Hi Skyjuice,

Is he stressed? Is something else bothering him? My son thinks he can tell the teacher if he has a stomach ache. MC is generally required when one is absent from school. The requirement is a MOE thing.

blitz:

We stay in the north, and my son takes the MRT himself to school daily. Yes, thank goodness for Bartley MRT. And so close to SPCA too, how nice!


About CCA, he plans to do ODAC, but I want him to take up archery or ten pin bowling. Having said that though, he has no training in either of the above. But one can't change CCA once you choose right, so he has to choose carefully. He said he will see what the school has to offer on the 16th, and then make a decision. But won't ALL CCA groups try to push theirs as the better choice?

I actually edited this post many times. I thought I understood the CCA scheme then I got confused as I tried to read more to verify. While I believe you can still change CCA in Secondary 2, please check out the following to be sure
http://www3.moe.edu.sg/ccab/branch/LEAPS%20Guidelines_2006.pdf

von72:

No, i only accompany him for the 1st 2 days....from tmr onwards, me will only drop him at CCK Mrt station and he be on his way to Bishan then Bartley....quiet convenient...


Oh dear, indeed difficult task. I was there for the 1st few days, witness the morning traffice along the road...heavy and crazy. U still send and pick you boy??

With MRT, it's very convenient. And yes, now I remember the Bartley station was only opened last May or so.

We still fetch him to and fro every day. We reach school about 7:10 to 7:20 am and during this time, the traffic is relatively smooth. The good thing about the school is, the Primary School drop off point is separated from the Secondary School. The security guards act as traffic wardens in the morning to ensure the kids' safety when they need to cross the road. It's really quite systematic.

allets:

Hi Marist's parents...

after knowing the competition in joining table tennis and badminton, does anyone knows hows their golf? :?

Didn't hear any difficulty in joining golf, so i guess it should be fine. Just heard that one of my son's friend is with the golf club and not air rifle. My apologies to the forum parents for providing wrong info. There is no air rifle in the school.

skyjuice:

Talk about distance.... We stay in Telok Blangah area. Every morning I drive my son to Harbourfront MRT station. He's on his own after that. I think the train takes almost the same time as if I were to drive him to school. Plus I'll be stuck in traffic jam on my way home.... I'm just so thankful Bartley station is open!

MRT is so convenient. Good for you. Traffic along Lornie Rd to the school at about 7 am is fine most of the time, but the traffic on the return journey is significantly heavier.

autumnbronze:

Hi MintLeaf,


Perhaps this might help ...

http://nsinte1.moe.edu.sg/project/db/atl/db_puatl.nsf/AboutATL/O%20&%20N%20Level%20LIST/$FILE/Production%20ATL%202007%20Internet%20Public%20administration%20module.pdf

Thanks Autumnbronze! This is exactly what I am looking for. Appreciate your help.

skyjuice:

After being rejected at the try out, he still wants to learn it privately. That's a child's interest level. But I guess schools these days are more keen on kids that can win awards for them. So sad...

I vividly remember my son's friend taking the badminton rejection very badly 2 years ago. He took a few days to get over it. Your son is managing well. In fact, one boy who was rejected for table tennis during my son's year, managed to join in Secondary 2. He must have organised his own training.

Having said that, joining the school team is not a bed of roses. During competition, my son does not get to play all the time. The China and DSA players are much stronger than him. But he still has to miss lessons from 12pm and go for competition. A typical competition day would see us picking him up at 6:45 pm. He will try to catch some sleep starting from his journey home in the car and wake up at 8:30 pm to take his dinner+shower. Then at 9:15-9:30 pm, he will do his homework until 12:00 midnight. Next morning, he wakes up at 6:00 am. If he takes longer to finish his homework, he will get even less sleep. Given that the school is often within the top 4, the competition season will run from Feb to Apr.

Besides the various sports, do take a look at Infocomm, Photography, AI, etc CCAs. Especially when your son is interested in web design. The school is already teaching Dreamweaver, Adobe flash, etc, so it would be good to find out what Infocomm, AI does that is different from the standard curriculum.

I feel that Maris Stella does offer other choices in many aspects. I have read from another forum topic that one particular girls' school requires Grade 6 Music to join choir. I found this more extreme than what I see at Maris Stella.

blitz:

Not all the kids stay near the school (mine definitely doesnt) and it helps to have a mobile to contact him after school hours.

We don't live nearby either. I believe it was Wednesday when CCA was cancelled but my son did not know about it. The school wireless network was down and the public phone was being repaired. My son could not contact me as it didn't occur to him to borrow the phone from the General Office. Wished he did as it would have been a perfect opportunity to make a statement. He took a bus home eventually.

von72:

Yup, i called the school bookshop this morning and was told latest by tuesday too. Gosh, looks like we have to arrange kind of \"blind date\" for the Kiasuparents group to meet up huh!!

Do you fetch your son home from school everyday?

Sometimes the school gates are closed like during CAs, SAs and H1N1 outbreak, etc. When this happens, you will see the parents parking their cars by the side of the road and that can cause frequent deadlocks. As a result, the cars in the deadlock (not those parking by the side waiting) would be forced to reverse their cars up the slope along Mount Vernon Road towards Gurkha. I personally find this a difficult task. I have hit the black and yellow barricades at Gurkha once with a very loud bang. Not fun at all, even though there was no damage to the bumper.

autumnbronze:

Dear Parents,


This is the MOE website which provides the syllabus details on Lower Sec Literature:

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/languages-and-literature/files/literature-in-english-lower-secondary-2007.pdf

Hope this helps

Hi Autumnbronze,
Thanks for this. One question for you. How do I find out what is required for 'O' level Literature, that is, what are the books for a particular year and the paper format?