HVR:

jtoh:

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NYGH is introducing an O level class next year? For students at Year 3 or Year 1?

I seriously doubt so. Any official source?

[/quote]It is official. The principal has announced it.

Have a feeling NYGH placed quite a lot of emphasis on the interview for mainstreamers these 2 yrs. Last yr, my dd few classmates (from neighbourhood sch) with average results of 80+, average CCA and were school prefects were given CO or WL (eventually converted to CO) even though they did not have fantastic awards or medals. Guess they had performed well during the interview. Fortunately they secured CO thru DSA or else they would have to miss joining NYGH cos all scored below COP for PSLE…[/quote]


I actually think nygh would have emphasized more on academic results in this year’s dsa process. This is to ensure, as far as possible, that the girls who entered via dsa can meet their COP requirement, and be able to cope with the syllabus and work load after they enter nygh. The reality is there are quite a no. of girls who are struggling in the IP system and cannot meet the promotional criteria. For this reason, heard nygh will be re-introducing a small class for O levels next year to cater to the girls who want a different route or who know they may not be able to be promoted to HC. Nygh is doing this because they care for the girls, and have the welfare of all their students at heart.

I m not sure why only half or slightly under half of the girls choose to go Gep fr my DDs’ sch. Probably could be due to their in-house program. However, fr what i heard, not all their Sophia Blackmore Program (SBC) teachers are GEP or specially trained for teaching the intellectually gifted. They have both ex-Gep and mainstream teachers to teach the program. The class sizes are kept small and the syllabus seems to be different, but they still do mostly mainstream work and take the mainstream exams set by the school. It seems they have more project work. By contrast, I heard Geppers take exams from p4-6 that are set by MOE and they are standardized throughout the 9 GEP schools.


However, there’s probably a more holistic and Christian environment in the sbc that parents prefer for their kids. Others schools like ACS junior also have their own version of school based gifted program. You don’t have to clear round 2 of the Gep to enter these in-house gifted programs. Hope this info helps some of you who wish to consider other options!

In my DDs’ school, a popular all-girl mission school in the West, the no of girls that clear Gep typically for most years is 8-9. About half or slightly under half will take up the Gep offers as the school has developed its own rigorous in-house gifted program. Although the school does not prep the students for Gep and does not encourage hot housing, it seems a no of the parents prep their kids anyway so that they can qualify for the in-house gifted program.

I have 2 children who qualified for Gep. One went for it, another didn’t. The reason why was because they have different personalities, different ways of learning, different ways of coping and different ways of looking at problems and handling problems and things in life. We took all these into account and made different decisions for them.


We do not see a distinct difference between our 2 kids so far. PTL, both are doing well. And the one who did not go through Gep is still doing very well and consistently top in the school and in competitions outside of school, without much tuition and any nagging.

There are many ways that lead to Rome ie success in life. Most importantly, we have to understand our children and try our best to make decisions for them that we think will be in sync with their personalities and way of thinking. I have followed the Gep thread for quite some time but never posted. I realize there are some people who are very against and some whose kids are in it are very supportive. IMO, Gep is just a different way of learning things, a different learning journey. Please don’t think that Gep is the only best way. Look at your children first and think hard for them first. There are some Geppers who struggle.

Lastly, I think if your child is naturally curious and inquisitive about many or certain things around him or her, you will notice it from young, this is to me the most important requisite to be in Gep. If your child has an intelligent and naturally inquisitive mind, you won’t need any intense courses to get him or her into gep. Many of the geppers like to find things out for themselves and that inquisitive streak in them would have been there since they were very young anyway.