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