ITE Robotics Challenge 2017

The ITE Robotics Challenge is an annual event organised by the School of Engineering at ITE College East for all secondary school students.   This year, our school competed against many other schools, including Anderson Secondary School, Anglo Chinese (Barker Road) School, Bukit Panjang Govt High, CHIJ Secondary, Chua Chu Kang Secondary and Meridian Secondary, and clinched First placing and Merit in the Line Tracing category and 2nd Runner-up in the Obstacle Challenge category. L to R:
Line Tracing (First placing): Yeo Zhi Hui (4E5), Dion Soh Jing Jie (3E5), Koh Zhi Rong (3E5), Chong Wei Heng (3E4)
Line Tracing (Merit): Chan Kangwei, Clement (4E5), Ong Ching Keong, Felix (4E1), Lo Ho Tin (3E5), Tarakeshwar s/o Segaran (2N1)
Obstacle Challenge (2nd runner up): Tan Jun Hao (4E4), Aaron Lim Si Jie (4E3), Loh Ye Kai Joseph (3E3), Aw Jin Rong (3E2) Our students with their trophies and medals at the competition

The Robotics Challenge seeks to cultivate students’ interest in the area of engineering and also provides an excellent opportunity for them to gain first-hand experience in robot programming and interfacing. The event is an ideal platform for students to apply their technical skills and knowledge in robotics in a fun and competitive setting.  Our students had to build a robot that must avoid any collisions in an obstacles course in order to reach the final destination. They also had to program a robot that navigate along a designated track (i.e. black line on a white surface), where the track consists of straight lines, circular arcs and other obstacles such as bottles and humps which their robot must clear successfully.  It is indeed a challenging task for their robots to make it to the finishing point. Our students have worked hard to train for the competition and demonstrated their use of critical and creative thinking in building and programming of their robots. Our students also showed great resilience and displayed admirable sportsmanship throughout the competition. Their good behaviour, attitude and values indeed exemplify the North Star spirit.

Our students in action during the competition

Nathan Hartono visits CVSS to Promote the Learning of Chinese Language

As part of the 2017 Mother Tongue (MT) Fortnight programme, the MT department collaborated with CPDD and the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (推广华文学习委员会) to organise a special assembly programme on 13 Feb 2017 where Nathan Hartono appeared as the ambassador for the campaign “爱上华文” (loosely translated as ‘Falling in love with Chinese’).

From L to R: Mr Chia Chor Yann/Principal, Nathan Hartono, Mr Wong Jia Wang/Vice-Principal,
Mrs Maureen Thang (HOD/MTL)

There was good energy and vibrancy in the hall as the local crooner performed the Chinese pop favourites “有没有” - the song that catapulted him to fame in Sing! China (中国新声音) where he came in second at the finals in October 2016.  He also gave his own rendition of the famous song, “我不难过” originally sung by local singer Sun Yan Zi.

L: Nathan Hartono urges all North Stars to master the Mother Tongue languages well as it is an important life skill.
R: North Stars and teachers played the game “Link Up the Words” （文字接龙）with Hartono. L&R: North Stars and teachers played the game of charades (guessing of Chinese words) with Nathan Hartono.

Coming from an English-speaking family, Hartono struggled with the learning of Chinese Language since primary school days when he took Higher Chinese in Primary 3 and was failing the subject continuously until secondary school. It was not until Junior College when he realised that mastering a second language would open up a lot of opportunities for him and started learning the language seriously.  To prepare for the Sing! Chinese contest, Hartono spent four months in China and improved from barely able to string together a proper sentence in Chinese to speaking complete sentences in Mandarin without pausing or inserting English words. He attributed his success to confidence in speaking proactively and constant practice.

It is hoped that through the programme, our North Stars will be inspired to learn the Mother Tongue languages well and experience the joy of mastering it.

Chinese New Year Celebration 2017

Our school celebrated the first and most excited festival of the year on 27 Jan, the eve of Chinese New Year.   To kick start the celebration, the lower secondary students took part in an inter-class rooster mascot competition, where each class designed a costume for their mascot using recycled materials, dressed up and paraded their mascot on stage.  This was followed by band and dance performances, a talent show where students showcased their vocal talents, alumni performances, a skit by our drama club about Chinese New Year customs and festive singing by our choir.

As in the past years, our school did not forget to invite senior citizens to join in the celebrations.  This year we invited 5 residents from the Bright Hill Evergreen Home for the elderly and 20 elderly Residents’ Committee members from neighbouring Compassvale Lodge.  Our SAC Chairman, Mr Lee Kang Hwa continued his tradition of giving out hong baos to our elderly guests and our Parent Support Group also specially prepared hampers for all of them.   Our students also gave the elderly and our teachers mandarin oranges, showing respect for the elders and gratitude for the teachers.

China Suzhou School Exchange and Cultural Immersion Trip 2016

38 North Stars, 5 teachers and our Principal went on our school’s China Suzhou School Exchange and Cultural Immersion programme in Nov 2016.  The students and teachers had a meaningful two days of school exchange with our twinning school - Suzhou Industrial Park Xinggang School. After a simple welcoming ceremony and introduction to Suzhou, the students attended lessons with their Xinggang buddies, including two specially-planned lessons in Music and Geography. During the music lesson, they learnt a traditional song in the Suzhou dialect (ping tan) and tried their hands at playing a traditional musical instrument (san xuan). During the geography lesson, they worked in groups to plan an itinerary to visit places of attraction in Suzhou.  Our students not only experienced a different learning environment but also built friendships with their China buddies through these activities.

