Green Compass Programme 2020

Our Green Compass Programme aims to instill good values and conviction in our students to go green. Our students used to advocate environment education by heading out to the neighbourhood to share with residents good waste management practices and collect old newspapers from door to door. This was suspended in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic measures. To work around the constraints, the school organized a recyclable collection within the school community instead. The recyclable collection was also expanded to include cardboards, plastic bottles, used clothing and unwanted textbooks contributed.

In addition, our school collaborated with Sengkang Central Youth Network (SKCYN) in their Green Christmas Blessing project in which our students and staff contributed pre-loved school bags, stationery and art and craft materials. With the items collected, volunteers with SKCYN created various study-packs for more than 500 youths from Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home and Singapore Boys Hostel in preparation for the new school year. The festive cheer was also brought to their caregivers who received flower jars upcycled by SKCYN volunteers from donated materials from our schools.

22 students from our Community Youth Leaders club also volunteered at the FairPrice Share-a-textbook project to sort donated textbooks and workbooks by subject and levels. These textbooks and workbooks were subsequently made available to students from low-income households and the public. Despite the constraints of COVID-19, it is heartening that our North Stars continued to explore ways to play their part in taking care of the environment and showing care to the needy. They persevered despite the challenges faced and through it, saw the connection between themselves and the environment, and became more aware of their responsibilities in contributing to a greener environment for sustainable living.

Boys Brigade Virtual Overseas Exchange 2020

Our Boys Brigade unit has established an overseas exchange programme with our counterparts in Chonburi, Thailand since 2018.  Due to Covid-19, we are unable to visit them this year.  However, our unit held a half-day virtual overseas exchange with our Thai partners for the first time on 12 Dec 2020, instead of the usual week-long visit to Chonburi or hosting in Singapore in the past. 

Planning for the programme started as early as May this year.  On the day of the virtual exchange, 42 of our BB boys led by BB Teacher-in-Charge Mr Chong and Captain John interacted with 35 BB boys from the Chonburi BB unit led by BBHQ (Thailand) Executive Director Mr Lam and Captain Ms Supattra Siritrai. The 2 hour virtual exchange consisted of sharing by the Captains of both BB units on their key events and activities in 2020 as we overcame the challenges brought about by the COVID19 situation.  Covid-19 had provided valuable opportunities for our units to come up with innovative and creative ways to engage our boys meaningfully despite the various safe management restrictions. The highlight of the exchange was the Bridge-making Challenge where the boys from both units pit their knot-making skills against one another in teams to build a bridge using disposable chopsticks and raffia strings that could hold as many fully filled mineral water bottles as possible within 30 mins. It was certainly a fun and exciting time for the boys as they learnt teamwork and applied their knot making skills.  A team from the Chonburi unit emerged as overall champion with a bridge that managed to hold 8 bottles! The virtual exchange ended with a high note and celebratory mood as both units exchanged certificates of appreciation.  We look forward to more exchanges and collaborations with our Thai partner in the near future.

Achievements in 2020 GCE ‘N’ Level Examinations

Normal (Academic) Course

Our NA students did well, with 84.4% of them being eligible for promotion to 5NA (above the national average of 77.7%), and 16% of them being eligible for the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP).

Top 4NA student is Anabel Ng Yi Lin who attained a EMB3* score of 7 points and4 distinctions (*Aggregate score of grades in English, Mathematics and Best Three other Subjects).  A well-rounded student, Anabel was the class Vice-Chairperson as well as an active member of Band. She was also a recipient of the Good Progress Award in 2018 and a testament of her determination to improve her academic performance and strive towards academic excellence.  Another top performer is Yeo Boon Yong Jessica who attained an EMB3* score of 8 points and5 distinctions. An EXCO Member of both the Student Council and Band CCA, Jessica was also a recipient of the Edusave Award for Achievement, Good Leadership and Service (EAGLES) (Leadership) in 2019 - a testament of her dedicated pursuit of excellence in both academic and non-academic areas.

Other top performers who scored an EMB3* score of 8 points include: Lim Kia Tong Ondrea (6 distinctions), Jasmine Grace Lorraine Adorza Ayo (4 distinctions), and Poh Jia Hui Karen (4 distinctions). The school also affirmed a number of well-rounded achievers – these students were active members of the school community who performed well in both their studies as well as in their respective co-curricular activities. These students include: Pang Si Min (9 pts, 4 distinctions), Balili Edriane Lawrence Gierran (10 pts, 4 distinctions), Tay Xin Yi (10 pts, 4 distinctions) and Tai Bing An (11 pts, 5 distinctions).

Normal (Technical) Course

Our 4NT cohort achieved 100% passes for several subjects, which include Basic Chinese, Basic Malay and Basic Tamil. 100% of our 4NT students are eligible for admission into ITE.

Top 4NT student is Tan Jee Kai Ernest who attained an impressive 5 distinctions. An EXCO Member of the Choir CCA, Ernest was also a recipient of the Edusave Scholarship and EAGLES (Achievement) Award in 2019 - a testament of his dedicated pursuit of excellence in both academic and non-academic areas.  

