Make Up Swimming Lesson

Remember how the school screwed up Ace's first swim lesson? To be very AH Q about it.. I guess I can tell myself tat everything happens for a GOOD reason...

Because of the screw up, the swimming school has very kindly offered to do a make up lesson for Ace because the teacher, L, says that Ace lacks confidence and needed fine tuning and a one on one lesson will be very helpful for him.

This meant that we had to bring him to the class.. but it also meant we finally got to see how swimming lessons are like here in Dubai and how they are different from the ones that Ace attended with Mr Loke, his swimming teacher in Singapore.

Gearing up for the lesson:) Wanted to ask if you can see his muscles but I guess all you can see are his ribs:) wahahahahahha:)

The swim lesson was held at another international school and compared to Ace's school, this was a really huge school and the swimming pool was lovely.

That is Ace and his swimming teacher, L.

L teaching Ace how to kick properly and how to turn...

Watching Ace learn how to swim, I realize that in this aspect, my son is like me. When we learn things, we need to be told exactly what to do.. every single detail and someone needs to go through the motions with us till we get the "feel of it" and then we will be able to get it.. kinesthetic learner when it comes to things like driving, swimming, etc.. sigh...

Pretending to sleep after his lesson....

I think he is happy to have completed his lesson:)

Updated on 11 Dec 2012:
The school screwed up and Ace missed his lesson again!

Made me fuming mad... but it is a long grandmother story so I lazy to type it out again.. I shall thus copy and paste my complaint letter....

From: Angel Chua <123456 yahoo.com="yahoo.com">
To: Horizon School Info
Cc: Max Yahoo <123456 yahoo.com.sg="yahoo.com.sg">
Sent: Sunday, 9 December 2012, 23:52
Subject: School Bus Mix Up AGAIN!:(

Hi

I am writing again because my son was sent home on the school bus again even though I told him that he had a swimming lesson today and I was not even informed when he was sent on the school bus.

At the start of the term, due to Ace's swimming form being misplaced, his name was not on the list for swim class and he was sent home on the school bus while I made my way via a ONE HOUR JOURNEY to pick him up. Before he boarded the bus then, he requested the school nurse to CALL ME and inform me so that I would not make a wasted trip. The NURSE did not call and I wrote in to feedback about this.

The school took action to find out what went wrong and what may have caused the incident only to find out that Ace's form was misplaced and his payment was not sent to Desert Sports but to the accounts office because apparently I am suppose to label that the money is for Desert Sports and just labeling it as "SWIMMING" is not enough.

However, the school did not address any of my other concerns about why the school nurse did not call me to inform me that my son was on the school bus even though my son asked if she could do that.

Fine, I left it at that... thinking the school may have given feedback to all involved to prevent this from happening again.

Two weeks ago, I when I picked Ace up from his swimming class, I was told that there will be a make up swimming lesson on 9 Dec to make up for the National Day holidays.

Afterward, I received an email from Desert Sports:
From: Lisa Hancox
Sent: Monday, 26 November 2012, 16:17
Subject: HS Swimming End of term dates

To the parents of Ace,

Following the recent closure of the pool (Monday to Wednesday) and National Day on the 2^nd December (Sunday) DSS are pleased to announce that we are arranging an extra week of classes from the 9^th to 12^th December 2012 to make up for the lesson cancelled. 

The after school paid swimming lessons will therefore finish on Wednesday 12^th December, please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any queries.

We look forward to seeing your swimmer in the water!

Best regards,

Lisa Hancox

Therefore, I specifically told Ace that he is having swimming lessons today.

Imagine my surprise when the school bus called me because MY SON WAS HOME ON THE SCHOOL BUS!

By then, my husband had already driven half an hour from his office to Horizon to pick Ace up! And so he had to drive another half an hour back to office all for nothing!

I tried to find out what happened from Ace and I also called the school nurse to find out what happened. Apparently, at the end of his lesson, Ms Roberts told the class that there are not after school activities today. Which is true for everyone else except Ace. I guess she may not have known that there is a make up lesson for the paid swimming lessons as all other activities have ended. It may have been Ace's fault that he did not check with Ms Roberts at this point and just accepted things. But he is just a kid and one with low situational awareness. I would the expect the adults to guide him along.

Then Ace went to the school hall and the school nurse told me she was surprised to see Ace as she has marked him out of the school bus list today. Besides, he was not changed into his swimming gear (he did not change because he assumed what Ms Roberts says is true.) The school nurse said she asked Ace why he was not dressed and if he had swimming and Ace said he did not have swimming today (as per what he assumed from what Ms Roberts said).

Even though there was a disparity between the two info received, the school nurse told me and admitted that she should have checked to verify if Ace has swimming lessons BUT SHE DID NOT.. because, in her words," doing so would mean going down to the clinic or the office and it would mean a delay in the setting off of the school bus which will result in complains from other parents about why their children are home so late." (Does that seem like a good reason NOT TO DOUBLE CHECK?)

Before Ace went on the bus, he asked the school nurse if she could call me to inform me that he will be on the bus because we told him we were going to fetch him after his swimming class. When I asked her why she did not call me, her response was that it was important that she sent the children off. The school bus, she says, needs to go off at 2.30. Ace reached home at 3.30pm.. was there not enough time for her to call within that one hour?

