12 January 2022 -  O level results release

The much-awaited day came and went. Unlike 4 years ago when she received her PSLE results, this time she was alone - parents were allowed in school due to the Safe Management Measures (SMM) so we had our mobile phones close in case her message came in.

A lot of sweat, hard work, and sleepless nights went into the preparation for the national examination so she was anxious naturally. She recounted the friendships she had fostered, the pep talks, and the occasional well-meaning scoldings the class received from teachers. These 4 years hadn't been easy - they went on a month-long of Home-based Learning in 2020 and another short one in 2021, all when they were moved on to upper secondary where the syllabus and work were more demanding. Camps and outdoor activities were suspended, CCAs came to a halt and social activities were very much none in existence. Yet, this lot of students strived and persevered - they adapted and rose to the challenge. 

I was browsing my photo album and saw these photos that I had taken earlier :

The lovely notes of encouragement and gifts from her teachers and classmates when they had their own farewell. Among them was also a letter that she had written to herself.

A plaque from the school for her service.

and the parting gift from school. She loves this bear a lot :) 

God is good - all the time and C knows she is in good hands. 

 

Last day of exam and C was already getting ready to let her hair down.

She only had one thing on her mind and that was to get her hair coloured. She had talked about it previously when she was much younger but our answer to her had always been "no". She knew from an extremely young age that there was a timeline for her to be able to get certain wants.

So this time round, we agreed of course.

Here she is, our happy camper with her flaming hot hair. 

It is an understatement to say that time flies... really.

A photograph popped up on Memories in Facebook and it was on a set of photographs that I had taken of C getting her uniforms and books for primary school. Fast-forward to 2021 and she was sitting for her O level English papers this afternoon.

She was pretty nervous, I must say. Whenever I could, I would get back home in time to say a prayer with her before sending her off for her papers. However today, I did not manage to and gave her a call instead. She had initially said that she would only leave for school at 1.15 in the afternoon but her papers were starting at 1.30! After that correction, I received another text from her that read she had taken the bus in the wrong direction! oh man... 

Luckily C has a habit of giving herself an hour of buffer time so she wasn't all that flustered.

Talk about being stressed. She commented the EL papers were tricky with many inferential questions for Paper 2 but Paper 1 was alright and she didn't feel much anxiety about them. Hopefully the exam would proceed smoothly.