All About GEP

[zeemimi]

Faun:

We let our kids take the less travelled path not because of scholarship, to become great artists, pianist or sports star. We just choose to live presently by responding to their needs NOW. When a child is gifted, they suffer if they are not with their lot. this has proven to be so true because I see my kids so happy where they are, truly doing what they love and cherishing the investment that the government is putting in their talents.

So... it does not matter that gep kids are not in the scholar list. What matter is that they eventually, find their purpose in life and able to serve and contribute to the society in their own special ways. As parents, I think we owe it to them to help them find that purpose, not by teaching them to make choices base on the end itself but to help them listen to their calling and let them live it. They're after all only young once.

unfortunately what the govt wants and what the parents want do not really match at times. it is obvious that the spore govt in investing much in the gep with the hope of returns in the future. on the other hand, parents want to fulfill the special needs of their gifted kids. how else do we explain why the govt is tracking the progress of these gifted / high ability kids?

a quarter of my jc mates were fr gep. half of them are no more in spore. many other geppers from the other classes in my jc hv also settled themselves abroad.

i see gep as an alternative educational system to an otherwise really rigid singapore educational system. but gep is touted as only for the top 1% of the cohort. i believe that to be fair, small class size should be made available to every kid. the breadth of the program should also be extended to mainstream.

[jtoh]

zeemimi:

i see gep as an alternative educational system to an otherwise really rigid singapore educational system. but gep is touted as only for the top 1% of the cohort. i believe that to be fair, small class size should be made available to every kid. the breadth of the program should also be extended to mainstream.

One of the problems MOE faces is limited resources. For a start, they've already reduced class size in primary schools to 30, and that's good. They've also extended some of what was formerly only available to GEP students to some mainstream students as well. Of course more can be done, but good teachers are a precious and limited resource.

[sandunes]

Faun:

..................... What matter is that they eventually, find their purpose in life and able to serve and contribute to the society in their own special ways. As parents, I think we owe it to them to help them find that purpose, not by teaching them to make choices base on the end itself but to help them listen to their calling and let them live it. They're after all only young once.

My sentiments exactly!

[zeemimi]

jtoh:

One of the problems MOE faces is limited resources. For a start, they've already reduced class size in primary schools to 30, and that's good. They've also extended some of what was formerly only available to GEP students to some mainstream students as well. Of course more can be done, but good teachers are a precious and limited resource.

the reduction in class size seems to happen for P1 and P2 only. P3 onwards, it's back to more than 40 per class.

[jtoh]

zeemimi:

the reduction in class size seems to happen for P1 and P2 only. P3 onwards, it's back to more than 40 per class.

Really? That's odd. Does that happen in all schools?

[verykiasu2010]

jtoh:

Really? That's odd. Does that happen in all schools?

Really

P 1 & 2 : 30 per class
P3 onwards : 40 per class except GEP Pri 4 onwards at 25 per class

[sleepy]

verykiasu2010:

jtoh:

Really? That's odd. Does that happen in all schools?

Really

P 1 & 2 : 30 per class
P3 onwards : 40 per class except GEP Pri 4 onwards at 25 per class

same for my dd's school. P3 onwards 40 students each class

[jtoh]

verykiasu2010:

jtoh:

Really? That's odd. Does that happen in all schools?

Really

P 1 & 2 : 30 per class
P3 onwards : 40 per class except GEP Pri 4 onwards at 25 per class

I see. So there are fewer classes from P3 onwards? Such a pity because reduced class size does help. Probably boils down to limited teachers.

[verykiasu2010]

jtoh:

I see. So there are fewer classes from P3 onwards? Such a pity because reduced class size does help. Probably boils down to limited teachers.

I think also partly because older kids are easier to manage once they have settled in the school system; probably some streaming already done (quietly) at end of P2

[lwm99]

verykiasu2010:

P 1 & 2 : 30 per class

P3 onwards : 40 per class except GEP Pri 4 onwards at 25 per class

I wonder for schools that have say 10 classes of P2 (300 pupils), how they split them in P3? If they have 8 classes, does it mean it has 20 vacancies at P3?