Dear Kin, 999Happygolucky and Mummyv,


Thank you for all the information and sharing !

I am really fearful at the amount of time spent on VB training. My thoughts are that using VB or any sports as DSA may not be suitable for everyone. Firstly, it means the child needs to continue to do the sports in sec school. Even if the child gets into a top Secondary School, i believe he will struggle if his academic is not very good. He may end up not doing well enough to get any scholarships or even a place in the universities , etc ? … wouldnt that be a big sacrifice?

I also feel that the school needs to do everything to maintain is brandname. So it depends on the pupils in sports class to continue to maintain the position in sports while for academic, it has the "A" class pupils to do that. So eventually, if the child’s results drop, the poor child and parents suffer. For the school, it’s pretty ok cos it still as the other group of pupils to excel academically. I tend to think that schools are run like companies these days, end day, they also need to maintain their KPIs and ranking, right ?

I thought that last time, PCPS has sports class only in P5 and P6 (I could be wrong). Making the poor 8-year old child decides isnt really fair. I have been hinting to my son not to go sports class. He is already not very happy. He may end up resenting me for life for not letting him go sports class.

According to the PN, pupils who opt for sports class cannot back out in p3 and P4.

It appears that only a few can make it to the school team while the rest in the VB class could be reserves. So if the child is not good enough to be in school team, he might not be able to get DSA. Then the poor kid is dangling halfway… academic results suffer and sports not good enough?

From the posts, it appears that 5A is for the students who top academically. So sports pupil who are good academically go to 5A and not continue join a sports class?

So far, my son’s results has been pretty ok. He has 2 piano lessons weekly (1 group and 1 indiv), he enjoys his art class at NAFA and also has swimming. If he were to go to sports class, it means i have to cut down on these activities. I kind of feel that it is a big sacrifice. More importantly, the poor young kid will be so tired to be able to do much work. He might end up being sleep-deprived?

For PCPS, streaming into P3 is based on results in P2 or P1 and P2 ? Some schools deny this and said that the streaming is random, just to allow the pupils to meet and work with different pupils. I remember asking Mr Lee the principal at orientation and he said it is random. I dont believe that is true. The best class for P5 and P6 is "A" class but for P3 and p4, it is not necessarily the "A"?

I wonder how the teachers going to manage the sports class if the academic level pupils are different. In one of my PV assignments 3 or 4 yrs ago, I got to come into contact with the different classes in P5, . The profile of the pupils were so different. About 75% of the pupils in the top class (cant recall what alphabet the class was) were prefects. They grasped what you said very quickly, complete the task accurately and quickly. Whereas for some classes, the pupils could hardly comprehend what you were trying to tell them. I am not trying to steorotype the pupils, just sharing that it will be a big challenge for the teacher to teach the pupils if they are at different aptitude levels. The poor children in the sports class already have very little time for school work and when they have make-up lessons, they may find that they cannot catch up ?

Sorry if I sounded very negative. Actually, I am more worried and as a KS parent, perhaps I am thinking too far ahead ? ha ha…

Tks, Callie. There is a briefing this Friday at 7 pm. Do attend for more info as well.

Hi 999Happygolucky and Kin


My p2 son received a letter to opt for sports class at p3 and p4. The notification mentioned once opted in, there is no withdrawal from the sports class. I know some parents would be delighted but for me, I am not sure what that means. At p3 and p4, how much time is taken away for volleyball practice? There isnt any competition at this stage, right? I would assume that p3 and p4 is to train them and the actual competition starts at p5 and P6? Is it true that for the sports class, empahsis is on sports as they are in the school team and need to bring up the name of the school. So while the teacher will help the pupils to catch up in terms of the school work, they have very little time left to do their homework, let alone any other enrichment or tuition classes? Sorry to post so many questions, hope to hear the experience from parents whose children are in the sports class. Thanks a million !!

Hi, I am new to this thread. Am thinking of sending my p2 boy for creative writing. Any personal experience to share pls?

I understand from my son (P1) that his class took some MOE test on Wednesday during recess time. It sounded like some MCQ IQ tests with an answer key with their particulars (including birth cert number) pre-printed. They are required to shade their answers in one of the small circles My son fedback that he could not complete the paper and could not answer some questions. Is any parent aware of that and can shed some light ? Tks.

We received the notification about Alternative Assessment for Maths on 18 April and Shapes will be tested. Does any parent know the format of the AA ? Is it different from MA1 ?

Callie Tan:

georgi_cch:

[quote=\"brownie_06\"]My boy kept mentioning about a pilot/instructor came to school and gave a talk about flying on Friday during assembly. Did any of your kids mention that? He even copied a URL into his diary, http://www.theaeroplane but apparently, it is not the correct URL. Anyone knows the correct link?

Thanks in advance.

Hi brownie,
It's http://www.theairplaneguy.org. My gg told me there will b a paper plane flying competition in sch but ask her when she forgot . Think last yr sch had this competition too

Sounds interesting!! But my girl didn't say a thing about this... will ask her tonight...[/quote]

Hi Callie

For the aeroplane thingy, my son shared that he was told to go to internet and check on the video section on how to fold aeroplane. They need to submit their aeroplane before 2 March. He did not say that it was \"flying\" competition. He just said that \"teacher will choose the 3 best aeroplane\".

My son is in class 1B. I agree with hotspurs that class 1B hardly brings their work for us to check. In fact, they hardly have any homework. I have also not heard / seen anything about wordbank.


For English, there were grammer topics covered from units 1 to 4. We need to revise that as well. Does anyone know if the teachers will return the SBA worksheets?

I remember the English HOD told us we need to buy the Grammar book which is to be used till P2 but todate, we have not heard anything yet. The SBA worksheet actually makes reference to the book.

Has any parent heard anything about the Grammer Book ?

brownie_06:

mamemo:

Wow SweeKeng,


your girl can tell u almost everything ! Sigh, all my DS tell me is what he eats during recess :roll:

btw, can I check with mummies here whether the P1 students need to apply for separate library card to borrow from the mobile library ?

Recently when the mobile library came to school, he couldn't borrow any books because we didn't apply the library card during Admin Day. We tot no need since he already has an NLB card.

No need to apply if you have a NLB. My boy wrote in his dairy to bring libray card last week. On Monday, he went to the mobile library and borrowed 2 books.

Oh dear, I am beginning to feel very insecured.... my son could not tell me if he has done any worksheets (aka test), the Pupil's Diary is blank everyday. I have not had the chance to see his Stella handwriting and he is still at Farmer's concert. Today, he has LIBRARY, according to his time table. I just let him bring his library card. I remember the Prinicpal said that the mobile library will go to school once a term. So i suppose the rest of the library lessons mean going to the shool library and borrow books using the NLB library card. Is this understanding correct ?

Btw, I have compiled the canteen menu from pictures I took on Saturday after the Stella briefing into an excel file. how can I upload an excel file pls ?

Modi:

bridesep:

Hi Modi
Your DD is in 1B, right? So is my son. But he does not tell me that there was an assessment. How was it like? My son is super blur, can even lost his pupil's diary. Anyway, i note that there isnt much homework for 1B. Just got the chinese spelling today (18 Jan) and the spelling is on 20 Jan?

Hi Bridesep,

Yes, my DD in 1B. their chinese spelling is on 27th Jan. I saw my gal written it on top of the spelling list. Yes, agree that their dairy book is always blank. Both and my husband was like everyday looking forward to see something. My DD is careless, she forgotten to bring the dairy book today too. Told her to tell teacher truthfully, wonder whether she will confront herself.

Tks, Modi.