Performing Arts/School Exchange/Cultural Immersion Learning Journey to China

35 students from our performing arts CCA, accompanied by 6 teachers went on the above learning journey to Suzhou/Hangzhou/ Shanghai, China from 15 to 22 November 2019. We visited the Hangzhou Art School, Suzhou Industrial Park Xinggang School and Changshu Foreign Language Junior Middle School with the objectives of enhancing our students’ appreciation for performing arts and providing them immersion experience.

 At Hangzhou Art School, our students were awed with a spectacular display of various performance items from their China counterparts, and teaching pointers were exchanged between both schools after both schools had presented their performances. At Xinggang School, the students attended two interesting lessons on Chinese idioms and the Suzhou dialect which they enjoyed immensely. At Changshu, our host indulged us with delectable local snacks and a medley of performances during the welcome ceremony.  Our students also participated in two traditional art and craft lessons: one group learnt sewing while the other group crafted customised wired artwork. Through the interactions with their Chinese buddies at these three schools, our students not only experienced a different learning environment but also forged precious friendships.  Our students also visited many places of historical and cultural significance in Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai such as the West Lake, Mausoleum of General Yue Fei, Lei Feng Pagoda, Master-of-the-net Garden and the Bund. They were exposed to Chinese history, literature, folklore and the arts as they toured these places and watched world-class cultural performances like the Song Dynasty Musical Performance and “Impressions of West Lake”.

In addition, the students were treated to a Suzhou Pingtan performance at a teahouse, where they enjoyed the popular musical/oral art form in southern Jiangsu. The two most memorable performances were the Hangzhou outdoor performance and the ERA Intersection of Time Acrobatic Show. Our students also had hands-on lesson in traditional Chinese fan making at the Hangzhou Fan Museum and a taste of the local lifestyle at the idyllic Nanxun Old Town.

Throughout the trip, the teachers facilitated the daily reflections with the students and helped them consolidate their learning, so as to deepen their development of the 21st century competencies of global awareness, cross-cultural skills and sensitivities. It was truly an enriching and memorable trip for everyone as lasting friendships and precious memories were forged.

AERONAUTICS ALP CUM CULTURAL IMMERSION LEARNING JOURNEY TO JAPAN 2019

As part of our school’s Aeronautics Applied Learning Programme, a group of 36 students and 6 teachers went to Japan from 22 Nov to 1 Dec 2019 to learn more about the aviation/aeronautics industry and advancements in the area of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The trip covered various parts of Japan, including Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Hamamatsu and Tokyo.

We visited many aviation museums in the various cities and regions such as the Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum in Kyushu, Kakamigahara Flight and Space Museum in Gifu, Aichi Aviation Museum and Mitsubishi Regional Jet Museum in Gifu prefecture, JASDF Hamamatsu Air Base Museum in Hamamatsu and Tokorozawa Aviation Museum in Saitama.  Through the museum visits, we learnt about the invention and history of aviation in general and in Japan, the Kamikazes in Japan’s World War II history, the physics of flight and aeronautics, the development and manufacture of modern aircrafts in Japan’s aviation industry. We also visited Fukuoka and Nagoya airports to learn about airport operations. In Fukuoka, we went on a guided back-end of Fukuoka airport where we observed the day-to-day operations of ground crew as they prepare for an airplane’s departure and arrival. We were also treated to a bus tour of the runway and witness the take-off and landing of various aircrafts up close from a special gallery not open to the public. In Nagoya airport, we visited the Flight of Dreams theatre and All Nippon Airways (ANA) hangar. At the theatre, we came up close to a real Boeing 787 Dreamliner parked in the theatre.  At the hangar, we saw first-hand how the various aircrafts belonging to ANA were serviced and repaired. The trip ended with a 2 hour hands-on drone workshop by drone experts where we tried our hands in controlling powerful drones and learnt about how Japan makes use of drones in the agricultural industry. Besides aeronautics, we visited the Kewpie industrial plant in Kyushu where we learnt about the innovative automation and quality assurance in the production line of mayonnaise.  We also visited several places of historical and cultural interest and experienced Japanese way of life. These include visiting Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park to learn about the tragedies of atomic bombs in World War II and hope for peace; viewing Mount Aso, one of the largest active volcanoes in the world; taking the Shinkansen bullet train from Fukuoka to Osaka; and spending a night of homestay in Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO world heritage site. School visit is of course a must and we visited Suita Higashi Senior High School in Osaka, with the hope of establishing a long term partnership in cultural exchange.  We were welcomed by the Principal and staff, went on a tour of the brand new school campus, observed lessons in progress and enjoyed a special interaction session with Japanese students.  Our students taught the Japanese students how to fly a paper glider and the Japanese students in turn hosted quizzes and games. The learning journey was an eye-opening and enriching learning experience for all. It has certainly raised our students’ interest in aeronautics and STEM further, as well as helped them develop the 21st century competencies of civic literacy, global awareness and cross cultural sensitivities as they gained a deeper appreciation of Japanese culture and history.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CUM CULTURAL IMMERSION PROGRAMME 2019 – BANDUNG, INDONESIA

