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Gifted Education Programme offers deeper learning, but kids can still excel outside of it https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parenting-education/gifted-education-programme-a-differentiated-curriculum-but-smart-kids-can-still-excel-even-if-they-don-t-get-into-it SINGAPORE – Primary 3 pupils will find out this week if they have been selected for the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). With about 1 per cent of the cohort entering the GEP each year – ranging from 370 to 400 pupils, depending on the cohort size – this might mean disappointment for a number of children. But experienced educators say the three-year programme – started in 1984 for intellectually gifted Primary 4 to 6 pupils – is designed for that small group of youngsters who will thrive in it. Pupils are selected for the GEP through a two-stage process: a screening exercise comprising English and mathematics tests, and a selection exercise comprising English, maths and general ability tests. The English and maths tests assess students on concepts taught in the syllabus from Primary 1 to 3, while the general ability test assesses students on their logical thinking and general reasoning abilities. The GEP’s differentiated curriculum aims to nurture the depth of thinking and creative dispositions in such students. One of them is Christian Choong, 13, who taught himself the number system and how to read and write when he was three. When he started primary school, he would finish class work in less than half the given time, and was often bored in school and had trouble socialising with his peers. His father Adrian Choong, 44, guessed then that Christian could be a gifted child and hoped he would get into the GEP. Mr Choong, now a teacher and himself a former GEP student, faced similar issues when he was young and says being in the programme helped him. He adds: “I hoped my son would get into the GEP, not because it is a more prestigious programme or that the schools have better teachers, but because I believe the GEP has the teaching and learning environment that would benefit him.” He and his wife Esther Cheng, 44, a stay-at-home mum, have a younger son, Zachary, 11, who is in the mainstream programme. Mr Choong says he did not send Christian, now in Secondary 1, for any GEP preparatory classes, but got him books on logic and reasoning tests to let him try the quizzes under timed conditions at home just before he went for the selection tests. He did not want his son’s ability to be clouded by his fear of taking such examinations in an unfamiliar environment. Christian got through the two rounds of tests and entered Rosyth School’s GEP, where he enjoyed meeting pupils he shared common interests with. “He loved being with friends who were as crazy, nerdy and geeky as he was. He would have endless conversations with his classmates about obscure mathematical topics,” says Mr Choong. He adds: “Sometimes, he would feel frustrated by his work, but struggling with the schoolwork made the eventual success all the more rewarding.” What does a GEP pupil learn? The GEP curriculum is an “enriched” version of the mainstream one. It is broader and more in-depth, with opportunities for research and inquiry-based activity. Mr Matthew Ngiam, a teacher from Tao Nan School, who has been teaching children in the GEP for 15 years, says pupils are exposed to more challenging questions and concepts. “It takes a certain cognitive ability to understand the requirements of the tasks,” he adds. For example, in maths, Primary 4 pupils learn about the ancient numeration systems, such as the Roman, Egyptian and Babylonian systems. They may research into an area of interest, like graph theory, which is not taught in primary school. When learning a topic such as algebra, mainstream Primary 6 pupils may do equations with one variable, but GEP students are exposed to questions with more variables, including simultaneous and quadratic equations. Mr Ngiam says many GEP students display similar character traits – a deep knowledge of an area of interest, a high level of curiosity, an excellent memory and an intense focus when they work on something they are passionate about. He adds that he has learnt to be flexible in his thinking as his GEP pupils offer perspectives that he has never come across. “When I go into class, I have to prepare myself that teaching is not going to be ‘one direction’. I’m the teacher, but they could end up being the ones teaching me,” he says. Apart from being able to comprehend abstract thinking, they can gather information from everywhere to synthesise something new, he says. “They go deeper than what is required in the GEP curriculum,” he adds. Likewise, for English, while the basics like grammar and vocabulary are covered, much of English lessons is literature, where pupils are introduced to various literary genres such as mysteries, fairy tales and historical fiction. Lessons are filled with discussions, where students make interdisciplinary and real-life connections, says Mrs Elaine Chong, head of the GEP at Raffles Girls’ Primary School, who has taught in the GEP for 22 years. “We don’t have ‘one answer to one question’. Some pupils may not be used to this approach where there is a lot of discussion. It could be unsettling for them,” she says. There is an individualised study option, where they learn basic research skills in Primary 4, such as how to gather data, and do analysis and presentations. In Primary 6, one of the text genres they study is biographies, where