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Please help to solve this

The whole rationale of applying for at most 2 domains to the same school is to allow choices for a child who has more than one area of strength and skillset. For example strong in Maths/ Sci and finalist in sports, strong in English and Music( for MEP). However I think it is unlikely that the school offers a CO and a WL or 2 COs to the same child. Ultimately, the school will decide the child is more outstanding in which area and make only one offer or WL based on that domain. I think it is a fair move and one in the right direction. I especially liked the limitation to at most 3 choices as it forces the child and the parents to evaluate the schools that one is happy to go to in the next 4-6 years. This will also help parents to adjust their expectations instead of making the poor kid apply to as many schools as possible to increase their chances when the time could be better spent resting and working hard for Prelims and psle. I supposed the schools getting one candidate applying via 2 domains will continue to remain to be the big 4 like RI RGS NY HCI as these are many parents’ dream schools for their children. However, competition will be stiff as the low barrier to entry now may mean these schools may now have a bigger pool of candidates to shortlist.


I think this new dsa process is definitely a fairer and more improved one. I especially liked that no testimonials are required from teachers. It will be purely based on the results slips that is sent electronically. The whole process is made more accessible and not just favour the ones with more financial resources who sent their children for dsa preparation, portfolio preparation and so on.

All the best to 2019 parents on this journey and remember to encourage your child to continue to work hard and finish well for their last leg of the psle journey, with or without a dsa offer to their dream school. The S1 posting remains the largest gateway to entering schools so do not be discouraged if you did not succeed at the dsa stage.

The current common dsa portal by MOE and the cap to 3 choices for dsa applications are really good moves in the right direction by MOE.


In the past, there have been overzealous parents who apply to as many as 7 schools for their child so that they can say their child got 5 COs. However many offers one get, the child can only select one CO!

Let us also exercise some sensitivity , empathy and humility during this process. While one can be really happy with getting 3 confirmed offers from top schools in sg like RI/ HCI/ NUSH, let us be sensitive to the fact that when one child gets all 3 CO, it might mean 3 other kids are now waitlisted or rejected. They would have to get over their disappointment, pick themselves up and put in their very best for psle prep. Let’s be mindful of their feelings.

I have encountered parents who took a picture of their child’s COs from elite schools and put it as their whatsapp profile status pictures. Or post it on Facebook or IG. What’s the point?

Then there are those who criticised the parents of gep kids or children who have good results for applying for dsa. Who are we to judge? Everyone wants the best for their kids. They may worry that their child underperform in psle / falls sick/ blank out and wants the safety net of a CO to their dream school. So that is why we have head prefects/ captains/ level no 1 / top in this sports and that competition kids applying for dsa. Who are we to judge these people for applying ?

Let us be kind to one another in this journey while we play the system and don’t let the system play us, as said by Chae Lian from Lion Mums.

Indeed, for dsa tea sessions for sports, there are a few ways of inviting the athletes. One way could be the secondary school extend the invite via primary school cca teachers and it is up to the cca teachers to put in the names. Another way could be the cca teacher of the secondary school ask the girls in their sec team, usually sec 1 or year 1 team to give 2-3 names of the juniors they want to invite. Typically the invited ones are players playing key positions or captains or vice captains, usually first team players.


Another way could be the secondary school teacher knows the primary school coaches and they ask for names from the coaches.

However, this is just an invitation to the dsa tea, for the athletes to get to know more about the secondary school’s culture and sports programme.There is no offer although some parents and kids may feel very flattered that the dsa school shows interest in their child. From the sec school’s point of view, it is a marketing strategy to get promising athletes interested in their school.

Athletes will still have to apply and go for dsa trials and clear interviews. The most important criteria for some IP schools is still they have a certain threshold for the estimated mark range of the students they would like to take. If skills level being equal, some schools might take a child with better P5/6 results as they feel the child is less likely to struggle academically in an all IP school, some schools might give the offer to the child with weaker results as they feel the child might not be able to come in via S1 posting. It really depends. Some sports which are the niche sports in the school may have more than 1 vacancy for players while some schools have only 1 dsa spot for that particular sport. So it is really competitive.
It is important to build up your child’s resilience about possible rejection from their dream school.

There have also been cases where athletes get complacent about a confirmed dsa offer from their dream school and did not work hard for psle. In the end , the offer was void as the child is unable to get a score which qualifies for the express stream for the all express/ IP school they are applying for.

If a school one is applying to has NT/ NA and express streams , then there is more buffer. Even if the student athlete is unable to get agg 200 , the dsa offers still stand as there is NA stream in the sec school. For eg, dsa via basketball to Jurong Sec, if the child scores below 200, the offer still stands as there is NA stream in Jurong Sec. If dsa via basketball to RGS but psle score below 200, offer does not stand anymore as there is no NA stream in RGS. So it is important to educate the kids with CO not to be complacent and still give their best effort in psle preparation.

nms1\" post_id=\"1909220\" time=\"1557276045\" user_id=\"13601:

Now that the portal is open, I'm sure this thread is going to become busy so I will get my question in fast. This is more for people who've been through DSA before or have some experience of the schools in question.

My son wants to enter through Science academic but he is currently failing Chinese so we need to be strategic. The R & H schools were never on our radar anyway. SST will be our first choice then we may have to use up his 3rd choice with a safe bet of Robotics into his affiliated school in case he misses the cut-off.

So we are left with one more choice - Tanjong Katong Sec or ASCI. Very different schools but we've heard good things about both. We are thinking that ACSI may view his Chinese as less of an issue but we have concerns around the \"rich boy\" environment. His younger brother will have Tanjong Katong as a choice next year through football.

