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28 September 2007
 

SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2007

More Schools Receive Special Awards

1.         Under the Ministry of Education’s Masterplan of Awards, 18 schools will receive the Special Awards for the first time this year. The Special Awards, comprising the School Excellence Award (SEA) and the School Distinction Award (SDA), form the highest level in the Masterplan of Awards.  These schools have distinguished themselves in having achieved overall systemic excellence in providing holistic education. The SEA will be awarded to five more schools, giving a total of 13 schools that have won the SEA since the implementation of the Masterplan of Awards.   The SDA will be awarded to 13 more schools this year, giving a total of 40 schools that have won the SDA so far.

2.         The MOE Masterplan of Awards recognises our schools’ efforts in providing a holistic education for all our students.  This year, 253 schools[1] will be winning awards in areas ranging from character development, physical and aesthetics development and academic value-addedness.

3.         The Ministry’s Director of Schools, Mr Wong Siew Hoong says, “Looking at the achievements of our schools, we are glad to note that our schools have been providing our students with many opportunities for comprehensive and holistic development. Our students have grown in many different ways, as a result of the sound programmes, processes and systems that our schools have put in place.”

4.         This press release provides information on the following:

(A) Award Winners under the Masterplan of Awards[2].  These comprise schools that have attained commendable achievements in various categories, including exemplary school processes as well as excellent outcomes in academic and non-academic areas.

(B) School Achievement Tables.  These highlight school achievements in academic value-added and non-academic domains.  Other sources of information on school performance include Honour Rolls and School Information Service.

(A) Masterplan of Awards

5.         The MOE Masterplan of Awards (MoA) was expanded and refined in 2004 to provide a broader and more holistic picture of schools’ performance.  It comprises seven types of awards over 3 levels, as shown in the following diagram.

MOE Masterplan of Awards for Schools

Definition

7.         The School Excellence Award (SEA) recognises schools for their excellence in both education processes and outcomes.  It is the highest and most prestigious award in the MoA framework.

Winners

8. This year, 5 schools will be presented with the SEA trophy.  They are:

          1) Crescent Girls' School
          2) Tanjong Katong Secondary School
          3) Nanyang Girls' High School
          4) Hwa Chong Institution
          5) Victoria Junior College

SCHOOL DISTINCTION AWARD (SDA)

Definition

9.         The School Distinction Award (SDA) recognises the high achieving schools with exemplary school processes and practices, and that are on their way to achieving the SEA.

Winners

10.        This year, 13 schools will be presented with the SDA trophy.  They include 7 primary schools, 5 secondary schools and 1 full school:
            Primary Schools:
                 1) Chongfu Primary School;
                 2) Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School;
                 3) Nanyang Primary School;
                 4) Pei Chun Public School;
                 5) Rulang Primary School;
                 6) St. Hilda's Primary School; and
                 7) Temasek Primary School.

           Secondary Schools:
                 8) Bukit Panjang Government High School;
                 9) Clementi Town Secondary School;
               10) Dunman Secondary School;
               11) Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Secondary); and
               12) Zhonghua Secondary School.

           Full School:
               13) Singapore Chinese Girls' School.

BEST PRACTICE AWARD (BPA)

Definition

11.        The Best Practice Award (BPA) recognises schools for their effective processes and systems that lead to desirable education outcomes, academic or non-academic.  There are 4 categories of award for the BPA: Organisational Effectiveness, Student All-Round Development, Staff Well-Being, and Teaching and Learning.

Winners

12.        This year, 17 schools will be presented with 35 BPAs.  The breakdown is as follows:

             a. 4 school will receive BPA for Organisational Effectiveness;
             b. 6 schools will receive BPA for Student All-Round Development;
             c. 12 schools will receive BPA for Staff Well-Being; and
             d. 13 schools will receive BPA for Teaching and Learning.

The schools will receive a plaque for each category of the BPA.

13.        The list of SEA, SDA and BPA winners from 2003 to 2007 can be found in  Annex A1 and Annex A2.

SUSTAINED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (SAA)

Definition

14.        The Sustained Achievement Award (SAA) recognises schools’ ability in sustaining good outcomes over a number of years, in either academic or non-academic areas.

Winners

15.        This year, 253 schools will be presented with 463 SAAs. The breakdown of the 463 SAAs is as follows:
 
             a. 29 SAAs for Academic Value-Added;
             b. 95 SAAs for Aesthetics;
             c. 133 SAAs for Sports;
             d. 81 SAAs for Uniformed Groups; and
             e. 125 SAAs for Physical Fitness.

