Last Day of School - The Good, The Bad, FT vs Singaporean

Before heading out to school

The good: 1) 1/36 = $20 Popular Gift Voucher + invited to Speech day + went on stage to receive voucher from principal. 2) Last day of school. Big brother picking up little sister at school = good bonding time at lunch, bus trips, or just generally walking around.

The bad: 1) 80/276. 2) Lost S's school bag on bus when bro and sis too caught up with playing on the bus. Hopefully someone gave to lost and found :(

Nonetheless, we gave Kaiser encouragements that this is his first year in Singapore, and he has 1.5 more years till having to take the dreaded PSLE Primary School Leaving Exam in Primary 6. He has his eyes on a few top schools but the truth is, it'll take A LOT of hard work from him to get in. It definitely depends on how much he wanted it, but the fact that he's the sort that never seemed to be too disappointed with anything may actually created less motivation.

From left to right: boy from Shanghai, Kaiser, another friend. (Speech Day, RVPS 2011) 

I am, however, quite happy with his school - luck was on us that he managed to get a place at RVPS - it's not an elite school, but the principal's dedication to moral education, and emphasis on partnership between school and parents does show. Kaiser also clicks well with his classmates.

This thing about foreign talent vs. Singaporean - I still haven't gotten used to the foreign accents I hear on the streets. But how about our family? Even though I consider myself a Singaporean, the truth is we speak Cantonese to each other (and hence, contributing to the foreign accents on the streets!), and our family's Singaporean to foreigner ratio is 1:4. We're probably also contributing to the FT sentiments, when my son, who barely lived in Singapore for 1 year, tops his class and displaced the other local children :P So does #2  - a boy from Shanghai (leftmost in the picture) who attended international school previously, 但是他更厉害 - he was in his school for only half a year - he entered mid-P4!

But not to worry, fellow Singaporean. I see that most of the top spots (judging from the students who achieved over 250 on their PSLE last year who were recognised today) belong to Singaporean. The" FT" are still minority - well, but not in my family. Ok, so does that mean my son will only be among the second best, since he's a FT? From this year's results (not just for his class - but entire P4 level) it certainly seems true :P