2015 Week 47 Update

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This has been a very emotionally draining week for us with the PSLE results being declared. As I wrote yesterday, both under-performed compared to what they are capable of. We’re over this now and after a discussion, both S and I have decided to support them regardless of their results.

They’ve applied to a school both like (the same school) and BB will thrive there as it has an Applied Learning Programme in his area of passion which is aeroscience! GG also likes the school and hopefully she does well enough in her first year to get promoted to the same stream as BB.

In the long run and scheme of things, the PSLE is not the end of the world. I realise this now and maybe this is for the best. The children stumble at the age of 12, learn that life is not easy and hopefully, apply the lessons they learn from this life episode and come out stronger and better individuals.

I can see both are disappointed with their results and the determination to succeed I now see in them continues as they move along secondary school!

Off to more interesting things – we’re super excited for our trip to India later this month. My sister is also coming the week after and so the kids are all going to have fun…

Posting may be a bit sporadic, though I am not going to jinx my daily streak. More next week!

PSLE Week 47 Updates

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Results week! I am writing about BB & GG’s results with a real heavy heart. I’ve been tearing since we got the results. Both underperformed quite badly! BB even with an A* for Mathis (more than 91 marks) and A for English and Science (between 75 to 90) did badly because of super low marks in Hindi. GG was the surprise though! She under performed in all subjects, dropping a whole band in each of them. She also did much worse than her prelims, which is an anomaly as children usually better their prelim results.

GG in fact did not make it to the Express stream and will now take the longer route to post-secondary education. Maybe that’s the best for her as she is less academically inclined.

 

We’ve already submitted their choices Hopefully both will get into their first choice school which is the same one.

The past few days, I’ve been working with GG to reassure her that her low PSLE grades does not mean that she is stupid, it just means that in the one exam when it mattered, she fluttered and slipped and something happened that resulted in the low scores.

We’ve already started planning for the future – GG is going to be a model student from day 1. She will consistently deliver good work in school and do her very best to score more than 75% in every exam for the year. We hope this will enable her to be promoted to the express stream and she can finish school along with her brother.

Life goes on and as I mentioned, this will be the end of their PSLE journey. Secondary school and post-secondary education beckons us now. I’ll be back with more updates by the end of December to let everyone know which school they have been posted to!

In My Hands Today…

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Cinnamon Gardens – Shyam Selvadurai, André Bernard

Set among the upper classes in the gracious, repressive and complex world of 1920s Ceylon (Sri Lanka), this evocative novel tells the story of two people who must determine if it is possible to pursue personal happiness without compromising the happiness of others. A young teacher, Annalukshmi, whose splintered family attempts to arrange an appropriate marriage for her, must decide whether the independence she craves will doom her to a life without love and companionship. It is also the story of Balendran who, respectably married, must suppress-or confront-the secret desires for men that threaten to throw his life into chaos. With sensuous atmosphere and vivid prose, this masterfully plotted novel re-creates a world where a beautiful veneer of fragrant gardens and manners hides social, personal, and political issues still relevant today.

In My Hands Today…

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All the Flowers in Shanghai – Duncan Jepson

For every young Chinese woman in the 1930s Shanghai, following the path of duty takes precedence over personal desires. For Feng, that means becoming the bride of a wealthy businessman in a marriage arranged by her parents. In the enclosed world of the Sang household – a place of public ceremony and private cruelty – fulfilling her duty means bearing a male heir.

The life that has been forced on her makes Feng bitter and resentful, and she plots a terrible revenge. But with the passing years comes a reckoning, and Feng must reconcile herself with the sacrifices and terrible choices she has made in order to assure her place in the family and society – even as the violent, relentless tide of revolution engulfs her country.