sweetpappi:

Thank you phttp and Esteema. My daughter wants to go JC after her O levels then the 2 points bonus will be a big advantage. But I am confused because TKGS got MEP programme that's my only concern.

Hi Sweetpappi,

Since your preference seems to be the WL for TKGS, though you do have the SMSS CO in hand, then just put TKGS in first choice and SMSS in 2nd. That way, you won't have to fear losing your CO just in case TKGS WL does not convert. So our DD may not see each other in school after all

Personally, I think the O-Levels should not be a big problem. The MEP however, is not a program found in many schools. So if MEP is a key consideration, then it seems like TKGS would be the school you should not eliminate.

BMM:

Hi, anyone has received results from St Margaret Secondary School?



Thank you.

I called them a couple of days ago. Their reply was that they'd be sending out letters at the end of the month, not earlier.

Most schools are likely to take up to the last week of August to settle their DSA namelists. In fact, this year it is already surprising that some schools are able to release their results so early. I think the highly popular DSA schools like RI, RGS, HCI etc will still make us wait till at least the last week , if not the last day of August before they release the DSA results. That would be in keeping with the usual practice of past years.

Imp75:

fable:

Well said! It is the responsible schools that try to ensure that the child chosen for DSA is able to cope with the academic rigours of the school. While the official cut off is 200 I think it would be doing a disservice to the student to simply look at the lowest possible qualifying mark.


When one of the school reps approached us to speak to us with an DSA invitation for the school, his first question was how my son is doing academically. And we appreciated that because to us it showed that they were looking beyond what they could get out of the child in terms of (potential) sporting accolades.[quote=\"floppy\"]
Why 75%? Why not 60%?
If schools are really looking for sports talent, 50% is also a passing grade.

While NJC have stated their minimum requirement upfront, others may make you go through 3 rounds of auditions but eliminate you in the final round if they feel that the candidate is unlikely to keep up with the academic requirements. Would that change your perception whether these schools are really looking for sports talent or not?

Ultimately, all schools have a responsibility to ensure that their students keep up with the required academic expectations. Bearing in mind that NJC only offer IP, which is a 6 year programme, they have to be more stringent and careful about their students compared to schools that can offer DSA into O level track, or has both IP and O level tracks in their school. If the NJC student cannot-make-it at the end of the journey, it is worthwhile to remember that the student only has a PSLE certificate to rely on.

The above is not the same as saying that the academic is the ultimate / only consideration while sports / music / art merits are thrown aside.

The only school that truly appreciate sporting talent so far that I see is SSP.....
For the rest of the schools esp the IPs, academic results play a rather significant part in the selection criteria.[/quote]Urm.... I wouldn't really agree with the statement that the \"rest of the schools esp the IPs, academic results play a rather significant part in the selection criteria\" I don't think it's plainly just that.

What I observed is that the schools, when considering DSA candidates, need to ensure that the candidates can REALLY cope in school with the schoolwork. Given that the majority of applications for DSA tend to go to the \"top schools\", the academic standards in these schools are also not to be laughed at. In fact, do remember that in Sec 1 all the students will have this crazy tremendous increase in no. of subjects (from 4 sbj to around 7-8 sbj) that they need to take, plus projects all to be done and completed at the same time, plus an automatic adjustment (?!) to the utterly different style/standard of expectation (esp for level of independence) when it comes to their schoolwork. ALL THESE are the basic requirements of all secondary school students.

The DSA students need to fulfill ALL OF THE ABOVE and then +++ all the DSA requirements and expectations, the least of which would be the crazy 2-3 days of CCA practices per week (normal days) and close to 5-6 days of intense practices per week during performance/competition seasons.

If the academic side of school is not well taken care of, the DSA kids will need to have additional supplementary sessions and higher level of supervision from their teachers. All these add up to higher pressure on the kids and it's questionable if all of them can cope with such a large extent of change all at once.

There's more..... The peer pressure from the friends in the CCA group to achieve performance is invisible but very very real. DSA kids tend to be under higher expectations from their friends to put in more since they DSAed into the school using their ability in the CCA. And DSA kids have almost no defence against that....

So all in all, this is really not a straight forward issue of \"why they place their main criteria on academics when it's for DSA?\" or \"they should just look at the CCA performance to judge if can DSA\" Often, parents get caught in the exercise of DSA just plainly focusing on the act of getting it through. For the kids, they have to live that decision for the next 4-6 years. And the conditions attached to DSA is pretty much iron-clad. If you want to leave the CCA, you really may have to leave the school. And leaving the school will NOT be a straight forward matter with MOE. That much I can confirm.....

sembgal:

Thank you for sharing. Very useful info. I would like to ask what is the implications if the student enters sec sch via DSA? I have heard that all DSA students will be grouped in a class. After PSLE results announced, the top tier of PSLE grades will be allocated to the High-ability sec 1 class (some school do it discreetly) and the students are ranked according to their PSLE T-score to be in the sec 1 class of the school posted to.

Oh My Gosh:

Dear parents, DS just finished his PSLE hence I thought of providing some feedback. DSA is a 2 edged sword. DSA is really a great initiative as it relieve the stress of parents and students from the uncertainty of PSLE results, and most importantly, the hassle of screening through 6 choices in the S1 exercise.

However, if your child is consistently showing good results, I would propose only applying for the DSA of only 1 school he really want to go, or even not to apply DSA at all. My son applied DSA Academics of a IP school (School A) he really like, and another IP school (School B) near our place which I proposed. He got WL from School A and CO from School B. He is in a dilemma of his DSA selection - I can sense his worry that his WL may not be converted and he will go into School B, yet after much consideration, he decided to place WL from School A as first choice and CO from School B as 2nd choice.