they analyse the values of a person and the factors for his or her success. The pupils are then tasked to come up with a biography of a family member, before they reflect on what they have learnt from the process. They are exposed to concepts such as discrimination and stereotypes, based on the texts they learn. “There is a lot of critical thinking. They may have to challenge their own thinking and learn to accept the views of others. It can be quite challenging, but they enjoy it because it involves higher-level thinking skills,” says Mrs Chong. Raedon Tan, 10, a Primary 4 GEP pupil from Tao Nan School, says while the work is harder in the GEP, he enjoys being able to explore all subjects at a deeper level, especially maths, his favourite subject. “We do a lot of open discussions, which also means that we can understand the perspectives of our peers,” he says. All GEP pupils take the same GEP assessment for English, maths, science and social studies. They will, however, take school-based assessments with their mainstream peers for mother tongue languages and higher mother tongue languages. At the end of Primary 6, they sit the same Primary School Leaving Examination as mainstream pupils. Their choices of educational pathways for secondary schools are the same as those open to mainstream pupils, such as the integrated programme or O-level track. How do you nurture a child who did not get into the GEP? High-ability learners who did not get selected for the GEP can still take up school-based enrichment programmes for upper-primary pupils, such as the Excellence 2000 (E2K) Mathematics Programme and E2K Science Programme. Schools also offer enrichment activities in both academic and non-academic areas, for example, coding, robotics and design thinking. A spokesman for the Ministry of Education says schools can nominate their high-ability learners to participate in its gifted education branch’s centrally organised programmes, such as the creative writing programme and the Primary Mathematics Project Competition, to provide them with further exposure. But parents can also do their part to nurture these high-ability children at home, says teachers. Mr Ngiam says parents should encourage the child to explore his or her areas of interest and provide opportunities for the child. “It starts from home. If the focus at home is only academic excellence or getting into the GEP, that takes away the joy of learning, which comes from a child’s curiosity-driven exploration,” he adds. By fostering a supportive and nurturing environment at home, parents are setting their child up for long-term success, says Mr Ngiam. Mrs Chong agrees, adding that parents can be the resource person for their child. For example, if a child likes writing, parents can expose him or her to different genres of books. “Be the audience for them when they write, give them feedback to encourage them. That is how you help them build on their passion. The GEP is not the only way to stretch children,” she says. Can students be trained to get into the GEP? Over the years, enrichment centres have been offering classes that claim to coach students to get into the GEP. With the programme offered in nine primary schools and with a class size of around 25 pupils, some parents view the GEP as a prestigious programme and send their children for lessons, hoping they will qualify for it. However, MOE has long cautioned parents against doing so, as it might inflate test scores and not reflect these students’ actual intellectual potential. Mr Ngiam says parents who want to send their children for prep classes should understand that the GEP is designed for children who have already demonstrated exceptional ability or aptitude in specific areas, such as an advanced knowledge of mathematical concepts. He says one concern of attending such classes is the impact on a child if he or she does not make it to the GEP. “There is the risk of your child feeling a lack of self-worth if he or she doesn’t get in,” he says. Another concern is when children, who are not naturally gifted, get into the GEP through test preparation. “The curriculum is designed based on the fact that they are naturally gifted. If they are not and come into the programme, they may find it a struggle to keep up with the pace,” says Mr Ngiam. Mrs Chong says that if kids in the GEP struggle to cope, parents may end up sending them for more tuition in order to keep up. “If they go for many enrichment lessons, they have no time for themselves or to reflect on their learning,” she says. Mr Zhou Shicai, founder of NickleBee Tutors and who was a former GEP student, says his centre does not offer GEP preparatory classes as he believes that giftedness is mostly an innate ability, and he discourages parents from sending their children to such classes. His enrichment centre offers advanced maths programmes for upper-primary pupils from both the GEP and mainstream programme. But he recently started teaching three lower-primary students with exceptional talent in maths in his personal capacity at their parents’ request. “This is not aimed at helping them get into the GEP, but rather to help them realise their full potential in maths because they already show innate talent,” he said. Mr Choong, who coached his son for the GEP tests, says it is possible to prepare to a certain extent, but parents must consider if a child will thrive in the GEP environment. “Your child can be trained to get into the GEP. But should your child be trained to get into the GEP? That is the question that parents should be asking themselves,” he says.

