PSLE Marking

Hello there, boys!

I think most of you are slacking at home this week during PSLE marking. But I must tell you this - what may be 4 days of school holiday for most of you are actually 4 days of hardwork for your teachers. Every year, for 4 days, every Primary School teacher in Singapore gets involved in the marking of PSLE papers. You may not know it but we teachers are sent to different schools all over the island to mark different subjects. Which means we get to meet teachers from other schools. In fact, today, I met two Scout teachers from 2 schools in Bedok District. It is during such occassions that we catch up with one another and get updated on the latest happenings. The more cynical among you will say that we teachers just love to gossip! Which is kind of true to some extent. :P

Anyway, I have been doing some reflection over our Temasek Cub Scout unit. I know some of you were disappointed that we didn't have any Scout Meeting last Friday considering that PSLE had ended. Furthermore, the Brownies and Red Cross had their Meeting that same day! That was a surprise to me since they have been regularly cancelling their Meetings the past 3 weeks! How was I supposed to know that they would finally meet after such a long absence? I thought they closed down! Bwahahaha! Oh well, I shall not "suan" them anymore. We Scouts must be gentlemanly. We can "suan" but we mustn't carry things too far. LOL!

Just to clarify things, I didn't call for any Scout Meeting on Friday because I was really busy with marking the SA2 Composition papers. Unfortunately, because I'm the only teacher-in-charge of you P4 and P6 Scouts, there's no one else to conduct and supervise Scout Meetings if I am away or not free. I guess I can always ask Daniel to take over and run the activity but knowing the rest of you rascals, you are just gonna bully him into letting you play soccer for 2 whole hours! Oh yes, Joshua actually came to me on Thursday to ask me whether there was Scout Meeting! He looked so disappointed when I said no. Josh, you are such a sweet and enthu Scout! Got chance to be Chief Commissioner Scout next time! Derrick, watch out!

During my reflection, I thought about splitting you up into 2 separate units next year. The current P4s, comprising 12 boys, will go on to P5 and we will be recruiting new boys from this year's P2s. I already have one P2 boy (Caleb from 2K) who wants to join Scouts in P3 next year! I am confident that our upcoming Recruitment will be a success and we will get at least 20 new members. Which gives us a potential membership of 32! LTT has already promised to send a second Scout Teacher to help me. Which means we can afford to split up our Scout unit! I will probably take the new boys and train them in the basics of Scouting from the very beginning. Derrick, Noel and the other boys in their level will remain together as a group to work towards their Silver and Gold Arrow badges. They will be looked after by the other Scout Teacher. Only during special occassions will we have combined meetings together. What do the P6 Seniors think about this idea? Split or don't split? Think about it carefully this week and let me know your thoughts next week.

Oh yes, before I forget, I will be organising a movie outing to watch "The Guardian" - about the elite US Coast Guard lifesavers - next Monday afternoon after school at Marina Square Golden Village. For P6 boys only. The P4s must study for SA2 exams so they cannot go. We will be going together with the P6 AVA boys. Terence and his group deserve a treat for all their help in AVA for the school this year. I pay for movie ticket only. Popcorn, drinks, nachos - you pay yourself! I think this movie should be more interesting than "World Trade Center". Sorry, Nathaniel, no "Miami Vice". Must be at least 16 years old to watch that!

I am also proposing a photo-taking stall by Scouts for the P6 Flea Market. The idea is to set up a booth where the other P6 pupils can get photos taken with their best friends to remember their time in Temasek. They can also take photos with their favourite teachers! We will place my digital camera on a tripod, set up a photo area with background, take the shots of the students and charge $0.50 per photo. All profits will go to School Needy Pupils Fund. This will be an excellent fund-raising project and it will also enhance the reputation of our Scout unit. Terence and the AVA boys will be doing a song dedication stall using (what else?) the AVA system. I wonder if the Brownies are setting up a stall??? Anyway, for our stall, we will need at least 1 photographer, 1 cashier, 1 order-taker and 1 stall manager. Whichever P6 Scout is interested to carry out this special project, please inform me because I have to speak to your Form Teacher to get you excused from your own class stall.

For the P6 Gold Arrow Tests, I will try to get a flagpole to hoist the Scout flag because I want to make the tests official and formal. The Group Leaders will have to learn and perform the flagbreak and flag-lowering ceremonies. I hope every P6 Scout will turn up to take the Gold Arrow Tests because they are the ultimate test of whether you are a real Scout or not. If you are serious about acing the Gold Arrow Tests, start practising those knots on your own now! You can also practise cooking in your kitchen. This will improve your chances of acing the outdoor cooking test. Until we meet again on Friday!