Catholic High School

[notredame]

Hi dreamgear, may I check with you if chs emphasizes a lot on CL?

Is it very demanding like dhs whereby they are given approx 200 chi spelling words per week?
Is it compulsory to take HCL for both ip & express? If yes, are there many pupils who will ‘downgrade’ from HCL to CL in upper sec?
Do majority of the pupils converse in english?
Are the upper sec pupils still wearing shorts?
TIA.

[notredame]

Hi dreamgear, please also advise the class size of ip and do they have need to get any science textbooks. School works are mainly project-based? I am curious because my friend’s dd from St Nicks’ does not need to buy any science textbooks though she is from the express stream & they are taught the upper sec syllabi in lower sec.

[Dreamgear]

notredame:

Hi dreamgear, may I check with you if chs emphasizes a lot on CL?

Is it very demanding like dhs whereby they are given approx 200 chi spelling words per week?
Is it compulsory to take HCL for both ip & express? If yes, are there many pupils who will 'downgrade' from HCL to CL in upper sec?
Do majority of the pupils converse in english?
Are the upper sec pupils still wearing shorts?
TIA.

Not like DHS at all. No memorising of words. Both ip and o level track have option to take hcl or cl from year 1. They can switch year on year.

Main Language of communication is English, and yes they wear bermudas for all 4 years

[Dreamgear]

notredame:

Hi dreamgear, please also advise the class size of ip and do they have need to get any science textbooks. School works are mainly project-based? I am curious because my friend's dd from St Nicks' does not need to buy any science textbooks though she is from the express stream & they are taught the upper sec syllabi in lower sec.

For ip, all 3 schools shared the same program, and the O level track mirrors the program... This could be there is a dsa program at year 3 to switch from either track. Year 3 is the only opening to switch track actually.

No textbooks for maths, english and for science, seldom used. Chs have in house material and tools. Pros is there is a lot of advanced teaching and well as application teaching, for example geography lesson at bishan park... Etc. cons is the parents get very lost.

For ip track, there are lots of projects counting towards the final marks. There is also a 9 months passion pursuit project stretching from end of year 1 to mid of year 2. In between there is an additional compulsory named World Readiness Program as well as shorter electives like CSI, ancient warfare, advertising, etc and joint symposium with sngs and scgs.

This year class size for ip range from 30 to 35. I have asked the head of ip about this and he advised that as they cannot get enough qualified teachers, they decided to expands the class instead. So there could be changes this year as both scgs and sngs are about 25 in each class.
Do note that the class is divided out to 2 science, d and t and chinese.

[TTBCOOL]

Dreamgear:

notredame:

Hi dreamgear, please also advise the class size of ip and do they have need to get any science textbooks. School works are mainly project-based? I am curious because my friend's dd from St Nicks' does not need to buy any science textbooks though she is from the express stream & they are taught the upper sec syllabi in lower sec.

For ip, all 3 schools shared the same program, and the O level track mirrors the program... This could be there is a dsa program at year 3 to switch from either track. Year 3 is the only opening to switch track actually.

No textbooks for maths, english and for science, seldom used. Chs have in house material and tools. Pros is there is a lot of advanced teaching and well as application teaching, for example geography lesson at bishan park... Etc. cons is the parents get very lost.

For ip track, there are lots of projects counting towards the final marks. There is also a 9 months passion pursuit project stretching from end of year 1 to mid of year 2. In between there is an additional compulsory named World Readiness Program as well as shorter electives like CSI, ancient warfare, advertising, etc and joint symposium with sngs and scgs.

This year class size for ip range from 30 to 35. I have asked the head of ip about this and he advised that as they cannot get enough qualified teachers, they decided to expands the class instead. So there could be changes this year as both scgs and sngs are about 25 in each class.
Do note that the class is divided out to 2 science, d and t and chinese.

Hi Dreamgear,
My dd is in SCGS IP Sec 1 this year. For information, I had just asked my dd, she said her class size is 30 but not sure about other classes. I'm curious to know whether do SCGS, St Nic and CHS cover the same IP syllabus? May I know for Maths, does CHS complete the Mathematics of Finance topic for this year?

[Dreamgear]

TTBCOOL:

Dreamgear:

[quote=\"notredame\"]Hi dreamgear, please also advise the class size of ip and do they have need to get any science textbooks. School works are mainly project-based? I am curious because my friend's dd from St Nicks' does not need to buy any science textbooks though she is from the express stream & they are taught the upper sec syllabi in lower sec.

For ip, all 3 schools shared the same program, and the O level track mirrors the program... This could be there is a dsa program at year 3 to switch from either track. Year 3 is the only opening to switch track actually.

No textbooks for maths, english and for science, seldom used. Chs have in house material and tools. Pros is there is a lot of advanced teaching and well as application teaching, for example geography lesson at bishan park... Etc. cons is the parents get very lost.

For ip track, there are lots of projects counting towards the final marks. There is also a 9 months passion pursuit project stretching from end of year 1 to mid of year 2. In between there is an additional compulsory named World Readiness Program as well as shorter electives like CSI, ancient warfare, advertising, etc and joint symposium with sngs and scgs.

