CCA in Primary School - Advice needed
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I think if you are interested in knowing what the CCA can provide for your child, you should speak to the instructor direct (not even the teacher in charge). Instructors are the ones who plan the program/ objectives, and I’ve found that there are many times where upper management (and sometimes even teachers in charge) are unable to explain or represent the entire program well.
Things you could try looking out for - whether the program involves social activities, physical activities (even for performing arts - keep in mind that some form of physical activity is good for children with a lot of energy!) and opportunities for your child to develop leadership skills, even if it’s not as a direct leader (being in a committee). If the instructor mentions things like that and is very specific about why these activities are inside the program (despite it seeming like it has no relevance), you can be assured about how your kid will turn out after he graduates from the CCA. All good educators (yes, CCA instructors should be and ARE educators) will naturally be concerned about providing a balance between the CCA and academic environment, and should account for this inside their CCA program.
I understand that many parents in this forum are very concerned about the academic performance of their child, but my personal (and very strong opinion) is if you chose to pull your child out of the CCA because ‘big’ exams are coming, the only thing that you are teaching your child is that when stressful situations come, it is OK to give up and focus only on one (which is ecams), instead of learning to prioritize and handling it as a responsible participant in that activity. This is not the skill which we want our child to have in this very stressful and fast paced society. You may think they are ‘too young’, but it is never too young to take the opportunity to teach them what is right. (Side note - if you are concerned that the CCA will involve them right up to the door step of an important exam, try asking them what they’ve done in the past in terms of rehearsal/ practice scheduling. This will give you a good gauge of what will happen in the following years).
For parents who are intending to involve their kids in the band program (I know a lot of out there are ex-bandits), please keep a very open mind the instrument which your kid might be assigned to. A lot of factors are taken into account when doing instrument allocation, and they range from (in order):
1. General physical characteristics - Both body and face (including teeth structure)
2. Needs of the band - imagine if 10 out of 20 students who signed up only want to learn the drum!
3. Preference of the student - this doesn’t actually rate very high by the time we get through (1) and (2)
Some schools actually take instrument allocation to another level by doing both physical, hearing and mental tests on the students. Physical tests would involved students trying out the instruments, mental would involve taking aptitude tests that are designed to find out which sort of sound your child will take best to and hearing tests would help identify what kind of sounds your child hears best.
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Apologies in advance for this looooong post. I hope this might clear up the air a bit… -
My Son started P4 and his school gave him a form to attain the selection procedure on a schedule day…If he joins, he need to saty another 2hour idle in school for CCA class. moreover he has to come alone after CCA class the end at 4:45pm. As both of us(parents) are working, we engaged him with school bus. But it seems if he join CCA he has to spend about 3 more hours and has to come back home alone. Thinking all these I am bit worried. I am thinking not to enrole him in CCA this year and shall put him in CCA in P5 , then, i believe he can cope the situation very well. Any advice on this ?