Education
History Comes Alive at Fuhua Secondary School
Students had the opportunity to research and view historical photographs from their interviewees.
Studying history is much more than agonising over names and dates in textbooks, as many students of Fuhua Secondary School have discovered. Since 2010, the school has had several classes of Secondary 2 students take on the roles of oral history archivists as part of a project work assignment. Armed with background reading material and guidelines on conducting oral history interviews, these students have set out to interview people aged 50 and above about life during the Japanese Occupation, and how Singapore has changed through the years. The project required students to deliver a presentation and interview transcripts; they also picked up skills such as translation, video editing and subtitling. This process helped them to appreciate the complex process of presenting history. As Phua Zheng Xuan, now in Sec 3, shares, "One of my team members put in a lot of work translating the interview from Mandarin to English. It was not easy!"Fitch’s Ratings Bode Well for Singapore Businesses
Direct Admission Exercises for Secondary Schools, Junior Colleges and Polytechnics
Students can apply for direct admission to secondary schools, junior colleges (JC) and polytechnics through the Direct School Admission – Secondary (DSA-Sec) Exercise, Direct School Admission – Junior College (DSA-JC) Exercise and the Direct Polytechnic Admission (DPA) Exercise respectively.
The Direct Admission Exercises provide schools, JCs, institutions and polytechnics with more flexibility to select students based on a wider range of talents and achievements, while holding to the key principles of transparency and meritocracy.
DSA-Sec ExerciseThe DSA-Sec Exercise promotes holistic education by giving students the opportunity to demonstrate a more diverse range of achievements and talents in seeking admission to secondary schools.
This year, 91 schools will be participating in the 2012 DSA-Sec Exercise for admission to Secondary One in 2013. The participating schools are listed in Annex A.
New Niche Programme SchoolsSix new schools will offer discretionary places via the DSA-Sec Exercise for admissions from 2013 onwards. Another two schools, St Andrew’s Secondary School and Unity Secondary School, will offer a second niche. The schools’ niche programmes are as follows:
School Niche Canberra Secondary School Digital Media Naval Base Secondary School Visual Arts New Town Secondary School Uniformed Groups Queenstown Secondary School Uniformed Groups St Andrew’s Secondary School Military Band* Teck Whye Secondary School Hockey Unity Secondary School Uniformed Groups* Woodgrove Secondary School Environmental Education * This is the school’s second niche area of excellence.A list of the 50 niche programme schools is at Annex B. Information on the schools’ selection criteria and their application and selection processes can be found on the schools’ respective websites.
MOE will continue to invite applications from schools interested in establishing niche programmes in subsequent years. MOE will provide support to these schools to build up the necessary capabilities to offer these programmes, so that more schools will have their own distinguishing niches.
3 Stages of DSA-Sec ExerciseThe DSA-Sec Exercise will be conducted in 3 stages. Details of the exercise are listed in Annex C.
Students who take up Confirmed Offers or Waiting List Offers by schools during the DSA-Sec Exercise are still required to take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). Those who take up Confirmed Offers are guaranteed a place in the school that has extended them an offer, provided that their PSLE results meet the minimum requirement for a course [Express/ Normal (Academic)/ Normal (Technical)] offered by the school.
Similar to previous years, students who have been admitted to a school through the DSA-Sec Exercise will not be able to participate in the centralised Secondary One Posting Exercise.
Students who have been successfully allocated to a school via the DSA-Sec Exercise are expected to honour their commitment to their posted DSA-Sec schools and will thus not be allowed to transfer to another school after the release of the PSLE results.
DSA-JC and DPA ExerciseThe DSA-JC application period varies across the schools, starting from 16 May 2012. The DPA application period is from 5 July 2012 to 10 July 2012. Successful applicants will be offered places in a JC, institution or polytechnic prior to taking their GCE ‘O’ level examination or equivalent assessments, though they must still meet the ‘O’ level examination criteria for eventual admission to a JC, institution or polytechnic.
The DSA-JC Exercise provides students an opportunity to demonstrate a more diverse range of achievements and talents in seeking admission at the pre-university level. The institutions participating in the DSA-JC Exercise this year are listed in Annex D.
The DPA Exercise allows students who are interested in and have the aptitude for applied learning to seek prior admission to the polytechnics. The polytechnics participating in the DPA Exercise this year are listed in Annex E
Successful DPA applicants will be able to participate in the Polytechnic Preparatory Programme (PPP), conducted by the individual polytechnics from mid-January 2013 to March 2013. Under the PPP, students will engage in activities such as industry visits, student camps and leadership development activities. These activities aim to broaden the students’ learning experience and better orientate them to the polytechnic environment. Students may also register for polytechnic modules during the PPP. This would allow students to pursue advanced modules or cross-disciplinary modules during their polytechnic education.
