We’re almost at the end of the first full month of school and the children have never been more busy! They’ve adapted themselves quite well to the more demanding schedule of secondary school, but I guess we need to wait till the first tests to see really how well they have adapted to school….

One good news which started the week for us was that BB got into the Singapore Youth Flying Club for his CCA. This was his dream CCA and the one for which he chose this particular school as his first choice school. He went for his first CCA and they spent the time getting to know each other and playing ice breakers. I’ve heard from other parents that this is an expensive CCA, as we need to buy model planes and remotes for them which should cost a few hundreds each year. Also they will inevitably crash planes, so that’s money gone!

GG on the other hand, still has not gotten her CCA allocation yet, which should come out next week. But unofficially she has already started attending Choir when they practice. Her school is going to go into Show Choir this year and she is super excited about it. It involves dancing to moves while singing and this way she gets to do both her passions – singing and dancing! She has a CCA attachment for Choir this week, which in her case is a moot point, since she is already attending it. Also she’s been texting her teacher for costumes to be worn for the Chinese New Year performance next week, so she’s happy!

I also went for my first Parent Support Group (PSG) meeting at BB’s school on Friday. In their primary school, although I was a parent volunteer, it was mostly ad-hoc. We didn’t have a formal PSG and there was one person who used to liaise between the school and parents. The meeting on Friday was good as we met the principal and some school leaders so we were able to voice out concerns. I also met other parents which was good for me.

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.

School starts tomorrow!

A new school year, a new school, new friends…..

Unfortunately BB & GG will not be in the same school – we got an email from BB’s school rejecting GG’s appeal application. This came around midnight on the 1st – what a way to start the new year!!

GG was sanguine and maybe this is for both BB & GG’s good. I know that in primary school, BB was very dependent on GG for pretty much everything. Now he is on his own and so has to learn to take care of himself, his things and do his stuff on time!

GG will be the only student from her primary school in her new school – so it’s a complete new start for her…

My hopes and prayers for both of them is that they find their niche in school fast and enjoy school. They will become teens this year and so with that come loads of other issues, social media being the biggest one (they don’t have any social media accounts as I am strict about the 13 year rule). Let them do well this year as they jump from 4 to 9 subjects and all of the other examinable subjects will be new like History, Geography, Literature, Food & Nutrition, Design & Technology etc…. They also will be some project work, which prepares them for tertiary education…

The first week is orientation week and so nothing much will be taught. I’m looking forward to them making new friends in the first week of school. GG is naturally friendly and social and so she makes friends soon. BB, os a lot like me – an introvert, except when he speaks about things he is interested in, so hopefully he finds others who share the same interest and makes friends too.

So here’s to an amazing school year.