phtthp\" post_id=\"1957198\" time=\"1578065822\" user_id=\"35251:

hpsbpt\" post_id=\"1957183\" time=\"1578062819\" user_id=\"6806:

[quote=phtthp post_id=1957155 time=1578051577 user_id=35251]Hi hpsbpt,

If accept National Junior College dance CO, what is the DSA commitment like ?
3x dance training every week, the same as Sports DSA commitment (3x per week) ? Thanks

Yes
More or less same
Commitment is for 4 years until sec 4.

Hi hpsbpt,

how about your girl inside SOTA now through DSA entry, also 3x every week dance training commitment required or lesser, by looking at her 2020 SOTA class timetable schedule given ?[/quote]Hi
SOTA is gonna be almost daily dance affair. Except Thursday’s. But heard Thursday’s also they may need to stay back for extra practice sometimes.

phtthp\" post_id=\"1957155\" time=\"1578051577\" user_id=\"35251:

Hi hpsbpt,

If accept National Junior College dance CO, what is the DSA commitment like ?
3x dance training every week, the same as Sports DSA commitment (3x per week) ? Thanks

Yes
More or less same
Commitment is for 4 years until sec 4.

floppy\" post_id=\"1957016\" time=\"1578016650\" user_id=\"97579:

zac's mum\" post_id=\"1957004\" time=\"1578014720\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=1957004 time=1578014720 user_id=53606]Thank u so much for sharing your stories here, @hpsbpt and @kiasu_pig.

I strongly believe the DSA scheme is to help such kids. It is very encouraging to hear that there are still some schools that give chance to our average kids.

Pity my DS is not tall at all (blame my DH genes lor). DH was a former basketball B and C div school team player. He totally agrees height is a major advantage. And short guys with talent are still disadvantaged in the game.

Will have to look hard to see some other valued talent in my boy...

All schools will give chance to all kids, within reasonable expectations.

It’s important to identify schools that match the kid’s talent but, most importantly, be realistic in the available options. There’s no point aiming for the top tier schools if you think your kid is not able to cope with the academic demands / expectations.

With all due respect, I don’t think NJC would have made that offer, despite the very talented individual. While NJC may have said that they will give chance to everyone, realistically, how many offers they have made to students who are less academically-able? Unless the school has an O level programme or an exit ramp (poly now accept IP Y4 results but it’s a poor exit strategy), it’s a tough decision for an educator to accept a student knowing that the individual is likely to struggle and keep up with the peers academically.[/quote]

Hi, Would like to let you know regarding NJC. NJC did give CO to one child previous yr (2018)with just above 220, as I mentioned in my post. Thats the reason we applied. It is true that they may not give so may offers, but they will definitely recognise talent. Out of around 60 plus students DSAd first round under Indian dance, they called only 5-6 for second interview round and we are very proud that my girl was one of them. As far as I know, this year they offered one CO and one WL from that group (insider information ) and none of them opted for NJC. So I believe it was NJCs loss they did not even give WL to any of the rest . Regarding struggling academically, we did enquire that as well. Understood that there are few students in that T score range coming to NJC and teachers are very supportive in making them adapt and do reasonably well. There is a great support system in NJ. Based on my and my girl's open house experience, we felt NJ is the only school out of all other schools which had this line in their vision/mission - \"nurture joyful and lively students who celebrate human spirit \".

BTW if I would not have known about the 22x T score child getting CO previous year, I would not have applied for my daughter, because I was also thinking in same lines as you until then.

Thank you

Dear parents

I saw some questions from parents asking for DSA experience for those children not in the TOP academic tier of Tscore 24x plus. I am DSA 2019 parent. I believe I am one of you and my girl whose score is 21x -22x range (she does not want me to reveal the exact score😀) had a wonderful DSA journey last year. Finally she went into SOTA under dance. 😊 We are really Glad we took up DSA route. I will share my experience and I hope it will help some of you.

First step is being realistic. MOE DSA portal is made very comprehensive from
Last year. Look for your Child’s DSA area and identify schools possibly in the range of your child’s expected T score (add up all four subjects marks and multiply by 0.73, mostly the range will be +_ 10. Also look at other considerations like distance, any specific program like HMT etc to choose schools.

Second step - look for real good schools in TOP tier which has the talent area under DSA. I would like to give an example - I went to SCGS and NJC open house. SCGS Teachers told very directly that they look for children 80 percent above and those with ballet high grades. NJC - cut off last year was 259 no way I can expect my girl to get. But I knew a student the previous year with 22x got DSA confirm offer and went in. NJC principal was very clear in saying that DSA will purely be based on auditions and interview and not based on current marks. So we tried NJC as well. Point is, no harm in checking for schools in top academic tier as well, even though our child is not expected to score that high.

Preparation- from last 2 years we were building our daughter’s dance portfolio . Making her participate in competitions and performances. It really helped to shape her into a good Dancer, but the certs and achievements were of not much use for first round selection. Why because
- SOTA selection to talent academy only two things to upload - a 1 mnt dance video and her P5 EOY results. Nothing else. Kids were shortlisted to talent academy only based on these two.
- MOE DSA portal - max three schools/areas we can apply. Only 10 fields given to write achievements and trainings. So we really had to choose the best and write. Some schools like SCGs mentioned to give link in MOE DSA portal of their dance performance . We did not apply for SCGS, but I called up the schools and checked with them should we give a link of dance videos. And they said we can decide. We gave few links’s Though not sure whether that was a criteria for first round selection.

