43 SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DIRECT SCHOOL ADMISSION EXERCISE FOR ADMISSION TO SECONDARY ONE IN 2006

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24 May 2005

43 SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DIRECT SCHOOL ADMISSION EXERCISE FOR ADMISSION TO SECONDARY ONE IN 2006

In line with the move to provide greater flexibility and options at the secondary school level, this year’s Direct School Admission Exercise for admission to Secondary One in 2006 (DSA-Sec) will be extended to 43 schools.

Background

2. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has been giving schools and universities greater flexibility in their admission of students to allow a more diverse range of student achievements and talents to be recognised.

3. Since 2004, MOE has introduced a phased plan to provide greater flexibility in the secondary and junior college (JC) school admission system. The plan includes:

a. allowing schools with the Integrated Programme (IP) full discretion in admissions;

b. enhancing the autonomy of Autonomous Schools (AS) and Independent Schools (IS) by:

i. doubling their level of discretionary places, and

ii. allowing them to adopt their own merit-based admission criteria for these places;

c. extending discretion on admissions to mainstream secondary schools that are able to develop strong niche programmes;

d. giving discretion on admissions to all JCs.

4. This has been accompanied by increasing the flexibility of the university admission system for the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

5. The 7 IP schools admitted up to 50% of their 2005 Secondary 1 students through the Direct School Admission Exercise, before the central posting exercise (para 3a). The AS and IS adopted school-based admission criteria for their 2005 Secondary 1 discretionary places (para 3b-ii).

6. The next steps involved changes for the admission of the 2006 intakes. In early May 2005, MOE announced the details of the Direct School Admission Exercise for the 2006 JC1 intake (para 3d). Details of the final parts of the phased plan (paras 3b-i and 3c) were announced by MOE at a press briefing on 19 May 2005.

Direct School Admission for Secondary Level

7. This year’s Direct School Admission Exercise for admission to Secondary One in 2006 (DSA-Sec) will be extended to 43 schools, compared to 7 last year. Independent Schools (IS), Autonomous Schools (AS) and schools with approved niche programmes (NPS) will have the flexibility to admit up to 20%, 10% and 5% respectively of their intake using school-based criteria. Schools offering Integrated Programme (IP) and NUS High School will continue to have full discretion in admission.

Niche Programme Schools

8. Based on their track record of achievements and their development plans for their niche areas, the following 9 schools (in alphabetical order) have been approved by MOE to offer discretionary places under the DSA-Sec Exercise for schools with approved niche programmes:

School Niche

§ Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary Shooting

§ Deyi Secondary Performing Arts

§ Gan Eng Seng School Uniformed Groups

§ Nan Hua Secondary Performing Arts

§ Northland Secondary Hockey

§ Presbyterian High Uniformed Groups

§ St Andrew’s Secondary Rugby

§ St Hilda’s Secondary Volleyball

§ St Margaret’s Secondary Performing & Visual Arts

9. MOE will continue to invite applications from schools interested to establish niche programmes in subsequent years.

Student Selection

10. Each school has its own merit-based criteria for selection (academic and non-academic criteria), based on the qualities (like science, music, sports) that the school would like to emphasise. Information on the schools participating in DSA-Sec Exercise, their selection criteria and their application and selection processes can be found on their respective websites. Annex A lists the participating schools and their website URLs.

DSA-Sec Exercise

11. The exercise will be conducted in 3 stages as follows:

Stage No.	Stage Name	Description	Period
1	Selection	Schools will conduct their own selection exercises, and inform students with regard to the results (confirmed offer, on waiting list or rejected).	27 Jun 05 to 31 Aug 05
2	Exercise School Preference	Students may indicate their school preferences during this stage, based on the confirmed offers they have received and schools which have placed them on the waiting list. Offers not taken up will be considered as lapsed.	13 Oct 05 to 19 Oct 05
3	Results Release	The results of the DSA-Sec Exercise will be released together with the PSLE results.	late Nov 05

12. Please refer to Annex B for details of each stage.

13. Students who have been admitted through the DSA-Sec Exercise will not be able to indicate their school choices during the Secondary One Posting Exercise.