Student SelectionFor the DSA-JC Exercise, each JC or institution will admit students according to its own school-based admission criteria (which include both academic and/or non-academic criteria), taking into account the students’ personal qualities and the areas of focus (such as leadership, science, music and sports) that the JC or institution would like to emphasise. Students admitted via the DSA-JC Exercise will have to meet the admission criteria to a JC which can be found in MOE DSA-JC Exercise website.
For the DPA Exercise, polytechnics will take into account students’ abilities, talents and interests in the specific courses that they have applied for. For example, a student’s passion and talent in digital media could be considered when he/she applies through the DPA for a place in a Diploma in Digital Media Design. To ensure that students admitted through DPA are able to cope with the rigours of a polytechnic education, applicants will have to meet the prevailing polytechnic admission criteria, i.e.:
- Obtain a net ELR2B21 score of not more than 26 points for the GCE ‘O’ Level examination; and
- Meet the Minimum Entry Requirements (MER) for the relevant polytechnic course, which can be found on the polytechnics’ websites.
Similar to last year’s exercises, the percentage of students that JCs and polytechnics can admit via direct admission is as follows:
- Government and Government-aided JCs2 can admit up to 10 percent of their 2013 JC1 intake using school-based criteria under the DSA-JC Exercise. The four independent institutions3 offering pre-university programmes can admit up to 20 percent of their intake using school-based criteria. SOTA will admit a small number of its Year 5 students through the DSA-JC Exercise.
- The five polytechnics - Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic - may each admit up to 2.5 percent of their Academic Year 2013 intake through the DPA Exercise. There will also be a course-specific cap of 30 percent for each polytechnic course under DPA. This is to ensure that students admitted through the GCE ‘O’ Level route will continue to have access to popular polytechnic courses.
Similar to previous years, if an applicant accepts an offer through DSA-JC or DPA, and is successfully posted to the institution, he will not be able to take part in the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE) or Joint Polytechnic Special Admissions Exercise (JPSAE) subsequently.
Students who have been successfully allocated a place to a JC or a polytechnic course via the DSA-JC Exercise or DPA Exercise respectively are expected to honour their commitment to the schools and polytechnic courses that they have been posted to, and thus will not be allowed to transfer to another JC or course after the release of the GCE ‘O’ Level examination results. This act of honouring commitments is an important value which we hope to inculcate in all our students.
Details of the DSA-JC and DPA Exercises can be found in Annex F.
Further InformationStudents interested in participating in the DSA-Sec, DSA-JC or DPA Exercises should approach any of the participating institutions or visit their websites for more details regarding the selection exercises. They are advised to do so before the start of the respective exercises.
Alternatively, students can call MOE Customer Service Centre at 6872 2220 or refer to the following MOE websites for more information:
Footnotes- ELR2B2 is used for admission into the Polytechnics. It refers to English Language, two relevant subjects for the polytechnic course applied for, and best two other subjects excluding CCA.↩
- These are: Anderson JC, Anglo-Chinese JC, Catholic JC, Innova JC, Jurong JC, Meridian JC, Nanyang JC, National JC, Pioneer JC, Serangoon JC, St. Andrew’s JC, Tampines JC, Temasek JC, Victoria JC and Yishun JC.↩
- These are: Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Hwa Chong Institution, Raffles Institution and St. Joseph’s Institution.↩
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Taking Play Seriously
Professor Michael Chia advocates for daily self-directed play among youths as an important antidote to the pressures of a highly scheduled and sedentary lifestyle.
It takes just a minimum of 90 minutes every day, yet its compounded effects are profound on a child's development. What is it? Believe it or not: play. "People think play is only for young children, but play evolves throughout a person's lifetime," says Associate Professor Michael Chia, Professor of Paediatric Exercise Physiology at the National Institute of Education. Through play, a child can develop greater creativity and resilience, increased problem-solving ability, and strengthened emotional, cognitive and physical strength. Prof Chia further asserts, "Through daily play, so much can be gained for so little investment." Prof Chia is the force behind the PRIDE for PLAY (PfP) initiative, which stands for "Personal Responsibility in Daily Effort for Participation in Lifetime Activity for Youth". This is a whole-school project that sets aside 20 to 45 minutes everyday for free or organised play for all students in school, as well as before and after school. With the teachers playing alongside students, PfP sessions are an opportunity for students to learn in an authentic environment, as teachers can seize upon teachable moments that naturally occur.