When the school results came out, he did well enough to go to any school. We are blessed that his WL is converted but there is always a worry that if it is not converted, he will be in School B. After the results are out, I then asked him what if he is posted to School B (I didn't want to add his anxiety in the first place and being a matured boy, he made his own decisions), he told me he will accept the decision and will still work hard.

I want to stress that both School A and School B are good IP schools but there is a preference for my boy. So even if he said he will still work hard, I am sure there will be a certain regret that he could have go into his preferred choice using his T score. And there are \"branded\" Schools which everyone is telling me DS should go.

Parents, what I am trying to say is our child may just be 12 years old, but there is a certain maturity and preference in their mind. We should work out the options with them and make a choice which we will never regret. All the best to your DC for DSA 2017. Without regrets, I will be trying for DSA again in 2018 for my DD but this time, it will definitely a more experienced process.

Different schools group their students differently. I know of some Sec schools who group all their DSA sports students in a few classes, probably for easier makeup lesson arrangements especially during competition seasons.

However, there are increasing numbers of schools where the emphasis is to integrate the DSA with non-DSA students evenly into all the classes of the cohort. I do feel that this is better. The DSA students are kept in the know about the progress of the entire class, and they are under no illusions that having competitions does not excuse them from having to keep up with the rest of the non-DSA students in their academic studies.

DSA cannot be used as a separate performance criteria for school-work. In fact, DSA is an additional performance requirement since the school-work is a given. It is required for ALL students, DSA or otherwise, to do reasonably well for their academics. The performance for their DSA activity is an additional requirement ON TOP OF the daily school stuff.

phtthp:

yap_susan:

That is the purpose of interview.

It is also to screen out those who are purposeful in getting in. Not just because parents says so.
Children ought to have a say in it since they are the ones studying in that school ultimately.

During interview, how to identify those P6 interviewees that are purposeful in entering the DSA Secondary school ?

Some parents may have already pre-program their children for interview with answers, show to interviewers during interview that they are purposeful.

When my DD was attending all the interviews, the feedback after every session was really quite telling. Every school has their way of sussing out the type of students they are looking for. They arrange and conduct the interviews in a very organised manner but each school does it differently. The type of and focus of the questions they ask also differ greatly due to the different culture and focus of each school.
From our experience, I don't think there is a need to question if the schools' interview committees know how to tell a coached interview response from a genuine spontaneous one. Even the kids themselves within the interview groups could tell when they hear a \"prepared answer\". My DD told me that after every answer, further probes and request for elaborations from different teachers will come shooting out quite rapidly. The kids have no time to extract prepared memorised answers.... It will have be the genuine natural responses that will stand out.
Having said the above, it is also the schools' perogative to determine the deciding factor when it comes to DSA for different departments eg. Sports. If the school wants to focus on developing the sprints, then they may relax the interview criteria for the sprinters so that they will get achieve the intended aim of improving the school's sprint team.
The \"top\" schools also do not want students who are too far off the schools' academic standards. The follow-up processes in Sec 1 - Sec 4 for non-performance in academic studies is just too painful and demoralizing for students, parents and the school. So I really don't think any of the schools will set out to recruit students who obviously cannot keep up with the school's academic studies.

FA 121:

Hihi Parents,


Me also 1st time psle parent here. Still considering whether to apply for DSA at catholic high.

Have some questions & hope some experienced parents here can help as i couldn't find the info i want at moe website on this:-

1) what will happen if ds results don't meet the catholic high COP but already being offered a place thru DSA? will he get disqualified? I need to know what is next if don't meet cop.

Thanks in advance!

If he gets a CO from Catholic High, he'll need to confirm his acceptance before PSLE scores are revealed. Then the only criteria he needs to fulfil from his PSLE scores is to qualify for the Express stream and not fall below that. The actual cut off psle show should not affect his confirmed place in Catholic High anymore.

FA 121:

Hihi Parents,


Me also 1st time psle parent here. Still considering whether to apply for DSA at catholic high.

Have some questions & hope some experienced parents here can help as i couldn't find the info i want at moe website on this:-

1) what will happen if ds results don't meet the catholic high COP but already being offered a place thru DSA? will he get disqualified? I need to know what is next if don't meet cop.

Thanks in advance!

If he gets a CO from Catholic High, he'll need to confirm his acceptance before PSLE scores are revealed. Then the only criteria he needs to fulfil from his PSLE scores is to qualify for the Express stream and not fall below that. The actual cut off psle show should not affect his confirmed place in Catholic High anymore.

FA 121:

Hihi Parents,


Me also 1st time psle parent here. Still considering whether to apply for DSA at catholic high.

Have some questions & hope some experienced parents here can help as i couldn't find the info i want at moe website on this:-

1) what will happen if ds results don't meet the catholic high COP but already being offered a place thru DSA? will he get disqualified? I need to know what is next if don't meet cop.

Thanks in advance!

If he gets a CO from Catholic High, he'll need to confirm his acceptance before PSLE scores are revealed. Then the only criteria he needs to fulfil from his PSLE scores is to qualify for the Express stream and not fall below that. The actual cut off psle show should not affect his confirmed place in Catholic High anymore.

FA 121:

Hihi Parents,


Me also 1st time psle parent here. Still considering whether to apply for DSA at catholic high.

Have some questions & hope some experienced parents here can help as i couldn't find the info i want at moe website on this:-

1) what will happen if ds results don't meet the catholic high COP but already being offered a place thru DSA? will he get disqualified? I need to know what is next if don't meet cop.

Thanks in advance!

If he gets a CO from Catholic High, he'll need to confirm his acceptance before PSLE scores are revealed. Then the only criteria he needs to fulfil from his PSLE scores is to qualify for the Express stream and not fall below that. The actual cut off psle show should not affect his confirmed place in Catholic High anymore.