Stepping back in time - Westlake Secondary School

Sometime back I heard news over the Internet that Westlake Secondary School which is situated in Bradell will be merged with Bradell Secondary School. When I came to realize this, it was a few years later and the place have now been deserted for some time. I feel saddened by the news that the place I once called my school no longer stands there and so are the teachers who once taught me.

In year 2011, I tried to search over the internet for pictures and information about the school but was unable to find much. Facebook didn't have much information either. I went down to NLB to try to search the archives back then. However, they only have microfiche documents with little photos. There isn't physical yearbooks in which I can try to trace back the years when I was at Westlake Secondary. A real disappointment indeed! To think that our NLB archives will certainly have copies of yearbooks from the school is an understatment.  

Today, year 2015, I again tried to search over the internet for information. I was surprised to find a Facebook paged that was finally formed. Although the Facebook Page that was created wasn't during my period, it was filled with picture of teachers who have once taught me in that school. For that, I am really happy to have been able to have finally stumble on it. In addition, I have also found additional photos of the school surroundings. Thanks to the below Facebook Page Westlake Secondary School Class 82-88

I am from Westlake Secondary School of Class 86-90. Below are some of the teachers who I can remember who actually taught me during my time there.

1. Mr Gwee - my Sec 1 Literature teacher and also my form teacher then who made the subject so
                      interesting to me. A very nice and patient man.

2. Mr Ho - Maths teacher to me. Not sure which year but I do remember he certainly is a funny teacher
                  who once mentioned about the baggy pants that was popular then, that it can put 10 chickens in
                  it. The whole class laughed. He made Maths interesting.

3. Mrs Tang - my Sec 1 Geography teacher. I never liked the subject coz it put me to sleep but I do
                      remember Mrs Tang well ;) Lucky the subject lasted for 2 years only.

4. Mr Seow - my Chinese teacher during my last few years with Westlake Secondary. A patient and nice
                       teacher. Fierce at times but a good teacher who never gave up on me. I will always
                       remember he once bet with me that if I put in lots of effort for my Chinese, I will certainly get
                       a B for my O Levels. I took up the challenge and I proved to him I did it.

5. Mrs D. Sigh - Home Econs teacher. A fierce teacher. If you approach her nicely, she is an alright                                       teacher. What I love about her? Well, I once offer to help her do something. When she say
                          Thank You to me, I felt the gratitude caming from her.

6. Ms Shamsudin - History teacher. Another fierce teacher not to be messed with.

7. Ms Han - I only remember her as my NPCC teacher. Not sure if she ever taught me Chinese coz I never                     liked her then. Ooopss ... sorry to talk bad about her. She just gave me the impression that she                      never look up to Normal Stream pupils and people always like to say that she like to act cute                        back then.
.
Those missing from the picture below

8. Ms Judy - Forgot her last name. An indian teacher who is short in height. A friendly and approachable
                    Science teacher, think is Chemistry. Must have came in during my time. Not sure why she is                          not in the below picture.  Do missed her tough!

9. Ms Thambaya - Forgot her last name. An indian teacher. She is slim, gentle and soft spoken teacher.
                             Approachable teacher. Always get bullied by the class. My English teacher and also                                      once my form teacher then.

Those who never taught me but I still remember them would be

Mrs Naidu - Very stern. I always like to watch her coach Netball. Ever once see her play. SHE IS GOOD!
 
Mrs Khoo Chee Eng (Principal) - There was one time that the school impose on students to talk more English instead of Mandarin. The reason being it seems to be our culture that it is normal whenever we gather with friends,  Mandarin would always come out naturally. Once I passed by the office with group of friends and she caught me speaking in Mandarin with friends. I was being pulled into the office to write a page of essay for her in English. After I graduated from Westlake Secondary School not long, I seem to heard from rumors some where, can't recall where, that Mrs Khoo passed away from an accident at home where she fell from the steps. Not sure true or not but was sad to hear that.

Below this picture was copied from the NLB archives. Wish there were more photos like yearbook of me with the class in which I have long lost all those. Sad indeed to unable to trace back!

