Guest of Honour,
·
Mr. Masari Bin Minhad
Vice-Chairman/School Advisory Committee
·
Mr. Bob
Shaw Member/ School
Advisory Committee
·
Dr Maszena B Abdul Majid
Chairman/Marsiling CC Management
Committee
Distinguished Guests, Parents,
Colleagues, Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys and Girls,
Thank you
for taking time off to attend our school’s Achievement
Day. Today, we will see 92 students receiving various
awards for their academic achievements in the school’s
internal examination and national examinations. We will
also give recognition to students who exemplify the
Marsiling desired attributes of Motivated and
Selfless Leaders (MSL) through the presentation of
the MSL Star Award.
I will
present to you the School Report for 2008/2009.
1.
2008 GCE ‘N’ and ‘O’ Level Examinations
A total of
250 students sat for the 2008 GCE ‘O’ Level
Examinations. 73% of the Sec 4 Express cohort
passed 5 or more subjects. 66% were eligible for
Pre-U courses and 89% were eligible for
polytechnic courses. While the absolute performance may
not be better than the results attained in 2007, the
performance in terms of Expected versus Actual
shows that we are making good progress. The Top ‘O’
Level student for Sec 4 Express is Ong Wen Lee, who
scored 5 A1s and 2 A2s.
For the
Sec 5 Normal, 44% passed 5 or more subjects and
67% were eligible for polytechnic courses. This
halts the downward trend in the last 2 years, bringing
the Sec 5 results back to a level comparable to that in
2006. The Top ‘O’ Level student for Sec 5 Normal is Tan
Shun Yi, who scored 4 A1s and 1 A2.
148
students sat for the 2008 GCE ‘N’ Level Examinations.
For the Normal (Academic) stream, 83% were promoted to
Secondary 5 and 93% passed 5 or more subjects.
The top Normal (Academic) student is Goh Kok Boon, who
scored three Grade 1s and one Grade 2s.
For the
Normal (Technical) stream, 100% of the students
passed 3 or more subjects, while 85% passed 5 or
more subjects. The top N(T) student is Nur Hazilah Bte
Abdul Wahab, who scored four Grade 1s.
2. CCA Achievements
We continue to perform well in
Co-curricular Activities (CCA). With NPCC attaining
GOLD, and NCC(Sea) and Red Cross both attaining Silver,
we received our 3rd Sustained Achievement
Award for Uniformed Groups last year.
The C division soccer team came in
4th in the north zone tournament in 2008.
This year, the B division soccer team has progressed to
the top 4 and will be playing for 3rd and 4th
placing.
Our scrabble teams continue to be
one of the top teams in major competitions like the
Inter-school tournament and National Youth
Championship.
Many other CCA have also fared well
in 2008/2009. For
example, the B division netball girls and badminton boys
both made it to the second
round and missed out narrowly on progressing to the
semi-finals.
-
The Performing Arts
groups came together to put up our second Mia
Musica concert.
3.
School Awards
At the
school level, we receive recognition for our efforts in
character development. Last year, we were awarded the
Development Award for Character Development, an
award given to schools that have put in place systems
and processes for effective development of students’
character.
In
addition, we also achieved the Sustained Achievement
Green Audit Award. The Green Audit Award is an
environmental audit programme organized by the Singapore
Environment Council. The Sustained Achievement Award is
given to schools that have attained the highest award,
the Lotus, for 3 consecutive years.
4.
Curriculum Innovation
2008 was
another exciting year for curriculum innovation. We
expanded on existing curriculum innovations to benefit
more students and staff. For example, the Environment
Education Module (EEM) was introduced to students
from the Normal (Academic) stream. The use of Knowledge
Forum to support learning through Asynchronous Online
Discussion (AOD) was also extended to the teaching
of Art, Food & Nutrition, and Humanities subjects. The
Science department and Design & Technology department
also collaborated to introduce solar energy project to
the Normal (Technical) D&T curriculum.
5.
Applied Subjects
To better
engage the students, as well as to provide opportunities
for students to experience learning of applied subjects,
we introduced a number of Advanced Elective Modules (AEM)
for the Sec 3 Express and Normal (Academic) students.
These AEMs include modules on Clean Energy
conducted by Singapore Polytechnic, Environmental
Technologies and Game Design and Programming
conducted by Republic Polytechnic and Fundamentals of
Contemporary Chinese Music conducted by Ngee
Ann Polytechnic. The Principles of Accounts (POA)
unit also made arrangement for Sec 4 and 5 students to
attain the London Chamber of Commerce & Industry
(LCCI) Level 1 certification.
