Category Archives: Children

Secondary 2 Week 13 Update

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Nothing really happened this week! 

It was a normal school week with GG coming home late every single day. One day she was out for more than 13 hours and when she came home, she was beyond exhausted. So much so, she reverted to becoming whiny and irritable – just as she used to be when she was younger!

On Friday, we went to BB’s school for the secondary 3 streaming talk. Initially it was just going to be me, but later I realised that students were encouraged to also come and this was also validated by the support group I belong to. So I strong armed BB to come with me. It was an informative talk and we understood the options BB has for next year. 

Given that he wants to do aerospace engineering, he has to take the science course. I prefer him to do a double science double humanities combination (physics, chemistry, history and a social studies with geography elective) and not do a triple science combo with full biology. I’ve heard that biology is very intense in terms of the time you need for it, so which is why we decided on the science/humanities combo. Also if he decides to go to junior college instead of the polytechnic, then his contrast subject can be history which then should not be too difficult. 

A big relief was that for science stream, they have qualifying marks for English, Maths and Science and only these marks will be taken into account when deciding who gets to go to the stream. The good news is that BB’s marks are not too bad in these subjects, but the bad news is that they are not spectacular too! He really needs to work hard and score as high marks as he can in these three subjects!

Secondary 2 Week 12 Update 

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Term 2, week 1 of school. 

A fairly normal week as far as school was concerned, usually term 2 will see the pace slightly intensify as teachers race to complete the curriculum in time for the mid year exams. 

GG has been quite busy in school especially with her choir as the dates for the competition is just a few weeks away. Once they finish the competition, they should stand down CCA until after the exams. She has also been asked by her English teacher to emcee an event in school, for which she is super chuffed. The only thing is that rehearsals for the event clash with some of her CCA practice and so she needs to work this out with her Teachers. 

As for BB, I’m constantly on his case to start getting serious about school. He needs to do well this year so that he can get the science stream next year, but as usual, it’s all white noise to him! Sigh! I really wonder when he grows up! It’s going to be difficult in his school as most students choose this school because of the importance of their STEM Programme, especially in aeronautics and so it’s very likely that a large portion of the cohort will end up wanting to take science next year. But when will this enter this boy’s head?

Anyway happy Sunday people!

Secondary 2 Week 11 Update

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Although this was the term break week, it didn’t feel like that at all. And we didn’t do anything that I wanted them to do – namely getting BB & GG to clean their cupboards.

GG had school every single day with the exception of Tuesday. On Monday they had to go to the venue of their SYF competition performance at the School of the Arts for a practice session. This was a late evening session from 5 – 10 pm and she was exhausted by the time she got home. Luckily S was able to pick her up from the venue itself, otherwise, it would be even later when she got home. Then a couple of days more for choir practice, including a choir exchange programme with another secondary school and then on Friday, the school took the entire secondary 2 cohort to see an exhibition titled, ‘Make the Future Singapore’ which was by Shell (the oil giant).  This exhibition celebrates scientific and engineering innovations and is something that is in line with their applied learning programme of clean energy. GG said they had lots of fun there.

As for BB, he went out with his best friends to see the Lego Batman movie and then spent the day with them at the beginning of the week. Well, that’s all he did the whole week. The rest of the time, he enjoyed his holidays by reading and playing games and then when he was bored of that, he did some holiday homework and when nagged by me, studied a bit!

That was the children’s no school week. They’ll be back in school for term 2 tomorrow and this is a shorter term with more intense work.

2017 Secondary 2 Week 10 Update

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Before I start updating this week’s school update, a shoutout to WordPress – I like this new format, slightly different, but lovely. This was the last week of school before they break for a one week holiday and then start term 2.

This was the last week of school before they break for a one week holiday and then start term 2. So in both schools, it was a time for them to do stuff other than regular school curriculum.

GG’s school had a camp for all Sec 2 students. Unfortunately, they didn’t go out anywhere but just stayed in school. On the first day, they stayed in school and did some leadership and other life skills study and on the second day, they went to Sentosa Island (for non-Singapore readers, Sentosa is an island off the mainland, which was developed as a pleasure island and can be reached by a small bridge/causeway) and did some trekking and other outdoor stuff. Then they ended the week with a Cross country run at the Marina Barrage. This is super far from both home and school and though the school had arranged for transport going there, the students had to make their own way coming back. I was a bit worried actually for GG as this was the first time she was going to downtown Singapore and had to make her own way home. The school did arrange for guides along the way to show the students the way to the train stations, so that was useful and she came home safely. I was happy for her that she managed to be independent here!

BB’s school was also supposed to have an overseas learning camp in Malaysia, which got cancelled this year due to logistics reasons. The students were disappointed, but that happens right? Instead, they did a History Investigation by going to a new museum which was set up and which showcased the Japanese occupation of Singapore (which incidentally they are learning in History this year) and a Geography Investigation where they walked around the neighbourhood of the school to learn about the different rocks found there. They also did a Maths trail where they went to a mall and tried to apply maths to real-life concepts (like car park charges, store receipts etc). They also had cohort days where they worked on some Lifelong learning modules. Their school uses art and music as their lifelong learning module and BB has signed up for acapella music and video photography.

This week is a holiday, but GG  has to still go back to school for choir practice since SYF is round the corner. We also need to start working on the mid-year exams and I need to get both to clean their rooms and most importantly, their book shelves!

2017 Secondary 2 Week 9 Update

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February just flew past like a wind, I felt!

School is on for the two of them and this coming week will be the last week for this term. Next week is their term break and then on to term 2. Both will be busy with camps this week, so that should also go past fairly.

Yesterday we went to GG’s school for a Parent Teacher meeting as well as a talk from the school about the Secondary 3 streaming. It basically just reinforced to me that this is a really crucial year, especially to someone like BB who only has Science in his head. The other day when I asked him what was his Plan B if he could not get double or triple science as he wants, his response was a blank stare! He just has not thought of a life beyond science and engineering. So for someone like him, this is a super crucial year!

That’s all for the week from my side. Have a happy Sunday folks!