SECONDARY 3 SERVICE LEARNING PROGRAMME 2016

The Secondary 3 Service Learning Programme involves all Sec 3 students in carrying out self-initiated Values-in-Action projects to engage and meet the needs of the community. This is part of our school’s Learning for Life Programme on Community & Youth Leadership - “Inspired North Stars Inspire Actions”.

The programme focuses on experiential learning though authentic situations.  To ensure students are equipped with the necessary knowledge and leadership skills, all of them attend a Service Learning Workshop conducted after school over 3 sessions.  The workshop emphasizes the importance of being a socially responsible citizen and provides opportunities for participants to apply various leadership skills during the stages of planning, preparation, execution and reflection.  In the course of carrying out the VIA projects, students learn how to design meaningful activities that will benefit different communities.  By empowering students with the autonomy to plan and carry out the projects, the school fosters student ownership over how they can contribute to the community. Learning about empathy and team building activities at the Service Learning Workshop

This year, our Sec 3 students brought smiles to the residents at Bright Hill Evergreen Home and Sunlove Abode for the intellectually-infirmed. To meet the needs of the elderly residents at Bright Hill Evergreen Home, our students engaged the residents through performances at the home, sprucing up the environment of the home through spring cleaning and gardening, and taking the elderly out for strolls in the vicinity. Finding out the needs through a site visit to Bright Hill Evergreen Home

Engaging a resident at the Home & Helping out with the maintenance of BHEG vehicles

After carrying out the service learning projects, our students reflected on the experiences gained and more importantly, showed their appreciation towards one another. As a way to encourage the heart and celebrate successes and accomplishments, our students were treated to yummy ice cream sponsored by Touch Youth! After completion of the VIA Projects, celebration of success with ice cream!

CVSS GREEN COMPASS PROGRAMME 2016

Our school’s annual Secondary 2 community recycling programme – Green Compass Programme was held on 25May 2016 for all Sec 2 students to serve the Sengkang community.  This is part of our school’s Learning for Life Programme on Community & Youth Leadership - “Inspired North Stars Inspire Actions”.    Eight Sec 2 classes collected recyclable items such as magazines, books, newspapers and clothes from more than 47 HDB blocks in the vicinity of the school for recycling. Members of our Parent Support Group also helped out in the collection efforts.

A week before the collection, all students went to these blocks to inform the residents about the recycling project and our school’s service to the community.  Seizing on the opportunity, they also distributed flyers on dengue prevention in partnership with National Environment Agency (NEA). To prepare for this, the students attended a NEA talk earlier in the year on upcycling and dengue fever, which enabled them to speak with more conviction with the residents on these issues.  Through the programme, our North Stars developed and displayed the values of resilience and graciousness, and also gained valuable soft skills such as communication, teamwork and project management.

Our North Stars speaking to the residents about the value of recycling and dengue prevention. Students organising their collection on 27 May & A PSG member, hard at work alongside our students Sharing sessions on lessons learnt from student presenters from each class

CVSS Volunteers with Metta Welfare Association

In CVSS, every CCA is expected to undertake a Values-in-Action community service project every year.  On 20 March 2016, Sunday, 56 Band members and 14 Librarians, together with 3 parents volunteered their services with Metta Welfare Association during the annual Metta Charity Carnival.  The Librarians set up a bowling game booth and much effort was put in to plan the game and prepare the prizes and handmade gifts for all participants. The Band members performed a series of pop songs and practised for their performance since January, even during the March school vacation.

It was heart-warming to see so many people coming from different backgrounds coming together for a greater cause. There were entire families, elderly couples, and an old lady with her grandson all willing to try out our bowling game. Some were buying goods that were more expensive than the usual price just for charity. Seeing this really made me respect these people as they were setting a good example for their kids and instilling good values in them from young.
After the carnival, there were many of us who felt accomplished. All our hard work was worth it. The smiles on the faces of those children who had visited our booth filled us with joy. All of us have found this a worthwhile experience as we got to have fun while doing something good for the society.”
– Reflection written by Tasha Khor Pei Xin and Eugene Chua Yee Shuen of Class 3E5

On 20th March, our school Band participated in the Metta Charity Carnival held at Metta Building, organised by Metta Welfare Association. Metta, which means ‘loving kindness’, aims to provide welfare services for the community, regardless of race or religion. It is committed to working closely with various parties for the provision of welfare services to meet the needs of the community at their centres and to enhance their clients’ quality of life. The charity carnival aimed to raise funds to support the development and enrichment of disability care, medical care, special education and early intervention programmes that Metta provides to the community.

As Band is a Performing Arts, we believe that one of the ways we can contribute to the society is to harness our talents for a good cause such as putting up public performances to bring joy to others.

