Students get option to switch subjects mid-stream at Boon Lay Secondary

Programme at Boon Lay Sec allows students to try subjects outside their combination

Boon Lay Secondary School teacher Sim Siok Siok with her student Esther Soon, a Normal Technical student who joined a Normal Academic art class through the pilot programme. The new scheme allows students to take "out-of-stream" subjects - a concept s
Boon Lay Secondary School teacher Sim Siok Siok with her student Esther Soon, a Normal Technical student who joined a Normal Academic art class through the pilot programme. The new scheme allows students to take "out-of-stream" subjects - a concept similar to subject-based banding, where students take subjects at a higher or lower level based on their strengths. ST PHOTO: KELLY HUI
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Back when he was a secondary school student, Mr Tan Chor Pang did not meet the school's criteria to be offered the Additional Mathematics subject but instead of giving up, he and a group of friends signed up for night classes meant for adults.

After attending classes for six months, they struck a deal with their own school to let them take the subject and, eventually, one of them took it as an O-level subject.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 16, 2019, with the headline Students get option to switch subjects mid-stream at Boon Lay Secondary. Subscribe