NEE SOON PRIMARY SCHOOL 1963-68

Miss Sim was my first teacher. A very kind person. A slight tap on the knuckles with a ruler was the only punishment. I think she made sure it did not hurt us. During the end of the first year in school, each student sew a design on a piece of thick cloth which was then attached to a folding stool. We each took home a small stool. Mr. N.K.Samy (Maths Teacher) was the class teacher for primary 4 to 6. He and Mr. Robert Lee (Science Teacher) were the most popular teachers. There were so many games that we played. Football, badminton,hide and seek, rounders, hantam bola, kuthi kuthi, marbles, top and satay were some of the popular games.Some boys caught a blue and black colored small spider and brought it to school in a small box. A leaf was placed in the box to make the spider feel at home, since these spiders live on plants.The spiders were made to fight and we watched with much interest. They were called fighting spiders. During the windy season, the shops sold kites. We bought a few paper kites but since they tore easily, we started making our own kites with plastic sheets. All the students looked forward to the sports day. There were four houses blue, green, yellow and red. Students were given coupons on the previous day and they were used get free cakes and cool drinks on sports day. The teachers in charge of the boy scouts Mr. Alan Kok, Mr. Chan and Mr. Isaac Chong made our lives at school so enjoyable. We had camp fires, treasure hunts, job week, hiking, picnic at Seletar Island etc. Mr. Chan was the kindest man I have met. Once he found me using a catapult to hit birds and asked me about it. He did not like it that I could hurt a bird. Years later, whenever he saw us he would stop his car and give us a lift. We wrote our first composition in primary 4 and each student had to produce his own work.We got packets of sweets for doing well in the spelling test.Each class had a small library at the back and during our free time we would read the books and look at the beautiful pictures. My favorite was ‘Swiss Family Robinson'.There was an excursion to Mount Faber, Van Cleef Aquarium, Haw Par Villa etc. During the end of each year, when teachers were busy making the report books, we were engaged in some projects, making models or toys. Coconut shells were polished and made into coin boxes. Models of object were made with paper. We each made a robot during the last year. A cigarette can was the body. Bottle caps with a wire through them, made up the hands and legs. Two pieces of wood were the feet and a ball was the head of the robot which was then painted silver. There was an exhibition showing the best of the students work. At the end of each year prizes were given to three students from each class who performed well in their studies. Once while witnessing the prize ceremony, I was surprised to hear my name being called out. I was given a prize for showing the most improvement. One day, while at school, I felt a sharp pain in my toe. I could not understand the reason and I started pressing my canvas shoes at the spot. The pain lasted for some time. When I returned home after school and removed my shoes, I found a large dead spider inside my shoe. After that day, I always look inside my shoe before wearing them. There were two instances of students being caned publicly, both for playing truant. One student went fishing for a few days. A special assembly was called and the headmaster announced the reason to all the students and then proceeded to give him three strokes on his behind. The amplifier was turned to full volume for the caning. In another case, a student went to work as a caddy. He was asked to stand in front of the class and the headmaster arrived and told us the reason before caning him. During the last year, I climbed the ladder attached to the school water tank. Miss Sim, primary one teacher, spotted me and scolded me. I could not understand why. She was so kind. Did she change now? Only later did I realize, she did not want me to fall off and hurt myself. For the first few years at school, we looked forward to the holidays but during the last few years we just hated the holidays. School had become so enjoyable.

Mr.Alan Kok, Mr.Issac Chong & Mr.Chan with some boy scouts.