solo

eager_beaver:

i have 2 daughters in sota, both in dance, 1 in the pioneer cohort & the other now in year 2.


though it is not a vocational school, the training (at least for the dancers) can be long & tiring but like most sota sudents i know, they are enjoying themselves.

yes the school culture is very different from main stream schools & there is also a vibrancy when i visited their interim campus in goodman road.

i am not familiar with ib but i can see what my daughters are doing is very different from main stream school so i think it may be quite difficult to switch to GCE after say a couple of years.

i understand competition amongst each art form itself can also be vicious & i understand some become disillusion because may be before sota, they may be the best but when in sota they find that are probably competing with the best in their art form age for age

Hello eager-beaver and StartZ,

Thanks for sharing about your dds experiece in SOTA. How many hours of art/dance do you dds do everyday? Do they separate the academic class from the art class? That's to say, in an academic class, do they have students doing different types of art(dance, theatre, music, etc).

For IB, I understand that the 1st 2 years are the same as mainstream Sec1&2 but the 3rd and 4th are pre-IB years meaning they start teaching in the style of the IBDP. I guess if the student wants to go Cambridge, they have to decide at the end of Sec2. The question is, does it mean he has to leave SOTA? What if the student decide to go polytechnic instead? What's the point of doing IBDP then?

StartZ, I like your unwavering and positive attitude in making your decision for letting your dd go to SOTA. We need more brave parents like you who dare to get out of the comfort zone and go into uncharted waters. I'm sure all will be well for your dd because she's doing what she loves. If my dd ever want to go to SOTA for art, I'm sure I'll do the same. Meanwhile, she's has a few more years to know what her passion is. She's still very innocent and all-loving. I hope to keep in touch with you!

turquoise:

solo:

The Singapore Sports School has the same admission method as SOTA, talent followed by T-score, but it's more inclusive as it accepts NA stream students all the way up to those with T-score of >260. They offer NA, GCE 'o', through train polytechnic as well as the IB diploma. Only the cream gets to do the IB and like SOTA the T-score criteria is 230 and above. However, all students from SSP (sports school) has a reserved place in the mainstream secondary school which they can go to if they should want to leave the SSP due some reason. It's not a very fair policy for the mainstream side but it's wonderful to see how much our government is willing to put in resources to have diversity in education and nurture talents. I've heard that SSP is the only specialised independent school in Singapore that has this privilege, is it true?

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Hi Solo,

Can you clarify something? I understand that for those offered a place in SOTA through their Talent Auditions, all they need is to qualify for the Express stream to get a place in SOTA, ie about 200. I've also heard the aggregate 230 mentioned. What is the aggregate of 230 for? Does it mean that only those who score >230 are eligible to take IB? But everyone in SOTA takes IB right?

Yes, SOTA has only 1 track, 6-year course leading to IBDP. I think they mentioned to StarZ the figure 230 because that was their ave T-acore for that year's intake. The IB is quite a rigourous prog and if your T-score is too low, even if it's the express stream, the student may not be able to cope. Although SOTA mention just express stream is enough, it is up to their discretion to choose the students combination based on a good balance of the academics and talent. For specialised independent schools, they selection scheme is more complex, not just base on COP. COP does not work for them because selection also base on talent of available in that cohort.

I suppose the benchmark of 230 for IB is for 2010 intake for both and SOTA and SSP. For SOTA, I guess if you are below 230, you still take IB but must be prepared to work very hard to catch up. For SSP, if below 230, yo can tale O-level or through-train track to poly. This number will move from year to year, I think.

BTW, disclaimer, the info given is only what I gather and understand them to be. Please find out from schools if you want the true picture.

:thankyou: :thankyou: :thankyou:


TO ALL OF YOU FOR THE WARM WELCOME.


My friend told me about this site because I wanted to find out more about GEP from other parents. I'm actually not the very kiasu type but parenting can be very lonely if there's nobody to share our joy and tears, not forgetting, fears.

Seems there are alot of very knowledgeable parents here. I think it's a great place to learn how to cope with our ever-changing education system.


Have been SAHP for many years, wanted to get back to work next year but dd got into GEP so we thought I better stick around to check if she can adjust to new program. It's amazing the number of posts that are in the GEP threads.

Hello Startz


The open house you mentioned was in 2008. 2008 was the 1st batch so SOTA is now 2 years old.

Can you please tell me how to prepare the art port folio?

Was it a difficult decision for you to let your daughter join this specialised school? Was it her choice, her calling?

Most parents with talented kids have a hard choice taking the road less travelled when their kids want to do what they love. I’m sure the decision for you was not easy. Could you share?

If it’s the choice of your dd, I’m sure you’ve made the right choice. What’s more the IB is a very holistic program that teaches them how to learn and think, integrates humanities with science and math that makes so much sense in the real world. It’s getting so popular that the IBO is setting up their Asia Pacific Headquarter in S’pore next year (I think). Broad-based learning is the in-thing in the future, the SMU has structured their courses that way and NUS and NTU are starting to copy that. IB is broad-based learning and I’m sure your dd will enjoy and benefit from it.


What I’m concern is if there is a back-up for SOTA students if they decide that they do not want to do that much of music/art/theatre/dance anymore. Where can they go? Did the principal say anything about that?

The Singapore Sports School has the same admission method as SOTA, talent followed by T-score, but it’s more inclusive as it accepts NA stream students all the way up to those with T-score of >260. They offer NA, GCE ‘o’, through train polytechnic as well as the IB diploma. Only the cream gets to do the IB and like SOTA the T-score criteria is 230 and above. However, all students from SSP (sports school) has a reserved place in the mainstream secondary school which they can go to if they should want to leave the SSP due some reason. It’s not a very fair policy for the mainstream side but it’s wonderful to see how much our government is willing to put in resources to have diversity in education and nurture talents. I’ve heard that SSP is the only specialised independent school in Singapore that has this privilege, is it true?

It’s so exciting for your dd to embark on a journey of her choice. Many P6 kids don’t know what they want and their choices are more based on their result or parents decision more than their hearts.

I’ve seen students from both SSP and SOTA. They’re very different. They’re happy to be where they want to be and I’m sure they’ll do well in what they do, both academic and in their area of talent. Best of all, the school culture is very different from mainstream which over the years has become more corporate and cold rather than altruistic.

I wish your dd all the best!

Hello everyone. I'm a SAHM with 2 kids. Hope to learn from and share with with all of you our parenting experiences.