https://www.littledayout.com/psle-math-how-should-students-tackle-difficult-questions-exam-nicklebee-tutors/ PSLE Math: Is It Really That Tough? How Should Students Tackle Difficult Questions In The Exam? Nearly every year, difficult PSLE Math questions spark a furore among students and parents. In 2019, the infamous semi-circle question left many students in tears. In 2021, it was a question about Henry, Ivan and their coins that stumped examinees and made its rounds on the internet. It seems that, in recent years, Math Olympiad-style questions have been appearing in PSLE Math papers with increasing frequency. However, the Ministry of Education maintains that the difficulty level of the PSLE has been kept consistent, with challenging questions capped at 15% yearly. One thing is clear: the PSLE Math paper is not going to get easier. Read More : https://www.littledayout.com/psle-math-how-should-students-tackle-difficult-questions-exam-nicklebee-tutors/

https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/coding-to-be-made-compulsory-for-all-upper-primary-pupils-next-year Enrichment classes on coding for all upper primary pupils next year Hariz Baharudin SINGAPORE - All upper primary pupils will have coding classes from next year, as part of the Government's goal to develop a healthy pipeline of tech talent for the digital economy. Conducted by the Education Ministry and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the 10-hour enrichment programme will be piloted this year at some schools for pupils after their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), before being rolled out to all primary schools by 2020. Code For Fun (CFF) will seek to develop an appreciation of core computational thinking and coding concepts in pupils, through simple visual programming-based lessons. This was one of several key announcements made by Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran at the ministry's workplan seminar, which centred around building a safe and inclusive digital society for Singapore that leaves no one behind. At the seminar on Wednesday (July 10) at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, the minister also announced the formation of a new specialised telecoms cyber security specialist team, and more efforts to equip Singapore's ageing population with basic digital skills. He also gave an update on government initiatives to help companies digitalise their business. Mr Iswaran said: "We are also reaching out to every enterprise, every worker, and every citizen, so that we can bring all of them, every enterprise regardless of its size, big or small, every worker regardless of education level and every citizen regardless of their tech savviness - bringing them into this overall national effort so that we can build a digital economy that is made up of enterprises that are digitally capable, empowered by workers who are digitally skilled and citizens who are digitally connected." This, he said later, starts from young, and CFF will seek to excite young Singaporeans about the opportunities in the digital age and expose them to the skill sets needed for the potentially lucrative digital economy. In 2016, a study by Oxford Economics and Huawei estimated that the size of the global digital economy amounted to about US$11.5 trillion (S$15.6 trillion) or over 15 per cent of global gross domestic product. And closer to home, a study published by Microsoft last year estimated that the digital economy would contribute another US$10 billion to Singapore's GDP by 2021 to increase the growth rate by 0.6 per cent annually. The Ministry of Communications and Information said in a fact sheet on Wednesday that since CFF was launched as an optional enrichment programme in 2014, it has benefited 93,000 students. It added that the programme will continue at the secondary level as an option to complement existing efforts in computing education, which include computing subjects taken at O Level (elective) and A Level. Mr Iswaran also announced that the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) will be expanding its youth engagement outreach with the Singapore Cyber Youth Programme (SG Cyber Youth), a collaboration with the cyber security industry and academia. This programme will reach out to 10,000 secondary and tertiary students in the next three years to provide them with opportunities to explore cyber security as a career and expose them to relevant technical knowledge and soft skills. It will build on CSA's existing efforts, which include the Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (YCEP) boot camp, a multi-day initiative which aims to introduce secondary school students to the opportunities of a cyber-security career and was started in collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic last year. All five polytechnics are now involved in the boot camp, and this year's edition attracted a turnout of 400 students from over 30 secondary schools coming together to learn about cyber security. Among other new initiatives under the new SG Cyber Youth will be a new advanced-level of the YCEP to be introduced next year, said the MCI. The ministry added that students can also look forward to participating in cyber security learning journeys CSA holds with the Education Ministry and its industry partners, adding that more initiatives will be announced next year.

