NEW COURSES: Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam toured NorthLight School yesterday, where pupils can learn cookery or landscaping skills, apart from academic subjects. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

Previously, they had to attempt the exam at least twice to enter NorthLight, or thrice to enter the Assumption Vocational Institute.

Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam made this announcement yesterday to reporters after a tour of NorthLight School in Dunman Road.

'Already, you are seeing boys and girls who are quite different from what they were like in January,' he said. 'So it's given us the confidence that this is an approach that is working.'

He said principals and primary school teachers feel a fair number of pupils will benefit from NorthLight's learning strategies. He added that some of the teaching methods used at NorthLight will also make their way to mainstream primary schools.

In mathematics classes, for example, pupils use Google Earth satellite images to find their school, before they are introduced to concepts such as area and perimeter.

VIDEO Failed your PSLE? NorthLight to the rescue (2:48)

They are also given real fast-food menus and taught how to decide what is the best value for their money.

Last year, about 800 pupils of the 50,615 who sat for the PSLE failed on the first try. NorthLight is likely to take in about 100 such pupils next year.

But priority for the 360 places next year, up from 200 this year, will be given to those who have failed their PSLE twice.

At NorthLight, pupils work towards an ITE skills certificate which will help them qualify for the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). The school was opened this year to address the dropout rate of repeat PSLE pupils.

So far, the 200 pupils in NorthLight have responded well to the programmes, said principal Chua Yen Ching.

For instance, 80 to 90 per cent of pupils failed their PSLE mathematics, but in the first semester exams this year, a similar proportion passed.

Pupils who fail the PSLE once have to do a four-year course, while those who fail twice do a three-year one.

This is because those who fail the PSLE once and are accepted at NorthLight are at risk of failing a second time.

Rather than spend another year in primary school, where they are likely to be uninterested in classes, the extra year in NorthLight will give them a better grounding in reading, writing and arithmetic skills, said Mrs Chua.

Currently, pupils can also choose four of the following courses in their first year: electricity, retail, cookery, mechanical fittings, health care or landscape.

Baking and grooming skills may soon be added to the list.

mariaa@sph.com.sg

Passion for school

IN PRIMARY school, Atikah Siti Nuratiqah would get 17 marks in her mathematics examinations.

Now, at the new vocational school NorthLight, she scores more than 70 marks.

'Now she wants to go to school. She's more outspoken and she enjoys helping out around the house,' said her mother, Madam Kamaria Buang, in Malay.

The 49-year-old housewife is so impressed with the school, she volunteers with the art club twice a week. That way, mother and daughter get to spend more time together.

Atikah, 14, who lives with her family in a four-room flat in Yishun, also enjoys reading and writing more.

Earlier this year, she even sent in her poem to the Malay daily newspaper, Berita Harian.

'She is motivated to do her homework - something she wouldn't be bothered with last time,' said Madam Kamaria.

Atikah says it is because the classes now interest her.

There are interactive whiteboards in mathematics lessons and notebooks are used during computer classes.

She added: 'The teachers are helpful and friendly. They care about us.'