1.                  This press release provides information on the following:

 

(A)       Award winners under the Masterplan of Awards[1]. These comprise schools that have attained commendable achievements in the various categories, including exemplary school processes as well as excellent outcomes in the academic and non-academic areas.

 

(B)       New School Achievement Tables, which replace the previous school ranking tables. The tables modify the way the  academically better-performing schools are ranked. They also highlight their achievements in academic value-added and the non-academic domains.  Other new sources of information on school performance include Honour Rolls and a web-based interactive system.

(A)  Masterplan of Awards

2.                  For the first time, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will be giving out the School Excellence Award (SEA), the pinnacle award of the MOE Masterplan of Awards, to three schools. These schools have distinguished themselves in having achieved overall systemic excellence in providing a holistic education.

3.                  This year, a total of 141 schools have won awards[2] under the MOE Masterplan of Awards. This is a significant increase compared to the 117 and 101 schools that had won awards in 2003 and 2002 respectively. Of the 141 schools, 16 schools have also won the newly-introduced School Distinction Award (SDA).

4.                  The Masterplan of Awards was expanded and refined in 2004 to provide a broader and holistic picture of schools' performance.  The revised Masterplan of Awards comprises seven awards over four levels as shown below.

MOE’s Masterplan of Awards for Schools

 

Special Awards[3]					School Excellence Award (%)
			School Distinction Award (&)
Level Two Awards («)	Sustained Achievement Awards (SAA)					Outstanding Development Awards[4] (ODA)				Best Practice Awards (BPA)
	Academic Value-Added	Physical & Aesthetics				Character Development
	·  Academic Value-Added	·  Aesthetics ·  Sports ·  Uniformed Groups ·  Physical Health				·  Character Development ·  National Education				·  Organisational Effectiveness ·  Student All-Round Development ·  Staff Well-Being ·  Teaching and Learning
Level One Awards (¶)	Achievement Awards (AA)				Development Awards[5] (DA)
	Academic Value-Added	Physical & Aesthetics[6]			Character Development
	· Academic Value-Added	· Aesthetics · Sports · Uniformed Groups · Physical Health			· Character Development · National Education

5.                  A breakdown of the number of Level Two Awards and Special Awards won by primary and secondary schools, and junior colleges, is given in the table below:

 

6.                  All winners will receive their awards at the 2004 MOE Workplan Seminar on 29 September 2004.

School Excellence Award (SEA)

Definition

7.                  The School Excellence Award (SEA), the pinnacle award of the Masterplan of Awards, recognises schools for their excellence in both education processes and outcomes.

Winners

8.                  This year, three Secondary Schools will be presented with the SEA trophy. They are:

a.                       Anglo-Chinese School (Independent);

b.                       Raffles Institution; and

c.                       River Valley High School

School Distinction Award (SDA)

Definition

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

Winners

10.             This year, twelve Secondary Schools and four Junior Colleges will be presented with the SDA trophy. They are:

a.                       Anderson Secondary School;

b.                       Anglo-Chinese School (Independent);

c.                       Cedar Girls’ Secondary School;

d.                       Crescent Girls’ School;

e.                       Dunman High School;

f.                         Nanyang Girls’ High School;

g.                       Ngee Ann Secondary School;

h.                       Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary);

i.                         Raffles Institution;

j.                          River Valley High School;

k.                       Tanjong Katong Secondary School;

l.                          Xinmin Secondary School;

m.                     Hwa Chong Junior College;

n.                       Raffles Junior College;

o.                       Temasek Junior College; and

p.                       Victoria Junior College

Best Practice Award (BPA)

Definition

11.             The Best Practice Award (BPA) recognises a school for its effective practices and systems that lead to desirable education outcomes, academic or non-academic. There are four award categories for the BPA. They are: Organisational Effectiveness, Student All-Round Development, Staff Well-Being, and Teaching and Learning.

Winners

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

§                     One school will receive the BPA for Organisational Effectiveness;

§                     Two schools will receive the BPA for Student All-Round Development;

§                     Five schools will receive the BPA for Staff Well-Being; and

§                     Four schools will receive the BPA for Teaching and Learning

These winners will receive a plaque for each category of the BPA. The details are given in Annex B1 – B3.

13.             A comparison of the number of BPAs won by schools in 2002, 2003 and 2004 can be found in the table below:

 

	2002	2003	2004
BPA	3	14	12

14.             To date, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Raffles Institution are the first two schools to have been awarded BPAs in all four categories. 

Sustained Achievement Award (SAA)

Definition

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

Winners

16.             This year, 140 schools will be presented with 197 SAAs. The breakdown of these 197 SAAs is as follows:

§                     11 SAAs for Academic Value-added;

§                     14 SAAs for Aesthetics;

§                     18 SAAs for Sports;

§                     66 SAAs for Uniformed Groups; and

§                     88 SAAs for Physical Health

17.             The 140 winning schools comprise:

§                     53 Primary Schools winning 58 SAAs;

§                     79 Secondary Schools winning 120 SAAs; and

§                     8 Junior Colleges winning 19 SAAs

The winning schools will receive a plaque for each category of the SAA.  The details are given in Annex B1- B3.

18.             A comparison of the number of SAAs won by schools in 2002, 2003 and 2004 can be found in the table below:

 

	2002	2003	2004
SAA	135	162	197

19.             Thirty-one of these winning schools are also first-time winners. A list of the schools can be found at Annex C.

National Education Awards

Definition

20.             The Lee Kuan Yew National Education (LKY NE) Award recognises schools that have made special efforts to design and implement innovative and effective programmes to equip our students with the basic attitudes, values and instincts which make them Singaporeans. Up to two LKY NE Awards are given out each year. Other schools with commendable efforts in NE will be given the National Education Achievement Award (NEAA).

