Home > Media Centre > Press Releases Printer-friendly page

Reference No:EDUN N25-02-033 VOL 5

Date: 31 July 1998

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1998

1. The Ministry of Education has been providing since 1992 information on the performance of secondary schools to help students and their parents make informed choices when opting for suitable secondary schools for entry after the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). The performance indicators for secondary schools highlight the top-ranking schools in the General Certificate of Education (GCE) ‘O’ Level Examination, both in terms of absolute as well as value-added performance. Data on the top schools in terms of physical fitness are also provided.

2. The performance of secondary schools in 1997 is given in the tables attached. For academic performance, there is no change in ranking criteria. Secondary schools are ranked based on L1B5 for Special/Express course and L1B4 for Normal course. These criteria are explained in Appendix A.

Top Schools based on Absolute Performance

3. The top schools in the 1997 GCE ‘O’ Level Examination are listed in Table 1 and 2. In the Special/Express course category, the top schools were Raffles Institution, followed by Raffles Girls’ Secondary and The Chinese High. Nanyang Girls’ High and Dunman High were ranked 4th and 5th respectively. The best non-Independent and non-Autonomous schools were Ang Mo Kio Secondary and Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary, both ranked 23rd.

4. For the Normal course, the top five secondary schools were Zhonghua Secondary, CHIJ St. Theresa’s Convent, Bukit Panjang Government High, Temasek Secondary and Commonwealth Secondary.

High Value-added Schools

5. The high value-added secondary schools are shown in Table 3 and 4. These schools have helped their pupils performed better than expected based on their PSLE scores and the Ministry will award $20,000 to each of the top 10 schools and $10,000 each to those in the next 10 in recognition of their good efforts.

6. Three schools, CHIJ Katong Convent, Xinmin and Zhonghua Secondary, were ranked among the top 10 again for value-added performance in both the Special/Express and Normal courses. Two schools, Bukit Batok Secondary and St. Anthony’s Canossian Secondary also qualified for double awards.

Top Schools in Fitness

7. Shown in Table 5, 6 and 7 are the top schools in terms of pupils’ physical fitness, lowest percentage overweight and Fitness Index. These indicators are based on all pupils in the school, not just those in the graduating classes .

8. Based on the composite Fitness Index, the top 5 schools last year were CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’, Cedar Girls’, Nanyang Girls’ High, Singapore Chinese Girls’ and Methodist Girls’ (Secondary).

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Table 1: Top 50 Schools for Special/Express Course
(Based on 1997 GCE O-Level Results)

Note: S refers to Special Course
          E refers to Express Course

Table 2: Top 40 Schools for Normal Course
(Based on 1997 GCE O-Level Results)

Table 3:Top 20 Value-Added Secondary Schools for Special/Express Course(Based on 1997 GCE O-Level Results)

Table 4: Top 20 Value-Added Secondary Schools for Normal Course
(Based on 1997 GCE O-Level Results)

Table 5: Top 50 Schools By Physical Fitness Level in 1997

Table 6: The 50 Schools With Lowest Percentage Overweight in 1997

Table 7: Top 50 Schools by Fitness Index in 1997

APPENDIX A

Explanatory Notes For Tables On Ranking Of Secondary Schools

1. The following seven tables provide information on the performance of selected secondary schools in the 1997 GCE O-level examination and the top schools in Physical Fitness, Lowest Percentage Overweight and Fitness Index.

	Table 1: Top 50 Schools (Special/Express Course)
	Table 2: Top 40 Schools (Normal Course)
	Table 3: Top 20 High-Value Schools (Special/Express Course)
	Table 4: Top 20 High-Value Schools (Normal Course)
	Table 5: Top 50 Secondary Schools by Physical Fitness Level
	Table 6: The 50 Secondary Schools with Lowest Percentage Overweight
	Table 7: Top 50 Secondary Schools by Fitness Index

2. For Tables 1-4, the performance of each school is based on pupils who took the O-level examination for the first time. Schools with small candidature (fewer than 40 pupils) and those not admitting Secondary One pupils in 1999 as well as those closed in 1998 are not included in the tables. Also not included in the ranking exercise are the following schools:

Description Of Terms Used In Tables

3 Number of Pupils : This column shows the number of pupils who took the O-level examination for the first time.

4 Mean L1B5 : Mean of pupils’ aggregate grades in L1 (English or Higher Mother Tongue language) and best 5 subjects. This is the ranking criterion for Special/Express course.

5 Mean L1B4 : Mean of pupils’ aggregate grades in English and best 4 subjects. This is the ranking criterion for Normal course.

6 Mean Subject Grade (MSG): Mean of all grades obtained by pupils in a school. This is the old ranking criterion for Special/Express and Normal course.

7 % Passed 5 O-Levels or More : Percentage of pupils with 5 O-level passes or more.

8 % Passes 3 O-Levels or More: Percentage of pupils with 3 O-level passes or more.

9 PSLE Scores of 1998 Sec 1 Intake : Aggregate scores of Sec 1 pupils admitted in 1998 from non-affiliated and affiliated schools, for the difference courses.

10 Percent S4N Eligible for S5N : Percentage of Sec 4N pupils who were eligible for Sec 5N in the previous year’s N-level examination.

11 High Value-added Schools : Tables 3-4 show the top 20 schools with high value-added performance for Special/Express and Normal courses respectively.

12 Fitness Level : The "Physical Fitness Percentage" in Table 5 gives the percentage of pupils who passed the National Physical Fitness Award test. The NAPFA test consists of 6 test items developed by the Sports Medicine and Research Centre of the Singapore Sports Council in 1981.

13 Overweight Percentage : The "Overweight Percentage" in Table 6 gives the percentage of pupils who are overweight by 20% or more according to standards provided by the Ministry of Health.

14Fitness Index : In Table 7, the Fitness Index (FI) of each school is based on the height and weight measurements of its pupils and their performance in the NAPFA test. The FI is defined as the average of:

	the percentage of pupils within the acceptable weight range according to the Weight for Height Table compiled by School Health Service, and
	the percentage of pupils who pass the NAPFA test.

The acceptable weight range is from 80% to below 120% of standard weight.