Secondary 1 Posting
Merit-based Admission Policy
Admission into Secondary 1 is based on merit. As government-aided schools, Catholic schools follow this merit-based admission policy. In the Sec 1 posting exercise, posting decisions are based on the PSLE score. Hence, the child of a Catholic parent can only gain admission into the Catholic secondary school of choice if he or she first qualifies for admission based on merit.
Hence, the rank order of the 6 choices of school submitted is critical. For more information, click on the link here.
Direct School Admission (DSA)
Based on MOE’s policy intent, DSA provides a pathway for students to gain direct entry to secondary schools based on their talents and achievements that may not be demonstrated at the PSLE.
Students seeking admission solely on the basis of other talents and achievements recognised by the DSA secondary school should only be admitted through the DSA-Sec exercise. These students are still required to take the PSLE. Students will be informed of the outcome of their DSA application, and if successful, they will need to decide whether to take up the offer before their PSLE results are released.
A student who takes up a DSA-Sec confirmed offer is guaranteed a place in that secondary school provided his/her PSLE result meets the minimum requirement for the Posting Groups of the school.
For more information about posting groups, please click on the link here.
Affiliation Policy in Sec 1 Posting
Most of our Catholic primary schools are affiliated to a Catholic secondary school. Students from such schools enjoy affiliation priority. To enjoy this priority, they must exercise their affiliation by indicating their affiliated secondary school as their first choice.
If applying for the Integrated Programme, no affiliation priority will be accorded to Integrated Programme. Affiliation considerations for SEC Programme will be extended to 2nd choice if the 1st choice indicated is IP of the same affiliated secondary school.
For more information, click on the link here.
This affiliation priority allows the student from an affiliated primary school to be admitted into the affiliated secondary school based on the Affiliate Minimum Requirement (AMR).
Click the link here to find out the AMR of your school of choice.
Affiliation helps a student from an affiliated primary school to continue his education in an affiliated secondary school that fosters the same strong school spirit and preserves the same valuable school traditions and ethos. At the same time, MOE’s policy intent is also to achieve a balance in admission based on affiliation and continued, open access for students who are not from affiliated schools.
From the 2019 Sec 1 posting exercise, 20 percent of school places will be set aside in every affiliated secondary school for students who do not benefit from affiliation priority. In other words, if demand by eligible affiliated students is lower than 80 percent of places for that course, all of them will secure a place in the school. However, if demand is higher than 80 percent, posting-in of affiliated students will stop at 80 percent and the remaining students will be considered together with non-affiliated students for posting into the school based on their PSLE scores.
It is important to note that the AMR can vary from year to year and that indicating their affiliated secondary school as their first choice is no guarantee of admission into the affiliated secondary school.
Appeals for discretionary admission
Schools will only be allowed to admit a student on a discretionary place if he/she has met the non-AMR of the school for that year’s Sec 1 posting exercise. This is to ensure that discretionary admissions are aligned with the Sec 1 posting exercise, where posting is based on academic merit as demonstrated through the PSLE.
Submitted by Archdiocese Commission for Catholic Schools
