Surprise! Surprise!

It came as a surprise when I received a call from Little Boy's teacher congratulating me on his selection into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP).  None of us expected it.  Even Little Boy was shocked!  Once the shock passed, I started to feel doubt and uncertainty.  Is there a mistake in the selection process? Is my boy really gifted?  I have never thought my boy is gifted as he has not shown any obvious signs of giftedness during the 9 years of his life.  He was not even top 10 in his Primary 3 mid-year and end-of-year examinations.  I contemplated against taking up the offer as I was worried that Little Boy will not be able to survive the programme if the selection result was a fluke.   Little Boy was uncertain himself but he was curious enough to want to find out more about the programme.

What changed my mind?
9 out of 10 people I spoke to encouraged me to let Little Boy take up the offer. Afterall, it is a much covetous offer desired by many.  How foolish to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I was told.  Finally, I had a change of heart and felt more certain after attending the briefing conducted by the GEP branch.  First, I was assured that the selection tests are established tests and no child is selected by mistake. Next, I was enticed by the small class size of 25 (mainstream has a class size of 40) and the more hands-on curriculum with more field trips and projects (compared to the pen and paper drills in mainstream curriculum). Little Boy attended a different briefing from mine. His was targeted at students. I did not know what went on during his briefing but he, too, was excited and eager to join the GEP after the briefing.

What's next?
After we had decided to take up the offer, we had to choose a GEP school to go to as Little Boy's current school is not a GEP school. There are 9 GEP primary schools in Singapore. After reading up on the various schools and much discussions, we narrowed down our choices to 2 schools. Though our first choice is school X but Little Boy was posted to school Y due to availability and distance. Generally, we are still very happy with school Y and look forward to embarking on an exciting journey into the GEP in Jan 2013 together.