FOR example, your child may be good in rugby and would like to enter a secondary school with rugby excellence. Or it could be in art, science, football, fencing, music, etc.
That's how the Direct School Admission (Secondary) or DSA-Sec exercise can help your child. It allows the option of using his or her talent achievements to seek entry into the school of their choice.
But what about the PSLE result?
Yes, the PSLE result is still the key criterion for determining final admission into a secondary school.
But with the DSA-Sec exercise, the Ministry of Education (MOE) gives participating schools greater latitude in their admission of pupils to allow a more diverse range of pupil achievements and talents to be recognised.
General information on the DSA-Sec exercise: Three key stages
- Selection Stage (June-August)
After participating secondary schools identify, select and categorise primary school pupil applicants, these will get a Confirmed Offer, are put on the Waiting List or are notified that the school is unable to offer them a place.
Those applicants with a Confirmed Offer have a guaranteed place in the school. Their final placement, whether in the Special, Express, Normal (Academic) or Normal (Technical) would depend on the eventual PSLE score achieved.
- Exercise School Preference Stage (October)
Applicants with a Confirmed Offer or who are on the Waiting List get a School Preference Form. Sent by the MOE via their primary school, the form consolidates all the offers applicants have received from the various schools. They now have to indicate their preference of schools.
- Results Release Stage (November)
MOE allocates applicants to the various schools based on their indicated school preferences and how the schools have ranked them. This allocation information is then communicated to the students together with their PSLE results.
Successful DSA applicants will be issued with a Direct Admission Notification, informing them of the school that had accepted them. The unsuccessful applicants will be issued with a S1 Option Form, informing them that their DSA application had been unsuccessful. These pupils then complete their S1 Option Form and submit it to their primary school.
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