Tampines Primary School: Faith

Today was a very auspicious day for us as Frunty joined his class called Faith to stand at attention for the Singapore National Anthem in the assembly hall of Tampines Primary school. With his new teacher, Ms. Devi, at his side and a sea of nameless children surrounding him, Frunty didn't look back. At that moment, I have never been more proud of him, not ever. As he walked away towards his class which he had never seen before, he gave us a quick smile. Daddy, Pit and I, invited to watch the opening exercises this morning, were thrilled by such a warm reception by the principal and by Frunty's positive disposition and strong character.

I also could have called the following entry "redemption time" instead as it wasn't always this easy. All the years of tricky times with taking Frunty to birthday parties which he didn't want to go and then ended up having a ball...those frustrations were erased as we watched him today join his Primary 1 class. Frunty will finish up this year and be ready for Primary 2 in January at the schools brand new facility in Tampines. (pronounced Tampinese)

It has been a roller-coaster ride since we got here with me phoning International and public schools and not being able to even get in the door because of swine flu and/or waiting lists that were too long. Getting into TPS was a tiny miracle as a space just happened to have opened up when I visited. I was so shocked but needed a night to discuss the location etc. with Daddy. When I returned the next day to tell the General Admissions Officers that Frunty would attend, all of a sudden he didn't seem to want to accept us anymore. He asked a lot of questions about why we would want to attend and voiced negative statements regarding the possibility that Frunty would disrupt the class and the Singapore system.

Looking back, I am so pleased at how I stood my ground. Not desperate to get into any school and quite enjoying homeschooling/being on holiday, I replied that I wanted a school where my son would be happy. With his first ever resume in hand, I pointed out Frunty's amazing abilities and what a contribution to his school Frunty would prove. Being a teacher myself, the Officer seemed confident that Frunty would get the support from home to transition nicely into the Singapore system without disrupting it (I could, by the way, completely see his points) and by the Friday, after the four of us met with the Officer, we left the school with Frunty's new uniform and books in hand!!

Daddy had to go off to work so I took the kids shoe shopping on that Friday so that Frunty would have the required white shoes which he loves so much it is hard to get them off! We went over to our friends' home and Frunty was thrilled to borrow a bike and ride around in these shoes! The next morning, Saturday, Frunty was up, dressed in his full uniform and sitting at the table ready for breakfast and homeschooling. (I really should call it practise and review of Math and English)
Not once has Frunty shown any negative spirit towards going to school. I kept waiting for that to happen today but it never did.

In fact, the opposite happened. We were invited to stay from 7:40-1pm to see Frunty during recess. I thought this was super so went home with Daddy and Pit to get some documents and then came back in time for recess. I hid behind a poll as Frunty approached and saw him walking with a boy. When he caught sight of me, all smiles! I met many of his new classmates in the half hour to come and watched Frunty eat with them, share some of his foods, run around and play tag. Boys would come over to me and ask me where Frunty was...he seemed to already be well known. One boy put his arm around him. Girls were sitting with me, boys would come over and chat a bit...I got to ask lots of questions and although their accents are hard to understand, I picked up information here and there. Mostly I picked up that Frunty was very warmly welcomed to the class, thanks to a nice introduction by Ms. Devi. He was even carrying a $1 coin given to him by a boy who was worried Frunty didn't have a "collation". (yes, some French words are still sticking)

I took a picture of Frunty with his new friend who stuck out, Isqandar, and we made two copies. One of them is in a frame that Frunty decorated and will give to Isqandar tomorrow at school. The other is on Frunty's pillow as he sleeps soundly away. Despite getting up this morning at 6 am to get to school by 7:30am, Frunty was in fine form all day and even cracked a very funny joke at bed time while we were doing animal riddles. Frunty's turn "I am really hairy....etc. Who am I?" Answer: Claudio. (I can't go into details but we laughed our heads off!)

On Wednesday is Childrens' Day so the children are invited to wear costumes of fairy tale characters all day and participate in games etc. It sounds like a lot of fun. All of our costumes are on a boat so Frunty and I will stop at a place on the way home to find something. When I looked back, I always pictured Frunty wearing a white shirt and navy blue short as a uniform here. It's funny because during these last three weeks I have seen many different colour variations for school uniforms and yet, the school that accepted Frunty has a white and navy blue uniform. Luckily, I had faith.