This year class size for ip range from 30 to 35. I have asked the head of ip about this and he advised that as they cannot get enough qualified teachers, they decided to expands the class instead. So there could be changes this year as both scgs and sngs are about 25 in each class.
Do note that the class is divided out to 2 science, d and t and chinese.

Hi Dreamgear,
My dd is in SCGS IP Sec 1 this year. For information, I had just asked my dd, she said her class size is 30 but not sure about other classes. I'm curious to know whether do SCGS, St Nic and CHS cover the same IP syllabus? May I know for Maths, does CHS complete the Mathematics of Finance topic for this year?[/quote]Accordingly to the head of IP, the joint syllabus for all 4 years have been approved by MOE, and all 3 schools have the same syllabus.

Are you refering to taxation? If yes then they have completed it.

[TTBCOOL]

For ip, all 3 schools shared the same program, and the O level track mirrors the program… This could be there is a dsa program at year 3 to switch from either track. Year 3 is the only opening to switch track actually.


No textbooks for maths, english and for science, seldom used. Chs have in house material and tools. Pros is there is a lot of advanced teaching and well as application teaching, for example geography lesson at bishan park… Etc. cons is the parents get very lost.

For ip track, there are lots of projects counting towards the final marks. There is also a 9 months passion pursuit project stretching from end of year 1 to mid of year 2. In between there is an additional compulsory named World Readiness Program as well as shorter electives like CSI, ancient warfare, advertising, etc and joint symposium with sngs and scgs.

This year class size for ip range from 30 to 35. I have asked the head of ip about this and he advised that as they cannot get enough qualified teachers, they decided to expands the class instead. So there could be changes this year as both scgs and sngs are about 25 in each class.
Do note that the class is divided out to 2 science, d and t and chinese.[/quote]

Hi Dreamgear,
My dd is in SCGS IP Sec 1 this year. For information, I had just asked my dd, she said her class size is 30 but not sure about other classes. I’m curious to know whether do SCGS, St Nic and CHS cover the same IP syllabus? May I know for Maths, does CHS complete the Mathematics of Finance topic for this year?[/quote]

Accordingly to the head of IP, the joint syllabus for all 4 years have been approved by MOE, and all 3 schools have the same syllabus.

Are you refering to taxation? If yes then they have completed it.[/quote]

Thanks for the reply. Taxation is one of the components. It also includes interest rates, exchange rates, commissions, etc.

[Dreamgear]

TTBCOOL:

For ip, all 3 schools shared the same program, and the O level track mirrors the program... This could be there is a dsa program at year 3 to switch from either track. Year 3 is the only opening to switch track actually.


No textbooks for maths, english and for science, seldom used. Chs have in house material and tools. Pros is there is a lot of advanced teaching and well as application teaching, for example geography lesson at bishan park... Etc. cons is the parents get very lost.

For ip track, there are lots of projects counting towards the final marks. There is also a 9 months passion pursuit project stretching from end of year 1 to mid of year 2. In between there is an additional compulsory named World Readiness Program as well as shorter electives like CSI, ancient warfare, advertising, etc and joint symposium with sngs and scgs.

This year class size for ip range from 30 to 35. I have asked the head of ip about this and he advised that as they cannot get enough qualified teachers, they decided to expands the class instead. So there could be changes this year as both scgs and sngs are about 25 in each class.
Do note that the class is divided out to 2 science, d and t and chinese.

Hi Dreamgear,
My dd is in SCGS IP Sec 1 this year. For information, I had just asked my dd, she said her class size is 30 but not sure about other classes. I'm curious to know whether do SCGS, St Nic and CHS cover the same IP syllabus? May I know for Maths, does CHS complete the Mathematics of Finance topic for this year?[/quote]

Accordingly to the head of IP, the joint syllabus for all 4 years have been approved by MOE, and all 3 schools have the same syllabus.

Are you refering to taxation? If yes then they have completed it.[/quote]

Thanks for the reply. Taxation is one of the components. It also includes interest rates, exchange rates, commissions, etc.[/quote]

Yes they have completed all the above

[notredame]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my queries, dreamgear. Really appreciate that.

So far, does your ds feel pressurised due to schoolwork? Is he able to have leisure time during the weekdays? I’ve just gathered from a friend that some pupils from the top-notched schools do not share notes or form study support groups for obvious reasons. I wonder what chs ‘informal’ culture is like? Competitive? Can shed some light please? Thank you!

[Dreamgear]

notredame:

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my queries, dreamgear. Really appreciate that.

So far, does your ds feel pressurised due to schoolwork? Is he able to have leisure time during the weekdays? I've just gathered from a friend that some pupils from the top-notched schools do not share notes or form study support groups for obvious reasons. I wonder what chs 'informal' culture is like? Competitive? Can shed some light please? Thank you!

Not pressurised at all except when a few projects deadlines kicked in all together. Lots of free time, except during cca competition preparations or project deadline looming.

This is a low profile school which place a lots of trusts in its students. There is no iron hand disciplinary regime here. The boys are expected to learn and know where the bounderies are. Competition between classes are keen as a lot of activities and competition are on inter-class basis. Among the class, they have facebook and whatsapps group where they communicate and share informations. The teachers are part of these groups too.

There are no divide between the O level and ip tracks. They compete against each other at inter class level.

There are a lot of boys coming in from the primary side, and they help to shape the culture as well.