Has any mummy here taken a look at their kids’ chinese worksheets recently? My daughter’s teacher gives a tick for everything!!! Luckily I can read Chinese.

Dear Mummies Sun_2010 & uhoobus,


Thank you for replying my daughter's question.

She was having a difficult time deciding between RGS and NUS High. Your answers helped her to make up her mind -- next year, she will be joining your kids at NUS High! :rahrah:

Dear Mothers,


I am using my mother's account right now because I have a few questions to ask you before I submit my answer for school admission via DSA. :?:

1) What are the school hours in NUSH?

2) During science lessons, are there normally more theory or practical lessons?

3) What are the chances of getting into a CCA of your choice?

4) Are the science lessons generally more interesting than those in IP schools? Are there more hands-on experiments?

5) On average how many overseas trips have your child(ren) participated each year?

6) Do you know how many students graduate to become specialised doctors?

7) Are there air-conditioning units in the classrooms?

Thank you!

Flowermonaster:

leeven:

[quote=\"Flowermonaster\"]

My daughter agree to turn down Raffles provisional offer and accept NY Girls School's WL offer. I am very relieved.

Glad to hear that! I think I would do the same if in your shoe.

what if we say accept RGS offer to try via PSLE but still submit the preference form. :xedfingers:[/quote]But the provisional offer is neither a WL nor CO how to submit preference form? Is there a preference form for this type of case? :?[/quote]


hi hi
since you are already willing to give up the provisional offer at Raffles, why don't you just put NYGH WL as 1st choice, then RGS PO as 2nd choice.
Then if you get in NYGH, just be happy. Otherwise, there is still th RGS PO.
But in the meantime, ask you DD to work hard for PSLE.
There is still time to pull up her grades.

I think scoring 250-260 is a given. They do not need much effort to do that.

But going beyond 265, they really need to push themselves a little bit more to get a few marks here and there, and not to make any careless mistakes.

My DD and her friends are already taking things easy. I too told her that she can take things easy, but if she wants to contribute to her school and to be fair to herself, she should put in her best. Frankly, my heart is aching lor.

I make sure she does something fun and different everyday. We go for ice-cream,rollerblading, swimming, movie, science syposiums, teahouses, etc. Or she can hangout with her friends. All she still continues all her interests/activities/trainings etc. She is still kid afterall. And I see that her friends in fact have more time than before to hangout and play soccer.

Personally, I do not find mugging for exams healthy. This time is better used to rebalance emotionally and physically. I used to give tuition to A level and poly students during my uni days, and this was the approach I used with them, and all of them had stellar results.

So long as she is happy with her PSLE results, I will be too.

I have spoken to the parents of my DD’s close friends, and they seem to be taking a similar approach.

Actually same reason I am having a headache about choosing her secondary school. I want her to enjoy her 6 years. Learning can be fun, and should be fun.

mummy so kiasu:

Top schools can depend on their top students from GEP classes to push up it's overall performance. We have to make fair comparison, only compare their mainstream performance.

Hi, I am new to this thread. But looking at my DD's school GEP, many have already gotten CO and expecting CO from either, if not both RGS or NYGH.

Most of them are in a holiday mood. I also told my DD to relax as she has been working a lot the past 3 years because of their heavy workload. So I am really not expecting them to hit high 260s or past 270.

mummy so kiasu:

Top schools can depend on their top students from GEP classes to push up it's overall performance. We have to make fair comparison, only compare their mainstream performance.

Hi, I am new to this thread. But looking at my DD's school GEP, many have already gotten CO and expecting CO from either, if not both RGS or NYGH. Most of them are in a holiday mood. I also told my DD to relax as she has been working a lot the past 3 years because of their heavy workload. So I am really not expecting them to hit high 260s or past 270.

WHAT A JOKE:


======================================================

Wed, Aug 05, 2009
The New Paper




Father frustrated by ‘lack of support’ for son’s talent

Above: Ainan Celeste Cawley with his father Valentine Cawley. Ainan is only 9, but he has already passed his Physics and Chemistry ‘O’ Level paper.

HE CALLS his son ‘the boy who knew too much’.

Dad Valentine Cawley (right) also describes Ainan as a ‘binary science prodigy’, who has proven himself in more than one subject.


But it has been difficult to get support for Ainan from the Singapore education community, claims the father.

Read all the stories:
» Only 9, he passes O-level physics exam
» Boy genius, 9, has passed two ‘O’ levels
According to him, education officers were sceptical of his son’s talent and tried to block rather than aid Ainan’s access to educational facilities.

He has even written posts on his blog titled ‘The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy’.

Are Mr Cawley’s complaints justified?

He said the family’s main difficulty was in trying to get Ainan access to a chemistry laboratory so that he could get practical experience.

He went to Ainan’s primary school, which did not have a lab, for help.

The school referred him to the Gifted Education Branch at the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Interrogations

Mr Cawley said MOE put Ainan through ‘a battery of tests and interrogations’ before assigning them a case officer, who took a ‘long time’ before arranging for lab sessions.

An MOE spokesman said it helped arrange six lab sessions at Raffles Institution to build up Ainan’s lab skills.

Mr Cawley said: ‘It seemed an awfully short course, but we accepted for something was better than nothing,’ he said.

He said the teacher there had a good rapport with Ainan and the family was grateful for the chance, but they wanted the lab access to continue.

MOE then referred Ainan to the NUS High School of Mathematics & Science in February 2007.

Mr Suresh Balakrishnan, its deputy principal, said that after a preliminary assessment, followed by a more detailed diagnostic testing, the school determined that Ainan had the ability to accelerate his learning of chemistry.

