Upgraded to a school going mum

Yes, my status has been upgraded since Tuesday, 21 Dec, 2010!

Harvynna attended her Primary One Orientation at her big school in her new uniform. Initially, I was quite afraid as everything will be in BM and I dont know how she will be able to adapt to the switch. But, I dont think it will be a problem after I saw how she blended in during the orientation.

About a week before, she was already getting excited and asked me, 'Do i have to speak in Malay? Will everyone be speaking in Malay?' I told her that the teachers will probably speak in Malay but I am sure all the kids will be speaking in English as most of the children from that school come from English speaking homes.

When we reached the school, many parents and students were already there, some in the canteen, some in the Primary One classrooms. We went to the row of classes and saw that she had been placed in 1 Dinamik. We were also glad to see that another boy from her kindergarten was also placed there. That made her really happy too as they were chummy since kindergarten.

Once we were in the hall, the Principal requested that all the children be sent to the classrooms as they had to sit for a test!! I was a bit annoyed that we were not informed of the test. But, I knew Harvynna was quite well prepared for PRimary One.

From 2011 onwards, all students entering PRimary One will be following the KSSR syllabus. There have been some changes to the curriculum where a more holistic approach will be adopted. At stage One, there will be less emphasis on exams. Students will also be graded based on their involvement in co-curricular activities. So far so good........

Students will stay back once a week to do either CHinese, Arabic or Tamil.

Core subjects are English, Malay, Maths, music, Seni Visual. I did not see any Science but books on Science and Technology were included in the booklist.  The subjects will be taught in a thematic method. They claim that the teaching and learning methodologies will be more interactive and interesting. We will have to wait and see!

Since this school works very closely with the PIBG, the PIBG also arranges various other activities (at a cost, of course) to provide a more well rounded education.  The Principal mentioned that this school scored the second highest best results in the recent UPSR exam in klang Valley and many students have represented the country in various arenas. As one of the 'Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi', the school has the autonomy to do additional programmes, if necesssary.
So , I hope everything works out well for her as we moved house just to be near this school.

The test was a Ujian Linus to test children's basic skills in literacy and numeracy. 2 papers were tested - Bahasa Malaysia and Mathematics. Harvynna and her friend found the paper easy peasy. (It was kindergarten level) The test is to identify these students and place them in a Linus class. The Linus class will help these students achieve the basic skills before they move on. This system would be very good in the rural schools, I guess. The other students will be placed in the normal stream class and there will be no streaming throughout. Students will be placed based on gender and race.(to have a good balance)

This weekend, my task is to wrap all her books (yawn!!) and get her ready for her big day.