September

2018 Create Your Own Newspaper Competition

A total of 79 schools participated in the 2018 National Create Your Own Newspaper Competition （2018年全国编采比赛）organised by The Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning, SPH Zbcomma and Xinmin Secondary School. Despite facing stiff competition from schools such as Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls’ High, Catholic High School and CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School, our North Stars have done us very proud by clinching the First Position and Most Popular Award in the Lower Secondary Category, and the Second Position in the Upper Secondary Category. This is the bestresults our school has achieved in the six years that we have participated in this competition. We were featured in the report on the competition in Zbcomma.

In the competition, participants were required to interview, take pictures as well as design the layout of the news article using Adobe Indesign. Our lower secondary students interviewed the “heroes” (security guard, landscape technician and high-rise cleaner) behind our city’s cleanliness and safety, while the upper secondary students interviewed young “hawkerpreneurs” and learnt about their struggles in running their own stalls. All submissions were judged based on content (40%), layout (40%) and language expression (20%).

National Schools Literature Festival 2018

On 21 July, two teams of North Stars did the school proud at the 2018 National Schools Literature Festival (NSLF) by clinching 1st place in the Book Trailer segment and joint 2nd place in the Choral Speaking segment.

Organised annually by a committee of Literature teachers with support from NIE, CPDD and the National Arts Council, a key objective of the NSLF is to provide a platform to enthuse and inspire students in the learning of Literature. This year there were 103 schools participating in the festival, competing in a range of activities which enabled students to demonstrate understanding and appreciation of literary texts including novels, poems and drama texts.

The Book Trailer segment of the competition requires teams to interpret and craft a trailer for a chosen text, giving enough information about the plot, main characters and its themes such that the audience would be enticed to read the book after the performance. Our Book Trailer team comprised the following Sec 2 students: Yuki Justin Goh Jun Jie (2E1), Vishal Chaudhari (2E2), Wong Yi Xuan Beatrice (2E3), Koh Yi Quan, Lim Wei Suen, Shermaine Tan Rui En, Tan Jin Ying, Teow Kai Xin Esther and Lim Kun Yan, Markus (above all from 2E5).

This year, our school also took part in the Choral Speaking segment for the first time. This involves an ensemble using various voice combinations and contrasts to bring out the meaning and tonal beauty of a passage of poetry or prose. Our team came in joint 2nd place with Cedar Girls’ Secondary and comprised the following Sec 1 students: Syeda Aliza Nadir, Seetoh Tong En, Zeenshah Qaiser, Lutfil Hadi, Sneha Menon (above all from 1E2), Azza Zafrin, Kirsten Alessandra Romero Munoz, Kristine Eriel Peren Velasco, Ng Yong Cheng Kenrich (above all from 1E4), Intan Insyira and Rini Syaqilah (both from 1N2).

A key takeaway was seeing the students emerge from the experience feeling enriched, inspired and heartened that their months of training had borne fruit. Throughout the event, they also displayed a great amount of resilience, teamwork and sportsmanship. Their exemplary attitude and values indeed exemplify our North Star spirit.

International Coastal Clean-up, Singapore (ICCS)

ICCS is an international event that aims to collect data on the shoreline debris as well as encourage communities to come together to do their part in keeping their shorelines clean by removing the debris. The information gathered serves to educate the public on marine debris issues and the submission of the collated data to governmental and international organisations is aimed to promote positive actions to reduce shoreline debris and enhance aquatic environments.

As part of our school’s commitment in advocating
environmental sustainability, 101 students and teachers
carried out our annual ICCS on 15 September at Changi
Beach Site 3, jointly organised by our school’s Environment
Club and Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
Despite the sweltering weather, our North Stars and
teachers worked tirelessly and removed nearly 200 kg
of trash.

Through this meaningful event, our North Stars learnt the
importance of waste minimisation to reduce shoreline
debris and the importance of keeping our shorelines
clean. For more detailed results, please visit
http://coastalcleanup.nus.edu.sg/results/2018/cn2018-cn3-compassvale.htm.

Elective Modules (EM) & Advanced Elective Modules (AEM) - Secondary Three Students

Our school offers Elective Modules (EM) to all our Sec 3 NT students and Advanced Elective Modules (AEM) to Sec 3 Express and NA students every year in collaboration with ITE and various polytechnics respectively. Each cohort of students get to choose from a range of EMs and AEMs available depending on their interests and the courses will be confirmed once there is sufficient demand. The modules extend and build on the learning of existing school subjects, enrich our school curriculum with more applied learning options and expose our students to possible courses in ITE/polytechnics and career paths.

Elective Module for 3NT:

In March this year, 18 students attended the EM on Laser Show at ITE College East where they learnt the basic knowledge and skills, and apply the techniques of synchronisation to music, to produce a laser show with a laser projection system. They also applied their CPA knowledge together with learning a new software to complete a 1-2 minute laser show. The EM culminated in an annual Laser Show Competition for students to showcase their final projects. Two of our students won the first prize and a consolation prize respectively in the secondary school category. https://tinyurl.com/qiara2018 , https://tinyurl.com/ain2018

![Elective Modules (EM) & Advanced Elective Modules (AEM)]

In addition, another 18 students attended the EM on Video Production at ITE College East.

![Elective Modules (EM) & Advanced Elective Modules (AEM)]

The students will be attending another EM in October 2018 on Hospitality, Culinary and Pastry & Baking.

Advanced Elective Module for Sec 3 Express / Normal Academic

A group of our Sec 3 Express & 5 NA students attended the Introduction to Aviation and Aerospace AEM at Temasek Polytechnic. There were many hands-on learning opportunities as TP has its own hanger with various parts of an aircraft for our students to experiment.

![Elective Modules (EM) & Advanced Elective Modules (AEM)]

All Sec 3 NA students were enrolled in the 30-hour AEMs at Nanyang Polytechnic where they were exposed to hands-on, practice-oriented learning. The students got to choose from a list of AEMs options and the AEMs help them discover their strengths and interests in the various fields.

![Elective Modules (EM) & Advanced Elective Modules (AEM)]