Exam Focused Programmes (Short Courses)

As an add-on benefit to students we offer Short Courses in our branches. The programmes are offered for 10 weeks (2 hour sessions). These programmes are specifically designed to be an "add on", not a substitute for our usual programmes. They are designed to give extra depth, time, and coaching in specific parts of our programme. They will be best suited to students who need extra assistance or a boost in their performance.

Below are our exam focused programmes that we conduct

  1. K1/K2 PHONICS – 10 lessons
  2. K1/K2 PRE-READING – 10 lessons
  3. CREATIVE WRITING – 10 lessons
  4. PSLE PREPARATION – 10 lessons
  5. "O" LEVEL PREPARATION – 10 lessons

Please click here if you are interested in enrolling your children in any of our exam focused programmes


K1/K2 PHONICS – 10 lessons

In this programme we adopt a learn-practise-play approach to teach young children phonics in an interactive way; the way that young children learn best.

Children will be actively involved in:

  • Learning 40+ letter sounds and letter/word formations
  • Learning sound blending and phonograms
  • Improving articulation and pronunciation
  • Developing confidence and fluency in oral expression
  • Expanding their vocabulary through spelling, reading and writin

Resources used will include flashcards, craft materials, sound books, worksheets, story books and "Jolly Phonics" DVD.Our phonics module lets children learn words in context.

Beside phonetic words, children also learn sight words (many of which are high frequency words) so that they can apply their skills in reading real books. The sense of achievement when children learn to read at a young age will spur them to read even more!


K1/K2 PRE-READING – 10 lessons

This course consists of a variety of activities to develop the fundamentals of reading for those children who are not yet reading or are only just on the threshold. It is a valuable addition for those who are presently attending large pre-school classes.

Children will be involved in:

  • Developing vocabulary using topics such as animals, weather, actions
  • Learning sounds/ words/ phrases/ sentences.
  • Learning the 100 most frequently used words
  • Studying rhyming words and sentence endings
  • Book sharing – listening and discussion
  • Book orientation
  • Sentence building using flash cards/ cutting and pasting/ writing

These activities will greatly assist in developing the confidence and skills necessary for children to begin reading.


K2 HEAD START FOR PRIMARY 1 - 10 lessons

The main focus of this short course is to introduce students to the key areas of the P1 MoE academic programme for which they will be assessed.

Children will be actively involved in:

  • Reading and Writing skills for P1
  • Phonological & Spelling activities
  • Punctuation & Editing
  • Using a dictionary to find and record definitions of words
  • Oral, listening and written Comprehension exercises
  • Completing Cloze passages
  • Poetry/Creative writing
  • Shared/individual reading and book reviews
  • Picture descriptions and discussions
  • A range of interesting and creative activities that enhance English and other curriculum areas including games, role play, songs and simple science experiments.

The transition from Kindergarten to Primary one is a big leap for all children. It is important that we provide them with a strong foundation so that your children will feel more confident, self-assured and well-prepared for the challenges ahead.

With added skills, increased awareness and better understanding, STARTING SCHOOL WILL BE A WONDERFUL, EXCITING TIME FOR YOUR CHILD.


CREATIVE WRITING – 10 lessons

This programme is designed to assist those students who have a particular need to improve their composition writing. All students will be given extra assistance in areas of weakness. (Parents are invited to provide additional information on areas of concern.)

Teachers will cover all areas of the MoE syllabus over a number of lessons. However, the main focus will be on writing and students will complete at least one piece of writing in every session.

Each creative writing lesson will be related to a topic or a book and will include :

  • Input activities - stimulus material developing vocabulary and ideas - skills in sentence structure, punctuation, spelling and grammar
  • Output activities - draft pieces of writing in a particular style/genre
  • Editing - correction/improvement of draft writing to produce a "Final" copy

The structure and content of written work is reinforced and strengthened in a positive learning environment, which encourages students to express themselves confidently and creatively. Students will develop brainstorming, editing, grammar and mind mapping skills to become strong and creative writers.

Since the lessons are self-contained, students may commence the Creative Writing classes at any time.


PSLE PREPARATION – 10 lessons

This 10-week intensive course is specially written and designed based on latest PSLE format to enable P6 students to score well in the examination.

In the course, the student will learn how to:

Composition (Paper 1)

  • plan and develop good story lines.
  • brainstorm, create suspense/climax and edit his own piece of writing and avoid common grammatical mistakes (Situational and continuous writing will also be included).


Language Use and Comprehension (Paper 2)

  • tackle inference questions by using hypothesis, deduction and prediction skills, etc.
  • improve on Graphic stimulus, synthesis, transformation and editing.
  • handle cloze passages more accurately by using contextual clues.


Listening Comprehension (Paper 3)

  • identify main ideas, recall details, infer and draw conclusion through listening practices. (Different forms of texts in the form of announcements, advertisements, speeches, etc. will be provided as practice.)


Oral Communication (Paper 4)

  • learn specific skills in picture discussion and develop into meaningful and coherent thematic conversation.
  • read aloud with clear articulation, diction and expressiveness.

Time management skills and oral exam tips will be incorporated in the course to get the student more significantly prepared for his PSLE exam.


"O" LEVEL PREPARATION – 10 lessons

This 10-week intensive course is specially written and designed based on the latest "O" level format to enable students to score well in the examination.

After the course, the student will be able to:

Composition (Paper 1)

  • brainstorm for ideas, plan and develop story lines.
  • handle different genres of composition and in line with the current trend, emphasis will be given to argumentative, expressive and situational writing etc.


Comprehension & Summary writing (Paper 2)

  • tackle inference questions by using hypothesis, deduction and prediction skills etc
  • improve summary writing by skimming and scanning key points, paraphrasing, rephrasing and use of appropriate linkers.


Oral Communication (Paper 3)

  • read aloud with clear articulation, diction and expressiveness
  • interpret and describe a picture in details and develop it into interesting and coherent dialogue with the examiner.

Time management skills plus oral exam tips will be included in the course so that the student is more significantly prepared for his "O" Level examination.