We submitted for SOTA and also three schools under dance - NJC, St Margaret’s and Mayflower sec. Mayflower was our fall back option as her expected T score matches somewhere their cut off.

All schools short listed her. She attended SOTA Talent academy. st marg and Mayflower had only one round of dance perf and interview together . nJC - after dance audition, she was selected to second round for interview. My girl enjoyed all auditions and interviews. She got CO from St Marg (cut off 24x) and waiting list from SOtA. She gave SOtA as her first choice in DSA confirmation and we were very happy to recve the letter on results day that she is posted to SOTA (WL converted to confirmed)

We would hv been really happy with St Margaret’s as well because it is a great school and we were sure that with her T score she can’t get in to schools like that.
Also, Our family is really thankful to MOE for the DSA route, as it helped my lil Dancer girl to get into her dream school SOTA.


So my point is -
If you or your child think that you are talented in some area, start your research now. Find schools, find some seniors who DSAd to that school and understand more about their T score, how they went in etc, and chances of getting through. T score is just a one time score and I am sure many talented children should utilise DSA to get into their dream school - that’s what DSA is meant for. For those children who can score good, always PSLE route is better.

Thank you
Hope this helps. If not relevant, pls ignore 😊
I will be Glad to answer any specific questions if you PM. (Sorry, Not very regular in forum)

Pls note- a) my girl did not attend any DSA coaching. B) She is mainly trained under Indian classical dance and lil bit of jazz, not Ballet, but still she could apply to SOTA/Mayflower under international /modern dance category. All Schools are open and helpful for many such variations. Just call them and find out.

Hi All,

My daughter going to SOTA dance in 2020. Recieved an email from SOTA with a form to fill up before 29 Nov. my daughter has taken Hindi as MT, but the form is missing that choice in the primary MT language list. Anyone faced same issue here?
Tried calling SOTA office. But no one picked up Yesterday . I have submitted with form with Others as option and writing Hindi there . But that’s not right.

Thanks

Yes

I hv submitted too for my DS yesterday afternoon
No issues with us to login and submit
Thanks and all the best

ch.arlatte\" post_id=\"1934154\" time=\"1567833110\" user_id=\"180741:

hpsbpt\" post_id=\"1932832\" time=\"1567227074\" user_id=\"6806:

Congrats to all CO/WL receivers. For those who did not get , hang in there. Psle coming up and you will hv more choices 👌

My Daughter Recieved WL for dance. May I know WL holders will be invited for the parent engagement session in October?

hi! yes waitlist holders will still be invited for the parent engagement session! there is a chance that your daughter can get in to sota, so they will invite anyway. hope your daughter gets in!

Thank you ch.arlatte !!

Yes we will put sota as our first choice.. and then fingers crossed. Thanks for your wishes

hpsbpt\" post_id=\"1932832\" time=\"1567227074\" user_id=\"6806:

Congrats to all CO/WL receivers. For those who did not get , hang in there. Psle coming up and you will hv more choices 👌

My Daughter Recieved WL for dance. May I know WL holders will be invited for the parent engagement session in October?

Dear parents,
Any pointers here? I also would like to know the chances of WL conversion. The vacancies to be converted to WL are for the specific stream or overall??

Reposting my query as I did not get any reply :nailbite:


My DD has a SOTA WL. Two questions
1) Chances of SOTA WL getting converted? When I attended the talk by vice principal during TA, I remember her saying that put SOTA as first choice and there may be a chance
2) How does the WL conversion work in SOTA? My DD's is under dance stream. Is it that a vacancy comes for dance stream, they will take one for WL(dance) or any stream vacancy they will fill up from WL?

Anyone here has experience of SOTA WL conversion, pls help. TIA

cutepandabear\" post_id=\"1932865\" time=\"1567234430\" user_id=\"150031:

Has anyone ever experienced a WL not converted to CO? Or maybe know for sure about such instances second hand? (Please, no my neighbour's sister's friend's son kinda story). As far as I can remember from reading KSP, no one really shares about this. But I'm sure it must happen.

I've got 3 mummy friends, one with a SOTA WL, another with a MGS WL, another with a NUSH WL, all the kids are girls. All in nyps. So they have the 250 t score affiliation to nygh.

If they exercise the WL, but the respective school didn't convert, and if t score below 250 = arrgggghhh. Nightmare scenario.

These girls, while talented in their respective domains, are in the t score range of 243-255. Not very very consistent in performance. So can't say disregard the WL and just waltz into nygh.

So now just information gathering to better understand the real chances of WL conversion. Would appreciate anyone sharing their experiences. Thanks in advance.

Hi, Yes back in 2015 my girl had a WL for MGS (IB).She had a SOTA LA CO too. A child mostly with 2 A* and high As always, we were sure she will get MGS WL converted to CO. So we did not put SOTA as our second pref. But.. MGS did not convert. Eventually she went into Cedar IP with her PSLE score. So Yes, schools like MGS, WL may not convert. Well, she did not hv enough score to get into MGS thru PSLE:-) And she is doing pretty good in Cedar IP!!

This post is not to disappoint anyone - but focus on PSLE. I feel PSLE good score gives us more choices. Just be prepared about the best and last T-score our child can probably get and have a list of 6 schools for both cases . All the best.