Can a conducive environment enable students pursuing alternative pathways from traditional academic routes to achieve academic excellence? ? St Francis Methodist School’s (SFMS) recent results testify a resounding “yes”!
A student from SFMS has been named top student in the recent cohort of the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) – a record-breaking achievement for SFMS in 15 years. Amanda Eugenia Yung (top left) attained an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) score of 99.95 – the highest achievable score.
Amanda who was studying in a well-known government school decided to join SFMS to study the WACE programme (fast-track route), allowing her to complete the ‘A’ Level-equivalent programme in one year. The programme offers students a comprehensive curriculum with dedicated support from experienced teachers. Amanda credited these features for her outstanding performance in achieving the recordbreaking ATAR score. She highlighted that the activities and lessons taught in school have enabled her to adopt various skills such as teamwork, tolerance and other social skills.
Her excellent results earned her scholarship offers from both The University of Melbourne and The University of Sydney, the latter of which Amanda decided to accept, to pursue a double degree in Medicine. Forty per cent of her cohort in SFMS also obtained an ATAR score of 80.00 and above, enabling them to enrol in established and reputable universities worldwide.
In addition to these outstanding WACE results, SFMS has achieved our best GCE ‘O’ Level results to date – 89.5 per cent of our latest cohort of students attained 5 or more GCE ‘O’ Level passes, surpassing the national average of 83.8 per cent. This success can be attributed to the academic rigour of initiatives such as the Academic Achievement Programmes (AAP) and study camps held during school holidays.
Ye Guoquan (top center), one of our top GCE ‘O’ Level graduates, said: “SFMS has a friendly environment which impressed me on my first visit, enabling me to adapt well in school. Within a year, my proficiency in English Language, Chinese Literature and other Science subjects has improved a lot. The teachers are really kind and helpful.
“Aside from its strong focus on academic achievements, the school also offers Chapel service, enrichment programmes as well as enjoyable interest groups. Thank you SFMS for making my experience truly wonderful!” Guoquan achieved an L1R5 of 7 points in the 2015 GCE ‘O’ Level examinations.
Ding Lingke (topright), another 2015 GCE ‘O’ Level graduate, shared: “I joined a language school when I first came to Singapore, hoping to do well for the Admissions Exercise for International Students and subsequently join a government secondary school, but the result did not turn out as expected.
“I believed that God had better plans for me when I chanced upon SFMS and have never looked back since. I joined SFMS in 2013 and was placed into the GCE ‘O’ Level class. I sat for the 2015 GCE ‘O’ Level examination and when the results were released, I couldn’t be more thankful to SFMS for I managed to perform better than most of my friends in the government schools,” said Lingke who has achieved an L1R5 of 8 points.
“As I move on to pursue higher education, I will always be proud to say that I am a graduate of SFMS!”
FIND OUT more about SFMS and its mission to provide a nurturing environment for students to excel through appropriate educational pathways – visit www.sfms.edu.sg, or email enquiry@sfms.edu.sg
Tracey Tee is Business Development Manager at St Francis Methodist School.