PSLE Results 2009 - St. Gabriel's Primary School

So after all the years of anguish and anxiety, the boy has done us proud. His results by other people's standards may be nothing to crow about but to us, it is nothing short of a miracle!

A clear pass into the Express stream:
English A
Math A
Science A
Chinese (Mother Tongue) D

Ha ha. Yes, 'D' grade for Chinese. That's alright, considering we are the very English speaking family that makes up the statistics in MM Lee's 'failed' Learn Chinese policy!

If you've been following my blog, you would have realised that I've been biting my nails worrying about our son's PSLE. We desperately needed to map out a strategy for him.

With the condition his Chinese and Math was in, he would be headed for Normal Academic Stream if we didn't do something soon.
Since he was sucky in Chinese (it's cruel but honest) and was failing his Math in the beginning of this year, he would have little choice but to aim to score A* in his Science (which is a subject he loves) and at least an A in English (we are realistic - even though he never needs to study this subject, he's not quite in the same league as his older sister). Since the first CA (Continual Assessment), we told him he had only a couple of months to pull up his socks in regards to his Math. Believe you me, if you had sat down with him to watch him do his endless stream of Math homework with nary a notion of  how dire a situation his Mathematical foundation was in, you'd have panicked.

Never ever having Math tuition before, we signed him up for weekly group tuition. Also sent him over to my mum's place (a retired teacher) for some coaching (even though I'm an ex-teacher, I cannot seem to teach my own kids). Slowly but surely, his grades started to improve. As parents, we were still worried sick because the pace of his improvement was slooooow, to say the least! By mid-year, he passed his Math SA (Semestral Assessment). By prelims, he had improved into the 70s score. We patted him on the back and prayed and prayed for Divine Intervention. (Note that we couldn't do much about the Chinese at this point - although we did hire a Bilingual tutor to coach him for just a few months and we also nagged him to memorise some Chinese phrases from compo books!).

A month before his PSLE, his grandma stepped up the coaching (she lives near us) and I handed them a set of DVDs teaching the solving of Problem Sums. Told Grandma to just sit there and watch with him. He'd at least be learning something from watching the DVDs (this tells you clearly he doesn't have a long attention span in regards to his studies). Do note that this set was sitting on his table since the beginning of the year collecting dust!

Finally, when he came back from his PSLE Math exam, he said it was 'difficult'. He said he did attempt all sums and didn't leave any sums blank but there were a few sums he felt he clearly got wrong. Since the exam was already over, I didn't even bother asking him what sums came out. But then, the media and friends and relatives started asking how he found the Math paper after the Media / Parents Bruhaha about the difficulty level surfaced. Our hearts sank then. If the top scorers were crying over their performance, what of our little boy? Would he stand a chance at all? Er....the boy really had no idea how he would fare. I recall writing a blog entry about how he just remained composed throughout the exam because he had no pressure to perform (He meant pressure to get A* from his parents, teachers or himself).

So, on D-Day last Thursday, 26 Nov 2009, Mike and I were hoping that he would at least be posted to Normal Academic with option to go to Express. Yes, we felt we were being realistic.

When John came walking out of his classroom, beaming with his results in his arms, I just hugged him and burst out into tears of joy (crying Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!) when I saw his grades and score of 212. Yes, it may be by no means anything to hark about for you or the general public but for me and to anyone else who's realised the dilemma we had to face because of his Chinese, it's a personal triumph for him and our family. Yes, he didn't score an A* in Science but my goodness, from a fail to A for Math? Praise the Lord!

So what is my advice to parents out there like me? Be there for your kids, regardless of their school standards or results. Know their weaknesses and be realistic about the goals you set for them. Love them and support them despite what they may get.

Who will believe me if I say that my boy doesn't study on his own at all. I mean it. We've just given away our piles and piles of undone and unused Assessment books. Unused. Yes. I speak the truth. He never did anything extra outside of his homework. Because he took so long to complete his work, he never ever had time to do anything else. The only time he did anything extra was during tuition class or with his Grandma. We are not strict with TV nor with computer games. Our kids are allowed to pace themselves. They have to have ownership of the consequences of their actions. You don't put in the effort, you fail.
 
Mike and I stayed true to our principle of allowing our boy to have fun throughout his primary school education. His teachers at St. Gabriel's Primary School did not let him down. They know him by name and he loves them and his friends dearly. Now, he's shown us that it's OK to not over-pressurize your kid in school. We love him for what he's become and really, really wish to thank the Principals, HODs and teachers of St. Gabriels for the wonderful 6 years! 

(Afterthought: Now, if only he can get into St Gabriel's Sec....)

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Now you see it........

Now you don't........

Yes. I finally caved in to all the 'Cut your hair short, lah!' from my kids. 'Something funkier' is what they meant. Apparently, though their Dad has a Coke belly, he has way cool hair that stands up. Their friends liken him to being a Korean star. They want their Mum to look as cool as Dad. Ah....the concerns of teens nowadays. Hubs has been urging me to do it.

My daughter's theory: 'Mum, your own husband has asked you to cut it short. That means he likes you in short hair. So he'll like you even better if you cut it. Do you want him to go after another woman in short hair?'

Sigh. I asked her what would happen if after I'd cut it, he decided he liked Megan Fox's hair better instead. Daughter shakes head and says it wouldn't make a difference cos I can't 'make the cut' anyway. Gee, thanks.

Anyway, I was game for a change. Apparently, hubs LOVES it. He kept gawking at me this morning. He woke me up early just so he could help me wax and web it properly. You lose, Megan!

Here are my kids going, 'Ew! Mum! You taking your own photos. That is so Ah Lianish.' (They meant the self-photo taking)

Their Dad was just going, 'Do you see, Mummy? What a difference. Nice what! So nice!'