Daily Lessons from Life 04 January 2014 - Fairies, balloons, buddies to quell P1 kids' first-day jitters

Before I go into anything else, RED ALERT and siren sounding off like crazy! Reason: My weight has gone up to 80KG tonight! Breaking the last high just a day or two ago at the HEAVIEST since 15 April 2008!! This HAS TO STOP! And it WILL. Back to 75kg by 15 January 2014 will be the FIRST milestone!! Go do it LU!!

"Fairies, balloons, buddies to quell P1 kids' first-day jitters - The Straits Times Jan 04, 2014

Pupils starting at West Spring Primary were greeted by balloons and teachers dressed as fairies when it opened its doors for the first time Thursday morning.

The Bukit Panjang school is one of three new primary schools welcoming their first batch of pupils on Thursday. The other two schools are Alexandra Primary in Bukit Merah and Northoaks Primary in Sembawang.

West Spring principal Jacinta Lim told The Straits Times she wanted to ease the anxiety of the 210 youngsters starting Primary 1.

"When the kids see the colourful balloons and fairies it distracts them from that anxious moment," she said.

Such special first-day activities are a tradition she carried over to the new school from her former one, Yangzheng Primary.

"For the kids, transitioning to primary school can be overwhelming," she said. "The setting is very different, the school is bigger and they have to start buying their own food."

The school has also set up a partnership with nearby Zhenghua Secondary which will involve the older students acting as buddies to the younger ones. They will guide the West Spring pupils during recess time and teach them how to order and pay for food.

Northoaks Primary, meanwhile, will offer breakfast to pupils and parents to usher in the new school year today. Its principal, Ms Theresa Hong, said: "We just want to welcome them to a brand new school."

Parents will spend 45 minutes eating with their young ones before the first cohort of over 160 pupils is taken to the school hall for the flag-raising ceremony.They are among 40,000 Primary 1 pupils beginning their formal education at 190 primary schools."

I REALLY LIKE this story. The innovations brought on by the 2 principals mentioned. Indeed, it is a good start for sure!

Lessons for me are:

1. one of them BROUGHT her traditional approach to the NEW primary school. This is a result of the rotation of 'good' principal to new or schools that need help to improve. It shows that when there are NEW people in charge and bringing their new or 'old best' practices along, it increases the probability of a breakthrough. Of course, a lot of hard work will follow!;

2. getting parents involved and helping them to UNDERSTAND their roles in setting expectations with their kids and what the kids SHOULD be doing in school is very important. Encouraging the kids to enjoy school is a start. Being there, if they can afford to do so, with their kids at the start of their primary education journey is another boost. At the same time, when there are 'difficult and different' cases, show some patience with the kids and work closely with the school teachers as the teachers are the one who probably spend the MOST time with the kids at this stage;

3. I hope that the press will FOLLOW UP over the next 9 months to report on these schools at the 3rd, 6th and 9th month mark to see HOW the new cohorts are doing. Maybe the MOE can set up some R&D department or team to take up this project IF the press are unwilling or feel that it is not the right parties to do this.

I look for CONTINUITY so that we can have a stream of consistent data and information to assess and find out which strategies work for OUR kids! It is IMPORTANT to do such research for the LONG TERM good of our kids.