In March 2017 SOTA presented to Year 2 parents and students:- SUBJECT TALK

Year 3 and 4 subjects, Students will be taking these subjects for two years:-
1 ELCT
2 Literature in English
3 MT
4 Geography or History
5 Science
6 Maths
7 Art form (ie Music, VA, Dance, Theatre or LA)
8 PE which is known as Experiential education in SOTA
9 Character and Citizenship Education
Hence, in order to aim for double science in Years 5 and 6, you must secure your Foundation years Sciecnes well in Years 3 and 4. Again, I reiterate, the Science covered in SOTA for Years 1 to 4, is lesser compared to ACSI IB Years 1 to 4, so if the hope is to do double sciences in Year 5 and 6, go to ACSI or MGS IB track

Hi, for those who really eyeing double sciences for Years 5 and 6, I don’t suggest SOTA. The Science foundation from Years 1-4 is different from ACSI IB Years 1-4. SOTA’s focus is on the Arts.


Go to ACSI IB for double sciences/IB

To Oldgal and others who have CO/WL for SOTA

October briefing after PSLE is to motivate, and clarify doubts/questions and to encourage these privileged DC to rubber stamp on the Form and choose SOTA. It is a fantastic opportunity to clear all doubts and ask all questions for both parents and DC. The December briefing is for those who have their Form from MoE (comes with PSLE results slip), having passed the Cut Off points for Express stream, to submit to SOTA personally, collect booklist, get Uniforms list and go to Geylang and buy their uniforms the same day. So, SOTA students actually have a clear time advantage over the majority of PSLE students as SOTA only accepts via DSA. On PSLE Results Day, no SOTA student has to wait anxiously for MoE announcement of Secondary School allocated, then rush to do registration etc. After the second briefing, SOTA students can leave Singapore for a well deserved long long long holiday…welcome welcome to all SOTA 2018 cohort

Hello Oldgal

Sorry that I cannot resist to reply that, in SOTA, vs MS, there are even more opportunities to collaborate. In MS my DS1 is stuck to one compulsory CCA and his classmates -hence only two chatgroups. My DS2 has chatgroups for Music, Badminton, Tchoukball (voluntary CCA), Class, Camp, Project group, Peer Tutor group…some days, he has even more emails than me …And during school holidays, each group wants to go out together, until I put a limit to his active social life. SOTA has many many opportunities to be more proactive, volunteer to lead, or volunteer to participate, and when any good friend participates, DS2 wants to participate.
On the topic of Universities, I make an educated guess that below 25% go overseas for further studies.
On the topic of exit stop, each year is an exit stop because if the child has totally lost interest in the Art Form, if the child is injured permanently (especially in Dance), if the child is so good that he leaves prematurely for overseas (eg to Juilliard) - there are always students leaving each year for varied reasons. If DC leaves before ending Year 6, then, it is a change of syllabus to O and A levels, and the later the exit stop, the more difficult it will be, and further, lack of CCA Foundation eg NCC, NPCC, Boys Brigade, etc and promotion opportunities lost in Uniformed Groups.
So, the fundamental criteria for choosing SOTA has to be passion and talent of DC

To Oldgal


There is no time for CCA, as Art Form takes up a lot of time for actual lessons and practice. Each academic class is a combi of all departments ie music, dance, theatre, VA, LA. When they go into their Art Form lessons, they meet students of same Art form, across their year (8 classes), seniors (years 3-6) and junior (year 1).
This year, for Integrated Arts, my son’s choice of topic landed him up with students from other Art Forms of same year. As my son is in Music, I can share that his string orchestra is made up of different musicians (violinists, cellists, violas) from Year 1-6. Each musician has different levels of abilities and creativity. Vocalists and other music students join different groups each year for ensembles, percussion groups, choral etc and put up annual showcases. Last year, the music students in his class collaborated for end of year open house for their parents - the instrumentalists accompanied the vocalists in their own unique program. Hence there are plenty of opportunities for relationship and team building similar to CCA in MS schools. Finally there are also the annual camps such as kayaking camps where seniors organise the meals and logistics, for the entire Year 2. For SOTA annual Open House for public, they also volunteer their services as ushers, logistics, presentation, etc and there are plentiful opportunities to work with other students … and many many students of sota volunteer, for reasons as they love to stay in SOTA, they love to make new friends (especially of opposite sex) and they love to participate in non structured schedules. This is also a reason why it is rumoured that SOTA students have very long hours, but if DC doesn’t volunteer for events such as Open House, Racial Harmony day, National Day Fireworks, Teachers Day, etc celebrations, the demands of time is actually minimal
Hope this helps

Yes, to add to Lexis' input, every subject there is 1-2 projects per year. Through this, my son learnt:-

1 to be pushed by the girls who are all more proactive and extrovert
2 to be independent and responsible for his deadlines as all emails go to them direct (note, they get their own email address which is [email protected])
3 to learn the mistakes of procrastination meaning if he forgot his deadline, he has to work till midnight to submit his project homework
4 to work with people, male and female, diligent and laid back. He learnt that if A didn't do his part, B couldn't continue, and B has to work with A whilst B tries to do as much as possible in the meantime, and then, come together with C and D to complete the recommendations
5 he saw how visual arts students do their share of projects with construction materials
6 he also learnt to do Integrated Arts projects, ie, play his instrument whilst the dance students dance to his music, collaborative effort
7 he learnt to articulate in oral presentations instead of swallowing his words
8 to be an active learner, to research instead of passively waiting to be spoonfed

so, students who are looking for the above areas, should pursue IB tracks

Yes, to add to Lexis’ input, every subject there is 1-2 projects per year. Through this, my son learnt:-

1

Hi firstly congrats to all who received CO. Welcome to SOTA, my DS is year 2 music.

Topics:-
(1) A levels vs IB - my son’s writing skills are also average, which makes it really worth our while for him to do IB. SOTA trains them from year 1, English Language and Critical Thinking (ELCT), and especially if writing skills are not good, this is the correct track - we want to study what we are not good at, correct? A levels - my elder son is in a top boys’ school, and next year he will be sitting for A levels, which is tons of memorising
(2) SOTA IB - ACSI was the first school to implement IB (under Principal Ong Teck Chin), and of course, with years of experience, they have found the secret to produce perfect scores. SOTA is getting there, but if you talk about value add, SOTA’s PSLE cohorts are admitted solely based on Art Form talent, and PSLE scores rank lower in importance. For SOTA to produce scores of above 40 - is really value add, vs ACSI IB Track, in 2012, PSLE cut off points for this track was 255 points. So, likely, many of these >255 points boys, (and girls now too), should be able to achieve >43 points for IB
(3) SOTA teachers leaving - every school, there is a high turnover. Same for every commercial organisation. The Principal explained to parents already that this is the norm percentage
(4) SOTA environment - the school is meant for kids who love their art form, they live, breathe, eat their passion (Dance, Theatre, Music, etc). They love their teachers and schoolmates (years 1 to 6) who all speak the same language of music (etc), and have the same passion and drive. When you love your partner, you want to spend all your time with your partner/spouse, so this explains why SOTA kids stay so late in SOTA, certainly not because the teachers make them stay. But, my son in Music - his schedule ends:- Monday 5pm, Tuesday 730pm, Wednesday 430pm, Thursday 130pm, Friday 5pm. Which is the same as any other secondary school, so don’t be alarmed by SOTA hours. Of course, same like sports meets seasons with extra trainings, some weeks, there could be a day or two extra for 730pm endings, but this is 3/52 weeks

Once again, for those who have CO to SOTA, if your kids have the passion (and SOTA recognised their talents), welcome