From what I know, you won’t change classes. My dd is in sec 4 O lvls. She has classmates who drop A maths or a science. Dont think they have to change class in sec 3-4.

laughingcat:

Affiliation or no affiliation leading to \"less stress to PSLE\" is a much perceived or rather a bias thoughts. Which kids doesn't want to do their best in PSLE? They still have to work hard to be streamed into the secondary classes. Tsk tsk

Haha, nah, hard work doesn't equal lots of stress. I tell my kids to do their best but don't need to fear results. I see PSLE as a placement exercise for kids to go to their school(s) of choice. Once there - whether through DSA or S1 - no one cares about that 3-digit number. I was from a girls school with an affiliated sec school and so many of us just happily moved on to our secondary school high scores or low. Was a very unstressful time (but seems times have changed).

laughingcat:

Stepped into my DC school, one will feel the vibes about continuing on the \"family\". Unlike you, we never talk about other schools at their young age until when DC1 was at P5. I have to drag DC to various open house even the \"not top school\" just to open up his mind about the various types of schools can offer. Only finally can open up DC1 mind. But not for my DC2.

I just happen to have many teacher friends, amazing dedicated teachers who teach in neighbourhood schools and try so hard for their students. I would entrust my kids to any of them. My kids were in a neighbourhood pri school too, with some amazing teachers (and some not so amazing ones)

If I guess correctly, staying in the \"family\" shouldn't be too hard in your DC's school because of the affiliation, no? Just which side of the family? Is PSLE still stressful? :siam:

laughingcat:

estee....you know our DC school. The dream of getting into xxxx school is so strong among the kids, even P3 already start to talk about it. Are they naturally induced by parents? Not all actually....I would dare to say most are naturally coming from the friends and school within. Camaraderie plays a part in it. When the big graduating korkors start coming back to the school for a visit or see their teachers.....the boys will go googoogaga over what school they are in. When any child does not conform to that path, you know lah...the flurry of questions start flying.

I kind of disagree. Feel as parents, we do have the biggest influence. My kids have never felt the pressure to go to top schools. From young, we talk about a variety of schools, I tell them about friends who teach in good schools and neighbourhood schools and they personally know older kids from many schools. When I bring them to open houses, we don't go just to top schools to \"motivate\" them as some parents say, we visit a range of schools that I have a good impression of and they see how dynamic each school is in different ways. Each time, we shortlist 3 to 4 schools with COPs as much as 30 points apart, all they would be happy to go to. Have done this with 3 kids, all with no tuition except for mother tongue starting in P5, and PSLE is just another exam they do their best in.

In fact, my youngest was invited to a DSA talk at a top girls school, listened to the Principal's talk on how self-motivated and driven her girls were while encouraging the girls in attendence to consider applying DSA. My girl looked at me, I asked \"sounds like you?\" \"No!\" she laughed, \"I am lazy and unmotivated. I can't go to this school.\".

TwentyFiftyTwenty:

She was also considering Singapore Chinese Girls School. However, and we do not want to be rude at all here but just as candid as possible, and we do not want to sound ignorant, but we do not have any actual sources to how the culture is there, but she feels that she will not fit in there because she will be an extremely small minority. Does anybody have any experience for how the school is, because, while I do not know anybody from Secondary 1 - 3, I have a few friends from the school of higher grades who are very friendly, so I feel she may fit in, but she is still being quite wary. It would be great if anybody has tips for these choices, and especially helpful is anybody has any feedback for SCGS.

Thanks!

My daughter was the only girl from her primary school who went to SCGS. She is sec 3 now. My daughter is quite quiet but independent, she initially banded with random girls who were also solo girls from their primary schools (quite a few of them) but it wasnt long before she had both SC and other friends. My impression is that the girls are nice and not very cliquish, lots of opportunities for interaction among girls from various classes and they go for a trip to Malacca in Sec 1 so was a nice chance to get to know room mates better and bond with their new class.

There are more girls from other schools in IP than Os as there is no affiation for IP. Hope that helps. My girl is in Os.

BB:

This is really positive to hear that the girls are able to make new friends easily.

Are there many project work every quarter? and does the girls need to meet up after school or weekends to do it?

ehhh to be straight to the point.. since the uniform is sleeveless, does it means the girls need to shave / wax and does the school mandate it? My girl used to wear sleeveless but as she goes through puberty and she is more conscious so now she does not wear sleeveless or she will always use a jacket to cover her underarm.
:scratchhead:

There are project work assignments, but generally dd doesnt stay back for those. The girls may not live near each other, so they either meet during long recess (1 hour on Weds), stay back a little after school (before CCA starts) or work via Skype and shared documents on google docs so they might stay up a bit late perfecting their work. She hardly has group meetings outside school these 3 years.

Teach your girl to groom? It is a pity if young girls are so conscious they won't wear sleeveless tops =). I didn't specifically teach dd but somehow she picked up and does so once in a while. Maybe the girls share tips among themselves. Coming from a girls school background myself, we talk about such things quite openly among girlfriends.

They can only wear the school jacket, so do buy her one. And they have a 10-day timetable, half of which are PE days, so on those days they just wear PE tee/class tee and shorts, with the blue skirt over.

Not sure if I can help, my daughter is in the O levels programme, not IP. Stress levels are manageable there, too.


She is in a competitive sport CCA and trains almost every day, definitely spends more time training than on homework and still coping.

She was not from SC primary and was the only one from her primary school who went to SCGS but no problem making friends. Initially the miscellaneous non-SC-pri girls grouped together cos they were mainly all solo girls from their pri schools but it wasn’t long before they made new friends and her close friends are a mix of SC-pri and other girls.

Not too sure what you mean by managing puberty because of the uniform. My dd wears sleeveless tops often outside school as well. I think she was pretty drawn to the uniform from p5 and anyway, they are all girls, so she isnt overly conscious in school. Half the time they wear PE tee (PE days) and skirt. No need to change on PE days.

It does say students are posted on merit. See the 2nd page of your Choosing Your Sec Schools grey booklet.


"students with a higher PSLE score will be posted to their school of choice before another student with a lower score"

Yes, put her first choice school as first choice. No effect on your chances for 2nd and 3rd choice schools.

LKY1967:

I'm a bit confused by the relevance of order of your choices. Someone earlier today appeared to assert that order is not important - and that the first school for which your child qualifies (i.e. the one with the highest COP) will be selected for your child. Really? I want to select as No. 1 choice a school with COP of 245, and No. 2 choice with COP of 250. Assuming my child has more than 250, will the system give me the No. 1 choice? Thanks.

Yes, you will get your No. 1 choice, as long as No. 1 school's COP doesnt jump up higher than your child's tscore this year.