16.        The winning schools are:

             a. 133 Primary[4] Schools winning 217 SAAs;
             b. 114 Secondary[5] Schools winning 223 SAAs; and
             c. 13 Junior Colleges[6] winning 23 SAAs.

The schools will receive a plaque for each category of the SAA. 

LEE KUAN YEW NATIONAL EDUCATION (LKY NE) AWARD

Definition

17.         Implemented in 2002, the Lee Kuan Yew National Education (LKY NE) Award recognises schools that have made special effort to design and implement innovative and effective programmes to equip our students with basic attitudes, values and instincts which make them Singaporeans.  As the LKY NE Award is the pinnacle of the NE awards, winners of the LKY NE Award will be deemed to have attained the Outstanding Development Award for National Education.

Winners

18.         This year, 2 schools will be receiving the LKY NE Award.  The schools will each receive a plaque and a cash award of $3,000.  They are:

             1) Pasir Ris Primary School; and
             2) Riverside Secondary School.

OUTSTANDING DEVELOPMENT AWARD (ODA)

Definition

19.        The Outstanding Development Award for National Education [ODA(NE)] recognises schools’ consistent efforts in establishing strong and sustainable processes to ensure the inculcation of NE values among students.

Winners

20.        This year, 2 schools will be presented with ODA(NE).  The schools will each receive a plaque.  They are:

            1) Bedok South Secondary School; and
            2) Geylang Methodist School (Secondary).

Definition

21.       The Outstanding Development Award for Character Development [ODA(CD)] recognises schools with innovative, sustainable and exemplary approaches to character development. 

Winners

22.        This year, 5 schools will be presented with ODA(CD).  The schools will each receive a plaque.  They are:

            1) Pasir Ris Primary School;
            2) Rulang Primary School;
            3) Tampines Primary School;
            4) Dunman High School; and
            5) Raffles Junior College.

23.        The list of schools that have attained ODAs from 2005 to 2007 can be found in Annex A3.

(B)  A Holistic Approach: School Achievement Tables

BROADENING OF INFORMATION ON SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENTS

24.        The School Achievement Tables provide a broader picture of schools’ performance, so that they capture schools’ achievements in both the academic and non-academic domains.  These comprise:

             a. School Distinction Award and School Excellence Award;
             b. Best Practice Awards;
             c. Character Development Awards;
             d. Academic Value-Added Awards; and
             e. Physical & Aesthetics Awards[7].

The 2007 School Achievement Tables for Special/Express course and Normal course can be found in Annex C1  and Annex C2 respectively.  These tables display schools in the first 9 bands for Special/Express course and the first 5 bands for Normal course.  Secondary schools that offer the Integrated Programme (IP), those with no or small candidature (fewer than 40 pupils), or those merged/closed in 2007 are excluded from the tables.  The list of secondary schools that are excluded from the banding exercise can be found at Annex D.

25.        In addition, the following are other sources of information on the achievements of schools that will also be available to the public:

a. Honour Rolls[8] of schools that have performed exceedingly well in the different domains of the expanded MoA;
b. School Information Service (accessible at http://www.moe.gov.sg/schdiv/sis), which will allow parents and students to generate comparative lists of schools based on specified parameters;   
c. Individual School Pic, which will be available in both the School Information Service and the annual posting booklets; and
d. School websites maintained by individual schools.

CONCLUSION

26.        The School Achievement Tables, together with the other sources of information such as Honour Rolls, School Information Service, School Pics, and individual school websites provide a holistic picture of schools’ performance.  
 

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[1] The number of schools includes SAA, ODA, BPA, SDA and SEA awardees.
[2] The MOE Masterplan of Awards was instituted in 1998 as part of the implementation of the School Excellence Model (SEM).  The SEM is a framework for school assessment that emphasises a holistic approach to education with equal focus on processes and outcomes.
[3] Achievement Awards in the categories of Aesthetics, Sports and Uniformed Group refer to the awards won at the various national level competitions such as the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Central Judging， National Championships and Best Unit Competitions.
[4] Includes the Primary section of Full Schools.
[5] Includes the Secondary section of Full Schools and Integrated Programme Schools.
[6] Includes the College section of Integrated Programme Schools.
[7] Due to the high number of Level One AA in the Physical & Aesthetics domain, only Level Two SAA are indicated for this domain
[8] Please see Annex B1, Annex B2 and Annex B3  for the 2007 Honour Rolls.