If son stays back for suppl till 330/4, he will be too tired for tuition. Hubby sure to be KS to want him to stay back. Looks like I will need to discuss this issue with him. My math tutor is impt, or should I say MORE impt as compared to 40 in a class.


Any mummy can contribute some ideas/comments about suppl at p6 ?

Hi Janet_lee88,

I too feel that private tutor will definitely be able to give more than the teacher who has to deal with at least 40 others in class.

After trying out suppl lessons for P5, I've realised that it wasn't worth it at all. DS didn't benefit from it, in fact it was worse for him as he was often tired when the tutor was here and making a lot of mistakes as he was tired. In fact, our tutor actually felt that he's made so more improvement during the hols than those tired days from school. Actually spoke to a few moms in school and they too felt the same. Anyway, if DS stay for any more suppl lessons, I'm sure he'll end up with very poor results.

So next year, I don't care what the school says, it's home right after school. NO MORE SUPPL LESSONS! The tutor is more important if we really want to see results.

It does take courage to do it though cos the teachers will pressure you to go for the classes.[/quote

I agreed with what you'd shared :goodpost: Do you need to write a letter to excuse from the suppl lessons?The school has stated that it's compulsory and they're doing revision and top school papers during suppl lessons.Wonder what they'll do during normal lessons?

[beanbear]

My son also had 3 days worth of supplementary classes last year and in the end flunked his maths for SA2!! He did reasonably well at SA1 so I wasn’t too worried so I ended up feeling so depressed for 3 days when he brought home his results. I really regretted and I had assumed that all these extra classes were enough so I didn’t monitor his learning closely. On top of that, he was having Maths enrichment during weekends.


This past 5 weeks I’ve been DS1’s personal tutor because no tutor was able to commit to come to my home to tutor him even at a cost of $70 per hour!! All said that my location is too far. Most live either at East or West and I stay in the Central area. Can you believe that? Although it was very painful for me to learn the P5 Maths syllabus and having to tutor my son personally, I was able to discover where his gaps are and he’s told me that he’s clearer now about the concepts.

Even if parents decide to have home Tutors do the work, I have found that some teachers don’t do a good job of explaining concepts and see where your child is really struggling.Having studied alongside with my children these past weeks, I have begun to appreciate that you need a very good teacher who can help a child understand concepts and deal with challenging problems at P5 & P6 levels, especially for Maths & Science. I’ve sent my kids to so-called "famous" enrichment centres for the last 2 years and yet the methods have caused more confusion and they were not able to apply properly.

My plan is to write a letter to the school and ask the school that my son will not be staying back for supplementary classes & to give me any supplementary notes/work that needs to be done. Actually the schools can’t force the children to stay. I did it for my DD2 in the 2 months before SA2 and the teachers didn’t stop me. But DS1 was afraid of the teachers hounding him for not attending supplementary class so I didn’t do it for him. Next year I will insist and I’ve decided that I would rather have control over my children’s time once the official school hours are over rather than the school taking control since they’ve not been able to do a good job of teaching.

[Chenonceau]

My son too hates to miss supplementary classes. His classmates tease him and accuse him of playing truant. We had issues with Teachers at first but when his grades went all the way up, no one bothers us anymore.

[janet88]

My son flunk Math this whole year…in the end it was his Math tutor who rescued him. It wasn’t easy arranging next year’s (P6) schedule as tutor is so packed…Sat will be for group & Thur evenings will be for 1-to-1. Tutor explained that once a week at P6 is insufficient.


From what I heard, next year parents will be given a form regarding suppl lessons…no matter what, I will opt out of Thur suppl class to give him time to rest. Tuition fee for P6 also increased, so how can I possibly allow my son to attend his tuition looking like a sleepy-head ???

I agree with beanbear that schools shouldn’t make suppl lessons compulsory if parents bear the responsibility.

[pixiedust]

I have friends who lament about their kid's school not giving as many supplementary lessons as another school, so some parents do like the school giving many supplementary lessons. I know of some who 'complains' to the school that another school is giving more supplementary lessons...so different strokes for different folks, ya ?


