rylee:Hi parents,kovankitty:Hi
I'm exploring the option to enrol my boy (born 2008) in Hougang Primary. Am trying to find out some academic track records for the school eg recent years PSLE passing rate, % of pupils who are eligible for Express stream etc.
Any parents here can advise?
Two of my DS graduated from hougang primary. Ds1 in year2008 and ds2 in 2011.
Ds1 was under the previous principle mr goh and that was the first year (if i
remember correctly) hougang primary manage to go into the MOE list of schools who produced 275 and above scorers. More than 10 of them score more than 260.
In 2009, we had a girl scoring more than 280. That was the glory days of
hougang primary as HGPS was still able to classify under the top primary
list from moe. (though present principal already taken over, but streaming guideline was still using the previous method)
Then in 2010, the top score was 26x (cannot remember the actual number).
This was the first year under the present principal streaming guideline)
This year 2011 (as my ds2 was graduating). Top scorer was 269. Only 20 of them score more than 250 and above. Total cohort around 317. That means
only about 6.3 percent able to achieve top 10 percent of the whole PSLE
cohort in Singapore.
I think the main reason is that unlike the previous principal, the whole cohort was streamed right from the top class to the last class. This is also what most of the school did. But under the present principal, students are only streamed in the follow categories high ability, medium ability and low
ability. That means the someone in the 90% range compete with someone in the 60% range. (from top 1 to 120). This way, the competition reduce
tremendously. My ds1 used to score than 83 percent but was placed about 30 plus in top class and level position. My ds2 score around 85-86 percent, but he was already in the top 3 in in the higher ability class.
This was reflected in the PSLE results both in 2010 and 2011 under the current system. No doubt both my DS already graduated, but I think hougang primary can do better if they used back the old streaming system.
Nevertheless, I will say hougang primary is considered not a bad
neighborhood school. But to compete and excel and be able to land u in a good band 1 or band 2 secondary schools, u need to be in at least top 10 percent of the cohort. If for IP, need at least top 5 percent.
Fortunately, both of my DS are currently doing fine. Ds1 in a band2 school. (was band 1 when he went there in 2009) and Ds2 (in the top psle list of students scoring above 250 in hougang primary) already accepted in a IP school.
Just my 2 cents
Regards,
Rylee
Y2008 : 275
Y2009 : 281
Y2010 : 267
Y2011 : 269