P1 registration: Child must live at declared address for at least 30 months from July 2, 2015 Children who have secured places in primary schools under the home-school distance priority will be required to stay at the address for at least 30 months from the start of the Primary 1 registration exercise on July 2, 2015. -- PHOTO: ST FILE By Amelia Teng SINGAPORE - Children who have secured places in primary schools under the home-school distance priority scheme will be required to live at the address for at least 30 months from the start of the Primary 1 registration exercise on July 2. This new rule applies to children entering primary school next year. Previously there was no specific length of time set by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The ministry said on its website: "A child who gains priority admission into a school through his/her distance category is required to reside at the address used for registration for at least 30 months from the commencement of the P1 registration exercise on 2 July 2015." The ministry said that there are a small number of cases where families are unable to remain at the registered address for the entire duration of their children's primary school studies. Even so, a child who gains priority admission into school by distance must still abide by the new rule, it said. "If this condition is not met, MOE reserves the right to transfer the child to another school with vacancies, as the priority admission to the first school was based on the declared address used for registration," the ministry said. "The home-school distance category priority is given with the expectation that the family will reside at the address for the duration of the child's primary school studies, as it is for the convenience and interest of the child," it added. Families which have bought a yet-to-be completed property and plan to move in after it is completed, are required to live at the new address for at least 30 months starting from the time the family moves into the property. "For example, if the child registers in 2015 and only moves into the new address in July 2017, the 30 months stay period starts from July 2017," MOE said on its website. In March this year, a father who lied about where he lived to get his daughter into a top primary school was sentenced to two weeks in jail. The 35-year-old self-employed man, who cannot be named to protect his daughter's identity, pleaded guilty in February to giving false information to the school's principal on July 30, 2013. A charge of lying to a police sergeant 10 days earlier to change the address on his identity card was taken into consideration. The man had indicated his address as being within 1km to 2km of the brand-name school, when he registered his daughter under Phase 2C of the Primary 1 registration exercise in 2013. This allowed his daughter to secure a place. His identity card showed the same address, but the man actually lived in Balestier Road, which fell outside the priority radius. The address he provided belonged to his uncle's sister, and had been rented out. His subterfuge came to light when MOE visited the place. [email protected] - See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/education/story/p1-registration-child-must-stay-declared-address-least-30-months-july#sthash.AgdvwxeK.dpuf

From next year, motorists travelling on the roads fronting of 10 primary schools are required to reduce their speed to 40kmh during school operation hours, as part of a pilot road safety project announced by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) today (Nov 14). A 40kmh speed limit sign and “When Lights Flash” supplementary sign will be put up along the roads, accompanied by flashing amber lights. When in operation, the two amber lights will flash in alternate fashion to remind motorists to slow down. The new speed limit is among a series of road safety initiatives introduced by the LTA after reviewing the School Zone scheme to enhance road safety for students. The 10 schools involved are: Shuqun Primary School, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School, Canberra Primary School, Nan Hua Primary School, North Spring Primary School, Ngee Ann Primary School, Townsville Primary School, St. Margaret’s Primary School, Gan Eng Seng Primary School, and Ang Mo Kio Primary School. “A key focus of the PCSC is to enhance road safety for vulnerable road users like young students. The committee has reviewed the existing schemes and identified areas where further improvements can be made,” Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Chairman of the Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Committee (PCSC) Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim said during a visit to Shuqun Primary School. “The new initiatives that we intend to introduce at the 10 selected schools, including Shuqun Primary School, are part of our continued efforts to improve road safety, while balancing the needs of other road users.” The reduced speed limit will be progressively extended to other primary schools that have zebra crossings and signalised pedestrian crossings along their school frontages. The LTA will also introduce a toolkit of existing and new road safety initiatives to enhance road safety along primary and secondary school frontages. Among the measures include reminder messages, such as the ‘LOOK’ warning marking to remind pedestrians to check for traffic at zebra crossings, and road markings to remind motorists to slow down. These measures will be customised according to the site layout outside the schools. Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/speed-limit-roads-fronting-10-primary-schools-be-reduced-next-year-lta