jetsetter:

pirated:

there was a major outcry when the former education minister previously casually suggested to reduce weightage of MT in PSLE tscore....the PM and the then EdnM had to jointly hold press conference to assure the public they are equal weightage.....

MOE website still had the relevant press release I guess

MT's weightage has been a very touchy issue, tantamount to sacrilege if any how change !

politically suicidal...

Parents whose children qualify for exemption of MT should definitely opt for exemption. There are students who do very well when they do not have to take MT. But I do notice that its usually the parents who have the financial ability and time - so able to get diagnosis promptly - whose children get the exemption. This is from the handful of people I heard so may not be meaningful data. Hope to hear there are cases where schools do the intervention.

Talk to your child’s school counsellor. First she can help highlight to the school that you are financially strained and get the teachers more actively involved with your child so that you don’t have to get external tuition help, thus the money saved from tuition can be used for your daily needs.


Secondly, when the school gets to know about your financial situation, the teachers will not inadvertently give your child the stress of donating money if the school is having fund-raising. My child faced some discrimination from a particular teacher who used a very condescending tone on her when she did not donate many years ago and the emotional impact can be very longlasting.

Thirdly, she should know where to direct you to the appropriate channels to help you manage your debts.

Artume:

Students generally do not go for enrichment/tuition classes. To be honest, it is difficult to find a suitable tuition class for NUSH students. We may be learning JC Physics material in Year 3, and then learning O level content in Year 4. Teachers provide consultation for students who need them after classes, both upon request or when the teacher deem that the student needs extra help.


Regarding sciences, all sciences will be taught every year. The fact that only textbooks for some subjects are in the book list is because that there is no recommended text for the other subjects. Teachers will teach according to lecture notes given out during lessons. Textbooks are supposed to be read by students at home, though occasionally there are some assignments or exercises that are to be referred to the textbooks.

Yes, this is true for the Sciences and Math when I went for the Open house and talked to some of the current students. I talked to more than 10 students as I felt that its the best way to get true responses of the standard of teaching. They were all praises for the quality of teaching and help they get for the Sciences and Mathematics.

But when queried about English, 90% of the responses was that they needed to go for tuition/enrichment as they could not improve with the standard of teaching in NUSH. When queried why they didn't go for consults like they did for Math/Sci, they seemed hesitant to answer and after probing more, it seemed that the students are not confident of how the English teachers could help. They didn't badmouth the English teachers but their body language and how they replied gave me the impression that the quality of English teaching is quite worrisome. Also looking at an essay(or sth along that line, could not remember where I placed it) publication by NUSH, I am not very impressed with the depth of thoughts shown but this may also pertain to the fact(please correct if I am wrong) that when NUSH admits students, they do not take into account the language standard of the students.

I forgot to find out about the humanities though....

I saw posts from parents here wanting to form groups for math tuition. May I know is it because the math teachers in school are not approachable or are not good at teaching? Isn’t math about doing more and then seeking clarification from school teachers? Why do Sec 1 students need Math tuition so early in their secondary school life?


Also, I watched the National Science Challenge yesterday night and noted that all of their participants are students from China, most probably scholars who were selected and got in at Sec 3 level. I am wondering if local students in TJC are given opportunities or most of the academic domain competitions are dominated by scholars.

Mishasha:

Many non Chinese students take Chinese as MT, weaker students screened out to do as foundation subject. I came across quite a few non Chinese students @ the Chinese reading program while I was doing PV there.


Since the student take up Chinese as MT, she would not be able to attend other MT lessons as timing clashes. If not taking Chinese in PSLE, how to score with only 3 subjects?

Does anyone know who foundation subject affects the overall PSLE T-score since foundation cannot compared apple-to-apple with the normal level most are taking? How disadvantaged(or not at all) will taking a foundation subject have on the overall T-score?

Crester:

octoberbaby:

How are the O level results?

a) 2 Top scorers:
- 10A1s plus 1 A2
- 10A1s
b) over 60 scored 7A1s alone
Perhaps Sec 4 parents can update more abt results.

Any students or sec 4 parents can update how many of this 60+ top scorers are overseas scholars which the school received in Sec 3?

Also want to check the approximate number of overseas scholars intake in Sec 3? Heard its 30 or 40 scholars, want to double check.

themutantgerm:

Student of PSLE 2012:

I hv the book list of the express course. It's similar to the book list

What is the school dismissal time? And which CCAs are benefited in the school?
TIA!!!^^

1.45 or 1.15. 1.30 on Friday. Depends on the time table.
Each CCA helps the school individually, really. Even those so-called \"slack\" CCAs. Every CCA is equally busy either preparing for sports meets, syf, scrabble competitions...
If you're wondering about the points, based on the number of cca points most of us have gathered so far (im in sec1 this year), we have no worries

School ends earlier than the primary st nicks girls... surprising - thought more subjects in secondary school. So does that mean that the subjects are not taught in depth?

a tourist shop along orchard road(le meridien hotel i think, road across the istana) - along the same stretch of shops as Music essentials.


Cheongsum of better quality than those at chinatown selling at $15. Bought a year ago so not sure if any changes.

slow down and smell the flowers - agree! But just have the nagging fear that there are no accommodation if I didn’t book in advance or charged at exorbitant fees if just turn up at the hotel!

Like to know if anyone of you has any problems getting hotel accommodation at cheap or reasonable rates if flight is booked last minute - like one day to less than 2 weeks before leaving to Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand or Europe?

SarChar:

If your kid is Harry Potter fan, you can plan Scotland/England.... We went for 18 days in June 2009. DD2 was almost 3 and DD1 in pri1.

We did the Harry Potter ride on Jacobite Steam Train in Fort William, Scotland. This is the train you see in the same movie and we also visited Alnwick Castle. This castle is the one where Harry learned to fly on his magic broom and where Ron crashed his flying car.

The highlight was actually Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park in Scotland. If you reads love novels, Northumberland is the place for you. There is this place called Farne Island (bird watching) and Holy Island that you must visit.

We got lost many times as DH refused to use expressways. He drove us through small roads, through little Scottish towns where farmers still use Horse Carriages, wild flowers and we counted wild hares till DD2 begged us to stop!

We stayed in B&B along the way and at some places, we got really good deals.

We didnt plan in advance where/how to go about this trip. We only decided to fly into Glasgow because the air ticket was on sales at $ 680 only compared with the usual $ 1400-1500 on Emirates. So we bought the tickets on a Thursday and flew out the following Friday nite!

Scotland/England is truly a very nice place to visit. If the air ticket prices are affordable again, I dont mind go there again!