Orientation Day for Std 1

My blog posts will all be a little behind time as I simply had no time to blog. Here's my first backdated one.

The boy goes to Primary One this year. We had half a day of "orientation day". That suited us just fine. We had forgotten how it was like though. So many forms to fill. Fees to pay. We did remember to bring the cheque book along but some had to be paid by cash and we almost did not have enough cash on us.

As usual, we struggled to understand what was being said in the hall because it was all in Mandarin. I wish they would translate some important stuff in English or Malay.

The boy is fine to be left alone. He knows the school pretty well since his sister is in the same school. He did look rather serious though. When we peered at him at the classroom the first time, he was sitting straight up with a serious look. Everyone else around him was lying down with their face on their hands looking tired.  When I went to collect him home, everyone was running around but he was still sitting at his place, straight up with a serious face. He dare not even budge when I gestured for him to come. Teacher said "Wow, he must one of the attentive types later on." Well, we'll see about that. Orientation Day is not an indicator. ;)

He has 3 other friends from kindy at his school but none of them are at his class. Too bad. I know some of the mothers. That would have saved me some networking efforts. :P There are 41 children in his class. About 10 of them are non-chinese, 2 mat sallehs, 1 or 2 Indians and the rest are Malays. Very nice mix indeed. He can have friends from many races. The non-chinese, having made up their minds early on to send their children to Chinese school have made extra preparations. Some of the kids have attended 3 years of Chinese Kindy. They can converse well in Chinese. They are much more prepared than my boy who can barely understand Mandarin let alone speak it, though he can write ok.

He will be learning a new syllabus with different textbooks and emphasis compared to his sister because of the new KSSR whatever.... It is supposed to emphasize on fun learning etc. That also cuts off 4 periods of school time for the kids in Std 1 each week. About half of the class children have older siblings in school who will dismiss later. The school buses will not come to pick the kids up earlier. What to do? What about the safety and security of these kids? Hmm.... as usual, whoever who came up with this wise idea did not think about these little practical things upon implementation. The school HM said that some Heads of Schools got together and decided that they would keep the kids in school till their brothers and sisters dismiss and they will all leave school at the same time. During that time, the teachers will give them homework help etc. Everyone applauded that move. Phew!

I've got loads to write about but I've also got loads of other things to catch up on. So I will leave the writing till later. Thats all for Orientation Day.We made it. ;)