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.