Yangzheng Primary
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Dear Parents
1. The purpose of the informal chit chat session is meant to get to chat up with parents in a relaxed setting without parents feeling that every point that they mention is being noted down by us. Hence, no notes of the session are taken as it’s not meant to be a meeting.
2. The school leverages on a range of statistics in our internal analysis of our annual outcomes. However, we are mindful that presenting a whole assortment of data out of context to parents may only serve to confuse parents than enlighten them as each set of data must be seen in relation to many other parameters (for example standard deviation) in order to arrive at the right analysis. We also do not publicize specific subject analysis as our focus is on holistic education at YZPS and do not wish to over-emphasize academic achievements by publicizing subject analysis publicly. Hence, we have been sharing with parents generic information on our progress made each year. We’ve been making very good progress year on year in our PSLE , surpassing that of the national in all our subjects as well as that of the mean PSLE T-score. The mean PSLE T-score is a very good indicator of the overall performance of the pupils in the cohort versus that of focusing only on the top scorers in the cohort. Having a mean T-score above the national also means that in general, pupils at YZPS perform better than the average cohort of P6 pupils at the national level.
A school may have a few top scorers but the mean PSLE T-score may be below that of the national. This means that only the top pupils benefitted from the education in such a school. At YZPS, our focus is on ensuring that every child performs to his/ her best abilities at the PSLE. As such, we are happy to say that we’ve made good progress year on year, and this in turn has motivated our teachers to ensure that each child under their charge is given the best opportunity to do as best as he /her can.
It must be noted that placing a child in a school strong in a specific subject area does not necessarily guarantee that the child will definitely perform very well in that subject in the school as many other variables like the child’s aptitude & disposition, & the involvement of parents in the child’s education matter just as much.
Regards
Yangzheng Primary School -
Magic Castle,
I think you touched on a very valid point. The school actually runs many parents related sessions like Meet-The-Parent Session, Learning Fiesta, etc on Mon - Friday as they need to protect the teachers’ rest time.
While I respect that teachers’ should have their protected time, I tend to agree with Magic Castle that a large majority of parents have to sacrifice for a small no of teachers which does not seem to make sense. Imagine there are say 100 teachers (a high enough figure, I believe) in Yangzheng. There are say 40 children/class x 6 classes on average per level = 240 children x 6 (P1 - P6 ) = 1440 children. Say half of the parents are not working, so it means about 700 parents, which is 700 x 2 = 1400 mothers and fathers have to make sacrifice for 100 teachers??
Imagine, the school can have day off (staggered so as not to disrupt operatons) for teachers’ for that sacrifice of 1 or 2 days in a year against parents have to take leave, where there can be no compensation. Shouldn’t the school be more creative? The teachers do not have to lose and the parents do not have to sacrifice, win-win isn’t it?
A school is set up with 1 most important group of customers - children and not teachers. Teachers are like the parents working in a company and yet the school is making parents of the most important customer sacrifce?
Without the children, there is no need for the school.
On homework, I hope the other parents can voice if they have similar concerns. Somehow, the children are stacked with a big pile of homework periodically that is almost impossible for them to clear. Better still, they have to finish uncompleted assignments not given in time after exams?
I heard the principal work around the school with a cane. Did your child see that? -
Hi beautiful day,
Ya. Thks for supporting my view point.
I know many schools normally organize events on the sat morning especially if it involves parents. If parents are working in a organization that have annual leave of only 14 days or difficult to take leave , the parents are going to miss out a lot of the school events. With 6 years in school , the parents have to take quite a number of leave just to attend to the school events.
With frequent meetings at work , I find it hard to attend those sessions . I have also missed out meet the parent session. I merely spoke to the form teacher over the phone regarding my girl's progress .
On the homework , may be she is in lower primary , hardly any homework or worksheet given for her to complete at home. Unlike my elder boy who was from another school, he used to have ton of worksheets to complete even when he was in pri 1.
