Schools to conduct PE tests every other year as part of new holistic assessment for subject

Schools to conduct PE tests every other year as part of new holistic assessment for subject

SINGAPORE - From next year, the National Physical Fitness Award (Napfa) will be conducted for students on alternate years, instead of annually.


Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Here is the full statement from the Ministry of Education:

Holistic Assessment to Support New PE Syllabus

A new Holistic Assessment in Physical Education (PE) will be introduced to all schools in 2016 to support the new PE syllabus that will see students engaging in a wider range of physical activities and sports.

Students' participation level in PE, attainment in different physical activities, demonstration of values and attitudes during PE lessons, as well as reporting on their self-directed physical activities with their families and friends will be captured as part of the holistic report for PE.

Physical fitness will continue to be emphasised and be reported as a valued outcome of PE, together with attainment in the areas of sports and games, outdoor education and other physical activities such as dance, gymnastics and swimming.

Instead of annually, the National Physical Fitness Award (NAPFA) will be conducted for students at Primary 4 and 6, Secondary 2 and 4/5, and at JC2/MI 3. This will allow schools to conduct a wider range of physical activities during PE lessons.

NAPFA grades will be reflected in raw scores and performance bands instead of alphabetical grades to better describe the student's performance level for each aspect of fitness.

The current 6 grades of NAPFA (i.e. A, B, C, D, E and F) will be organised into the performance bands of: "Outstanding Performance" (current Grade A), "Very Good Performance" (current Grade B), "Good Performance" (current Grade C & D), "Satisfactory Performance" (current Grade E) and "Needs improvement" (current Grade F).

The new Holistic Assessment will help students develop within themselves a holistic perspective of both fitness and enjoyment of PE and sports. Students' fitness and health will also be more sustainable when parents and families participate and play an active role in encouraging their children to lead an active and healthy lifestyle.

New PE Syllabus 2014

The 2014 PE Syllabus seeks to equip our students with competencies to engage in a wide range of physical activities and sports. The purpose is to enable students to demonstrate individually and as teams, the physical skills, practices, and values to enjoy a lifetime of active and healthy living.

The active interactions among students during PE lessons also create invaluable authentic teachable moments to guide students in character development and the inculcation of values.

To achieve these, the new PE syllabus includes the following features:

The Primary PE Syllabus will be centred on acquiring Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) through a range of enjoyable and varied physical activities;

The Secondary PE Syllabus will focus on developing students' skills in at least Six physical activities and sports for active participation beyond school;

All secondary school students will be able to participate in three intra-school recreational sports competitions;

Outdoor Education will be included as one of the activity areas;

Health Education and Sports Science will be integrated and taught together with practical applications.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.