Dance x Academics (Part 1) ~ Outstanding Achievements in PSLE 2023

14 Jan 2024
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Dance x Academics - Outstanding Achievements In PSLE 2023
 

In an academically driven society as Singapore where every parent's primary concern with school-going children is their educational results, we are sometimes resigned to the fate of losing students whenever PSLE (Primary 6) is around the corner. In recent years, there has even been cases when students as young as 6 withdraw as they are going into Primary 1 and all available time must be devoted to tuition. And this is not just a phenomenon that is isolated to us as our peers in the dance fraternity are faced with the same challenges where PSLE means that a child's dance journey must grind to a halt.  


However, we are of the humble opinion that dance actually offers students an outlet to engage in an activity that betters their mental and physical wellbeing, leaving them recharged for their academic pursuits. In this article, we present to you Ms Gwyneth Lee, who not only continued in her Ballet journey, but also carried on with her participation for both Solo and Group genres in Dance Competitions, and juggling all these commitments in the pivotal academic year of PSLE! 




Gwyneth has been a member of our dance family since she was aged 5, and she has been a pioneering member of our Competition Team since 2018. In our RAD Ballet Exam Awards Ceremony on 26th August 2023, she celebrated her 4th Distinction and was the 2nd Placed Student in her Grade 5 Ballet cohort. Her Ballet journey also faced challenges in Grades 2 and 3 where she was just a few marks shy of a Distinction but her back-to-back Distinctions in the next 2 Grades of 4 and 5 is therefore testament of her grit and perseverance. In our Dance Recital on 22nd July 2023, she even performed in 2 different items which clearly showed her immense passion for dance and that with good time management, one can indeed excel in both academics and dance! 


Read on to find out more about her inspiring and remarkable achievements in PSLE 2023. 

 
1. What was your PSLE score in 2023?

I scored AL9 in PSLE 2023. 


2. What was your average AL score from Primary 4 to your PSLE Preliminary Exam?

My average AL score from Primary 4 to my PSLE Preliminary Exam was around AL10.


3. Did you participate in the RAD Ballet Exam in April 2023 and Dance Competitions in July 2023 which was just a few months before the actual PSLE Exam?

Yes, I participated in the RAD Grade 5 Ballet Exam in April 2023, and also the Asia Arts Festival for my Ballet Solo and Contemporary Trio categories in July 2023.


4. What were your RAD Ballet Exam and Dance Competition results?

I achieved Distinction for my Grade 5 Ballet Exam, Gold for my Contemporary Trio and Silver for my Ballet Solo in the Asia Arts Festival. 


5. Did your weekly dance class affect your school work and PSLE preparation in any way? Please share why it didn't and how you managed to achieve this? 

No, it did not. I managed to arrange my 4 dance lessons into two days. That helped me to reduce on the time I need to prepare and travel for the lessons.  So I still had sufficient time to study and focus on preparing for PSLE.


6. In your opinion and experience, what is the best way to juggle both your school work and dance classes successfully in a student's PSLE year?

I think the best way to juggle between dance and studying is to allocate time to study and dance. As 2023 was a very important year, I knew that I couldn’t be dancing all the time and have lesser time for my studies. I also did not want to stop any of my dance classes, so I ended up sacrificing some of my personal entertainment time in order to manage both my study and dance lessons.


7. Did you consider withdrawing from your dance class before you entered into PSLE year or after you started your Primary 6 school year? Please share why you decided to continue on in your dance journey? 
 
Yes, I did at the start of the 2023 because I was not very sure if I would be able to manage all my school work while going for so many hours of dance classes at the same time. But eventually I decided not to withdraw because I was in a  trio dance, and it would not be fair of me to stop as my friends would not be able to compete in group competitions for a few months. I also considered my dance lessons as a time to de-stress and take a break from studying.


8. Can you share if your dance journey here actually helped in your PSLE pursuits? 

Dance helped me to de-stress most of the time. It is the way I relax myself. Going for dance classes also made me feel better as I got to meet up with my friends. Some of them were also taking their PSLE at the same time, and knowing that i wasn’t alone made me feel a lot better. Besides, the teachers are also very caring and understanding. I always feel supported by them, not only to do well in my dance but also my study.


We thank Gwyneth for sharing with us how she juggled both dance and academic in her PSLE year, and achieved excellent results in both. We trust her personal story will give insights for students and parents to ponder upon nearing their child's first important academic milestone (PSLE). If you have been with us till this point of the article, we thank you for your time, cheers!

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