2018 Secondary 3 Week 23 Update

This was week two of the school holidays and both had to go to school at some point or the other.

BB went back to school for a CCA field trip to one of the RSAF camps. There they were shown around and also shown how drones are used by them. He had a good time at the field trip.

I have also been nagging him for a while now to catch up on his school work during the holidays, and I am quite at my wit’s end with him. I sometimes wonder if my words get to him. He is mostly such a sweet boy, but sometimes can be very stubborn!

GG had school for CCA most of the week but fell ill after the first day. She did go to school on the second day (after we had seen the doctor), but her cold and voice became worse after going to school and so she missed a day in between.

There’s no more school for the two of them until school reopens on the last Monday of the month.

Have a fun Sunday people!

2018 Secondary 3 Week 22 Update

The children are still in the school holidays with GG going back to school almost all days whether it was for CCA or even as a student guide for her seniors at the Former Ford Factory. This place is a national World War II museum, which was the place where, on 15 February 1942 (commemorated as Total Defence Day now), the British army led by Lieutenant-General A. E. Percival, the British General Officer Commanding (Malaya), met Lieutenant-General Yamashita in the Boardroom of the Ford Factory, and surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese, effectively sealing the fate of Singapore for the next three and a half years.

We also went to one of the local polytechnics for parents talk about the polytechnic education for our children as well as the Early Admissions Exercise for Secondary 4 students. The biggest draw for us was the tips given by the registrar to ace the EAE process. You need to have two write-ups, a 600 character one which is a more general write-up on why you want to join this particular course and a 1000 character write-up in bullet points on why you should be chosen. The larger write up is where you get to toot your own horn about the courses you may have done, the competitions attended etc.

Next week, GG has an intensive CCA schedule of almost 6 hours of singing each day, broken into two parts with a lunch break in between. BB also goes for his much-awaited field trip to an RSAF camp.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

2018 Secondary 3 Week 21 Update

This week marks the end of term 2 in schools across Singapore and yesterday was the start of the four weeks of school holidays for primary, secondary school and junior college students.

On Friday, we (S and I and this was a first time for S since the children started secondary school) went both GG & BB’s schools for their mid-year Parent Teacher Meeting. BB’s teachers were all fairly unanimous in their assessment of him. They all mentioned his appalling handwriting and also said he is a bright and very smart and intelligent boy, but he needs to stretch himself to reach his actual potential. He has been dozing as well as reading books in class as well as not paying attention because he is getting distracted as well as talking to his friends. His teachers also showed me his classwork and it is really bad, sometimes he doesn’t hand in assignments and at times they need to chase him before he hands in work. Also, teachers mentioned that though he does not do work in class, during major exams like the mid-year exams, he really pulls up his socks and manages to do well! I really need to sit down with him and give him a good talking to so that when he goes back to school in term 3, he is much better and changed person.

As for GG, her teachers continued to praise her work ethics and conscientiousness in class and how engaged she is in class. She does have problem subjects, especially Science and when the school did not provide her with a bridging programme, I brought this up with her science teachers who have promised that she can consult them when she has any difficulties in understanding concepts. Oh, one of her teachers also didn’t realise until I told her that she had transferred laterally. She didn’t know till then and thought until then she was a normal student of the same stream. So this is a plus point in GG’s favour.

So that’s our highlight of the week. GG has to go back to school for the next two weeks for CCA and BB also has his CCA field trip which I will post about soon. Then there’s our Malaysia road trip to look forward to!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

2018 Secondary 3 Week 20

This was pretty much results week for both GG & BB

GG first. As expected, because she moved streams, she has dropped a few points in all the old subjects (aka subjects she has been taking from Sec 1). Principles of Accounting, a new subject which she took this year was a good one for her, probably the only one where she really scored well. But I think that’s fine, since it was expected and she should be able to catch up by the end of year exams.

BB also didn’t do as well as expected. With the exception of his two math papers (Elementary and Advanced Maths), he did not do as well as expected in his sciences and other papers. I have also set up appointments to see his subject Teachers this year to see what we can do to improve for the year end exams.

Parent teacher meetings happen at the end of next week, which also will be the last school day of the term before their month Long break.

2018 Secondary 3 Week 19 Update

Exams are done and dusted for BB & GG and from tomorrow they will start getting their results.

They also had a long weekend since both schools had marking days on Friday and they went to see the new Avengers movie with their primary school friends.

I also went to an OBS-MOE open house over the weekend to check out what BB will be doing at his OBS camp later in the year. It was a great experience, though I was put on observer status because of my medical condition. I’ll do a more detailed post, especially from a parents point of view later in the week.

Today is Mothers Day and so here’s wishing all Mums who read this post a very Happy Mothers Day. What has your children planned for the day?