That's Life

My wife pestered me to sign up for Parent Volunteer Program for priority registration to River Valley Primary School for Gracie. And she used her strategic weapons upfront in the opening blow including "why do you not care about your daughter!". I just didn't see it coming and was caught with pant down (Remember. Next time. To avoid being caught with pant down, lock the door when changing out of work clothes.)

Having lost the skirmish, I tried to sign up as volunteer with the school.

"Sorry, if you are registering for primary school in 2012, we stopped accepting parent volunteers on 18 Jan as we had too many! Try registering in June for 2013."

Oops! Well, that's life...

My wife's mood darkened. "See! I told you! I TOLD YOU! Our neighbours had already fulfilled the 40hours of work required.....I don't care......try the next better school...."

Sigh!~Time to don battle armour....

Wait! By stroke of luck, River Valley Primary School was formed by combining 4 old primary schools, one of which was Kim Seng West Primary School which I attended. I checked back with the school. And YES! I am considered an ex-student! And yes, I still have my old school report card. So I have priority over all the parent volunteers! HA!
Yippee! Hoo Whoo! Just like striking the lottery! I am now off the hook, no need to be a parent school volunteer!

Happily, I told my wife and peace prevail in the household for a day......

"Hey, mum, remember my school report card and some junk which I kept in an old metal box in your house?"
"Huh? Where got? All thrown away long ago!". Mother turned her attention back to the Taiwanese TV serial that she was watching. The refrain from the theme song resounded in the room.."wah men tee, wah men teeee (I asked the sky, why , why ,why..."

That's life.

Luckily, there was a happy ending. My Primary School Leaving Examination certificate was still around. PHEWS!

Preparing for Primary School

Getting into a good primary school in Singapore requires some preparation. Recently, I was coerced into volunteering for the school of choice by my wife. Unfortunately, River Valley Primary School stopped accepting parent volunteers 6 months ago. And that was for children going to primary in 2012! Many parents have already completed the required 40 hrs of volunteer work 2 years ahead. That would give them priority for registration under Phase 2B.  I was about to sign up with Radin Mas Primary School when I found out that I qualified as an old boy for River Valley Primary School. My old primary school, Kim Seng West Primary School was combined with Kim Seng East Primary School to form Kim Seng Primary School a few years after I left. Subsequently, Kim Seng Primary was combined with River Valley English School and River Valley Chinese School, to form River Valley Primary School. So luckily, my stint in Kim Seng West Primary School was considered to be having studied at River Valley Primary School. That gave me priority under Phase 2A(2). Just ahead of the parent volunteers! Phews! Based on the vacancies, Gracie is more or less assured of a place in River Valley Primary School. I will be tracking the vacancies by phases during this year's registration exercise. It will give interested parents an idea of their chances at each phase of Singapore's complicated primary school registration process.