‘However, the school cautioned that advanced chemistry concepts would require corresponding advanced understanding of mathematics and physics, which Ainan may lack,’ he said.

NUS High School allowed the boy to take part in the classes free of charge.

Mr Cawley said Ainan’s first lesson at NUS High School was a ‘great disappointment’, as ‘they had placed him in a class below his ability’.

He said Ainan told him he was learning only ‘one new fact a day’.

Ainan’s parents asked for him to be moved to a different class. But he claimed: ‘It was much the same problem. There was very little that was new.’

But Mr Suresh said: ‘Ainan had difficulties keeping up with the rest of the class and learnt more effectively when the teachers coached him personally while the rest of the class was doing their own work.’

Mr Cawley insisted his son had more than been able to keep up and that perhaps the teacher misinterpreted Ainan’s shyness.

After trying out one Year 1 and one Year 2 module, Ainan’s parents eventually pulled him out of the school.

Said Mr Cawley: ‘We stopped sending Ainan to NUS High because it just wasn’t worth the taxi fare there. He learnt nothing concrete, so it seemed pointless.’

The MOE spokesman said it further got the support of Singapore Science Centre for a number of chemistry workshops on topics like chemistry of food and the human body that Ainan could attend, but his parents did not take up this option.

Mr Cawley said they decided not to go ahead as it was never explained to them in detail what the classes would involve and there would be a fee.

During a meeting later with MOE officials, a frustrated Mr Cawley said he walked out of the meeting and refused to have anything to do with the ministry any further.

Said the MOE spokesman: ‘Upon the father’s request, MOE did not make further recommendations regarding Ainan’s education from February 2008.’

It was after looking at some private schools, that the Cawleys chose Singapore Polytechnic.

Dispiriting

Mr Cawley said the whole exercise had been ‘very dispiriting’, and it shouldn’t have been this hard to meet Ainan’s intellectual needs.

He said: 'It is rare to find such a young child with such a developed gift for, and interest in, science.

'It shouldn’t be too difficult for a rich nation to accommodate such needs, automatically, without the parents having to spend two years in a long search for somewhere to allow him to grow…

‘I can only hope that the path ahead is more open than the one behind has been.’

This article was first published in The New Paper.

======================================================


*** If you yourself do not want to spend the money on your kid, why expect Singapore to do it for you? Are you even Singaporean. Many kids (need not be gifted), have really good memory, if they learn nothing else (no language courses, no art classes, etc) and just memorise the textbooks, I am sure that can get a C too.

Note: old article, but reread it when I found it after googling "NUS High". Thought it will be an interesting read for parents with DSs and DDs in NUS High.

Dear matadorepy, she is from RGPS GEP. So she is definitely keen to enter RGS but after going for the NUS High preview, she told me she will seriously consider NUS High as well.

Both are great schools, so we just want to find one that fits her better.

tiggermum:

Happy Mummmmm:

Is anyone here deciding between RGS and NUS High? Anything to share.


My daughter has been accepted by NUS High and awaiting results from RGS. She likes both schools.

But I do not know where to start comparing the two schools.

I would appreciate any advice.

Hi,

I'm not sure whether you've seen NUSH alumni Aaron's blog. In case you haven't, here's the url:
http://thehungrygeographer.blogspot.sg/2012/02/nus-high-school-experience.html

Both RGS and NUSH have their own strengths and flaws, as we've mentioned several times, it really boils down to which one is a better fit.

There are many concerns from parents about NUSH not being able to provide a well-rounded education. But if you read Aaron's blog, you'd know it's not the school, but how much you make out of your experience there that counts.

One thing I learned to appreciate about NUSH is the small cohort. For Y1, there's less than 200 kids. What it means for the child is that there is higher chance to get access to opportunities, compared to jostling for one against 449 other bright students in the top IP schools.

DD was never the athletic type, but she always enjoyed a game of netball in primary school. When she went to NUSH, she got to join the netball team with minimum fuss. She recently competed in a sports day event and came in 3rd. It's no big deal, considering only 8 took part in that category and they had to beg people to join. But she came back happy and learnt a few things from the experience.

Had she gone to a top IP girls school, would it have been possible? I think not.

It's also quite egalitarian in NUSH. There isn't an elite group that gets special treatment or get to go for special programs. The Da Vinci program is open to all, so are the electives. So the kid gets equal access to these enriching programs, so long as you are interested (and you are quick enough to get to the online system to sign up for those with limited vacancies), you get to go.

And it's not easy to find tuition for NUSH, which is a good thing, IMHO. It is a relatively level playing field, you work hard and get your grades based on your own ability, not by paying for a good tutor. There is less pressure for the students to go for tuition for fear of falling behind their peer who have tutors, and that translates to less stress.

Of course, there will be challenges. Some get distracted by BGR and computer games, some take a longer time to find their niche. But I think it's really part and parcel of dealing with a teenager going through adolescence.

If eventually your DC chooses NUSH, as a parent, please don't do it half-heartedly and keep thinking another school is better, this school is not good enough.Encourage DD/DS to make the most of their time at NUSH, I think it will make their journey more meaningful!

Dear tiggermum,

:goodpost:

Thank you very much for sharing you and your DD's experience at NUS High. It is very reassuing I love that there are ample opportunities to particpate in various clubs and activities.

I have a very simple thought - I just want my DD to enjoy her classes and her activities, I think that will not only make her school life memorable but also help her LOVE the subjects more.

She is the one in a dilemma :? . I will show her your advice.

And thank you all the mummies who gave further assurances.