Sending Idlan Off

Since the Raya period, Anita had been brooding. Idlan dropped a bombshell saying that he wanted to join his friends for the school trip. Initially he was not very keen but I was sure his friends talked him into going.

The location? I would elaborate more once he returns, and he would be away for 5 days and 4 nights.

And he was off ....Yes, the driver of the "Misaikaran" bus does sport a huge moustache ...There would be sleepless nights before he returns on Thursday. Although Irfan didn’t want to admit it, he was missing his brother. Hopefully Idlan would learn to be more independent during the trip as well as having fun with his friends. As for Anita, she had to content with a gastric attack earlier, and I wasn’t sire what else would be in store for her .....

Time to endure ....

Mixed Feelings

Idlan joined SSU - Sekolah Sri Utama - back in 2008 in kindergarten. He spent 3 years in pre-school before starting primary school, finishing off with his UPSR last year. He left a couple of weeks after the exam to join the school he is at now.

Irfan also joined as a 4-year-old back in 2010 and will be leaving in September. It looked like we would be completing our 9 year association with the school soon and I was there today to pay for Irfan’s term fees, which would eventually be the last for him. With that fee paid, it meant that this may be the last bit of business I would be doing with the school except for collecting the school bond when Irfan leaves later.

Over the years, it was clear that the school was heading for a decline. They were actually lucky as there were a number of schools nearby that had completely closed over the years. SSU was still surviving, but I fear for their future. The quality of the teachers had deteriorated. They had a number of headmasters recently, with one only just recently resigned. Most of the teachers were local - the last headmaster was Caucasian. With a PhD. I didn’t think that he was a perfect fit from day one.

One of my main gripe was the fact that the school do not have a Parents-Teachers Association. Dissemination of informations had been weak over the years, much to my frustration. And there were no avenue for us to voice our concerns. I did write a letter to the then headmaster when Idlan left, and he did reply back. From the tone of his email, I could sense that he was just as frustrated with the arrangement at the school.

The school Idlan - and later Irfan - would be moving to was way different to Sri Utama. They put a lot of emphasis on parents’ participation, their activities were great and Idlan had definitely moved on from. He was miserable in the last couple of years at Sri Utama. We told the teachers about that but unfortunately they weren’t at all interested.

I still have a soft spot for Sri Utama. It was convenient when we were living in Gombak before. Time has changed and the school had certainly been left behind .... We were still in contact with some of the teachers from yesteryears. They still remembered the two boys, and how they had grown over the years .... I still had the photo of Idlan’s first day at Sri Utama in 2008 framed on the wall at the house in Gombak.

Settling In

It had been a while since I last seen Idlan enjoying school. He had been dragging himself to class in the last couple of years. Now he was happily doing his homework and chatting with me about his experiences in school.

He also tried something new. He takes his bus daily now and the only drawback was he had to get up very early. He would need to get used to that... Hopefully he would continue to enjoy school from now on.

A New Beginning

Idlan had been to Sri Utama for 9 years, starting with 3 years of kindie and all his Sekolah Rendah years. During the years, a number of his friends had left to other schools. Idlan stayed as it was convenient for us as Anita’s parents lived quite nearby, and Irfan was going to the same school as well.

Early this month, Idlan sat for his UPSR. And with that, we decided it was time to move on. Idlan was not keen to take SPM, preferring GCSE and A-levels instead. He made his mind up early.

That also started our search for a new school.

We visited a few, but at the end was happy with a couple. We let Idlan select between the final two.

And he wanted this one. He had to sit for an interview and can entrance assessment, which should have taken 4 and a half hours. He finished after two, having to write a couple of essays along the way. He was really pumped up to go to this school.

I wonder what was Anita signing ...Waiting for his tutor to take him to his classLast week came the news that there was an opening. The tutor mentioned how impressed they were with Idlan’s communications skills and he was exempted from any extra English classes. And better still, he jumped a year, and was now equivalent to Form Two, since the school terms starts in September.

This morning, I took him for his first day. We were greeted by his tutor, and within 2 minutes was whisked away. Looking forward to hear of his experience later this afternoon. As for us, we decided to have breakfast near school to wait for the morning traffic to dissipate.

Quick breakfast before heading back to work ....Welcome to the new school Idlan. I was sure you were going to love it …..

Idlan was not Well

After vomiting in the car on the way home earlier, Idlan managed to take in some food and medicine before again feeling tired. By the time we were ready for berbuka, he was already asleep.

He was still sleeping when I checked on him just now before I myself retire. I will be on call tomorrow and planning for an early night.