Winners

21.             This year, the LKY NE Award will be presented to Evergreen Secondary School. The school will receive a plaque and a cash award of $3000.

22.             In addition, Chongfu Primary School and Greenridge Primary School will be presented with the NEAA in recognition of their commendable achievements in NE for the year 2004.

(B)  A Holistic Approach : The New School Achievement Tables

Shift to Banding of Schools

23.             MOE has shifted from ranking schools based on exact academic scores to banding schools with similar academic performance. MOE’s intention to make this shift was announced in March 2004.  

24.             Secondary schools are placed in bands of one O-level point[7] width.  For the Special/Express course, schools with average L1B5 of 18 points or less (after rounding down to the nearest integer) will be grouped into 9 bands. This replaces the previous rankings of the top 50 schools based on their exact L1B5 scores.  Likewise, for the Normal course, schools with average L1B4 of 23 points or less (after rounding down to the nearest integer) will be grouped into 6 bands.

Broadening of Information on School Achievements

25.             The new School Achievement Tables, which replace the previous ranking lists, will also provide a broader picture of schools’ performance, so that they capture schools’ achievements in both the academic and non-academic domains.  These comprise:

a.                       Academic Value-added Awards;

b.                       Physical & Aesthetics Awards;

c.                       Best Practice Awards; and

d.                       Special Awards (SDA and SEA).

Please see Annex A1 – A2 for the 2004 School Achievement Tables.

26.             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 of schools that have performed exceedingly well in the different domains of the expanded Masterplan of Awards[8];

b.                       Web-based interactive system, which will allow parents and students to generate comparative lists of schools based on specified parameters.  The system is accessible from 26 Sept 2004, 6 pm at http://www.moe.gov.sg/schdiv/sis. 

c.                       Individual School Pic, which will be available in both the web-based interactive system and the annual posting booklets; and

d.                       School websites maintained by individual schools.

Exclusion of IP Secondary Schools and All JCs from the Revamped School Rankings

 

IP Secondary Schools

27.             With the implementation of IP from 2004, IP secondary schools now have full flexibility in the admission of IP students as well as the curriculum they provide for their students.  IP students do not take the GCE ‘O’ levels.  Comparisons between IP secondary schools and their non-IP counterparts are therefore no longer possible in the academic realm. 

28.             When the first batch of IP students graduates in two years’ time, these schools would have had to be excluded from the School Achievement Tables.  The comparisons based on the 2003 and 2004 batch of non-IP students in the IP secondary schools are also no longer critical information for parents and students to make a decision on admission to these schools from this year.  MOE has therefore decided to exclude IP secondary schools from the revamped School Achievement Tables from this year.   The IP schools’ various achievements will continue to be highlighted under where they have received awards under MOE’s Honour Rolls, and in the information that the schools will put out individually.

 

Junior Colleges

29.             MOE has also decided to exclude all JCs from the School Achievement Tables for the following reasons:

a.                       The number of JCs is relatively small, and there is greater convergence in performance among the JCs as compared to secondary schools. MOE now makes public a range of information on these JCs, including each JC’s cut-off scores for entry in the latest year and the academic achievement awards and other achievements that are recognised under the MOE Honour Rolls.  

b.                       Among the 17 JCs in future[9], at least 5 will be offering the IP, leaving 12 non-IP JCs.  IP schools such as Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Dunman High School will also run pre-university programmes.  The IP JCs will have full flexibility in admission of students and will be running programmes that are 4 to 6 years in length. Comparisons between IP and non-IP JCs will not be fully meaningful in key dimensions. 

c.                       Going forward, it would be desirable to allow the JCs, as post-secondary institutions, to go further in developing their unique strengths, and to compete for students on the basis of their distinct characteristics[10].  This differentiation is not unlike what the polytechnics are doing currently.  It will help to motivate JCs to develop their own individuality and niches of excellence.

30.             Although IP secondary schools and all JCs will be excluded from the School Achievement Tables, they will continue to be included in the other sources of information as set out in paragraph 26.  In particular, cut-off entry scores (L1R5) to the JCs as well as their achievements and what they offer in various arenas will still be available to the public in the detailed individual school profiles, or School Pics.

31.             The School Excellence Model, a holistic appraisal tool which has been introduced since 2000, will continue to apply to all schools and JCs. It will ensure that there is an accountability framework in place for JCs and IP secondary schools to continue in their pursuit for excellence.

Conclusion

32.             The School Achievement Tables, together with the other sources of information in the form of Honour Rolls, web-based interactive system, School Pics and individual school websites, will provide a holistic picture of schools’ performance and help parents and students make informed and balanced choices when selecting schools. Information will continue to be provided to schools to help them reflect on their performance and devise strategies to provide holistic education.

 

____________________________________________________

  

Date:24 Sept 2004

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

 

For further enquires, please contact:

 

Arene Koh

Corporate Communications Executive

Corporate Communications Division

Tel: 6879 6117

 

Sity Norani Bte Rohani (Ms)

Corporate Communications Executive

Corporate Communications Division

Tel: 6879 5880

 

Ng Hui Leng (Ms)

Management Information Officer 1

Management Information & Research Branch

Planning Division

Tel: 6879 6062

 

Teresa Kelly Len (Mdm)

Special Assistant/School Appraisal 2

School Appraisal Branch

Schools Division

Tel: 6879 6170

Annex A1

School Achievement Table[i] for Special/Express Course (2004[ii])

Annex A2

School Achievement Table[vi] for Normal Course (2004[vii])