Any thoughts?

I think it is good that your child has an affiliated secondary school provided he meets the affiliation cut off and puts it as his first choice.

“The “rich boy” environment of ACSI” should not be a big concern for you as the rich poor divide issue exists more in the adults’ minds than the boys. In fact, if one has less wealth, they can look at it as a good thing to enrol in perceived higher social economic status schools as they are adding to the diversity of the student population. If everyone is put off applying for these schools, then the schools may become more enclosed and that is not good. RI/ HCI also have their fair share of rich boys. They are everywhere!

It is important to build confidence in your children and that we should not let social class issues put us off choosing the most suitable school for our children. In the real world, inequality exists, so it is best to cultivate in our children good and healthy coping mechanism. There are programs in place currently to increase the student diversity in so called elite schools such as Edusave Independent Schools Scholarship, Uplift Scholarships and MOE independent school bursary as well as Financial assistance programme.

Dear all,


Do keep a look out for mental health of the youths in our schools. Hoping to bring more awareness to all parents.

As quoted in the Straits Times Article by Cheow Sue Ann on April 12 ,

\"School stress became a hot topic of online discussion recently after someone who identified herself as a 17-year-old International Baccalaureate student in a top school here wrote about her admission to IMH for suicide attempts and a history of depressive episodes.

In her online post, she wrote about facing immense pressure to do well in school and claimed her brother, a junior college student, \"killed himself two years ago, partly due to the pressure from my parents to do well\". She claimed to have met in IMH four other students from top schools who had attempted suicide or harmed themselves because of school stress.\"

Another article titled \"I flunked the IP': Integrated Programme dropout shares his story\" in Dec 30 2018 about the experiences of Mr Edwin Chau who could not cope with the stress of being in the IP.

Do watch out for our children's mental health closely and provide plenty of emotional support for them. More understanding, less stigma please.

To God be the Glory, The Best is Yet to be!


Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ ... k-imh-help
Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ ... ked-the-ip

Dear all,


Do keep a look out for mental health of the youths in our schools. Hoping to bring more awareness to all parents.

As quoted in the Straits Times Article by Cheow Sue Ann on April 12 ,

\"School stress became a hot topic of online discussion recently after someone who identified herself as a 17-year-old International Baccalaureate student in a top school here wrote about her admission to IMH for suicide attempts and a history of depressive episodes.

In her online post, she wrote about facing immense pressure to do well in school and claimed her brother, a junior college student, \"killed himself two years ago, partly due to the pressure from my parents to do well\". She claimed to have met in IMH four other students from top schools who had attempted suicide or harmed themselves because of school stress.\"

Another article titled \"I flunked the IP': Integrated Programme dropout shares his story\" in Dec 30 2018 about the experiences of Mr Edwin Chau who could not cope with the stress of being in the IP.

Do watch out for our children's mental health closely and provide plenty of emotional support for them. More understanding, less stigma please.

To God be the Glory, The Best is Yet to be!


Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ ... k-imh-help
Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ ... ked-the-ip

Dear parents,


In the midst of this dsa period, do also make proper consideration regarding whether the school is a good fit for your child. As quoted in the Straits Times Article by Cheow Sue Ann on April 12 ,

\"School stress became a hot topic of online discussion recently after someone who identified herself as a 17-year-old International Baccalaureate student in a top school here wrote about her admission to IMH for suicide attempts and a history of depressive episodes.

In her online post, she wrote about facing immense pressure to do well in school and claimed her brother, a junior college student, \"killed himself two years ago, partly due to the pressure from my parents to do well\". She claimed to have met in IMH four other students from top schools who had attempted suicide or harmed themselves because of school stress.\"

Another article titled \"I flunked the IP': Integrated Programme dropout shares his story\" in Dec 30 2018 about the experiences of Mr Edwin Chau who could not cope with the stress of being in the IP.

While these stories should not deter you from setting your sights on top schools' dsa, do also watch your child's mental health closely and provide plenty of emotional support for them, especially girls.


Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/school-stress-more-teens-seek-imh-help
Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/i-flunked-the-ip

https://i.postimg.cc/NMytXkDp/image.jpg\">


Please help with Example 4 iii) and iv)
Thanks

mommyNg:

lee_yl:

[quote=\"VRossi\"]
If you look closely at the promotional criteria of both schools, NY seems more stringent than RG.

Hi VRossi,
You mentioned NYGH promotional criteria is more stringent compared to RGS. :nailbite:

Does this have to do with MSG system and GPA system?? What is the difference?? What are the things to watch out for??

Sorry a noob here as my girl has not started year 1 yet.

lee_yl,

You can refer to this link for answers to some of your questions. Phtthp gave some info on the distinction between MSG and GPA system and I gave some info on the dfferences between the two schools’ promotion criteria.

https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=12662&start=780[/quote] :thankyou: Mommyng for answering lee_yl
Things could change for different schools as there is now no mye for some levels as per MOE directive. Don’t let the promotional criteria be a big factor in your decision. Both NYGH and RGS are great schools with very different culture. It’s heartening that the kind parents on this platform are so willing to share info so that other parents can make an informed decision. However, sometimes too much information can also cloud your judgement. Even for kids going to the same Secondary school, some will have positive experiences, some will not. There is no crystal ball to show you how things are going to turn out at the end of the 4 or 6 years. Be supportive to your child too if they drop out of the IP track. O level is the most versatile track and opens up to more choices instead of being locked in to the IP JC. At the end of the day, let your child decide after going through the unique points for each school. The child is more likely to see it through if it is their decision.