To prepare for this performance, the Band has put in hours of practice as we rehearsed on several pop songs such as ‘One Direction in Concert’ and ‘Best Day of my Life’. We put in our best effort during every practice as we know that it is for a meaningful purpose. Even though the performance was only a small segment of the entire charity carnival, we had an enjoyable time entertaining the audience with our music. Despite the sweltering heat and the confined space on stage, were were very resilient and continued playing with enthusiasm and confidence. We also demonstrated graciousness as we helped to set the stage up neatly before our performance and cleared the stage quickly for the next group of performers. The smiles and applause we received encouraged us and kept us going. At the end of our performance, one of the audiences came up to our instructor and complimented the Band! We felt a great sense of satisfaction as our hard work has paid off!

Through this experience, we have gained greater awareness on the needs of others in the society. We learn to be more grateful for our blessings and empathise with those who are less fortunate than us. We also realise that there are many ways to contribute to the society and that every gesture, no matter how small it may seem, can go a long way. Through this VIA, we were able to put into practice the values that the school has inculcated in us and become more concerned citizens.”

− Reflection written by Isabelle Lim of 3E5 and Rachel Tan of 3E4

SENGKANG CENTRAL PAYM LOVES RED NATIONAL DAY OBSERVANCE CEREMONY 2016

On 7 August 2016, as part of our community outreach, a total of 34 members from our 5 uniformed groups (NCC Air, NPCC, Red Cross, Boys Brigade, Girl Guides) took part in the Sengkang Central PAYM Loves Red National Day Observance Ceremony 2016 held at Sengkang Community Centre.  During the ceremony, 17 of them formed the Guard Of Honour Contingent. The Parade Commander for the ceremony was NCC (Air) SSGT Low Hao Yuan from 3E1, together with the Regimental Sergeant Major, NCC (Air) SSGT Mok Dong Wei Ryan from 3E4.  Our school principal, teachers, students, parents, alumni members were all there to witness the ceremony and support our UG members. Mr Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State, Ministry of Manpower, Mayor, North East District,and MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, addressing the members of the public

Our NCC (Air) cadets also performed a free style drill entitled ‘Unity as One’.  With music, hand movement and footdrill, a free style drill brings together a higher level of challenge which requires strong discipline, creativity and teamwork among the performers.  In line with this year’s National Day theme - “Building our Singapore of Tomorrow” which seeks to galvanise and unite Singaporeans in the next chapter of nation building, the spirit of this performance highlights the importance of being a good team player and how building a nation does not just fall in the hands of one person, but every citizen of Singapore.

Our Uniformed Group members wishing Singapore a Happy 51st Birthday!

Student Art Achievements 2016

Our school submitted 4 student artworks for this year’s Singapore Youth Festival Art Exhibition – two from lower secondary and two from upper secondary, which were featured in the exhibition print catalogue. The lower secondary artworks were selected from our Sec 2 Art ‘Social Activism Painting Project’ while the upper secondary artworks were selected from our Sec 4 Normal Academic Art students.

One of our participating students, Chua Si Wei from Sec 5N3 had his artwork selected for the on-site exhibition held at the Arts House and was awarded a Certificate of Recognition. Si Wei’s acrylic paint artwork, titled ‘The Hot Seat’, was one of 221 selected artworks out of a total of 533 entries. His artwork expressed his emotions and feelings when commuting daily in public transport, and reflected the metaphor of likening getting a seat on the MRT to everyone striving to succeed in life amidst our hectic society.

A team of our Secondary 3 NA Art students took part in the International Youth Floral Art Competition held on 28 July, titled Floral Harmony @ Nanyang 2016 and won a Merit Award (Floor Arrangement).

The objectives of the competition were to promote artistic appreciation and interest in floral art, to provide an international platform for youths to showcase their talents and to contribute to the community through floral art activities.  Participants planned and prepared the structure for the flowers prior to the competition and the given set of flowers were only shown to the participants on competition day.

Despite taking part in the competition for the first time and the nature of the competition that is not based on drawing and painting, our team comprising Chia Pei En, Sheryl Yeap, Rachel Yoong, Muhammad Danish and Gavin Goh (all from Sec 3N1) demonstrated resilience, perseverance and teamwork and performed well to win a Merit Award for floor arrangement.  They exercised their creative and critical thinking and created a structure with the theme of “Reaching Up”. The wooden structure has the bigger parts at the bottom and gradually reduces in size as it reaches the top, to emphasise scale and proportion.