 

Turning back time to year 1988 NDP

I have been walking through back in time and I came up with 1988 Singapore National Day Parade at Kallang our old National Stadium.

This very day is very special to me. In the year 1988, I was 15 years old then and in my Secondary 3 at Westlake Secondary School. This very year, our nation have plans to celebrate National Day with a topic of Flash Card. Few schools have been picked to participate in this event and my school was one of the selected ones. I remembered that we have to head there a few times to practice under the hot sun and having to seat there and hold our huge book of pages with colors. We have no idea at first that it was pages of pictures put together with everyone coorindinate to flip to the pages at the same time.

Picture by nas.gov.sg

This is how it works. We will all seated across where the VIP was to be seated. Above that area, there is a small sheltered house where the person in charge will flag out his flag. When we see the flag, we will flip the pages of our flash cards to the next page and the big picture would appear. We had lots of fun then and get to enjoy watching the event through a small peep hole made through the book that was given to us. We only got home that actual day almost midnite but we had lots of fun.

A good book that bring laughter for being a KIASU mother

I recently borrowed the above book by Monica Lim, The Good, The Bad and the PSLE from the library.

This is a very interesting and well written book by a local author. I don't normally read a lot of books written by local authors and that doesn't really mean I am bias. It is just that I noticed that not all local writers can write interesting topics that can keep a reader like me interested long enough to finish the whole book.

After reading this book, one can tell that you are not alone as being a Kiasu Mother. In today's generation, it is normal for any mothers who would want best for their child and to have the best for their child's future. This book mentions the trials of the author going through handling her own two children, one boy and one girl. One is smarter and the other is a bit handful.Read to understand how much a mother would stretch to give the best to her children.    

 

MOE allows school to decide, use of WhatsApp!

This is not new! With new technology of smartphones and all kinds of apps available to us these days, Secondary School are also recommending students to use WhatsApp for discussing school work with each other. What's more the app is FREE! However, you have to have a smartphone and data plan to go with it in order to be able to used the WhatsApp. This is not provided by the school. Funny! This can be really costly to parents. Smartphones these days don't come cheap. A second hand smartphone can cost you few hundred bucks. Not forgetting that you need to have data plans in order to get connected to WhatsApp. The cheapest data plan would cost about $30.00 but then it only have  100MB of local data. These can be used up pretty fast. An example of Youth Plan by Singtel

I find this impossible to accept! When I went online in search of approved MOE school platform, I came to realize that I have been outdated with this. Other parents have also raised this issue to MOE. Sad to realize that MOE replied that they allow school these days to decide on the platform to be used which means it is out of their hands and that is how WhatsApp come into picture. Read this replies from others who have raised to MOE about the above issue HERE

Like as if it is not stressful enough that things are getting more expensive and everybody is trying to keep a close eye on what is spent these days and school is adding expenses like this to parents. No wonder Singapore is getting so tensed up with tons of upset people.

Transfer School - Secondary

Lately been having thoughts of transferring my older child into another Secondary School.

Went online in search of others view in this area of transferring school request and have found nothing much on it. However, I did came across one page on a forum that mentioned about a transfer that was placed and took one year for the transfer to be processed by MOE. I am shocked and sad to know that it takes so long for a request to be processed through MOE.

Seeing that I am not going any where with clearing my doubts on the procedure to request for transfer of school, I called MOE to equire.

MOE Customer Service told me that to request for a transfer I need to approach the school myself. If the school have place, the child have to take a placement test. So I asked, "MOE don't step in to help?" There wasn't a direct reply back as to "NO"  from the Customer Service. She just reply as MOE only help if there is a change in address. I am rolling my eyes with anger already but didn't say anything but ok and hang up the phone.

Now I know! Guess MOE is of no help regardless what reason you may want to request for a transfer school unless you move from one place to another in Singapore. This have also given me another view of, if you insist of transferring school, go move into another house.

Read this example of what happened to a Father requesting for transfer for his daugther HERE