I did hear from one 2011 P6 cohort that their class had 3 times supplementary per week including half a Saturday. And don't blink - during the days of the PSLE, the class had to stay back after the PSLE paper to do more revision for the next day's paper :nailbite: Remember this year's PSLE ? Two papers were after the weekend so during the weekend, the class had MORE supplementary lessons ! :yikes: Saturday and Sunday ! Good grief ! From what I heard, at least 2 schools in my cluster did that. By the way, all neighbourhood schools and not Rulang and not all classes in the same cohort were told to go back for revision, only some classes :scratchhead:

For me, I'll wait and see what goes on during the supplementary lessons next year and take it from there.

Wish all 2012 PSLE moms/dads a Happy New Year ! :xedfingers: We'll have a good :rahrah: before the term starts.

[happyheart]

Hi Janet,

It sounded like you have a good tutor. Can you share his teaching method? How did he ‘save’ your child? I recently got my DS a new tutor but still assessing if she is good. DS will be in P5 next year and his math foundation is not strong and worse, he is not that interested in Math anyway.

[janet88]

happyheart:

Hi Janet,

It sounded like you have a good tutor. Can you share his teaching method? How did he 'save' your child? I recently got my DS a new tutor but still assessing if she is good. DS will be in P5 next year and his math foundation is not strong and worse, he is not that interested in Math anyway.

Do give your son's tutor a chance to prove herself next year.
Fortunately your boy is going to P5 next year...there are several strategies which cannot rush through it at one go. With the new tutor, she can guide him thru CA1 first. But do be prepared for a dip even with tutor as child is not familiar with change of math syllabus at P5.
My hubby die-die insisted he could coach son in P5 this year, only admitted he cannot teach after failing SA1 again :slapshead: suggested several times but he refused. Although my son got only 50/100 for SA2, it was an improvement from 38/100. P5 math is a totally diff ball game altogether. It is a smart move to get the math tutor in at p5.

[fifiyeo]

I agreed with what you'd shared :goodpost: Do you need to write a letter to excuse from the suppl lessons?The school has stated that it's compulsory and they're doing revision and top school papers during suppl lessons.Wonder what they'll do during normal lessons?[/quote]



Yes, will definitely have to write letters. But like what our principle said last year....\"nothing is complusory. They school can't force you to do anything though it is highly recommended that the kids attend those lessons.\" I'm opting out.

[fifiyeo]

janet_lee88:

happyheart:

Hi Janet,

It sounded like you have a good tutor. Can you share his teaching method? How did he 'save' your child? I recently got my DS a new tutor but still assessing if she is good. DS will be in P5 next year and his math foundation is not strong and worse, he is not that interested in Math anyway.

Do give your son's tutor a chance to prove herself next year.
Fortunately your boy is going to P5 next year...there are several strategies which cannot rush through it at one go. With the new tutor, she can guide him thru CA1 first. But do be prepared for a dip even with tutor as child is not familiar with change of math syllabus at P5.
My hubby die-die insisted he could coach son in P5 this year, only admitted he cannot teach after failing SA1 again :slapshead: suggested several times but he refused. Although my son got only 50/100 for SA2, it was an improvement from 38/100. P5 math is a totally diff ball game altogether. It is a smart move to get the math tutor in at p5.

I agree that the tutor should be given time to prove himself/herself. I just started DS off with Math tution for the first time and will have to wait till CA1 to see results. :xedfingers:

[janet88]

Hi happy heart/fifiyeo,

If you have started math tuition at the start of p5, I feel that your children will not experience bad encounters as badly as my son did.
Maybe the first CA might be a shock, but they will bounce back faster and be more ready for SA1.

As for those suppl lessons, I heard they will intensify after June. Well at least that was what I heard for son’s school. Have bought 2011 exam papers. Will the kids be doing nothing but past year exam papers from June onwards? Really would like to know from this year 2011 parents or students if this is the case. Any comments are appreciated.