I’ve recently had the privilege of interviewing two needy students under my free tuition scheme. One is in P6 and the other in Sec 1. Both have done badly in school from P1 to P6, and both did not attend kindergarten.
I wonder if parents are aware that the academic standard of our P1 level is quite high. P1 has not been designed to teach a child the English alphabet or the Numbers 1 to 10 for the first time. BEFORE a child enters P1 he must already know how to spell ‘apple’ and be able to understand simple English instructions. He must also already know the numerals 1 to 10 and is able to do simple addition and subtraction. These things are learnt in good kindergartens and some kindergartens teach even further than those.
Thus a child who has not attended kindergarten will be quite ‘lost’ in P1. He may be placed in the school’s Learning Support Programme but this only means he is singled out and stigmatized from a very young age. More likely than not, such children will perform poorly throughout their primary school years, end up in the foundation classes for PSLE, and in a way become destined for the Normal (Tech) stream in secondary school.
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By EX-MOE TEACHERS & EXPERIENCED TUTORS
@ BLK 644, BUKIT BATOK CENTRAL, #01-68. S(650644).
CALL 65694897 OR SMS 98530744 OR 97860411.
There’s no such thing as a ‘Top’ Primary School …
Yes, there’s no such thing as a ‘top’ primary school, for the simple reason that entry into pri schools is not based on some kind of entrance exam or placement test. So not surprisingly, a student from RGPS can end up in a normal stream of a ‘neighbourhood’ sec school.
I’ve tutored weak math sec students who came from ‘brand name’ primary schs. They are no different from students who come from almost-unheard-of pri schools. In fact, even some students from IP schools are not as academically as good as those from ‘neighbourhood’ schools. The former just happen to be early bloomers.
However, there IS such a thing as a “rich-kids’ primary school”, which arises because the neighbourhood in which the sch is situated consists of mainly landed properties or condos. Well, if you are the kind who feels better only if you mix with people of the same social status as you are, then go to such schools and I wish you all the best in life.
And, there IS such a thing as a primary school with good teachers. You have to seek out such schools if your child is not an independent learner. But please bear in mind that good teachers do move around or get posted elsewhere or ironically get promoted to a non-teaching post.
A good school is one that adds value to your child.
If you think about it deeply, the notion of a ‘top school’ is problematic. Is a school that attracts top students a good school? Bear in mind that teachers in such schools may teach too fast and expect a lot from students yet do minimal teaching work. Is a school that produces good results in national exams a good school? Well, of course a sch that takes in bright students tend to produce above-average results; it’s something expected, and not something necessarily due to the extraordinary skills of the teachers or some kind of super learning programme (I studied in RI and RJC, so I can say a bit about the kinds of teachers back then).
So do all these mean that a primary school that consistently produces good PSLE results is a good school, since pri schools do not admit their pri 1 students based on results? From a pragmatic Singaporean point of view, or from a pure academic one, yes. So is there a primary school in Singapore that produces admirable PSLE results for MOST of its students year after year, and not just for its GEP students (if any)?
Please bear in mind that the primary schools with GEP students are not themselves the ones who produce the gifted students. The gifted students are first identified through a national selection test and then posted to those primary schools with GEP classes.
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