Hello Parents,


I thought I could shed some light on some of the queries that you might have.

On leadership, if your DD have been the hall monitor for about a year plus, your DD could be on a “trial” before the “real” selection of a prefect. I don’t know accurate is my guess. I think that the interview period is over already. I hope that your DD was nominated for the interview!
I think the school is always on the lookout for leadership renewal. I am certain that in Primary 4, they will continue to look for “new blood”. :imcool:

On routine, the morning session starts at 7.10am as indicated in the pupils’ diary (it could be 7.15am, I am unsure). Then they will have a “pre-assembly” program then after till 7.25am when the morning precession will start.

On assessment, generally, I think that the teachers in PCPS are quite fair. Though the problem sums and questions might be very difficult at times, I think they are still reasonable. For one, the teachers will definitely not test something that they themselves have not taught.
I always do a gauge and expect a 10% decrease from the previous year’s results. This is to better manage my own expectations.


B

Hello parents,


Perhaps this might shed light.

Regardless of level,

The compositions are marked by their own class teacher as well as a "second" marker from another class of the same level. This is to maintain the "fairness" and standardisation of the marking. This eliminates any bias in the marking.

Call it quality control.

Before that, the teachers will go through one round of standardisation marking together as a level. Meaning, the teachers will come together to mark random scripts of different quality from different classes to do bench marking, before arriving at an acceptable band for both content and language.

All in all, the teachers would have marked about 100 scripts over a period of 3 weeks. (bench marking scripts, class scripts, "2nd marking" scripts)

So please do show your appreciation during PTM to the teachers this coming end May, because I know I will.

:B

Hi there Precious2.lee,


Really?! Oh my.. I have always share with my children, there isn't such a thing as smarter, only more hard working. I need to reiterate to my children again on the importance of learning. Thank you for notifying me!!!

The students are selected for MO based on something like 95% and above.. And it is payable too. So some parents might opt out, those who are not selected and special request to opt in, I have also heard of before. But here is my take..

In my opinion, I think the MO questions are quite difficult for the children. And it is difficult to \"teach\" the children those questions. It is impossible to apply the strategy to use in another question. For example, I have been through a couple of MO sessions myself and these are the classic questions posed.

In the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4.. .. 99 how many pairs of numbers add to 100?

Then the pattern changes to 2, 4, 6, 8.. 98..

It is really for those who can see the patterns and make the connections really fast.

Most children I see come to me devastated that they are \"top in mathematics\" and yet cannot do the sums. My heart aches every time.

I am a firm believer of the nature versus nurture theory. We can train our children to be examination smart, but more importantly is the being leads to the doing. I think it is important for our children to be examination ready. Just like in life. I also fear making them demotivated and hate learning. How often do we hear our children say they have finished learning, my reply to them is, have you finished learning? I think exposure to heuristics is already a good enough exercise for the brain. I don't want their brains to train for the Olympics, just the nationals can already. :))

Just curious, anyone signing up for GEP tuition?


:B

Good evening Parents,


Thought I give my weight-in on the Academic Support system in Pei Chun Public School.

Yes, the children are banded accordingly to ability , eg, 3E1 or 3M1 being ranked accordingly to their P2 results. The materials are customised accordingly to their abilities as well (kudos to the teachers for simplifying the worksheets to tailor to each child).

The banding is not made known to the children, other than the Mathematics Olympiad (the sound of Olympiad just makes people goes wow), personally, I don’t think the children can make out that the grouping is based on grades. Some could postulate and clarification with any teacher will not reveal the truth. Most of the time, the children are more interested looking forward to being with their friends than anything else.

The AS will happen all on Tuesday. 1.30-2.30 EL and 2.30-3.30 MATHEMATICS. The groupings have different combination of classmates / peers and teachers.

Nothing in the examination papers will be covered in the AS, but the AS is focused on Heuristics (non-routine) questions, for examples,

A box and 10 pears weights 200 g. The same box and 8 pears weights 170 g. Find the weight of a pear?

Box A has 20 pens and Box B has 15 pens and Box C has 10 pens. If Ali moves 5 pens from Box A to Box B and 3 pens from Box B to Box C and 8 pens from Box C to Box A, how many pens are there in Box A after the pens have been moved?

Unless there is someone at home or tuition to go through school work with your child, I think you can allow your child to proceed with the AS. Have a look at the worksheets and you can better gauge what your child requires.

Have a wonderful holiday!

:B

Dear cherrytrinkets,


I think I could answer some of your questions.

You are correct! It is mandatory for all Singapore Schools (government funded) to be Single Session. The PERI REVIEW committee recommends the Single Session to be implemented by 2018.

I am unable to answer question 1.

The temporary location might be in the AMK / YCK area. It is not confirmed though. There are a lot of questions raised as to why a temporary holding site near TP area ,big enough for PCPS, is not used.

I believe that the Government has considerations, eg economical, for land usage.

All PERI upgrading program are tenured to be 2 years, the last I read.

And the last I heard PCPS will move at the end of 2016. PCPS will be at the holding site by 2017!

I hope this helps you!

:B

Hello Parents,


Great advice Muska!!! On top of the things listed, please bring along the (1) iREAD assignments that was given to your children the previous year.

You might also want to ask your children to bring along some (2) single lined exercise books. Some teachers might wish to collect some for spelling / journal writing.

If possible, you might also want your children to bring along the (3) blue notebook for Mathematics Mental Sums.

For P3, it is a transition to the narrower, single line exercise books. So if you have some unused single lined exercise books from P1 / P2, you might want to use it for Journal Writing instead.

Oh yes, if there is, the (4) penmanship books too!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

:B

Hi Precious050911,


Yes, that is technically correct. But there are exceptions which includes the following:

1. Teacher changes appointment to MOE HQ
2. Teacher changes service scheme (eg, head-hunted)
3. Teacher changes school
4. Teacher goes on course
5. Teacher leaves the service

I hope this helps you.

:B

Hi sean wife,


I am sorry. I am unable to answer to your query as I do not have information on that. But I believe that there is a P/N stating all the topics for all the subjects to be tested on whichever test / examination.

I hope this would, momentarily, put your mind at ease.

Happy Holidays!

:B

Dear Strong Mummy,


Yes. That is what I understand. The information is correct as far as I am aware. The PERI upgrading program has an alluded budget and duration.

In accordance to PERI upgrading recommendations in 2009, Chapter 5 Paragraph 4 from the report states that all double session schools will be made into single session school by 2016. Hence I believe PCPS has a high probability to adhere to the recommendations.

I will confirm the above information once I breathe word of it.

:B

Dear Strong Mummy,


I think the school will most likely end up in the holding site in the AMK / YCK area for a period of 2 years. I will post any updates on the AM/PM session.

:B