Hosting of Schools from Suzhou, China

For two days on 20 and 21 July 2016, our school hosted 41 students and 4 teachers from Suzhou Industrial Park Xinggang School (苏州工业园星港中学), our twinning school from China since 2007.  On 21 July, we also hosted 6 students and 1 teacher from Changshu Foreign Language Middle School (常熟外语中学) and 1 official from the local district education authority.

The China students attended lessons with our North Stars buddies as well as took part in our assembly programme and a mini-fair to commemorate Racial Harmony Day.   Special D&T and FCE lessons were also arranged for the visitors.  Our teachers also conducted demo lessons in Science and PE for the China teachers.  At the farewell ceremony, our North Stars and the Chinese students put up an enjoyable performance and exchanged small gifts.  There was warm interaction and good chemistry among the students as well as the teachers as our North Stars and teachers played a good host and demonstrated our school values of graciousness in making the school attachment a memorable experience for all our guests. 41 students and 4 teachers from SIP Xinggang School. 6 students, 1 teacher and 1 offical from Changshu Foreign Language Middle School. Breakfast for students and teachers from Xinggang School & ‘Henna Tattoos’ at the Racial Harmony Mini-Fair  Science Practical Lesson &Food & Consumer Education lesson.

CHOIR PERFORMANCE AT SYF CELEBRATIONS 2016

On Sunday 3rd July 2016, our school choir staged a public outdoor performance at the ‘Melodies in Every Season’ Programme @ The Esplanade held in conjunction with Singapore Youth Festival 50th Anniversary Celebrations. A total of 28 schools participated in this showcase of music performances that include chorale, strings ensemble and mini acoustic bands. It was a memorable experience for our 27 Choir members as this was the first time they performed at The Esplanade. Our Choir’s performance was entitled ‘A Little Light Music’ and their repertoire included the ‘Laugh Kookaburra’, ‘Angel’, ‘Ant’s Summer’ and ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’.  

Ho Pei Yi, our Choir Vice Chairperson shared that “It was an exciting and nerve wrecking day for all of us. After the sound check, we went to the basement to practise and calm ourselves. When it’s our time to perform, we were nervous and anxious. We started off quite softly, but the members gained confidence when we saw our principal and teachers in the crowd. We felt relieved and happy that we did it. In fact one of the audience told us that she enjoyed our last song very much. Everyone worked hard to make this performance happened. I enjoyed myself and it was indeed a fruitful and beneficial experience for all of us.”

BAND PERFORMANCE AT SYF CELEBRATIONS 2016

On Saturday, 2nd July 2016, our school band performed in the Parade of Bands organised by the MOE Arts Education Branch, in collaboration with National Youth Council’s Shine Festival, as part of the Singapore Youth Festival 50th Anniversary celebrations. A total of 24 School Bands, including a visiting Band from Janokrong School, Thailand, marched down Orchard Road while performing their music pieces. It was a great privilege to be part of this event as the last time Singapore school bands marched down Orchard Road was in 1992 and our band was also given the honour to play the Fanfare to flag off the event!  Encouraged by the supportive crowd and high adrenaline level, the Band marched from Tangs Plaza to Ngee Ann City with enthusiasm and confidence as they played ‘Born to be Wild’.  A photo of our band performance appeared on MOE Facebook.

It was an exciting and memorable experience for our Band as it was their first public marching performance.  Despite having no marching experience, the students were eager to learn basic marching skills and simple choreography since February. They had two training sessions by two guest clinicians from the Conn-Selmer Institute, USA - Mr. Frank Troyka and Mr Garrett Lindholm. It was a challenging process as they learned to coordinate their marching and playing, while ensuring synchronised movement as a team!  The students felt a great sense of achievement and were much encouraged by members of the public who complimented that they looked smart.  Our Band instructor, Mr Er Wee San also received several congratulatory wishes on our band performance.  The Band truly appreciate the support shown by their family, friends, principal and teachers who came to cheer them on.

DANCE PERFORMANCE FOR SYF CELEBRATIONS 2016

On 3rd July 2016, our modern dancers staged a public outdoor performance for the SYF2016 Celebrations@ Esplanade Dance Theatre held in conjunction with Singapore Youth Festival 50th Anniversary Celebrations.  A total of 43 schools participated in this showcase of Dance Extravaganza of various dance genres.  

Preparation for the performance started in March and a short audition video was sent to Arts Education Branch for selection.  The dancers were overjoyed upon receiving news that our school has been selected to be part of the performance.  Many were excited yet nervous as for many of the secondary one dancers, this was their maiden performance outside school.  One the day of the performance, our school principal, teachers and family members of the performers came to offer their support.  Parents commented that it was a good platform to build confidence and the dancers felt a great sense of accomplishment as they performed confidently in front of a large audience.