From L to R: Our principal exchanging souvenirs with the VP of SIP Xinggang School; Our students trying out traditional Chinese musical instruments (san xuan) during a music lesson; Our students discussing and presenting a travel itinerary for local places of attraction during a Geography Lesson.

Our students also visited numerous places of historical and cultural significance in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi and Shanghai. They were exposed to Chinese History, Literature and the Arts as they learnt about stories of heroism, loyalty and piety. In addition, they learnt to appreciate the strong bilateral ties between China and Singapore as they explored the exhibits at Suzhou-Singapore Industrial Park Museum. The students were also taken in on the close similarity between the mix of colonial heritage and modern skyline in Shanghai and our downtown CBD. Additionally, the exhibits at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall deepened their appreciation of the horrors of war and the importance of regional peace and stability.

Indeed, the entire trip was filled with numerous opportunities to gain new knowledge and forge good friendships and our students captured many moments of learning and camaraderie. A group photo taken at Tiger Hill, Suzhou

First Runners-Up in Drone Fiesta Competition @ Republic Polytechnic

As part of our Aeronautics Applied Learning Programme, our students took part in the annual Drone Fiesta Competition organised by Republic Polytechnic in November 2016, and came in First Runners-Up in the Obstacle Course Category.  Despite it being our first time participating, and competing against more than 20 teams from other well-established schools, our students demonstrated great composure, adaptability and team spirit to perform and achieve beyond expectations.  It was indeed a great learning experience exemplifying the spirit of the North Star! L: A proud moment for our Drones Contingent at the Drone Fiesta.
R: Ryan Mok (4E4), who controlled the drone to the First Runner Up placing in the Obstacle Course, showing confidence and composure before the challenge

In this competition, teams are required to manoeuvre a drone through a designated path with challenging obstacles and land on an elevated platform in the fastest time possible. To select and prepare students for the competition, a 6-hour Drones Workshop was organised for 90 Sec 2 and 3 students after the end–of-year examination. Students were then selected for the Drones competition and spent many hours during the school holidays to strengthen their knowledge and skills under the guidance of our STEM educator and ALP teachers. Through the process, our students not only displayed resilience and critical thinking, but also exhibited strong teamwork and composure as they motivate and help each other to level-up and perform to the best of their abilities.

L to R:
Close encounter with a drone for the first time at the Drones Workshop
Our creative “Obstacle Course” setup in school during training
Relishing the moment @ Drone Fiesta: Ariffin Faharis, Chua Jia Jun, Khiew Chang Long and Macasa Danna Angelie (2N2)

Best in Creativity Award in VOX! New Media Workshop Cum Competition 2016

Five of our students took part in the annual VOX! (Visual, Originality and X-factor) New Media Workshop jointly organised by Lianhe Zaobao, the integrated digital site of SPH’s Chinese Media Group, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Humanities & Social Sciences, held from 2nd to 4th November 2016, and walked away with the Best in Creativity Award.

Despite facing stiff competition from schools like Hwa Chong Institution, Chung Cheng High (Main) and Holy Innocents’ High School, our North stars displayed resilience, great team work and resourcefulness and did the school proud by clinching the Best in Creativity award with their vodcast production.

 The winners are Goh Mui Foong Jennifer (3E4), Teng Tze Yun (3E4), Liow Lydia (2E4), Chua Shen Ru (1E1) and Koh Shin En Cynthia (1E1).

Subject matter experts from the Chinese Media Group together with lecturers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic shared their media experiences with our students, which was an eye opener for all of them!  Our students also acquired basic journalism skills, learnt the key characteristics of print and digital media, understood the role of social media in news reporting, experienced how a newscaster delivers a news broadcast and even produced their very own vodcasts!

Champions in 2016 Sengkang NPC Anti-Shop Theft Video Competition

Our Videography Club participated in a video competition on ‘Shoplifting’ organized by the Sengkang Neighbourhood Police Centre in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council in October/November 2016 and emerged champions in the competition.  The objective of the competition was to help create public awareness about shoplifting and its prevention.  The winning video was publicly screened during the ‘Festive Season Crime Prevention Day’ at Rivervale Plaza on 20 Nov 2016. The Guest of Honour was Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister & Coordinating Minister for National Security, and Advisor to Pasir Ris-Punggol grassroots organisations, who was there to view our video along with the Police District Commandant and residents of Sengkang.   Our video has also been uploaded on the social media platform of Sengkang Neighbourhood Police Centre. Our students created a 3-minute documentary about shop theft which examines the reasons why youngsters commit shop theft, their psychological state of mind when committing the crime and the legal consequences of shoplifting. The production team includes Valerie, Adora, Ryan, Le Yi (1E2), Shawn, Jun Wei (2N1), Austen (2N2), Francis, Imran, Hua Xuan (2E4) and Isaac (3N1).