Parent Child Conference

This is another one of those things I like about Ace's school where I feel would be great if they could implement it in Singapore...

We were informed that there is going to be a Student Parent Conference but did not know what it was and what to expect.. just that we were to make an appointment for about half and hour during one of the school days....

The letter from the school just said...

Dear parents,
This will be an opportunity for you to make an appointment with your child during the school day so that you and your child can discuss their progress and achievements this year. They will guide you through their learning and show you their learning journals, projects and other learning experiences during this time.
Please check with your child’s class teacher regarding their timetable. If you want a meeting with any of the specialist teachers please feel free to make an appointment through reception with them before the end of term.

This has been rescheduled from the 12th to 18th / 19th of June. Apologies if this has caused any inconvenience.

Kind Regards
Horizon School

When we reached the school, we were just standing outside the classroom... not knowing what to do.. cos Ace's class looked as if they were having lessons as usual.. thank god the teacher assistant passed by and so she said to wait a while and she informed the teacher for us.

Then, out walked Ace with some sheets of paper and all the the workbooks he has been doing his work on...

As we did not know what to do, we let Ace guide us.. he said we have to find a place to sit down and so we did.. Ace was given this question and answer sheet that he filled out in advance and he started reading to us...

So at the end of it, he has actually a SATS test result.. I did not even kow he had any sort of test!:) Hahahahaha

I think it is such a wonderful idea for the child to be able to show off the work he has been working hard on all through the year himself... you can see the pride and joy in Ace's eyes as he presented his work to us and I am sure this will motivate him to continue to do his best the next year...

For the parents, me and Max are also happy cos we are so proud of our boy:)

I can see that Ace has really worked hard and played hard in school and I am very happy with that..

I wondered though if it is easier for an International school to produce students like that because most of the students here come from ok, if not, well to do families... they do not face to face the hard struggles of life at a young age and do not have to worry about things like whether they will have food to eat tomorrow....

Also, I think it is good for the soul and their self confidence that they are constantly doing well the work they should be working on and rewarded for performing up to standard.. instead of being given work that is suitable for a higher level and feeling upset that they cannot achieve it... not all children rise up to challenges and setbacks the same way.. some just feel defeated and it affects them for a long while to come..

Anyway, to add an icing to the top of the cake, Ace received two new awards this week.. one for swimming his first 5m in the big pool where Mrs Myers, his swimming teacher said he still lacks confidence in swimming...

And he gets one more for using excellent similes to describe characters from fairytales... The funniest part has to be this... max looked at this award and asked... "What is a Simile?" hahahaha

Anyway, while I was there I saw on the noticeboard a project about jobs and occupations.. That is Ace in his dress as your ambition day.. and he is a SPY:)

When we were done with the conferencing, we saw many other children also reading out their work to their parents.. I think Max was the only father who came along cos most of them were reading to their mums only...

But it looks like Ace will not be bringing his work home cos it seems that some of his work has to be passed to his year 3 teacher so that she knows which level he is at and she could continue with where the other teacher left off.

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