Other 4NT students who also did well include: Koh Qi Fang (4 distinctions), Lee Zhen Xian (4 distinctions), Muhammad Faiz Bin Rahmat (4 distinctions) and Koh Hui Xin (3 distinctions) - all of whom actively pursued excellence in both their studies and in their respective CCAs.

Students who performed well despite challenging circumstances

At the release of the results, the school also affirmed several other students who performed well in spite of challenging circumstances and who demonstrated commendable qualities. Among the top performers, Tai Bing An did well despite the challenges he faced at home where he had to step up and care for his younger brother after the passing of his beloved mother, Mdm Loo Lay Yen, our former school staff. His aggregate score of 11 points qualifies him for the Polytechnic Foundation Programme, a tremendous accomplishment which illustrates his resilience and positivity.  Koh Qi Fang also achieved excellent results despite challenging circumstances at home following the demise of her mother. Being the eldest child, she shouldered many responsibilities in the household, over and above her responsibilities as an EXCO member of the Student Council and CCA Leader in school.

Teo An Xia Lister was diagnosed with a learning condition, but persevered and overcame this to obtain a ‘B’ grade for both English and Chinese Language, and a EMB2^ score of 7 points (^Aggregate score of grades in English, Mathematics and Best Two other Subjects). Another student, Lee Juan Kai Xavier, overcame numerous learning challenges with diligence and strong support from both home and school, attaining an EMB3* of 17 points. A third student mentioned was Muhammad Irsyad B Nasharuddin who initially had motivation and attendance issues. With support from the school, he displayed resilience and made significant improvements to attain one distinction and an EMB2^ score of 8 points.

Performance of first cohort of SBB/OOS students

This year, the school also saw the graduation of its first cohort of students who were offered Subject-Based Banding or Out-of-Stream (SBB/OOS) subjects. Among the SBB/OOS students, Tan Jee Kai Ernest of 4T1 took up Mathematics at the Normal (Academic) level, and Poh Jia Hui Karen of 4N2 took up Chinese Language at the Express level. Both of them attained Distinction grade for these subjects and are also the overall top performers in their respective cohorts for the ‘N’ Levels.  Lim Xin Ying, Renee of 4T1 took up EL at NA level and did well enough overall to qualify for 4NA next year. (see earlier sections on 4NT and 4NA top performers).

Our heartiest congratulations to all our North Stars for their achievements!

Design for Change Challenge 2020

Design for Change is a global movement driven by the belief that ‘every child can’, with an annual celebration not only to celebrate the movement but to also commemorate UN World Children’s Day.

In conjunction with this, the 11th Annual Design for Change Singapore challenge was organized by Design for Change Singapore and Social Change in Action Singapore, supported by the Design Singapore Council. Our Secondary Three classes and the Community Youth Leaders Club sent in their Service Learning Projects for the challenge and of all the submissions from 21 schools in Singapore, 3E5’s project was selected as one of the finalists. The class’s VIA champions Ling Yi Jun and Hewson Chan Hoi Sing represented the class to meet with other student representatives from Ireland and Lebanon to share a synopsis of their class’s project and their takeaways (See more details below). In total, representatives from 25 countries were gathered in groups to share their projects through the Zoom video-conferencing platform, which resulted in more than 10 hours of inspirational stories shared on the Design for Change’s social media platforms on facebook and their youtube channel.  Although our students did not manage to attain any award at the local level this year, the challenge had provided them with the opportunity to see beyond local issues, be inspired by the gathering of people of their age across borders and gain confidence to be the agents of change for tomorrow.

This year’s annual celebration for the Design for Change movement was held virtually for the first time on 20 Nov.  The celebration entitled ‘A ONEderful World by Design – Global Be The Change Festival’ involved participants from more than 60 countries.  At the festival, other student representatives (Tang Jia Xin, Chong Vei Qhen, Sim Hui Xin Aster and Ling Yi Jun) were invited to join in the celebrations and hear from the stories of other youth their age (or younger) worldwide. Aster shared her reflections that hearing from the sharing had inspired her to continue helping people in the community after experiencing how much it benefits society. The essence of 3E5’s project involved bringing cheer to patients of Sengkang Community Hospital and appreciating the medical team. Even though the pandemic brought about many challenges where the students were unable to interact with the patients physically as part of our Sec 3 annual student-led service-learning projects, our students demonstrated resilience and creative thinking in organizing a video conferencing session to engage the patients in origami folding and ‘Guess the Song’ activities instead. In addition, they also packed 50 goodie bags which was sent to the medical staff to encourage them especially during the height of COVID-19 in Singapore. Through this project, our students demonstrated each stage of the FIDS (Feel-Imagine-Do-Share) framework, where they came together as a class to understand the problem, empathize with their beneficiary, engage their beneficiary and share their project with the school and on the local and international platforms offered by the challenge.