Kindlewhite:

Some questions on RGS:

1. School hours: 7.20am onwards?
2. CCA hours and days: ?
3. Is it compulsory to take higher Chinese?
4. Any advantage to take higher Chinese? Eg. To take 3rd language instead of higher Chinese.

cca hours and days differs depends on which cca you do. Typically sports cca is 3x a week, on Mon, Tue and Thurs, irregardless if you are sports dsa or not. The commitment is the same for all once you are in the cca. They typically ends around 6pm. The more relaxing ones 1-2x a week. Wed is typically a project day, depending on what project (research studies) you do. Most go for 3rd lang on Fri, or go home early if you dont do 3rd lang.

Harrychew:

Imp75:

[quote=\"mummy2004\"]
2 years ago NYGH does not have specific domain, so its more like general academic.
Honestly, I cant pin point a particular profile that will sure get a CO. All of them have different strength/ awards/ profile. A friend's DD from a reputable neighborhood school. Mainstream, top in class, top in level, top in many subjects, prefect exco, piano/ violin diploma, ballet etc. You would think is an all rounder and sure get CO? No, she was only offered WL.

The profile above does not wow me. How many such profiles are there in schools? Plenty i would say. All these just showed me she has very individualistic achievements and hardly an all-rounder. What’s her CCA? Does she spend time outside of school contributing to society? Most importantly, how does she relax or spend her free time?

Top in level in a school means the number 1 student in a school (and there are only 150+ primary schools). Also prefect exco is counted as one of \"choice CCA\" because this means likely handpicked by school's principal or VP. I don't think there are even three hundred of such students around in each cohort. Such a profile would impress me mightily.

Most likely either the DSA category that she applied under is highly competitive with very limited slots, or she fumbled during the interview.[/quote]
Just general academic. There was no specific domain 2 years ago.
I suspect, she may not have convinced the interviewers that it is her top school choice. She was undecided between nygh or going to her affiliated secondary school given the proximity to home and how comfortable she is with the school culture and environment. Her classmate whose profile not as stellar was given CO instead. The kiasu mother was really upset... lol. Anyway, the girl did well for psle, high 270+ but decided to stay in her affiliated secondary school in the end.

Dont think majority of parents of my DD's primary school prefect exco are teachers or psg committee, thou I have heard ppl saying the same... the few that I know the parents dont even volunteer or show up at school...

Zappy:

shuangbaoma:

I feel some parents mix the selection standards with the psle. The school choose some kids because he can take good psle score or not . They choose because they need this students, they feel the students are best of best, can fit for the school culture well, can bring glories or practical benefit to the school.

Espectislly the CO number is quite limited these years, school is not mercy agency.
So some idea as “you are good at all subjects, you have more chance to be rejected”, or “you cannot pass cop, you have high chance to be selected”, personally feel not fit for school criteria.

I agree with the sentiment.
Previously, many gep students got through because there was a general academic domain. Now that this is no longer available, they have to compete based on specific domains or strengths.

That's not to say gep students have no chance just because they are from Gep n they have a high chance of meeting the cut off point. They will still be selected based on their strengths, like any other applicants. If anything, there's a small advantage in that they are likely to be competent in their studies so as to be able to cope in a highly rated school as well.

But if there's no specific strength in the applied domain, then obviously the number of such students would have dropped compared to the previous years when there was a general academic domain.

2 years ago NYGH does not have specific domain, so its more like general academic.
Honestly, I cant pin point a particular profile that will sure get a CO. All of them have different strength/ awards/ profile. A friend's DD from a reputable neighborhood school. Mainstream, top in class, top in level, top in many subjects, prefect exco, piano/ violin diploma, ballet etc. You would think is an all rounder and sure get CO? No, she was only offered WL.

