03401

10 August 2001

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, SUSTAINED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS and BEST PRACTICE AWARDS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 2001

1.      As in previous years, the Ministry of Education is providing information on the performance of Secondary Schools to help pupils and their parents make informed choices when opting for Secondary Schools. 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 performance¹. The schools awarded The Sustained Achievement Awards and The Best Practice Awards are also highlighted.

Top Schools based on Absolute Performance

2.      In the Special/Express course category, the top five schools were Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls' (Sec), Nanyang Girls' High, The Chinese High and Dunman High. The best non-Independent and non-Autonomous schools were Tanjong Katong Secondary, ranked 25^th, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’, ranked 26^th and Ngee Ann Secondary, ranked 27^th.

3.      For the Normal course, the top five Secondary Schools were Clementi Town Secondary, Xinmin Secondary, Ngee Ann Secondary, Presbyterian High and Anderson Secondary.

4.      The top schools in the 2000 GCE 'O' Level Examination are listed in Tables 1 and 2.

High Value-added Schools

5.      This year, CHIJ St. Theresa's Convent, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary, Ngee Ann Secondary, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' Secondary, Queensway Secondary, St. Anthony's Canossian Secondary and Xinmin Secondary qualified for awards in both the Special/Express and Normal courses.

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

Top Schools in Fitness

7.      Based on the composite Fitness Index, the top 5 schools in 2000 were CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls', Raffles Girls' (Secondary), Singapore Chinese Girls' School, Cedar Girls' Secondary and Nanyang Girls' High.

8.      The top 50 schools in terms of pupils' physical fitness, lowest percentage overweight and Fitness Index are shown in Tables 5, 6 and 7. These indicators are based on all pupils in the school and not just those in the graduating classes.

Sustained Achievement Awards (SAAs)

9.      The Sustained Achievement Awards (SAAs) gives recognition to schools that have performed well consistently over a period of years, in academic and non-academic areas.

10.    This year, a total of 50 SAAs, 8 for Sports, 20 for Uniformed Group, 7 for Academic Value-added and 15 for Physical Fitness, will be given out to 38 Secondary Schools. This is an increase of 4 awards and 9 schools over the previous year.

11.     Of the winning schools this year, 9 will receive the SAA for the first time. They are Anglo-Chinese (Barker Road) for Sports, Cedar Girls' Secondary, Crescent Girls', Hong Kah Secondary, New Town Secondary and Presbyterian High for Uniformed  Group activities, Queensway Secondary for Academic Value-added performance, Cedar  Girls' Secondary, Crescent Girls', Mayflower Secondary and Temasek Secondary for Physical Fitness.The details are given in Table 8.

Best Practice Awards (BPAs)

12.     This year, the Ministry of Education will be giving out the Best Practice Awards for the first time. The Best Practice Awards (BPAs) give recognition to schools with effective practices and systems that lead to desirable educational outcomes, academic or otherwise. The awards are part of the implementation of the School Excellence Model which provides a holistic approach to managing education with equal emphasis on processes as well as results.

13.     There are 4 categories of BPA. They represent the Ministry of Education's expectations of schools and reflect the key areas in the School Excellence Model (refer to Information Sheet on BPA). They are:

14.     This year, 5 Secondary Schools will receive 7 BPAs. They are Anglo-Chinese (Independent), Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' Secondary, Raffles Institution, River Valley High and Xinmin Secondary. The details are given in Table 9.

APPENDIX

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 2000 GCE O-level examination and the top schools in Physical Fitness, Lowest Percentage Overweight and 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 not included in the tables are those with small candidature (fewer than 40 pupils) or those closed in 2001. 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 2001 Sec 1 Intake: Aggregate scores of Sec 1 pupils admitted in 2001 from non-affiliated and affiliated schools, for the different courses.

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

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

15     The press release will also be available at the website: http://www1.moe.edu.sg/esd/ranking.htm.

INFORMATION SHEET ON BEST PRACTICE AWARD (BPA)

INTRODUCTION

1.      The Ministry of Education's (MOE) Masterplan of Awards was instituted in late 1998. This system of award is implemented in tandem with the School Excellence Model (SEM) which is an organizational and self-assessment tool for schools. While the SEM provides a systematic framework for schools to work towards excellence, the Masterplan of Awards is a progressive framework to recognize schools for their efforts.

2.      There are 3 levels of awards:

3.      AAs are not new to schools. The SAAs were first given out in 1999. This year, the first BPAs will be given out. As the SEM is newly implemented, they are not ready for the SEA.

BPA CATEGORIES

4.      There are four categories of BPA.

5.      The categories represent MOE's expectations of schools and reflect the key areas of the SEM. They focus on key processes involving the 3 key levels of people in a school - the school leadership, teachers and the students, and reflect significantly the three SEM core values underlying people management : Leading with Purpose, Students First and Teachers the Key. The practices expected in the four BPA categories underscore the translation of MOE's Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) vision and ability-driven paradigm in schools.

FORM OF AWARD

6.      Like the SAA, the BPA will be given in the form of a plaque with no monetary incentive. The value of the award is in the prestige that accompanies it and winning schools will be allowed to use the BPA logo as a mark of excellence. The BPA will be given out to winning schools together with the SAA at the annual MOE Workplan Seminar in September 2001.

Dated 10 August 2001