Principal’s Briefing for Parents of P5-6 Pupils
25 January 2013
Overview of Briefing
• HGS Vision, Mission, Values
• School-parent partnership
• How HGS is supporting P6 and P5 pupils
• How parents can support the school’s efforts
• Understanding the computation of the PSLE T-score and aggregate score
• Choosing secondary schools and Direct School Admission
HGS in the 21st Century
• Vision: Leaders of character striving for excellence in a vibrant school
• Mission: To develop self-directed learners and critical and creative thinkers who lead and serve with integrity and compassion
• Values: Integrity, Commitment, Concern, Cooperation and Creativity
• Motto: Knowledge is Power
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Lead by example
Serve with humility
Take initiative
Work well with others
Exemplify our school values and possess good social-emotional skills
Leaders of Character
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Gracious,
Resilient,
Articulate,
Civic-minded, Confident, Creative, and
Expressive
Leaders of Character
School-Parent Partnership
HGS Partnership Framework
Why does HGS value school-parent partnership?
• Our philosophy:
– Parents are our partners.
– A meaningful collaboration with our parents supports our students’ holistic development.
• Partnership goals: realisation of the HGS vision and mission, achievement of student-centric, values-driven education
Principles of Partnership
• Trust
• Respect
• Pupil-centred focus
• Shared responsibility
• Shared goals and values
How HGS Involves Parents As
Partners in Education
1) School-Parent Communication
• HGS keeps parents informed of
– School expectations, programmes & activities
E.g. letters, Briefing for Parents, emails
– Child’s progress, behaviour and well-being
E.g. phone calls from teachers, Parent-Child-Teacher Conferencing Session (post SA1)
• Channels of communication for parents: e.g. email, student handbook, phone call
2) Support for Learning
• HGS provides information to parents and equips them on how to support their child’s learning, e.g.
– Curriculum Briefings / Workshops (P1-6)
– Back to School Day for Parents of P1 & P2 Pupils
How HGS is supporting P5 and P6 pupils’ learning and social-
emotional well-being
New Initiatives in 2013 to support P5 & P6 pupil learning
• Extension of EL composition writing package to include literary techniques, e.g.
– Dilemma, flawed heroes, sympathetic villains, contrasting characters
• EL cloze exercises
– improvement of pupils’ understanding of the structure and development of ideas in a non-fiction context
• Refinement to existing EL grammar teaching resources
New Initiatives in 2013 to support pupil learning
• P6 Maths heuristics package designed by teachers; used during supplementary lessons
• P5 & P6 Science process skills and strategies for questions requiring higher order thinking skills
• Smaller and more homogenous teaching groups for P6 Maths and Science during curriculum time: more attention for pupils (7 groups)
New Initiatives in 2013 to support pupil learning
• CL literature programme for P5 & P6 Higher Chinese and enrichment group of pupils
• Similar ML literature programme for P6 pupils
• TL reading programme for P5-6 pupils
(Development of writing and reading comprehension skills)
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How HGS is Supporting Your Child’s Learning for PSLE
• EL, Maths & Science supplementary lessons on Wed and Fri
• MT supplementary lessons on Thurs
• Enrichment
– Maths and Science Workshops (June holidays)*
• Focus Study Camp
– March, June & Sept holidays*
*Dates in P6 calendar
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How HGS is Supporting Your Child’s Learning for PSLE
• Learning journeys and News in Brief
• Online exercises in lead.com
• Practice papers
– Gradual increase in number and frequency, especially from June holidays onwards
• Mock exams on Tuesdays in Term 3
• Amount of work assigned may not be uniform across all classes
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How HGS is Supporting Your Child’s Learning for PSLE
• Maths Magic on Monday or Friday, Science Sense on Monday and Let’s Achieve (EL) on Friday
• Maths Enrichment on Tues
• Maths and Science Olympiad training on Tuesday
• Science D3T2 (Talent Development) on Fri, 12.40-1.40pm
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How HGS is Supporting Your Child’s Learning for PSLE
•SPaCES - School Provides a Conducive Environment for Study (Mon-Fri)
– After-school study programme
– Supervised by staff and parent volunteers
– Peer tutoring by alumni who are now in TKGS
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How HGS is Supporting P6 Pupils’ Social-Emotional Well-Being
•Form Teacher Guidance Period and pupil journals
•Motivational Talks by school leaders
•Rapport building sessions with Full-time School Counsellor
•Workshop on Building Resilience (March, tbc)
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P5 – A Transition Year • Schoolwork
– Higher level of difficulty
– More homework
• Biological changes
• Learning to understand themselves and their emotions
• Relating to parents
• Friendship issues
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How HGS is Supporting P5 Pupils’ Social-Emotional Well-Being
• Form Teacher Guidance Period and pupil journals: ongoing
• Workshop on building resilience (May)
• Adventure Camp: Character & leadership development, social-emotional learning and bonding with peers and teachers (March)
• Rapport building sessions with full-time school counsellor
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How HGS is Supporting Your P5 Child
•EL, Maths & Science supplementary lessons on Wed
•MT supplementary lessons on Thurs
•D3T2 (Talent Development)
•Study camp for selected pupils during PSLE Marking Exercise
How parents can support the school’s efforts
• Take an interest in your child’s schoolwork
– Ask: “What homework do you have today?”