On the school performance , I find it meaningless for the school to show just the mean T- score of the cohort . If the T score is 211 , it show only that most of the students can only go schools that take in such score .Actually, will this kind of score , not much choice of good neighbourhood schools. Can't even get in zhong hua at all which is just next door .
it make the parents worry even more.
I also don't agree with what the school said that the school performance in a certain subject is not reflective of the individual student performance. It is reflective in general . For school that is strong in Chinese eg. Pei Chun, the students in general will have a higher std n that will translate to better result for Chinese in PSLE for the students in general . Parents know the school std is higher than that of PSLE.
I m not sure will YangZheng share the details of the school performance to the parents of the cohort taking PSLE . Any parents can share?
If the school is so secretive , it is not assuring . It will make the parents more worry. Will take the assumption that the school dare not share as result no good. Hence,parents need to ensure the child to be the top 10% to get in to the better sec school . :nunchuk: -
I’ve 3 kids and 2 of them studied in YZPS and did well enough to enter good sec sch.They graduated 2 to 3 years ago.My younger child is now still studying in YZPS & is very happy with school and is doing well. Recently, I signed her up for the new calligraphy class and she enjoys the lesson very much. The homework given is just right as my kids had time to engage in other activities as well.This is what I like about the school, having a balanced education.
Actually, I feel that if parents view their child’s education as important, they should make time and effort to partner with the school and be supportive. For all the parents briefings and talks oragnized by the school…I’m so appreciative of them…and I plan between my hubby and myself to take turns to talk to our bosses to take time off from work to attend these sessions. It looks like your bosses are not family friendly. Maybe you need to be more open with your bosses on your child’s education and for you or your wife to make time to be in school rather than expect the school to have to work round your time.It’s not the school at fault that you can’t take time off due to bosses who are not supportive…maybe you should change jobs if your bosses are not understanding of your family needs. We are now moving into being more family freindly and I applaud YZPS for going that way as teachers also need family time after working so hard for the whole day Mon to Fri.Like the Principal said, happy teachers will teach your child well.
My neice studied in one of the top primary schools some years back but in the end, she did average score of 218 and I heard a number of her classmates also got around that score.So it doesn’t mean good school, all pupils will do well as good schools also have weaker pupils.In fact, the mean T-score for that school was just about 4 points higher than YZPS ! So the school is right not to share so many data with parents when parents don’t fully understand how to read the data. To me, it’s about trusting the school when improvements are made. Otherwise, if we go on in this academic competition publicizing data here and there, how are we going to place less focus on academics & have more balanced eduaction, like what Minister of Education is encouraging us parents to do ? There will be no end and our children will be stressed up ! Btw, there are many school that also don’t display such data you mentioned. I went in to Peichun and Nanyang website and they also don’t show such specific data.
I know that YZPS is doing better and better each year, thanks to hard work of the principal & teachers.My neighbour has her daughter on waitlist for 2 years and still can’t get into the school.She’s still waiting to get in next year. My DD tells me that the school is very strict on discipline and I like that as I feel that children nowadays need more discipline and values inculcation, which the school is doing. DD tells me she sees the P, VP and HODs walking round the school often to make sure everything is OK and pupils behave themselves…they do not carry cane at all. I know that caning is only used in a number of schools for very serious offences committed by boys.
So, I’m very happy with the good work of YZPS. To me when I enrol my children in YZPS, I had full trust and faith that the school will bring out the best in my children and YZPS has not disappointed me. So many of my neighbours say good things about the school over the years. So be supportive and stop comparing with other schools. Otherwise, maybe you wish to transfer your child to another school so that my neighbour may get her daughter in next year ? -
Hi,
Oh the calligraphy course, it so common in many schools already, nothing to shout about, they are quite slow in introducing these in that aspect cos’ many years ago, other schools are already having it.
I find it strange that a parent should change jobs or call their bosses non-family friendly juz because they school is only school-friendly to their staff and not children family in that sense. That seems immature and unrealistic in the real world. I agree with Magic Castle that when meetings or certain key things are on, it’s impossible to cancel those meetings unless the person’s post is like a clerical or junior officer where their presence is probably not so important.
