We all know parents who have faced disappointment due to their children’s PSLE results, leading to arguments and even the withholding of privileges during the school holidays.

Given the option, every parent would naturally prefer to avoid such negative consequences. If your children are just beginning their journey through primary school, there is ample opportunity to set the stage for academic success — on terms that work for you and your family. Here’s how you can start.

Be realistic about grades

With fewer exams and less focus on grades, defining a ‘good’ score has become harder. Increasingly, primary schools are also reinforcing the message that every secondary school “is a good school,” aiming to reduce pressure and stigma for most students, who will be heading to neighbourhood schools.

In order to qualify for well-known schools with a single-digit PSLE score, your child will generally need to score 85 and above in all of their school assessments. If their grades consistently fall below 80, you will likely be looking at a PSLE score of 16 and above.

One way to approach this is to realise that a ‘top’ or ‘brand-name’ school is not necessarily the best school for your child. With this mindset, you can research secondary schools with different entry scores, in order to have suitable options no matter what your child’s score is. In this way, there is also less pressure to always score 85 and above, and your child can focus on making small improvements without fixating on marking schemes.

Decide how much to ‘invest’ on enrichment

In Singapore, parents generally spend on two types of enrichment for their primary schoolers. The first is academic support, and the second is for sports or artistic hobbies. Many parents hope that their children will either do well in the PSLE, or be good enough in a non-academic pursuit to secure a Direct School Admission (DSA) offer to a sought-after secondary school.

This can be both a financial and time drain for families, especially if you have more than one child. Your first step should be to decide on what is financially prudent for your family, based on your disposable income. You’ll also need to consider your child’s routine — you don’t want every day to be packed to the brim with enrichment activities, with little downtime for your child or bonding time for the family. 

Ultimately, it’s important to accept that there isn’t just one ideal path for your child. For example, they might enjoy a hobby for a year before wanting to try something new, or they may not improve in grades despite multiple tutors. Beyond providing support, it’s crucial to foster optimism and resilience in your child and allow them the flexibility to explore. This will help your child to develop as a healthy striver, with a better chance of success in life.

Partner with the school

While it’s now easier to contact our children’s educators, we should be cautious about being overly reactive. Instead of immediately raising issues with the school principal or the Ministry of Education, it’s often more effective to directly engage the relevant teacher in a collaborative manner. For example, if your child feels they were unfairly reprimanded, you could approach the teacher with a message such as, “My child informed me that there was an issue with her behaviour during your class today. Can we have a quick chat to find out what happened, so we can work together to improve things?”

If there are no classroom issues to address, the annual parent-teacher meeting is an ideal opportunity for engagement. To help you plan effectively for the year, these are some questions to ask your child’s teacher:

Question	Rationale
1. How is my child faring academically, compared to grade-level expectations?	Understanding your child’s current academic standing helps you plan for any additional support or advanced opportunities they might need throughout the year.
2. Can you provide examples of my child’s work that demonstrate their strengths and areas for improvement?	Seeing actual examples helps you identify specific areas to focus on at home, allowing you to plan targeted activities or seek resources.
3. How does my child interact with peers and participate in class?	Knowing about your child’s social interactions helps you plan for ways to enhance their social skills and address any potential issues early.
4. What is the best way for me to support my child’s learning at home?	Understanding how to extend learning at home enables you to plan a consistent routine that complements what’s happening in the classroom.
5. Are there any specific resources or programmes that you can recommend for my child’s academic growth?	Identifying resources early on allows you to incorporate them into your yearly plan.
6. From what you’ve observed, what is my child’s learning style, and how have you accommodated this in your classroom?	Knowing this helps you align your at-home support with the teacher’s strategies.
7. Can you describe your behaviour management and classroom discipline approach?	Understanding this allows you to mirror strategies at home for consistency.
8. What are the main academic and social goals for the class this year, and how is my child progressing toward them?	Knowing the goals helps you plan for the year by setting expectations for your child’s development.
9. How will you measure and communicate student progress throughout the year?	Regular progress updates allow you to plan timely interventions or celebrate achievements.
10. Are there upcoming school projects or events where families can get involved?	Setting aside time for these events shows your child that you’re invested in their education.

Try different tutors early

Many children will enter Primary 1 already having tutoring support, especially for the mother tongue language if it’s not spoken at home. What you should know is that regular tutoring does not guarantee your child will score an AL1 or AL2 in the PSLE. In fact, it’s not uncommon that bright children who bring home PSLE scores of 16 and above have had weekly tutoring in more than one subject.

Before you decide to invest in tutoring, have a think about what you hope your child will gain. Is it to ace exams, instil confidence, or build a deeper interest in the subject? Each of these objectives requires a different tutoring approach. If you are prepared to pay for tutoring through the primary school years, it’s good to settle on a slate of tutors by Primary 5, so that it’s less disruptive for your child. 

Here are some questions to ask a prospective tutor:

Question	Rationale
1. If my child is unable to understand your explanation or repeats mistakes, what will you do?	The answer to this will reveal if your tutor has a backup plan to deal with these common challenges.
2. If my child finds a task daunting — e.g. completing a homework assignment or memorising a passage — what advice will you give?	Good tutors will suggest breaking up an assignment into more manageable parts.
3. How will you help my child to set goals, with a step-by-step plan for improvement?	This will help you to gauge if a tutor’s approach to goal setting is aligned with yours.
4. Are you comfortable dealing with highly introverted children? How will you break the ice with my child?	Some kids take a long time to warm up to a tutor, so a tutor’s ability to build rapport will become essential.
5. In the event that my child’s grades do not improve, what will you do?	This question is crucial for understanding the tutor’s plan when the desired outcomes are not met. It also shows the tutor’s commitment to your child’s improvement.

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