Page 1 of 9

Homeschool PSLE different from National PSLE?

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 9:35 pm
by 2ppaamm
A friend's kid is being homeschooled. He scored 25x for PSLE. He chose VS for 1st choice. He was posted to a neighbourhood school nearest his house. He was not given any of his 6 choices. Do you know why?

Vcitoria COP is 24X right?

Re: Homeschool PSLE different from National PSLE?

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:27 pm
by phankao
2ppaamm wrote:A friend's kid is being homeschooled. He scored 25x for PSLE. He chose VJC for 1st choice. He was posted to a neighbourhood school nearest his house. He was not given any of his 6 choices. Do you know why?
duh, you ask moe, lah. Just did PSLE can go vjc, ah? r u referring to vs instead?

in my time, for o-levels(25yrs ago lah), to get into hwa chong jc, COP was 8 points. My classmate got 7 points and applied hwa chong jc as 1st choice. When he got his posting, it was to Beatty Sec school pre-u centre!!! See how crazy the moe computer system went? He went to moe to query and was given his 2nd choice then - rjc (last time rji not top jc ... cop only 9 points).

so ... ask moe!

Re: Homeschool PSLE different from National PSLE?

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:39 pm
by Guest
2ppaamm wrote:A friend's kid is being homeschooled. He scored 25x for PSLE. He chose VJC for 1st choice. He was posted to a neighbourhood school nearest his house. He was not given any of his 6 choices. Do you know why?
Short answer to your question in title is "YES"!!!!
I cannot find the detailed article but back in Dec 2008, the first batch of homeschoolers took PSLE and their scores were benchmarked at a lower level and only 19 out 26 kids met MOE's benchmark for passing PSLE.
There was some debate from homeschooling parents why this was so unfairly treated... My simple thoughts would be "MOE does not encourage homeschooling!"

So I believe during posting, there will be points taken off from this child. Not sure also if there is any ruling on homeschoolers applying for IP schools.

Re: Homeschool PSLE different from National PSLE?

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:56 pm
by phankao
ks2me wrote:
2ppaamm wrote:A friend's kid is being homeschooled. He scored 25x for PSLE. He chose VJC for 1st choice. He was posted to a neighbourhood school nearest his house. He was not given any of his 6 choices. Do you know why?
Short answer to your question in title is "YES"!!!!
I cannot find the detailed article but back in Dec 2008, the first batch of homeschoolers took PSLE and their scores were benchmarked at a lower level and only 19 out 26 kids met MOE's benchmark for passing PSLE.
There was some debate from homeschooling parents why this was so unfairly treated... My simple thoughts would be "MOE does not encourage homeschooling!"

So I believe during posting, there will be points taken off from this child. Not sure also if there is any ruling on homeschoolers applying for IP schools.
Only thing is, yes, acknowledge the benchmark for express is at a higher level than for children who are not homeschooled. But why should there be a difference in apply for sec 1.

But yeah, homeschoolers actually do not participate in s1 posting. They have to apply directly to the schools they want. So maybe they only get the "leftover" places as such.

Re: Homeschool PSLE different from National PSLE?

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 12:06 am
by Guest
phankao wrote: Only thing is, yes, acknowledge the benchmark for express is at a higher level than for children who are not homeschooled. But why should there be a difference in apply for sec 1.

But yeah, homeschoolers actually do not participate in s1 posting. They have to apply directly to the schools they want. So maybe they only get the "leftover" places as such.
But this is really unfortunate for this homeschooler because I heard most people who appealed to schools this year with low T-score also get admitted. eg. 230 appeal can get into a girls school when it's usual COP is about 240. So with 25x, can get into a reasonably good sec school.

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 12:09 am
by sleepy
zuluwarriors1879 wrote:MOE on home-school benchmarks

Education ministry responds to S'porean parent's query on benchmarks for home-schooled students. -myp

Tue, Dec 02, 2008
my paper

Instead of going through the Secondary One Posting Exercise, they can approach the schools directly, or seek help from the Ministry of Education (MOE) to facilitate the admission.

Can homeschoolers apply for DSA? Then the aplication will be at the schools' discretion without having to wait for psle results

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 12:18 am
by Guest
sleepy wrote:
Can homeschoolers apply for DSA? Then the aplication will be at the schools' discretion without having to wait for psle results
Seems to be yes.

Quote from MOE FAQ on DSA:
13.As I am not a student in MOE School, I have been advised to collect a Registration Number from MOE Customer Service Centre before my application can be processed. Why is there a need to register at MOE Customer Service Centre first?

MOE would like to have some basic information on you, as your information is required for centralised processing. With the registration number issued to you, MOE is able to identify you as a DSA candidate and enable you to participate in the exercise.

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 12:29 am
by jedamum
my personal opinion...

why is the kid homeschooled in the first place?

1. if he is homeschooled because of learning difficulties and benefitted from the 1-to-1 attention, posting to a academic less rigourous school despite having 25x score may be a blessing in disguise.

2. if he is homeschooled because of the parent's lack of faith in local education system, then why blame MOE for setting a higher benchmark since the parent's 'allegiance' is not with the local education system/standards in the first place?

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 12:30 am
by Guest
jedamum wrote:my personal opinion...

why is the kid homeschooled in the first place?

1. if he is homeschooled because of learning difficulties and benefitted from the 1-to-1 attention, posting to a academic less rigourous school despite having 25x score may be a blessing in disguise.

2. if he is homeschooled because of the parent's lack of faith in local education system, then why blame MOE for setting a higher benchmark since the parent's 'allegiance' is not with the local education system/standards in the first place?
Wah jedamum...I think you are MOE leh... :wink:

Case 3 for your consideration.
What if the family is huge and logistically challenging to put many children in normal school and straddle with am, pm, various ccas etc... and makes more economical sense to school them at home?
What say you for this group?

Case 4
I read somewhere people homeschool for religious reason as well, so do they belong to case 2?

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 1:04 am
by jedamum
ks2me wrote:
Wah jedamum...I think you are MOE leh... :wink:
:lol: no la..i'm a true-blue-SAHM...not MOE's MOLE. :wink:
ks2me wrote: Case 3 for your consideration.
What if the family is huge and logistically challenging to put many children in normal school and straddle with am, pm, various ccas etc... and makes more economical sense to school them at home?
What say you for this group?
personally, i think this group is very very small; unlike overseas where quality education sometimes is too far away from place of residence, in SG, we have cheap and good primary schools a stone's throw away if you are living in HDB dwellings. families worrying about bread and butter issues would probably not have homeschooling on their list of needs. unless they have exceptionally bright and motivated kids, homeschool (by choice) parents usually do not belong to the 'lower-income' group (my apologies for stereotyping, cos somehow, my impression is that lower income group people usually are grateful to have a place in any school for their kids to get an education). correct me if you know of any exceptions. :)
ks2me wrote: Case 4
I read somewhere people homeschool for religious reason as well, so do they belong to case 2?
hm....not sure about this, but if parents are stringent about religious aspect, they may probably go for religious school for secondary school also instead of those highly sought after 25x COP school. if the 25x COP school's religious teachings coincide with they homeschooler's philosophy, then all the more they have chance for appeal.