Mummy of 3,

Sorry to hear abt your girl’s disappointing results. I can imagine your fear and anxiety.

Maybe i could offer a few suggestions based on my own experience:

- go thru every subject’s SA2 papers thoroughly to identify all the problem areas in which she struggled or showed weak understanding.

- be as specific and detailed as possible, eg if it’s a maths problem sum: what topic was it? Did she apply the right strategy? Did she make mistakes in her calculation, and if so, what sort of mistakes: ±÷ x? Did she run out of time? Did she interpret the question correctly? etc. By going into specific details, you can then identify all the individual problem areas and target them one by one. It’s a tedious and painstaking process but it will enable you to understand your girl’s weaknesses and address them before it’s too late.

- use the year end holidays to drill her and reinforce whatever fundamental skills she is lacking, which you can identify by studying her SA2 papers. Daily practice may be a drag but dont underestimate a child’s ability to learn, with appropriate praise and encouragement from the parent. When she feels herself improving, the confidence she gains will spur her on to work even harder.

- use top schools’ exam papers as practice papers n guide her thru the difficult questions, while praising her if she can correctly solve the easier ones. Dont get angry or impatient if she cannot solve any of the questions- just explain the questions to her and show her how to solve them. There are many similar or even identical questions that appear in these exam papers, esp in Maths n Science. After she has gone thru enough of them, she will realise that exam questions tend to be quite similar and with abundant practice, she will be able to tackle them without too much difficulty.

- dont be afraid to go down to P2 or even P1 level work if necessary. It is impossible to build a skyscraper unless the foundations are rock solid. If you take shortcuts and try to rush, the entire building will eventually collapse. Make sure all her P1 n P2 work is soundly mastered before attempting to improve P3 work. This is especially critical in Maths as each level builds on the skills learnt in the previous level.

- most importantly, dont give up on the child! No child wishes to fail. Dont be afraid to praise and encourage her if you see that she is trying hard. Praise the effort, not the result. If she knows her efforts are being recognised and acknowledged, she will be motivated to work even harder.

My child is in P3 this year as well. Though she has been performing well these 3 years, there is no guarantee that she will continue to do well, unless parent and child work together to make sure that each step of her learning journey is steady and smooth. Though it is a tiring and often draining task guiding a child through her primary school education, the bond that we have established over the years is a reward in itself. Most of all, nothing beats seeing the joy of accomplishment in your child’s eyes when she has done well, with your help. So hang in there, and all the best!

Hi EHIH


I am responding to your query on RGPS teachers and their level of involvement in the students’ learning process. Your query is a sensible and valid one and I hope my input can give you some food for thought so you are in a better position to decide if this is the right school for your girl.

Firstly I am an old girl so naturally my daughter is enrolled in RGPS. I have more than a decade of tutoring students from neighbourhood schools (and these are students from the lowest ranked classes in the neighbourhood schools), to students from the best classes of the top schools in Singapore. As such, I have had the opportunity to compare the quality of teaching across a wide spectrum of schools.

RGPS teachers are a varied breed, just like in any other school. There are dedicated and committed teachers who are passionate about their subjects and students, and there are teachers who do the bare minimum to get by. There are teachers who nurture and care for their students, and there are teachers who raise their voices and use unkind words. What kind of teacher the child gets is based on pure luck.

One thing however that teachers in RGPS tend not to do is mollycoddle the students. They do not mother the girls or fuss over them, even the very young ones. This applies to both the academic as well as non-academic aspects. RGPS girls, from the day they step into the school, are expected to be independent and learn to fend for themselves. Because teachers do not spoonfeed them, they have to learn fast and be quick on the uptake. If not, they get left behind very quickly.

However this style of teaching- teach the basic concepts, no repetition or spoonfeeding, get the worksheets and tests done, move on to next topic- means that there are a lot of gaps left to be filled by - you guessed it- parents, tutors, enrichment centres etc. Many times you will find homework worksheets set at a manageable level but come tests and assessments, a quantum leap in standard occurs, which sometimes leaves the students bewildered.

To be fair, the teachers generally do not tend to set killer exam papers, unlike a few other top schools. However if the parent depends solely on the teacher to supply her child with the material and knowledge necessary to score a Band 1 in P3 and beyond, she is sorely mistaken. A lot of the groundwork is done outside school hours by either parents, tutors or other third parties. Otherwise the child ends up with mediocre results.

That being said, many parents still choose to enrol their girls in RGPS because of the academic environment. RGPS girls grow up in a competitive environment where academic achievement is celebrated and good students are looked up to. There are very few lazy girls in RGPS, simply because they do not have the time or opportunity to be lazy.

So in a nutshell, assess your girl’s character to see if she is suitable for the school. If she likes studying and reading, doesnt mind sitting down at a desk and doing work for extended periods of time, concentrates well and enjoys using her brain, she is a good fit.

For your info, my girl loves going to school and cries if she has to miss school when she is sick. But bear in mind that I am very hands on in guiding her and making sure she is always well prepared for tests and exams. I teach her the maths and science syllabus half a year in advance, which is what a number of other parents do. But I know of girls who do not enjoy school as much, a large part of which is due to the fact that they are struggling academically. So it very much boils down to how academically suited the girl is to such a school environment.

Hope the info has been helpful to you. Good luck!