So yes, I have to think that interview plays an important part. The school must be looking for particular traits that they think will best fit the school culture (which only they know!). Honestly, for academic DSA (be it math, sci, eng, chinese) there is very little commitment to the school and they dont seem to care (at least for RGS). There are many who enter the school via very high t-score that can do well and bring in trophies in all those competitions. There is really no shortage of academic talents when only the top 3% can enter the school via PSLE. They have to be looking at more than academic talents/ awards/ trophies at the DSA stage. Dont forget luck plays a big part at the interview! The type of questions you get, they like you or not...

crm:

NYGH welcomes geppers very much. Almost 100% successful

not true. DD was a geppers and OM gold medalist but only get WL 2 years ago. in fact very few of her classmates get CO. many ppl think that geppers confirm get CO but that is not true. maybe that was true many years ago, but it is definitely not true from what we observe over the last 2 years.

katongmum:

Is there a Performing Arts DSA domain? Besides Academic and Sports, Art and Music are for the Special Art Program and Music Elective Program. These elective students - DSA or otherwise are put into 3 classes across the level for Y1.

sorry I think you are right. she meant MEP students... I am very blur, thought music is under performing arts category, didn't realise there isnt a performing arts dsa domain.

DD actually does not really know the performing arts dsa students… so she is not sure which class they go, but her guess is they are also grouped together in a class. grouping them together has the advantage of all taking part in certain events together, missing lessons together hence teachers can arrange make up for them?

based on past data, the school is able to identify the profile of students who are likely to take up the CO. Just like a company is unlikely to hire someone with a phD applying for a job as a clerk coz they know you wont stay?


Just remind the child, when they are not successful in their DSA applications, it doesnt mean they are not good enough or qualified. just that the school doesnt think he/ she is the best fit for the limited spots available. 2 years ago, the ex-nygh P told us that a top student will not be offered a place if she doesnt have what the school is looking for (non academic qualities) even though her result is very good and have all the medals. As they know that this girl will definitely be able to enter the school via t-score. They would much prefer to give the CO to someone with the quality they want, but may miss the cut-off score.

lovingkindness 9797:

What The:

[quote=\"lovingkindness 9797\"]Thank you so much again for your advice

At least can move forward and don’t expect so much
Agree CD not easy..

Sometimes good to move on than have a tortuous wait.
Good luck for your DD's other DSA/ PSLE.

Yes. I agree.Actually before we try NYGH, I was advised by 1 parent don’t bother trying as they only take in 1. ( not sure if source is reliable).I thought at least we try. I Guess winning awards doesn’t help too. Not sure what they are looking for but it is really beyond our control. We will just have to move on.

All the best to all parents and kids for coming PSLE.You all are a great support![/quote]
A friend's DD with international dance award was unsuccessful with her dance DSA to a neighborhood school. With her high calibre and passion for dance, the school know that her top choice would be SOTA and not any secondary school. They told her openly that they wont offer her a place as they know she will choose SOTA if given the choice. Given the limited DSA spot for dance, they would rather offer it to someone who would definitely take up the CO, rather than letting it go to waste when she doesnt take up the offer. So winning awards in this case doesnt help as she is overqualified.

GreenA:

Macc0608:

Can any kind parent share how many classes of academic Dsa are there in this year Sec 1 classes? Do they group by subject? If yes, can have a gauge of the number taken in by each subject .. Thanks

I am a parent of Y3 student. Y1s are not grouped by DSA/non-DSA classes. Usually, there are 6 GEP classes and 6 non-GEP classes. However, this is not very strict. PSLE high scorers from main-stream primary schools will also be put into GEP classes. DSA and non-DSA students are mixed into each of the classes. Except the school, nobody can tell for sure how many academic DSA students there are for each year.

I am a year 2 parent. contrary to what you said, DD thinks classes are grouped by DSA domain and not GEP/ non-GEP. 210-212 math & science, 208-209 english, 207 chinese. sports and performing arts etc 205-206 (I think, cant remember) According to her, they are mostly DSA-ed, but not all. There are some psle high scorer among them too...

not sure if things have changed for the year 1 this year...

What The:

Nobody knows exactly the shortlisting/ selection criteria and the number of DSA slots allocated per domain.

That's the nerve racking part of DSA.
Hope more transparency when MOE takes over next year

The school may have in mind a certain no of candidates they want per domain, but the quality and pool of candidates is different every year, so its not a fixed number. Why do they want to take in a candidate just to fill the pre-set quota if the quality is not up to their expectation, especially for the sports, music, performing arts domain? Academic is easy to fill, as the pool is large, maybe that's also why academic is always the last to be selected/ notified. If there is a shortfall of candidates from other domains, then maybe they can take in more academic dsa?

according to DD, for the sport she is in - the no of dsa candidates they took in every year ranges from 1-3, its not fixed, depends how much the coach/ seniors like them...