Choosing the Right Secondary School
Monday, October 15, 2007
Secondary schools offer diverse programmes for students with different talents.
Still remember your child’s first day in primary school? Maybe you were initially worried about his ability to cope, then as he settled in, you began looking forward to his many firsts: first exam, first report card, first overnight camp, first school performance, first full marks for a test the list goes on. But before you know it, he’s waving goodbye to six years of primary education and moving on to a secondary school.
As your child faces this new milestone, you must be eager to find a school that will continue to nurture and bring out the best in him. Short of gazing into a crystal ball, here are some things you can think about while deciding which six secondary schools you will choose in the coming Sec 1 posting exercise.
Aggregate ranges for last year’s posting
Students are posted to a secondary school based on their PSLE results, so looking at last year’s posting aggregate will give you an indication of whether your child would qualify for the school. You can find this in Part Two (“Information on Secondary Schools”) of the S1 Posting Information Booklet, which is being distributed in mid-October. Alternatively, visit MOE’s School Information Service for the details.
However, the aggregate ranges are only a guide for parents, because the posting results vary from year to year. These aggregates are not determined by MOE, but depend on the students’ PSLE results and choices of schools for that particular year.
Your child’s academic performance and interests
Based on your child’s academic performance in primary school, you may wish to choose for him a school that takes in students with similar academic results. Furthermore, if your child has done well for the PSLE and wishes to study Higher Mother Tongue (Chinese/Malay/Tamil), you may like to choose secondary schools that offer these subjects.
It’s also important to find schools that nurture your child’s interests and talents. Look at the CCAs that the school offers. Some even have an established niche area and are recognised as Niche Programme Schools. These are mainstream schools that have persistently demonstrated strengths in various areas such as in arts and sports.
For example, this year Fuhua Secondary School is a Niche Programme School in Robotics, while CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent is one in Hockey this year. A total of nine secondary schools were given Niche Programme recognition this year, in addition to 12 others that were recognised in the past two years.
Secondary schools offer diverse programmes for students with different talents.
Special Programmes
Some secondary schools offer a variety of programmes: Language Programmes, Art or Music Elective Programmes and Integrated Programmes.
Language Programmes consist of:
- Higher Mother Tongue Languages - these are offered to students with exceptional ability to excel in their mother tongue languages.
- Third Languages - come 2008, students who are keen to take up a third language can choose from seven languages: Chinese (Special Programme), Malay (Special Programme), French, German, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia and Arabic. The latter two are new subjects, being offered for the first time from next year. These third language options are open to students who are interested and have met the respective criteria.
The Integrated Programme, implemented in 2004, provides a seamless upper secondary and junior college education. Students bypass the GCE ‘O’ Level exam and take the GCE ‘A’ Level or International Baccalaureate Diploma exams after six years of education. In the process, they’ll receive a broadened and more enriching education, as teachers will go deeper into each subject or teach a wider variety of subjects.
Information on all these programmes offered can be found either in Part One (“General Information”) of the S1 Posting Information Booklet or at the MOE website.
Affiliated secondary schools
If your child is studying in a primary school with an affiliated secondary school and he wishes to continue studying at the latter, you must choose the affiliated secondary school as the first choice in the posting exercise to enjoy priority for admission. However, there is no guarantee that your child will be admitted to this school. It will depend on him meeting the criteria and on the availability of places in that school.
Distance
You may like to consider schools nearer to home, so that your child can have a shorter travelling time. With less time spent on the road, he can have more time for rest, homework or revision. Transportation costs will be lessened too.
You can find a list of secondary schools by areas in the S1 Posting Information Booklet or online [PDF].
Students with special needs
Does your child need special support? There are secondary schools with facilities [PDF], resources and/or Special Needs Officers [PDF] to help students with physical disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder, dyslexia, hearing impairment or visual handicaps. These schools are also listed in the S1 Posting Information Booklet.
A final word
You have helped your child by choosing his primary school. Now that your child is older, he would probably like to play a part - whether big or small - in deciding where he will study for the next 4-5 years and the programmes he would like to pursue.
So involve your child in the decision-making and make it a meaningful process. With the many options available, there are many possibilities for his future that you can consider together. As Mark Twain said, “Plan for the future because that's where you are going to spend the rest of your life.”
The Sec 1 Posting Exercise for 2007 will be held from 22-28 Nov 2007 (tentative). Please check the Sec 1 Posting Exercise website for updates and more information.