Nope, even if they did have such an assessment paper for banding the P1 many years back, it no longer do so. My son was in P1 in 2012, he did not sit for any assessment paper for the purpose of banding.

The class allocation for P1 2012 is finally out!


DS is in 1B, his best friend since Pre-nursery is in 1C. Oh, never mind. At least the teachers wont have to deal with the two partners-in-crime, in the same class.

Hi clayman


Many thanks for your kind advice.

I’m sure DS will figure it out himself. I doubt I want to hang out in school everyday. He will have to learn how to fend for himself in time to come. I have total confidence in him that he will learn the necessary "survival skills" in primary school under the P5 mentor (hopefully).

Hi happy to see the ACPS thread active!


My son is entering P1 next year, he is very happy about starting primary school, although the main reason is he is excited over having money to buy food & drinks from the canteen on his own in pri sch! Hopefully he would not be scared off by the long queues during recess time though.

His cousins were also from AcPS but unfortunately cant show him around as they have migrated to Australia last year.

The class list doesn’t seem to be out yet so bag tags, name labels and any form of labeling have not been done yet for me. In fact we hv only bought the uniforms, books & bag. Good luck for us next year!

Hahaha… possible. Easier to identify caller by phone, otherwise too eager to answer the calls when phone rings, scarly call out the wrong name then will have a hard time explaining.

hquek:

I do know of another maid working for a relative. Been here many years, but her savings are a pittance, if any. reason? she has 3 handphones and use them to full effect. When money ran low, she just helped herself to her employer's money (that was one reason they finally gave up on her).

3 handphones!! Hahaha.... what kind of big business she managing?! Perhaps one for calls, one for sms and the last one for internet surfing? LOL

A few years ago I had the most efficient maid. She was also very smart and responsible. To reward her, I allowed her to keep a mobile phone, so that she can message her younger bro in Indonesia whenever she needed to. Soon, she requested for day-off, saying that she wanted to meet her cousin who is staying at the other side of Singapore. I gave her day-off too. One day, she suspected she was pregnant and pretended that her mother wanted to see her badly and she needed to go back to Indonesia. I saw through her pretence and agreed immediately. Actually, her work attitude changed drastically after she was given day-off. I looked through her belongings trying to find some clues. Guess what, I found a diary she was keeping. In it, she wrote about a boyfriend, jealousy among the maid friends over the man, about where they went (incl Hotel 81), how he didn't answer her calls and messages after the ..., how frustrated when her menses didn't come,.... I couldn't believe how I had made her fall into a man's trap by giving her day-off ...[/quote]



Piccolo, your post above about your ex-maid sounds so familar to me. Almost identical requests and reasons from my ex-maid (she who worked for me for 4 years). However the ending is vastly different. During her term, she too off and on requested for a mobile phone to call/sms her younger bro in Indo, she also requested for day-off, saying that she wanted to meet her cousin who is working in SG. Both requests I did not accede to - I told her that she has chosen and agreed to work in our household based on our mutually agreed terms from day one. Even when she renewed her second term of another 2 years with us, the same terms are reiterated and she has again chosen and agreed to the same terms (of course her salary is revised according to market rate). So why made all these requests which deviates from our mutually agreed terms? I stood firm by our initial agreement - she completed her 4.5 years with me, went home to get married, with 2 plots of land and a brand new house. I must emphasize that I am not claiming any credit here - her 4.5 years here in SG has paid off due to her own hard work and being able to stay focused.

Well said Pen88n. Always put everything in perspective and to look at them not individually but in relationship to each other.


The current industry practice/system is already so tilted towards maids and very often employers are being squeezed. Then again, of course one may tell you that you dont have to "die die must have a maid" as quoted.

In short, the existing deficiencies of the system needs to be sorted out and resolved first before talking about introducing new terms and conditions. Otherwise, it will only be adding complexity to existing problems.

See, what we are sharing is reality - and to be honest SMH and myself are not the only ones, my colleague and her cousin kena such "one-day" maids too. Surely there is no coincidence. Many of these maids share information and learn from each other how to work around the loopholes.


And now we get some strange comments like "You die die must have a maid, that you are willing to endure hell and highwater? Your husband and kids can’t chip in with housework, you can’t uncomplicate your life by shedding some enrichment classes on the weekend? I mean, no one can FORCE you to have a maid if you don’t want to, right?" Whahahaa… Of course, if we do not wish to be held ransom while at the same time have the privilege of having other options, well of course we can to choose stay out of this lousy system. But does that make the system a better one? I am afraid not, it just show how bad things can be that you want OUT!

Exactly you should give us a break rather. We are just sharing experience on maids and some of the loopholes which the maids are taking advantage of, the current system in Singapore.


In fact you are right, I have chosen not to have a maid and have been without one for the past 6 months. I am sick of being in the vicious cycle. It just shows what kind of system we are having here.