Whenever I see the secondary 1 students first day in school, it reminds me of the time when I was once like them. I remember, my first day of school, I could say that it was terrible and unlucky for me.

Early in the morning, I left home with my brother and father as my father was sending us to school but halfway on the road, the car broke down and my brother and I took a cab to school as we were afraid that we might be late. When I reached school, I felt so lost, everything seemed strange to me. I had no friends at all as I came from a primary school that was so far away from my secondary school and none of my friends were studying in Kent Ridge.

I went up to the third floor and I saw a lot of students waiting outside the hall, so I followed. While I was waiting, I kept looking around hoping to find some familiar faces but I could see none. At this moment, a lot of questions were running through my mind. How would secondary school life be? How could I survive without any friend? Would the teachers be fierce?

Finally, instructions were given that we were supposed to sit according to our classes, so I went into the hall, looking for my class and sat down. I sat there quietly and started to read my storybook but that day seemed so hot to me that I kept perspiring especially my palms which made my storybook wet. I can still remember that day clearly that Janet sat in front of me. She had her hair all tied up and her hair was a little curly and she was wearing a pair of spectacles. Nadia sat behind me. She was skinny and neatly-dressed. Jiayi was sitting beside me, he had a mushroom hairstyle and he was tall. To me, none of them looked nervous so I started to calm down.

After the talk by the principal and HOD, our class was taken back to our class and started the ice-breaker games. The ice-breaker games were quite fun and that was the time I started to talk to people. I remembered vividly that the first person that I talked to me was YongShan. She was cute, she wore a pair of spectacles and her hair was all tied up. The first impression that she gave me was friendly, cheerful and cheeky. She asked me which school I am from and that time I was so shy that I answered word by word instead of in a sentence.

Now it came to the worst part of the day, recess. I walked around the school again and again waiting for the bell to ring and that time I saw Serene was alone too and wanted to make friends with her but I did not have the courage to do so until the third day. She was the first person who spent her recess with me in my secondary school like and now she is still one of my best and closest friends.

Dear Mrs Yeo,
It has been about one year since I last saw you. How are you? I am fine. I would like to share with you my joy and the changes made by the school this year. Hope you will enjoy reading my letter.

Firstly, I will tell you about the changes made in school. Our school changed a lot this year; it looks new, brand new. Walls have been repainted with brighter colours and even more colours. It looks wonderful! Perhaps, you can come and take a look, I think you will like it.

Secondly, I will talk about my first month of 2008 in Kent Ridge. It was quite different from last year as since many of my classmates have dropped to NA stream and the class became smaller and also quieter. This is also the critical year for us, as we will be taking our ‘O’ levels examination. The first month of 2008 in Kent Ridge was quite hectic as we have supplementary lesson almost everyday and would get so tired that I often fall asleep once I reached home. Worst of all, I still have to go to school on Saturdays doe my cca training as there will be a competition on February. Though, training has since been canceled starting form last week as our school no longer participates in the competition due to some problems. Actually, I would say that it is good news for me as I can have more rest and even more time to revise my work. But during training, I also learned new things such as tying different kind of knots. I think it is also a very good experience, don’t you think so?

Thirdly, I will tell you about what I achieved in the first month of 2008. Let’s talk about my CCA, NPCC; I have been promoted to sergeant after three years of hard work. When I first got my rank, I was overjoyed and pleased. Everything I had done for the past three years seem so worth it. And now I am aiming to get a staff sergeant by the end of 2008. Do you think it is possible? I think maybe, but depends on what the test is about. Let’s not talk about cca now, let’s talk about studies; I happened to get third in class for maths, one of my weaker subjects but maybe it is just luck. But as usual, I flunked some other subjects such as English and Social Studies. Nevertheless, I will try harder for the next test.

Lastly, new year is coming and I want to wish you a happy Chinese New Year! Stay healthy and stay happy!

With love,
Jacqueline