Thinking about Primary 1

Is it only in Singapore that primary one registration can be so competitive and stressful? That even if you don't want to be part of the race for the good schools, you can't help but be?

Hmmm. When Alison was born 3 years ago, Mark and I scoffed at the idea of parents volunteering and strategising for their kids to gain top priority into good schools. The Phase 1A, 2A, 2B etc still baffles me. I mean, in my time, (20 plus years back..yes, I am not that young anymore), my dear sweet mother was late in registering me, to the point that she had to beg the principal of my school to let me in, otherwise I would have to delay my primary one education to the next year. Can you imagine, being one whole year older than all my peers???!! ( although come to think of it, maybe I would have been a scholar then..and not have to compete with all the dragons in my year. hahah)

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand. Ally is turning 4 this year. If we want to get into this popular school that is near our area, we have gotta start volunteering sometime next year I think. We need to volunteer for one year before we register the child for school.This particular school only allows volunteers to be traffic wardens ( why, I have no idea.. since I would hardly be a good one!). The girls can easily get into the convent school I went to, but Mark (and he has persuaded me) is keen on this school because of its solid chinese grounding. After all, we have been so successful with our Mandarin immersion, Ally says she prefers Mandarin and I do believe, speaks it grammatically more accurately than her English.

So, somehow, next year , I might have to sign up to be a volunteer (since I am the one with the flexi time!). If I don't get it, that seals our fate and we will just go to my old school. If we do, then we should be able to get in because our new place is less than 1km from the school ( not intentional.. pure coincidence):)

I cannot believe I am thinking of this now. Well, some of my peers were thinking about this when their kids were newborns. So, I am already relatively "slack".