School finally started! We were on pins and needles the entire night before school started and I remember not being able to sleep till around 1! It is coincidental that their first day of Secondary school was the same date as their first day of primary school!

We left around 7, which in hindsight was late. Although we’ve done the route before, we didn’t anticipate the traffic which is quite bad, as many people drop their children to school before getting to work! Also the road leading to BB’s school is a narrow, single lane road, so that also eats into the time. We managed to get both to school on time though, narrowly missing being late. We experimented with leaving home slightly earlier and it seems to work, which will now be our daily norm.

I was a bit worried about them coming back home alone, as they’ve hardly, if ever taken the train/bus home alone, especially from an area they are not very familiar with, but they both surpassed all expectations. GG slightly lost her way on the first day and took a longer route to reach the train station, but she was ok from the second day onwards. BB was supposed to be taking the bus to get home, but he also started taking the MRT as it was a faster option.

The first week was Orientation Week where they got to know their classmates, seniors, teachers and the school. It was very hectic, with both coming home quite late except for the first day. Guess this is the start of being an adult, where you leave home as the sun starts to rise and return back only when it sets!

GG only got her class allocation by the end of the week, but BB got his on registration day. We learnt that GG’s school class allocation was by their PSLE marks, BB’s was by subject. He is in the Maths class which means everyone is a high scorer in the subject. He is the only one who scored an A* (91 and above) while the other 39 students have scored an A (between 76 and 90). So he has to really work hard to maintain this lead!

BB’s bestie is another class – the overall best class since he got 6 points more than BB. So both have been starting to make new friends in school. GG is very friendly and social and already made a couple of new friends while BB is starting to do so with the boys in his class. Since it’s a Maths class and boys are supposed to be stronger than girls in this subject there are 29 boys and only 11 girls in his class!

On Friday at BB’s school, we had a Parents session in the evening as well as the formal Secondary 1 induction. This was from 7 – 9 pm, which meant BB had been in school close to 14 hours!

Saturday was the Parents Dialogue plus CCA awareness day at GG’s school. Although they both had Hindi school that day, only BB went and GG and me went to her school.
After listening to both schools over the last two days, I am happy for both of them – both schools, so far, have been great and I am sure both BB & GG will have a great time in their respective schools.