I am extremely displeased at what has happened. This is not the first time this happened. It is the SECOND TIME within the last 4 mths! Each time a screw up like this happens, that means time and money wasted for me and my husband. Ace's swimming lessons are paid lessons and i am not sure if desert sports will be able or even willing to make up lesson for Ace since it is no fault of theirs that Ace missed today's lesson.

Which brings me to another point. The other time, when the school nurse called to inform me that Ace was having a running nose, I specifically told her to ask Ace to take out his jacket and wear it as he was feeling cold. When Ace came home, he was still not in his jacket because he had forgotten about it. The school nurse did not inform him.

I understand Ace takes responsibility as well for his own things and I told him that he should have checked with either his teacher or the school nurse and if he did not understand or was not sure what they were saying, he should have verified with them. It is also his responsibility to take out his own jacket to put it on when he is feeling cold.

But he is in a school setting where I expect the adults who are involved in his education to take care of him and guide him along and not be led along by him.

I cannot believe that I am here complaining AGAIN about the school i was full of praises for in the previous year!

I would like to know:

- why there was no list circulated to Ms Roberts to let her know that Ace has a swim class today. I remembered that last year, Ace was always telling me about him checking if he has activities against a list that his form teacher held. Ace is always reminded that he has an extra lessons on days where he has extra lessons.

- why did the school nurse NOT have a way to check efficiently or quickly if Ace has a swim lesson today when she was at the school hall? Shouldn't a system to do that be worked into the "operating procedures"? Don't you agree that telling me that checking with the office or checking her list will make other children late is a VERY LAME EXCUSE? If there is this possibility, she should have brought all the information along with her. If she is given a list and there is a chance that she might need to refer to her list, why did she not bring the list along with her to the school hall. Or she could have used her mobile phone to make a call. She told me that she had ticked him off as not going on the bus today. She must have received this information from somewhere and why is it that she does not trust the official information that she received from the school but trusts Ace implictly EVEN THOUGH ACE ALSO ASKED HER TO, "PLEASE CALL MY MUM.. so that my dad wun come and pick me up for swimming" . Why is it OK to send Ace on the bus even though there is obviously some miscommunication involved since she has different information on hand to work with? Why is it even OK for her not to do her job of double checking?

- Why is it that the nurse did not call me AGAIN.. despite being requested to do so since the last saga. Why did she not ask Ace to put on his jacket even when I told her so? Am I wrong to presume that this is part of her duties and her job? I really wonder if this boils down to miscommunication, poor work attitude or a lack of genuine care and concern for the children's welfare. (But of course, I am comparing her to the wonderful school nurses in Horizon last year.)

- what exactly happened after the last time I provided the feedback. Did the school pass the message to the nurse?

I am really disappointed that this happened again. I was upset the first time it happened. And even more so given that this is the second time this happened! In fact, I was so upset, I did something I have never done in my whole life! I actually called the school nurse and started shouting at her! I don't usually shout at people unless they are my children!

I have since apologized to her for being rather ungracious and she has also apologized to me (in the end after giving lame excuses which only serve to make me even more mad) and assured me that this will not happen again. I contemplated letting this end there but decided to write to you in the end as I do not want to take any second chances of this EVER happening again.

I have excellent experiences with the previous school nurses who always took the initiative to check and to call me regardless of whether Ace asked them to do so and therefore equally high expectations of the service standards. Given that the school fees in Horizon has gone up and not down, is it not fair for me to expect at least the same quality of services?

Yours,

Angel

--------------

I was really livid! I was so angry I called the nurse and screamed at her.. intially I just wanted to find out what happened.. when she gave me lame excuse, I scolded her as if she was a little child! I have never done that to someone I dunno in my entire life! When I look back, I think I may have over reacted.. but well, what is done cannot be undone. At least I am proud tat I dun try to be nice anymore. The ending is that she told me she is sorry and assures me this won't happen again. I also apologized to her for screaming at her.

I think it is a lesson for Ace too because Mr Low Situational Awareness Blur Like Sotong when questioned by different people either says he cannot remember or just anyhow provide a story... I suspect it is cos he has low SA, he doesnt think this is impt and never remember the details of what happened and partially, he is afraid to tell the truth in case people get angry at him. I explained to him that if we want to sort this out, he has to tell the truth and tell it with accurate details and not give vague response like "I forgot" when his teacher asked him about it the next day. Have to say exactly what he forgot.. I forgot  can mean, I forgot I have swimming lesson.. or I forgot what I said... or I forgot what happened.

Another friend who has been doing the POV workshops that I used to do just got back from another workshop.. I posted about this on FB about how I was mad the person gave me lame excuses and she asked me, "So what 'lame excuses' have you been giving others?" Hai.. if apply what I learnt and assume that everything I see in this world is a projection of myself. I think maybe I am also tired of giving myself lots of excuses for still playing the role of a victim about all the disadvantages of STILL being in Dubai because I guess I just still want to be right and make everyone else.. god included.. WRONG. Thanks Jo.. it is good awareness:)


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