National Create Your Own Newspaper Competition 2020

Our students have been participating actively in the National Create Your Own Newspaper Competition over the years. The competition is jointly organised by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning, SPH Chinese Student Paper Zbcomma and Xinmin Secondary School. In this competition, students played the role of a reporter to interview people from different walks of lives and subsequently wrote a newspaper report on their interviews. They also had to come up with an aesthetically pleasing design for the report, using Abode InDesign.

93 teams from 54 schools participated in the 2020 competition. Despite competing against students from SAP schools such as Nanyang Girls’ High School, Dunman High School, Catholic High School, and Temasek Junior College, both our Upper Secondary and Lower Secondary teams did our school proud by clinching multiple awards.

Our Upper Secondary team clinched the Gold Award (highest accolade in the competition) and In-depth Report Award. The team interviewed Mr Chia Xun An, who shared about his struggles with depression and how he advocated for mental wellbeing. The team members were Alfred Lim Wei Xiang (3E6), Ling Yi Jun (3E5), Neo Kai Qi (3E6), Loh Ruo Yi (3E3), Lin Zihan (3E2).

Our Lower Secondary team clinched the Second Position, In-depth Report Award and Most Popular Award. The team interviewed Mdm Chua San San Suzanna, a mother with an autistic child, who shared about how she faced challenges positively.  The team members were Toh Jia Hui, Chow Jun An, Liu Hui Jun Cherie, Tang Lai Wan and Berline Tan Zhuo En (all from 2E4).

Achievements in 2020 GCE ‘O’ Level Examinations

Performance of Sec 4 Express cohort

94.4% of 4E students attained 5 or more subject passes, with 56.3% of them eligible for admission into junior colleges and 96.4% eligible for polytechnic admission.

In terms of L1B5 (Aggregate score of grades in English and Best Five other Subjects) among students with at least 7 graded subjects (not counting MTLB), the top student is Eugene Koh Wen Siang who achieved a score of 6 points (6 distinctions). Another top performer is Zenaide Lim Xuan Yu who scored 7 points (6 distinctions).  7 students scored 8 points: Chan Pei Qing (7 distinctions) and Jolie Tan (7 distinctions), Eldon Chng (6 distinctions), Leow Lu Yu (6 distinctions), Lim Kun Yan Markus (6 distinctions), Vikas Chaudhari (6 distinctions) and Yap Zhen Yu (6 distinctions).

In terms of number of distinctions, the top students include Ezanne Quek, who achieved 8 distinctions, and Chan Pei Qing, Jolie Tan and Spring Tan, who each attained 7 distinctions.  12 students attained 6 distinctions.

Many of the top performers were also all-rounders. Eugene Koh was a member of the Student Council and Vice-Chairperson of the Environment Club. He was also a past recipient of the Edusave Scholarship Award (ESA), Edusave Award for Achievement, Good Leadership and Service (EAGLES) (Leadership) and the National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) (Silver). Zenaide Lim was an EXCO member of the Student Council and Vice-Chairperson of the Red Cross Youth. She was also a past recipient of the Edusave Character Award (ECHA), ESA, EAGLES (Leadership) and NYAA (Silver).  Chan Pei Qing, Eldon Chng, Leow Lu Yu and Lim Kun Yan Markus also excelled not just academically but in their respective CCA as well, and contributed actively to the school community.

Performance of Sec 5 Normal (Academic) cohort

57.6% of 5NA students attained a pass in 5 or more subjects, with 75.8% eligible for polytechnic admission. In terms of L1B4 among students with at least 6 graded subjects (not counting MTLB), the top students are Neo Shi Da (9 points) and Chua Jia Le (11 points).  In terms of number of distinctions, the top students are Neo Shi Da, Lim Xin Hui, Chua Jia Le, Tan Pei Yu and Valerie Wee Li Yi, who each attained 3 distinctions.

Among the all-rounders, Shi Da was a Sergeant in Red Cross Youth, class Vice-Chairperson and a past recipient of the ESA. Jia Le was a Sergeant in the Red Cross Youth, Peer Support Leader and a past recipient of the ESA. Xin Hui was an EXCO member of Dance, Class Vice-Chairperson and a Peer Support Leader in her class.

Performance in newly offered ‘O” Level subjects

This year, the school saw the graduation of the first batch of Express students who took Electronics, Literature Elective for Humanities, “pure” Geography and “pure” History. These subjects were newly offered to the students from 2019. The students attained very commendable performance in these subjects, attaining 45%, 43%, 33% and 33% distinctions for Humanities (Literature Elective), Electronics, Geography and History respectively.

Performance of first cohort of Subject Based Banding (SBB) / Out-of-Stream (OOS) students

This year, the school also saw the graduation of its first cohort of students who took higher level SBB or OOS subjects. Among these students, Poh Jia Hui Karen and Nur Batrisyia Binti Abdul Latif from the NA stream took up Chinese Language and Malay Language at the Express level and both attained a Distinction grade. Karen was also one of the overall top performers in her cohort for the GCE ‘N’ Level examinations.

Students who performed well despite challenging circumstances

At the release of the results, the school also affirmed three students who performed well in spite of challenging circumstances. They were Chua Jia Le (one of the top 5NA performers, details on his performance were provided in an earlier section), Neo Kai Jie Kiefer and Yap Zhen Yu. They rose above their circumstances with positivity and resilience through the years and achieved commendable results. Zhen Yu attained an impressive 6 distinctions while Kiefer attained 4 distinctions.

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