Submitted by yeetien

This is contributed by a parent who wish to remain anonymous: Thank you for sharing this valuable resource.

When my child started P4, I was clueless about what a DSA portfolio is. There was the Social Studies portfolio, the creative writing one but nothing about this dsa portfolio.

To have a better idea, we attended the dsa briefings while my boy was in P5 and P6, and looked at the ones prepared by former students who were invited back to the school. (Thank you, particularly Claire-NUSH, for sharing yours. )

The one I’m sharing below is suitable for academic and GEP dsa applicants. It’s definitely not recommended for applying for music/sports/sota/sst/sss etc. I’ve seen a kid submit a scrapbook which really stands out from the plain ones like my son’s and I’ve seen those who couldn’t be bothered and handed in only a measly portfolio of a few pages.

While my son was successful in his application, I’m not sure how much the portfolio influenced the decision of the powers-that-be. I don’t want to be held responsible, regardless the outcome of your application. I’m only sharing my son’s and we’re not implying that his is the best. His is probably just average, but I hope it gives you some ideas to get started.

You may want to vary the layout a bit, otherwise, the recruiters will be scratching their heads and wondering why so many similar ones.

Cover Page

My DSA Portfolio

By: Child’s name

School

Class

IC Number

Date

Content Page

Letter of Introduction

Dear whoever may be viewing my portfolio,

{Provide a brief summary of why you’ve chosen the various topics to be included in the portfolio and what else are in your portfolio.}

Thank you for taking the time to read my portfolio.

Yours sincerely,

Yr child’s signature,

Name

Date

My Biography

{Provide detailed information about the child, his siblings, parents. Also, the school, his roles, interesting snippets of his life.

His hobbies, passion, sports, ambition etc. Spice it up with color photos etc. This is more to break the monotony for the reader. Just to share I’ve seen 1 boy include his passion for cooking and photos of his cooking antics over the years. Mine shared his sporting passions and the place he so looked forward to seeing }

Community Problem Solving Project

He attached details and scores of this project done in P5.

Interest-Driven Project

He attached details and reflection of this done in P5.

Special Interest Topic (replace this with topic title)

My boy was very interested in reading up about this when it made the headlines in 2008. His write-up shows a good grasp of the complex theory and experiment. And during the interview session in school A, the teacher commented, in reference to this topic, that he liked Physics too. Get your child to write something he’s passionate about – it could be the environment, sustainable fishing, computer games, recycling etc. To grab the attention of the reader, choose a topic that is really unique.

Holistic Report Card

Attach the P4, P5 and P6 mid-year report cards.

Teachers’ Feedback

This is not the testimonial. In my son’s school, each of his subject teacher provides feedback, twice a year, which he attached. For the schools we applied to, testimonials are not required. But I know of some kiasu parents who’ll insist the form teacher write for their child.

Awards

ICAS/Edusave/Good Progress/Olympiads etc. He also attached his swimming and mental maths awards

Certificates

These are certificates of programs that he’d participated like Maths Trail, IT literacy, leadership skills even outward bound program.

Do use colored paper as separators between topics for ease of reference. And get the whole portfolio bound, which I think looks more presentable than hole-punching and filing them.

Good luck to those who are trying! To benefit future dsa applicants, I hope other parents who’ve done this can share their experiences too.