KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

choosing the right cca is crucial in secondary school.
with more subjects to handle and also longer school hours, a demanding cca would require the child to stay back more often and that is excluding supplementary lessons.

the debating club which daughter was keen in requires her to stay back 2x a week (3x if there is a competition). that is definitely no no. she is happy with media club. my son definitely inherited the IT gene from the father but more patient than him. if son doesn't go into IT/engineering, it would be a real waste.

In my kids' school, all CCAs are at least twice a week. Considered quite slack liao

DD's Girl Guides used to be 2-3x per wk, time consuming and physically demanding. But DD enjoyed herself and was always happy. She also developed a great sense of responsibility & leadership skills. Was appointed the rank of Petrol Leader. I'm glad she took up GG. DS on the other hand was in his school TKD team. Training was 2-3x a week including every Saturday. By the time he reached home was always tired. Showered slept and saturdays flew pass. But with passion & discipline, he too attained his Black belt and was appointed the rank of Vice Chairman of the school TKD team.
CCA's do instill a great deal of achievement in a child's development esp during secondary school years. Most importantly they must choose one which they like so that they will be committed to it for the next 4 years.

Hi anyone with DS in St John?Can share your experience of tis CCA?DS likes sports but due to limited vacancies probably has to join UG.

CCAs are pretty competitive nowadays. Need to go for auditions / selection tests. Some CCAs only taking in a handful of students or at most a dozen.

More of a case of CCA choose their candidates and not the other way round

Yes. That's why it's not always possible to choose the CCA a student is most interested in, even if he or she would very much like to. Sometimes have to make do with whichever CCA a student landed up in and then try to cultivate interests from thereon.

Or be kiasu lah (no shame in that that's just being proactive) - send him or her for some last minute training post psle if there's a particular CCA he or she is super interested in, so as to improve the chance of getting 1st choice CCA

Keeping an open mind and willingness to venture out of their comfort zone does help.
After all students are given an option to choose their CCA choice 1,2,3 if I do recall correctly.
For my DD, she was never the adventurous or sporty type. With limited options, she chose Girl Guides, and made the best out of her 4 yrs. Having said that, as 'sleepy' suggested, no harm doing a 'crash course' post psle to increase ones's chance of securing 1st choice cca ... but that's quite extreme But well ... that's what KSP is for right? Lol

Any parent with their child in softball?
Please share your experience on - How rigorous would the training be and what kind of opportunities will they get in softball?

DD has been shortlisted for softball and very eager to join. 4 of her class mates have been selected to join the team along with her.
Tomorrow would be the first session of the CCA I suppose.

DD has been more inclined towards academics in primary, had Robotics as CCA till PSLE.
She did have taekwondo and swimming outside school.

Am worried if daughter can mold herself to be a sportsperson. We will definitely support her decision as its time to let them make their own decision.

Ds got selected for strings ensemble. May I know if anyone is in strings ensemble in school? He has never taken any violin exams although he did learn it for fun when in preschool. I have some questions
1. Are you expected to take up extra lessons outside of school? Or your child will be taught in school ?
2. Is the CCA very demanding of time?
He prefers sports but did not get in. There are not many sports to choose from. And they only accept 6-8 students each! So I am thinking of letting him do sports outside school. But if strings take up too much time that will not be possible.
Then we would consider appealing into a uniformed group. Which UG do you think is recommended? I like scouts while he likes NCC. Any inputs welcomed.