38 students from our Uniformed Groups and Sports CCA, accompanied by 6 teachers went on a leadership development cum cultural immersion trip to Bandung, Indonesia from 16 to 22 Nov 2019.  The highlight of the trip were the hikes on Bandung’s famous trails, including the trek up Gunung Putri.  At 1500m above sea level, it provides a stunning view of Bandung’s mountain range.  The group also viewed the beautiful Curug Cimahi, also known as the Rainbow Waterfall due to the refraction of lights from the sprays of water.  Although it was a short route, the climb of more than 500 steps was a big physical challenge to all the students and teachers, especially those who tried to complete the ascent without stopping.  They also visited the beautiful Kawah Putih (White Crater) and a tea plantation. Another highlight of the trip was the visit to Bandung No. 8 Senior High School (SMA Negeri 8 Bandung).  Our students and teachers received a warm welcome from the school. The Indonesian students speak good English and were articulate.  Our students interacted well with the Indonesian students and gained a good understanding of their different education systems and school life.  The Bandung school leaders were keen to deepen the interaction between both schools and we will be going to Bandung again in 2020 to establish a more comprehensive school attachment programme with them. In between hiking, students visited various places to learn about local history and experience local culture, such as Sri Baduga Museum (Museum of the Asian-African Conference), Cihampelas Street, and Braga Street.  Students also had time to rest and indulge themselves at Trans Studio Indoor Theme Park, one of the world’s largest indoor theme parks before returning to Singapore. From the trip, our students learned to manage and organise themselves independently. In addition, they gained a better cultural understanding of Bandung and Indonesia at large, and forged new friendships with the local students. They also returned to Singapore with better global competency and stronger bonding with one another.

ROCKET PITCH FESTIVAL 2019 – OVERALL CHAMPIONS

The Rocket Pitch Festival is an annual competition organized by the Singapore Polytechnic (SP) School of Business to cultivate entrepreneurial thinking in entrepreneurs-to-be, and provide a platform for them to pitch their business ideas to professionals and entrepreneurs from various industries. The competition was open to secondary schools for the first time in 2019.

 2 teams of our students competed in the secondary school category against 27 other teams from 14 secondary schools. Team Biosorbent, comprising Eugene Koh Wen Siang, Shannen Lin Ying Ying, Brian Davidson Fok Zhendao and Eldon Chng (all from 4E3) identified current problems associated with the cleaning of oil spills, and devised a cost-efficient, eco-friendly and widely accessible oil spill cleaning method. The other team comprising Chen Xuanyin (4E1), Shirlyn Foo Siao Rou (4E3) and Raven Ho Jian Wei (4E3) came up with a home-use prototype that provides physiotherapy treatment for the hands of people with muscle-related illnesses by controlling the movement of the fingers. Both teams were shortlisted for the semi-finals, and after the riveting semi- and grand finals rounds, Team Biosorbent eventually clinched the coveted Championship title and walked away with $2000 in prize money. The teams worked tirelessly over an 8-week SP programme, including attending online and face-to-face workshops. They were exposed to the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Singapore, and learnt about what makes Singapore the 10th hottest start-up ecosystem in the world. SP student mentor also guided them in creating their presentation pitch deck, where they learnt about key business terms such as ‘Market Size and Validation’ and the Revenue Model from effective pitch deck examples such as that of Airbnb’s. In the semi and grand finals held at SP on 23 Nov, Team Biosorbent proved to be persuasive communicators with a strong purpose and belief in their idea, as they pitched their solution boldly to a team of 10 judges at the semi-finals. Our students also demonstrated the ability to remain composed as they had to pitch their idea on the spot to 50 judges after the announcement that they had entered into the grand finals. The judging panel, made up of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and marketing experts such as Mr. Andrew Chan (Founder, Soup Spoon), Mr. Andy Oh (Chief Operation Officer, Gong Cha) and Ms. Rose Tong (Executive Director, Singapore Retailers Association) were extremely impressed with how our North Stars’ idea possessed a global outlook and infused technology enabled capabilities through the use of drones.

SHELL STEM CHALLENGE 2019 – 2ND RUNNERS-UP

The Shell STEM Challenge is an annual competition organized by Science Centre, sponsored by Shell and supported by MOE. This year, the challenge takes the form of the NXplorers, an innovative educational programme that introduces young people to systematic thinking approaches to generate creative and practical solutions to problems related to the food-water-energy nexus.  5 teams of our students took part in the challenge with more than 84 teams from other schools – 2 teams came in top 10 after the first round, one team came in top 5 after the second round and emerged 2nd runners-up in the final round!  The team comprising Eugene Wen Siang Koh, Shannen Lin Ying Ying, Brian Davidson Fok Zhendao and Eldon Chng (all from 3E3) received an all-expenses-paid study trip and prizes worth $12,750.   Team HIGHLIGHTER comprising Jolie Tan, Yeo Sze Yun, Gwyneth, Lim Kun Yan, Markus and Lang Wen Bo (all from 3E3) who also came in among the top 10, received $250 worth of Capitaland Vouchers. Top 10 teams after the first round were given the opportunity to visit various industries to gain deeper insights on their Nexus problem before the second round, where students  pitched their ideas to garner support from the Shell mentors to further develop their idea into a full-fledge prototype. After the second round, the top 5 teams were given the chance to develop their prototype with the support of Shell and Science Centre. Our team worked tirelessly over 6 months to experiment, create their prototype and develop a model to simulate the application of their prototype in a real-world scenario. We are heartened to see the passion and resilience of the students as they worked through many iterations of their prototype to ensure its viability. In the riveting finals held at the newly launched Future Makers Exhibition at Science Centre on 19th July, our team proved to be persuasive communicators as they presented their prototype to the judges and visitors, garnering many votes from the visitors for their refreshing idea and finally emerged as 2nd Runners-Up in the competition!