daisyt:

cindylauper posted in this section (Sec/IP), so let me address my views in par with Sec/IP.


Project work is very time consuming but I personally feel that there are many skills our kids are picking up through project work. In fact, for kids who start at lower primary, is a good foundation for them. Anyway, at lower primary, its more of the learning process that counts.

Project work makes my dd understand many things

1) Good friends not necessary mean good working partners (I told her, in working life, friends cannot be colleagues, its the same concept)

2) Adapt and adjust each other's working attitude to ensure work is done, cannot expect everyone to have the same kind of attitude as you.

3) A good leader plays a very important part on timely completeness and proper workload allocation

4) Everyone is strong in certain areas, so make use of other's strong points

When the time is there, they naturally would be forced to learn and pick up the required skill eg. using the software, finding resources, seeking advices around them.

There are times, when the projects are not good enough, they have to re-do.

Don't forget, for those taking A level, project work is a compulsory subject. For those taking diploma, there are project works too. When we are in the workforce, we have to deal with big and small projects too.

Without O levels, IP students can side-track to project work and not worry about exam style learning till the A levels. Project work is useful as it teaches the student to deal with people and uncertainty. Some of it may be unpleasant (e.g. dealing with team-mates who critisize and dont work, or those who want to have things done their way). It's preparation for adulthood. My discussions with my child is normally on the soft learning; I dont really care much about content.

ApronMama:

Then can someone enlighten me why NJC cut-off is higher than HCI (exclude HCL), given HCI after DSA still has more vacancies than NJC ?

My guess is that there are significantly more IP single-gender places for boys than for girls. For boys, there's RI, HCI, ACS(I)? For girls RGS, NYG. NYG with many affliated students will have a raised COP. So girls with scores below RGS/NYG cut-off will naturally apply to NJC, DHS, maybe RVH (less popular because of distance). NJC, DHS girl:boy ratio is 2:1. MOE has closed the IP doors, so some of the good girl schools (eg St Nics, MGS, SCGS) have had their IP application rejected.

nappy:

Hi everyone!

My daughter is currently P6 now and she recently went for the RGS GATs. She compared her answers with all her friends and she found out that most of her answers differ. She is suicidal now as RGS is her dream school. HELP!

Suicidal? No offence intended but perhaps the kids are taking this \"my one and only dream\" school thing a little too seriously; sense that in some of the posts the kids put on this site. Next it will be \"dream wife/husband\".

I personally dont remember dreaming about a particular sec sch, JC or university. Only exception was for overseas U and that mainly for the weather and laid back culture. I personally dont consider RGS a dream school although many understandably do - it's too much work. Time to teach kids that life goes on?

verykiasu2010:

as an ex-NJCian, I am disappointed with the present NJC in so many aspects

And I was somewhat disappointed with the old one.
NJC fees cheaper than HCI, but probably misses out on some programs that independent schools offer eg Home econs.

I dont do their project but might help in pointing the way (e.g. "go try internet keywords) and proof reading. Sometimes comment on the report, eg "abstract is too long". Also discuss ideas. But they have to write their own work.

Tang:

1) Supposing that the nest is disturbed, the bird will leave her chicks to die.
As long as....
Ans (a): As long as the nest is disturbed, the bird will leave her chicks to die.
Ans (b): As long as the nest is undisturbed, the bird will not leave her chicks to die.

Which is the correct ans?

I feel that (b) is the better answer and doesnt sound awkward to me even with the double negative.
It means that the bird will not leave her chicks to die unless the nest is disturbed.

(a) sounds strange and gives me the feeling that the bird may leave her chicks to die, whether the nest is disturbed or not. And if disturbed, will sure leave her chicks to die.

mwchua:

Frankly speaking there are only 2 primary schools with affiliation that I will seriously consider for my girl to transfer to. But those 2 schools typically have a long waiting list. Not considering for now the 2 schools at extreme end of Bt Timah Road mostly because of the perceived elite and \"atas\" culture there. My girl might end up as the only girl in the class who stays at HDB and does not have a car

Just wondering: for those of you with kids at affiliated primary schools, do you feel that the kids there are more complacent about school work as typically as they only need max 220 to go onto their affiliated sec school? I do know this talk on \"holistic\" education but frankly everyone is at the IP bandwagon now.

Will appreciate the feedback of parents with kids at affiliated pri school now and how do you think your kid's school stack up against other primary schools without affiliation in the academic and other aspects?

Majority of those who go to the \"atas\" schools live in HDBs. Not all affliated schools are equal. The 2 girl schools at the ends of Bkt Timah have PSLE results in the top band (ie 10-15) schools, and that's without GEPers in the school. Some GEP schools are not even in the top band.

Relax? I think they push the kids at the right time though probably not as hard as those 2 GEP schools in middle of Bkt Timah. Parents still demand results. There's a significant diff between atas affliated and neighbourhood affliated in terms of resources. eg atas affliated will offer external courses (e.g. Math Olympiad training) for example, whereas the neighbourhood ones dont. I think the parents of atas schools believe in a balance between work and play. The 2 IP secondary schools on the other hand believe in stretching the children, sometimes, I feel for the glory of the school and not for necessarily for the child. Then again one can argue that it's preparation for adult life.

Just my 2 cents..

mwchua:

What will you do if you are me?????? Thanks for your advice

Rgds,
Ming

My own 2 cents opinion - transfer to the ends of Bukit Timah Rd makes sense compared to staying in the middle. I moved house to get into good affliated school and am glad for it. Since I couldnt tell at K2 how my children would do academically, having the safety net was important.

verykiasu2010:

o i c!

the mean and SD is specific to the cohort in the school and is different for each subject in each exam

for P5, the mean ranges from 65 to 75 and the SD ranges from 9 to 17, cohort size approx 400, excluding GEP

the numbers are similar for P6 SA1, and the median is higher than the mean

all the numbers are from the school

Unfortunately my child's school does not provide SD but a graphical distribution of marks so need to manually estimate the SD. Just to check if my estimates are in the ball park, maths is generally the one with the high SD (say 12-18) and the others are lower (say 8-12)? This would be for P5 and P6 CA, SAs.

Means and SD from school results needs to be adjusted for the standard of the school vs national average. So whilst most schools average 200, the top schools would be in region of 230+.