– Check the student handbook & homework file
– Look through your child’s homework:
• Are the answers neat and clearly-presented?
• Are the corrections done?
• What are the teachers’ comments?
• What are the kinds of errors that my child tends to make?
How parents can support the school’s efforts
• Reinforce the school’s expectations of the quality of work expected (PSLE standards: rigour and neat presentation), e.g.
– Maths captions and answer statements with the correct units
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How parents can support the school’s efforts
• Set high but realistic expectations
• Resilience building
– Your children may find the work demanding and may feel discouraged;
–Provide moral support, but don’t molly-coddle
• **Trust the teachers: check with the teachers and understand their perspective
How parents can support the school’s efforts
• Provide a conducive environment for study and for the attempt of practice papers within the prescribed time
• Pupils’ attendance, punctuality
• ** Monitor your child’s use of social media and Whatsapp
How parents can support the school’s efforts
• Pacing – analogy: running a marathon, not a sprint
• HGS manages pupils’ workload through its homework policy – details in school notification dated 3 Jan 2013
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How Parents can Support School Efforts
•HGS does not expect parents to provide private tuition
–School provides a range of programmes to stretch all pupils
–Teachers will coach pupils who need additional help
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How Parents can Support School Efforts
•However, if parents do engage tutors,
–Schoolwork and practice papers take priority over homework assigned by the tutor
–Tutors should complement the school’s efforts
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How Parents can Support School Efforts
• What happens if your child doesn’t know how to do her homework or practice paper?
– Do not do the homework for the child
– Guide your child and ask her questions
– If you or the tutor provided assistance, indicate next to the answer, ‘Guided by Parent / Tutor’
– This will enable teachers to know what your child can or cannot do
Choosing Secondary Schools
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Choosing Secondary Schools • Choose schools that are a good ‘fit’ for your
child (her strengths, interests, disposition)
• What to consider
– school culture
– school niches and programmes
– school’s PSLE cut-off point
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Choosing Secondary Schools: Sources of Information
• MOE’s School Information Service
– http://app.sis.moe.gov.sg/schinfo/SIS_index.asp
• Secondary school websites
• Secondary school Open House events
• Secondary school roadshows at HGS
• Secondary school information booklets (distributed Sept-Oct)
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Choosing Secondary Schools • Make your choices wisely
• Please do not hesitate to consult school leaders, key personnel and teachers regarding choice of secondary schools
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Direct School Admission – Sec Exercise
• participating secondary schools have flexibility to select a percentage of their students for admission via their own selection criteria
• selection criteria can include diverse academic and non-academic achievements and talents
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Direct School Admission – Sec Exercise
• secondary schools participating in the DSA-Sec Exercise include
– Specialised Independent Schools (SIS)
– schools offering an integrated programme (IP Schools),
– independent schools (IS)
– autonomous schools (AS) and
– schools with niche programmes approved by MOE (Niche Schools)
http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/dsa-sec/
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Direct School Admission – Sec Exercise
• Specialised independent schools that admit pupils entirely or almost entirely through DSA
– NUS High School of Maths and Science
– School of the Arts (SOTA)
– School of Science and Technology
– Singapore Sports School
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Direct School Admission – Sec Exercise
• From now onwards: info gathering stage; DSA schools to publish selection criteria on websites
• June-August: Selection tests / camps / interviews and outcome of selection
• October: If selected, student submits preference for up to 3 DSA schools
• November: Student collects result of DSA school allocated together with PSLE results
HGS Support for Pupils Applying via DSA
• Letters of recommendation by teachers
• Pupil achievement records
• Advice on portfolio presentation
• Mock interviews conducted by school leaders
**Please give us sufficient advance notice to support our pupils.
Supporting your child
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How to Support Your Child
• Take care of her holistic well-being
–Adequate rest and exercise and a balanced diet a more alert mind and healthy body
• Unconditional love and acceptance
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How to Support Your Child
•Believe in her
•Encourage and Affirm your child – catch her doing right, accentuate the positive
•Make time for your child
•BEAM more, compare and criticize less
Shared Values- COMMITMENT
CO
O
P
E
R
A
T
I
O
N
I4Cs
Integrity
Creativity CONCER
To nurture
self-directed learners and
critical and creative thinkers
Mission
who lead and serve with
integrity and compassion
Leaders of Character, Striving for Excellence in a Vibrant School
Vision
Thank You
Haig Girls’ School
Established in 1951
Character Leadership Creativity
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