JOY
Received a call from Charmaine's P3 form teacher on Tuesday morning. The first sentence she said to me was "congratulation Mrs S!" I was like 
wondering if she got the right person then..what is there to congrats me of...I'm not expecting or something like that... With the awkward silence from me, she senses that I must be puzzled and so she quickly clarified "Congratulation! Charmaine got through round 2 of the GEP and she has a choice to join GEP program or remain with us and join the SBC (in house special program)". Regained my composure and thank her for passing the news and I will certainly convey her congratulation message to Charmaine. I was still confidently telling her that Charmaine will be staying put.
EXCITEMENTwondering if she got the right person then..what is there to congrats me of...I'm not expecting or something like that... With the awkward silence from me, she senses that I must be puzzled and so she quickly clarified "Congratulation! Charmaine got through round 2 of the GEP and she has a choice to join GEP program or remain with us and join the SBC (in house special program)". Regained my composure and thank her for passing the news and I will certainly convey her congratulation message to Charmaine. I was still confidently telling her that Charmaine will be staying put.Went down to the General Office to collect the brown envelope which contains the info and registration form for the GEP. There were 10 pupils from her school being selected! At that point, I was still so sure that she/we are going to take up the SBC offer!
When I got home, I informed her of the news and congrats her. She was a little shy about it though. She read through the booklet meant for the pupil and said nothing of it. Her sister was happy for her and congratulates her on getting through too. We told her we will go for the briefing and that she is the one making the final call...leaving or staying.
Went for GEP briefing on Saturday even though we are 99% confirmed of staying put in MGS. After the briefing, all 3 of us began to rethink of the decision. For her, she was excited to find that they have more time for discussion and teachers will not brush them off as silly questions. She was happy that READING is one of the requirement (sort of) as she loves to read. There are more hands on stuffs and more experiments too. In general, she is excited about the program.
To us, to be one of the 566 students out of 42,000 P3 cohort, we feel we should not give up the place without giving a try on the program. The only concern we have is whether she can cope with the program and what happen after P6? In her current school, they are able to get into its Secondary school with a low cut off point. So if she leave the school, she will have to really score very well (above 250) to qualify for any other so-called good secondary school. We did not tell her this as we do not want her to worry on things that is in the future. All she needs to consider is whether she likes and want to give the program a try.
DOUBT
As the excitement settled in, I began to doubt if there was any mistake in the selection. How can she be one of the top 1% of the cohort when she was never the smartest in her class. Although she was in the high ability class, but she never top the class! Her languages are weak for sure although she loves to read. Could it be by fluke? Was there any mistake? Wrong identity? Alamak! So many "???"! Hubby was more cool about this. He said that the GEP branch already assured us that there will be no mistake and its definitely not by luck that our kids were selected. Even then, I just can't help doubting and worrying...
DECISION
Over the next few days, we prayed and talked about it. She had set her mind on 2 schools and we placed it in the order of her preference. We prayed and done our part and leave it to HIM, just like the way when she goes for the GEP round 1 & 2. Back then, we did nothing...no revision... no practise..no special GEP prep courses. All we did on the day itself before dropping her off was to pray. We told HIM that come whatever may, we leave it to HIM...
OUTCOME
The posting letter came after 3 weeks. She was a little disappointed that it was not her first choice (she chose that school because of the strong chess team) but soon the disappointment vanished. We found out that almost all the other 9 girls from her school was posted there too! Her good friend and her kindergarten friend was there too! So then came the rush about... buying new set of uniforms, new school books and even went down to Bras Basah Complex to hunt some of the books in the ERP list (Extensive Reading Programme).
Well, we done what we can... Now we just hope she enjoys her new school and new program...
DECISION
Over the next few days, we prayed and talked about it. She had set her mind on 2 schools and we placed it in the order of her preference. We prayed and done our part and leave it to HIM, just like the way when she goes for the GEP round 1 & 2. Back then, we did nothing...no revision... no practise..no special GEP prep courses. All we did on the day itself before dropping her off was to pray. We told HIM that come whatever may, we leave it to HIM...
OUTCOME
The posting letter came after 3 weeks. She was a little disappointed that it was not her first choice (she chose that school because of the strong chess team) but soon the disappointment vanished. We found out that almost all the other 9 girls from her school was posted there too! Her good friend and her kindergarten friend was there too! So then came the rush about... buying new set of uniforms, new school books and even went down to Bras Basah Complex to hunt some of the books in the ERP list (Extensive Reading Programme).
Well, we done what we can... Now we just hope she enjoys her new school and new program...
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