On providing statistics, if you are saying that parents should be partnering the school, I raise both hands up. But is the school partnering the parents. Why are they juz providing the statistics based on what they want to show only and ignore the calls of the parents to provide more details? That kind of partnering is one-sided, only parents follow the school and not the other way.
I heard many cases where children get in the year they applied, some locals, some from other countries with zero waiting time. And these children, their results are not great? Could it be your neighbour’s child result is way below average or … In fact, majority of the children living around Serangoon are heading for CHIJ at Serangoon, the ground talk is Yang Zheng is not getting better by the years (I just dun want to say the not so nice things). So your case is juz 1 case of not getting in, but I have personally seen at least 5 to 6 cases of transfer with zero waiting time leh.
On homework, strange, I have noticed teachers piling up on the children compositions after exams, papers just 2 days before exams such that there is no time to go thru’, a few chapters of work at one go. My child is quite efficient but I look at the way things are loaded, its definitely not balanced. In fact, if you pick your child at the gate and talk to the parents, you will hear many complaining of the workload, definitely not as what your child has experienced.
On transferring the kids to another school, I think it is wrong to ask parents to transfer the kids out just like that because the school exists for the kids and I agree with Magic Castle, the school is getting very mysterious in its action.
It’s strange that your personal encounter is so different from the majority or the majority that I have heard or personally seen. Maybe your radar is juz confined to your family or neighbour, that’s really not representative. -
Hi beautifulday,
Thks for your post . Totally supported your view point.
Yes, I was shocked :yikes: to read the comments that parents should consider to change jobs so that they can attend the activities organized by the school during the weekdays .
A parent should not comment,feedback or make suggestion to the school . But just support whatever the school do. if not, consider to transfer your child out of the school!
On the suggestion to have some of the activities to organise on Sat so that more parents can attend and benefit from it ,Is it unreasonable to ask for ? I don't think so . Anyway , if the school don't intend to change , be it . Nothing to quibble about.
On the statistic , a lot of other schools have been showing it including Pei Chun. I have seen it in the past years. . May be now you need to log into the parental portal , no longer available as public info. MSHS showed the stat during their pri 6 briefing. It is available from their website. It serve as a guide to the parents in general as to how your child will likely to perform based on the analysis of the school result in general. I have stressed that it is in general and not 100% reflective .
Yes, it is true that even top school like NYPS can produce students with poor result. But we are talking about probability . For NYPS , it is a known fact every year that around 45% or more of its students will score 250 and above. So if your child is in NYPS , he will have close to 50% chance to score 250 and above. Likewise , Yangzheng have also been mentioned in the newspapers to produce one of the top students in the whole cohort in the past years and even a President Scholar. But this is more of the exceptional performance of a few outstanding students from the school. It is not reflective of the general performance of the school . So if there is an analysis of the school performance in each subject , at least as parent , we know how to adjust the expectation and work together with the school to push up the performance of our children and hence the school overall result of the subject.
If the school decided that it does not want to share . Then be it. We are not comparing schools but just quoting some of the good practices that other schools are doing, We are supportive. We believe the school can value add further if it is more receptive and take in parents suggestions and feedback for consideration. We can work together to make a little change at a time .
Any way, I will not post any more on this subject matter.
Thks. -
Hi, during these four days holiday…teacher given DS(P1) one maths practice paper to do but DS could have misplaced the paper. Anyone can help to scan/email me the copy.
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greenredapple:
Hi, during these four days holiday..teacher given DS(P1) one maths practice paper to do but DS could have misplaced the paper. Anyone can help to scan/email me the copy.
Sorry, was overseas on biz trip and now then saw this. Guess it's too late already... -
Can still email me? He still not do…
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greenredapple:
Can still email me? He still not do..
will ask DS for it this evening when i get home. can PM me your email address?
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