Full Subject Based Banding

Full Subject-Based Banding

Swiss Cottage Secondary School is one of the 28 secondary schools selected by the Ministry of Education to start piloting aspects of Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB) from 2020 onwards.

Purpose of Full SBB

With Full SBB, we are moving towards one secondary education, with many subject bands, to better meet our students’ learning needs, without labels. This is part of the broader shift in our education system to recognise the strengths and interests of our children, to help them build their confidence and develop an intrinsic motivation to learn for life in them.

By 2021, the pilot schools will have fully implemented the following aspects of Full SBB:

Organising Secondary 1 form classes in new ways; or
Offering of Humanities subjects at a more demanding level from Secondary 2.

Full SBB Pilot in Swiss Cottage Secondary School in 2020

Option	Customised Text based on Option chosen
Offering of Humanities subjects at a more demanding level from Secondary 2	As part of the pilot, our school will allow Secondary 2 students the opportunity to take Humanities subjects at a more demanding level if they meet the requirements. This is applicable to students who are in Secondary 2 Normal (Academic) in 2020. 2019 Secondary 1 Normal (Academic) students promoted to 2020 Secondary 2 Normal (Academic) course will be able to offer Geography, History or Literature at a higher level if found suitable. With this increased flexibility in customising our students’ learning experience, we better recognise their strengths and nurture their intrinsic motivation to learn. Students who wish to be considered to offer Geography, History or Literature at a higher level should attain at least 75% in the respective subjects in Secondary 1. They should also possess positive attitude towards learning and strong commitment to offer the subject at a higher level.
Organising Secondary 1 form classes in new ways	As part of the pilot, our school will implement reorganised form classes at Secondary 1. This is applicable to Secondary 1 students entering our school in 2020. 2020 Secondary 1 students will be grouped in mixed form classes, comprising students from all courses of study. The class size will be smaller than the usual, approximately 34 students. Students will attend lessons in the form classes for the following subjects: Art, Design & Technology, Character and Citizenship Education, Food and Consumer Education, Music, as well as Physical Education. For the academic subjects, namely English, Mother Tongue Language, Mathematics, Science, and the Humanities, students will be attending lessons based on their subject classes. The subject classes will be organised based on their respectively courses at the NT, NA or Express levels. The common learning experience through the mixed form classes creates a valuable setting for students to mingle, build meaningful friendships, and appreciate different perspectives. It can also help reduce the inadvertent labelling associated with streaming.

Option

Customised Text based on Option chosen

Offering of Humanities subjects at a more demanding level from Secondary 2

As part of the pilot, our school will allow Secondary 2 students the opportunity to take Humanities subjects at a more demanding level if they meet the requirements.

This is applicable to students who are in Secondary 2 Normal (Academic) in 2020.

2019 Secondary 1 Normal (Academic) students promoted to 2020 Secondary 2 Normal (Academic) course will be able to offer Geography, History or Literature at a higher level if found suitable. With this increased flexibility in customising our students’ learning experience, we better recognise their strengths and nurture their intrinsic motivation to learn.

Students who wish to be considered to offer Geography, History or Literature at a higher level should attain at least 75% in the respective subjects in Secondary 1. They should also possess positive attitude towards learning and strong commitment to offer the subject at a higher level.

Organising Secondary 1 form classes in new ways

As part of the pilot, our school will implement reorganised form classes at Secondary 1.

This is applicable to Secondary 1 students entering our school in 2020.

2020 Secondary 1 students will be grouped in mixed form classes, comprising students from all courses of study. The class size will be smaller than the usual, approximately 34 students. Students will attend lessons in the form classes for the following subjects: Art, Design & Technology, Character and Citizenship Education, Food and Consumer Education, Music, as well as Physical Education.

For the academic subjects, namely English, Mother Tongue Language, Mathematics, Science, and the Humanities, students will be attending lessons based on their subject classes. The subject classes will be organised based on their respectively courses at the NT, NA or Express levels.

The common learning experience through the mixed form classes creates a valuable setting for students to mingle, build meaningful friendships, and appreciate different perspectives. It can also help reduce the inadvertent labelling associated with streaming.

For more information on how our school would implement Full SBB, you can contact us at scss@moe.edu.sg. The school will also be engaging parents of cohorts of students who are involved in the pilot in 2019/2020.