For Further Information

14. Students who are interested in participating in the DSA-Sec Exercise should approach any of the participating Secondary schools or visit their websites for more details regarding the selection exercises.

15. Students/Parents can also call MOE Customer Service Centre at 6872 2220 for further clarifications or refer to the MOE website at www.moe.gov.sg for more information regarding the DSA-Sec Exercise.

Annex A

List of Secondary Schools Participating in DSA 2005 for Admission to Secondary One in 2006

Click here to access Annex A

Annex B

Details on the stages of the DSA-Sec Exercise for Admission to Secondary One in 2006

Selection Stage (27 Jun 05 to 31 Aug 05)

1. Each participating school will conduct its own selection exercise during the Selection Stage. Students who apply to a participating school, are shortlisted to participate in the school’s selection exercise, and meet the admission criteria of the school, will be offered confirmed places in the school (i.e. Confirmed Offers).

2. Some students may be informed that they are placed on the school’s waiting list if the school wishes to consider their application at a later stage, subject to available vacancies. The students who do not meet the admission criteria of the school will be informed that the school is unable to offer them a place under the DSA-Sec Exercise. All participating students will be notified of the outcome by the end of this stage.

3. Students with Confirmed Offers are guaranteed a place in each school that has extended them an offer, provided that they satisfy the following:

a. they indicate the school as one of their choices[1] during the Exercise School Preference Stage, and

b. they qualify for an academic course which is offered by the school [Special / Express / Normal (Academic) / Normal (Technical)].

4. Students on the waiting list of a school will be considered for admission, provided that they satisfy the following:

a. they indicate the school as one of their choices[2] during the Exercise Preference Stage,

b. they qualify for an academic course which is offered by the school [Special / Express / Normal (Academic) / Normal (Technical)], and

c. the school has vacancies after the Exercise School Preference Stage.

(The results will be known at the Results Release Stage.)

Exercise School Preference Stage (13 Oct 05 to 19 Oct 05)

5. Before 13 Oct 05, all students who have received confirmed offers or who were placed on a school’s waiting list during the selection stage will be issued with a form through their primary schools, to allow them to exercise their order of preferences.

6. Some students may receive confirmed offers and/or notices about being on the waiting list from more than one school. Each student can indicate his order of preference for these schools. Once a student has exercised his school preference for a confirmed offer or one on waiting list, and is accepted, he will not be able to exercise his choice of schools during the centralised Secondary One Posting Exercise.

7. The student will be guaranteed a place in his preferred school which offered him a confirmed offer[3], even if he decides to indicate greater preference for a school which has placed him on its waiting list. Once he is allocated a school place from a higher order of preference school, the other confirmed offers in the lower order of preference schools will be freed up and offered to other students, according to each school’s waiting list.

8. To do this, MOE will run a central clearing system after the Exercise School Preference Stage to match students’ order of preferences against how each school has ranked the students on its waiting list according to the school’s admission criteria.

Results Release Stage – late Nov 05

9. The results of the DSA-Sec Exercise will be released in late Nov 05, together with the PSLE results. All students, regardless of whether they took part in the DSA-Sec Exercise or not, will be issued with an Option Form during the centralised Secondary One Posting Exercise.

10. Successful DSA-Sec applicants will be informed of the schools they have been admitted into. Since these places have already been reserved for them, these students will not be allowed to indicate their choices of schools during the Secondary One Posting Exercise. For those who are eligible for elective programmes, they will be given the option to indicate their interest in the Option Form.

11. Unsuccessful DSA-Sec applicants will be notified that none of the schools they had indicated a preference for are able to offer them a place. Hence, they will be given the option to indicate their choices of schools in the Secondary One Posting Exercise. During the Secondary One Posting Exercise, these students may still opt for the schools that had not been able to offer them a place under the DSA-Sec Exercise if they wish, as only a certain percentage of places in these schools are made available during the DSA-Sec Exercise.

[1] Six choices are given.

[2] Six choices are given.

[3] This place in the school of his/her choice will be kept for him unless he fails to qualify for an academic course (e.g. express course, normal course) offered by the school, based on his PSLE results. In such a scenario, he will have to participate in the Sec 1 posting exercise.