Mean university admission point for top 3 JC.

HCI 85.2
RIJC 85
VJC 84
The higher the mean UAP score the better. Max score 90

As a teacher as well as a parent, I would advise you to remove any bias that you may possible have and listen objectively to what the teacher has to say when both of you meet.


At the same time, use this teaching moment to let him know his future is in his hand and should not be easily affected by others around him. From my teaching experience, students do not generally give up their dreams just like that after one (maybe more?) so-called negative comments.

Victoria Junior College and Anderson Junior College both started in 1984.

The then principal of AJC decided to follow the MOE’s guidelines for a holistic education.
The principal of VJC then with the support of the advisory’s board kinda went against MOE and decided to focus on academics first.
And the rest is history. One is now a top government JC (RI and HCI are now independent) while the other is now struggling to maintain its academic standing, especially with the implementation of IP programme.

Until the entire MOE is on the same standing, all these are just a gimmick advertisement.

It is not a ‘new’ news.


I’ve already mentioned in other previous postings that JC teachers like us do not like to take classes with many DSA students. I can assure you at least 8 out of the bottom 10 students from each cohort who are likely to be retained are from DSA.

The teachers DO put in time and effort to teach them because they are still our students and we are responsible for them. However when everybody else can understand so quickly and they are probably still stuck (with some even at secondary school level standard) at fundamentals you can imagine what it will do to their self-esteem. They are the kings in their sports/performing arts but when it comes to studies…

fyi the lowest PSLE score of a student that gained entry via DSA was 08X. How do you expect him to compete with those whose scores are >25X.

When PW officially started in 2003 as an examination subject, I had already heard then it was going to be removed.

Since then without fail every year each batch of my students would tell me that they had credible source that they would be the last batch to do PW.
12 years have since passed and I am still hearing this that PW will be removed.

From MOE’s point of view, I can well assure everyone here (confirm double chop) that IT WILL NOT BE REMOVED. While PW is a monster and sucks the ‘life’ of every student, many will realize that they will need these skills when they go university and do ‘PW’ for almost every module they take.

Will it then take another form, example assimilate into GP? Maybe but probably will only take shape when I retire then haha…

For your information, many JCs include MTL in the computation of number of distinctions scored by students.

For a typical student, he/she will take 4 content subjects, 1 GP, 1 PW and 1 MTL (if no higher MT) in JC. Total 7 subjects.

Life is NEVER fair and attempts to make it fairer for everyone will always lead to anguish, anger, frustration and miserable for that particular group who does not benefit or loses the advantages from the changes.


Look at your child instead and seek to develop his/her characters in the ways that will serve him/her good for the rest of the life.

I’ve helped to nurture and develop countless number of scholars in the school and not all of them are academically perfect. Many of them (not all) have strong and desirable characters that make them stand out. What’s the point of knowing everything when you can’t relate to anyone.

If everyone thinks like you, the motto 'Every school a good school' will become a reality. Unfortunately the majority does not believe in it.


It is always so heart-wrenching to see students appeal or DSA to top JCs, spend 3 or 4 years there and in the end getting the kind of results that cannot qualify them for any courses at the local public universities. It is a yearly nightmare for me to witness this, the most recent just being 2 days ago. The lowest rank point for my school's cohort was less than 20, i.e. practically fail every subject.

mommylow:

I think it is not fair to compare schools or JCs just using their academic performance output to determine whether it is a better school than the other.

For schools having a GREATER pooling of high ability and academically inclined students, naturally these students will churn in stellar results yearly to keep their schools' ranking at the top. Hence it is not fair to use these top academic performing schools as a yardstick against the rest because schools with lesser academically inclined students will never catch up with the 'big brothers'.

Rather, what we should look at is the intrinsic values of a school that can help define and provide holistic education for our children. We should look at how well the school has done in striking a balance in all areas of learning and character development. A good school exposes students to a plethora of learning opportunities to teach and stretch, encouraging them to embrace challenges and be steadfast and resilient. A good school helps students to realize their full potential and nurtures them to be future leaders who live and lead with passion.

Whether a student has attained 3, 7 or 9 distinctions, as long as it is the best that he/she had done academically and at the same time had a fulfilling learning journey and reaped more in non-academic areas, both the school and student are good and have done well.

MOE uses an internal performance gauge for schools that we call PRISM analysis.

There are a few yardsticks in which comparison of schools are being made but I will highlight the 2 main ones:
1. Academic performance
2. Value-addedness
We normally focus on this particular graph where the y-axis shows value-addedness and the x-axis shows the rank point. Each school will be represented by a point in the graph and there will be a vertical line bar for each school.

1. Academic performance
despite the call for less emphasis on the academic performance and more on character development, it is quite obvious that only the former can be quantified. Hence schools are still 'judged' mainly by academic performance output. For many years and many more to come, it is very obvious that there are 2 dots who are way far ahead of the rest. There is NO way the 3rd dot (XJC) will be able to catch up the top 2. The graph does NOT state which dot belongs to which JC but we can kinda ask around.
2. Value-addedness
On each dot, there is a vertical line bar that represents the expectation from MOE. If the dot is at the top of the bar it means the school has met beyond the expectation from MOE. The top 2 dots have been meeting expectation with only rare years one/two went below. The 3rd/4th dot often meet or exceed expectation.
However there is a flaw in this value-addedness. The expectation from MOE is based on the students' L1R5 score that each school take in. Hence IP schools such as DHS and RVHS are often not present in the graph. The rest of the IP schools take in O-level students.

I understand many parents wish to see their children attend top secondary schools, top JCs and graduate from there with excellent set of results. However if the children are not capable enough to do so, the parents will try to use the DSA route to achieve the aim.


Everything is ok if they achieve a certain academic standard throughout. From my experiences, many of them make frequent visits to the Principal’s office together with their parents throughout the years. DSA is a dirty word among the JC content tutors and we often lament whenever we have one under our tutelage.

As much as parents through their children ‘made use’ of our name and prestige to go around boasting, the schools wring every bit of whatever ‘talent’ a student has to bring glory to them. In the end, it is often the students who are the losing end.

Please take note of the following pointers if you are intending to use the DSA route.
1. From this year onward, there is an unwritten MOE ruling if a DSA students cannot make it to its affiliated JC, eg. RI to RI(JC) due to poor academic results, that student cannot go to any other non-IP JCs to take A-level. Period. He/she must take IB exam instead or hope very hard the other JCs which have IP programme can accept him/her.

2. If a student does make it to its affiliated JCs, there is NO guarantee he/she can take the National examinations as a school candidate. I’ve many cases of them doing as private candidates while the rest of the classmates as school candidates. I’m sure the readers will know why. Want to complain to MOE or sue the school? Too bad there is a contractual agreement between the school and the student.

Hence is DSA good? I’ve DSA students who excelled and went on to do medicine. I’ve students too who stayed in JCs for 4 years and ended up with not even a cert. The school proudly showcases the trophies but the people who helped to achieve are just ‘expendables’ that can be replenish every year.

It is a risky road to take. Which student can take such route and eventually succeed the parents must determine with an unbiased, untainted approach.