Talk for Primary 4 Parents

Friday 25 January 2019

Subject-based Banding

NURTURING EVERY CHILD

Purpose of Primary Education:

• To equip students with strong foundation in literacy and numeracy for secondary and post-secondary education.

• This foundation will ensure their employability and build their capacity for lifelong learning.

Intent of SBB

• To provide greater flexibility to the

students through offering a combination

of standard and foundation subjects

depending on his / her strengths.

• The student can stretch the potential of

his stronger subjects and work on the

fundamentals of the weaker subjects.

Standard and Foundation Subjects

Standard Subjects Foundation Subjects

English Foundation English

Mathematics Foundation Mathematics

Science Foundation Science

Mother Tongue

Languages

Basic Mother Tongue

Languages

Higher Mother Tongue

Languages

SBB & Secondary School

Admission

• In calculating the PSLE scores, the

different expectations of Standard &

Foundation subjects will be taken into

account.

• Therefore offering subjects at the

foundation level is not a disadvantage to

a student at the PSLE.

Success of SBB Depends on

•Strong professional judgement of the school in offering of subject combinations.

• Informed parental decisions at the end of P4.

How does Subject-based

Banding work?

How does Subject-based

Banding work?

How does Subject-based

Banding work?

How does Subject-based

Banding work?

In NVPS, if the child passes 3

subjects but scores

a low failure grade for MTL,

we offer 3S and 1 BMTL

How does Subject-based Banding work?

4 standard subjects

Subject-based Banding in North View Primary

Subject Assessments & Weighting of Marks

SA1 SA2 Combined

Results

English 40% 60% 100%

Mathematics

Science

Mother

Tongue

Example of North View’s

Recommendations

E.g. Your child scores at

least 80 marks for

EMS and at least

85 for MTL

4 Standard Subjects and HMT

E.g. Your child

fails all 4 subjects

Foundation English, Foundation

Mathematics, Foundation

Science and Foundation

Mother Tongue

Example of North View’s

Recommendations

Important factors to consider in making school-based decisions:

•Individual subject score as well as overall score / performance of student.

•Apart from the P4 end-of-year examination results, schools could also consider performance in previous assessments.

Important factors to consider in making school-based decisions:

•Each student’s aptitude, ability and motivation for each subject.

•It is important to equip each student with a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy to prepare him/her for enhanced long term options in the future.

Important Information

After the P4 SA2 exams

•The students will check their scripts and teachers will go through their mistakes with them

•The scripts will be returned to the students and parents at the end of the whole subject-based banding exercise together with the report card

Important Information

After the P4 SA2 exams

•The school will send a letter to the parents stating our recommended combination of subjects for the student.

•Parents are to carefully consider the school’s recommendations and then parents can either

Important Information

After the P4 SA2 exams

•Accept the school’s recommendation

•Reject the school’s recommendation and then propose another combination for the student

•If necessary, the school will meet the parents to discuss the best combination before finalising the subject combination for P5.

How does Subject-based Banding work?

In summary

• SBB (Pri) provides greater flexibility for your

child by offering him/her the option of a

combination of standard and foundation

subjects, according to his/her strengths.

• Such a choice allows your child to focus on

and stretch his/her potential in the subjects

that he/she is strong in while building up the

fundamentals in subjects that he/she

requires more support in.

In summary

• This will allow him/her to progress to

secondary education with a good foundation.

• The grading of subjects under SBB (Pri) will

continue to provide a good indication of your

child’s level of mastery in the subject.

• Details of the grading for Foundation

subjects under the new PSLE scoring

system will be shared with parents at the end

of the year.