6.
Internationalization Programme
Students
in the school are also given overseas exposure through
our internationalization programme. With the
availability of Internationalization Fund and
Opportunity Fund, 416 students attended fieldtrips,
immersion programme and twinning programme last year,
travelling to countries like Hong Kong, Vietnam,
Malaysia, India and China. By learning about different
systems, cultures and practices in other countries, and
also, very importantly, through interacting with
students of different nationalities during these visits,
our students gain global perspectives and new insights.
We also believe that
teachers must be role models in learning. As educators,
we need to constantly keep in touch with the development
of curriculum and instruction. In addition to local
training, we encourage our teachers to participate in
overseas learning trips through conferences and field
trips. In 2008, 7 teachers benefited from these trips to
Japan, United Kingdom, Cambodia and South Africa.
7.
Environment Education
The school
is recognized as a Cluster Centre of Excellence for
Environment Education since 2007. As a Centre of
Excellence, or COE in short, we extend the message for a
green environment beyond the school by hosting visits,
attachments and talks. In 2008, we hosted visitors from
Chitralada Palace school in Thailand, Miyazaki
City Council in Japan, and students from our
Twinning School, Wujiang Experimental Junior School
in China. We also co-organized the Science Teacher Work
Attachment with Anderson Secondary School and Xinmin
Secondary School.
Another
milestone in our journey for environment education is
the completion of the Environment Education Hub.
Converted from an air rifle range and spanning a floor
area of up to 450 square metres, the EE Hub comprises an
exhibition centre and a teaching and learning room. The
exhibition centre is sponsored by our corporate partner,
Applied Materials Southeast Asia Pte
Ltd, and will be officially opened by the
Mayor of the Northwest Community Development Council (NWCDC)
in May this year.
Our excellent track
record in environment education also leads to us being
selected to receive the Hitachi Environment Education
Fund. The Fund, to be spent over a 3-year period,
will be used for funding of a water treatment and
management programme, environment awards for students
and teacher development programme.
8.
Quality Relationship
A
student’s schooling experience is not just about
studying for and passing examinations. It is about the
development of a total person – cognitive, physical,
aesthetics, social and moral. It is about the entire
schooling experience that shapes the way the child
develops into a fine young man or lady.
We want
our students to have a positive experience in school.
This is why we pay attention to the results of the
Quality School Experience (QSE) survey – a perception
survey that gathers information on students’
satisfaction with the school’s learning structures and
social processes, as well as students’ sense of
affiliation to the school. Last year, the school’s Mean
Response Index of 2.8 is above the mean score of 2.5,
and comparable to that of national cohort.
Students’
well-being and sense of affiliation is important to us.
We want to engage them in giving suggestion and
feedback. We want to involve them in decision making. We
want them to think of the school as a “second home”, a
place where they will choose over other less desirable
places.
I am glad to
announce that, today, we will be officially opening our
student lounge, called X-CAPE@MSL.
This is an idea initiated by the Vice-Principal
(Academic), Miss Beatrice Chong, then Subject Head
(Pupil Welfare), Mr. Elangovan, and Full-time School
Counsellor, Mr. Velu. They gathered suggestions from
students’ wish list, and conceptualized the design and
functions of the lounge. And finally, they ran a survey
through the Marsiling portal to get students to decide
on the official name of the lounge. I hope that this can
truly be a place where the students can called
a “second home”.
9. Our
staff
We are
blessed with dedicated staff, committed stakeholders and
supportive partners who work closely with us to achieve
the desired outcomes. All the achievements, initiatives
and programmes, will not be possible without their
dedication and commitment. The school’s annual
Achievement Day is indeed the special occasion for us to
show our appreciation to them.
Today, we will be presenting 5-year
service award to 15 staff.
I would also like to congratulate 19
staff who are promoted this year.
10. Our
Parents and Adult Volunteers
Like our
staff, our parents in the Parent Support Group (MSL-PIE)
and adult volunteers in various CCA groups have invested
precious time and effort to be part of the team in
nurturing our students. They share our philosophy of a
holistic education and have given the school their full
support all these years.
Today, we
will be presenting tokens of appreciation to 24 parents
in the Parent Support Group (MSL-PIE), and 14 adult
volunteers in NPCC, NCC and Scrabble for their
invaluable contribution to the school.
Conclusion
To us,
every child matters and has the potential to excel in
one area or another. We value the talents in them and
will provide
them with opportunities to excel. We
will develop their performance and moral character so
that they will make their mark in whatever task they
undertake. I would like to thank Mr. Masari, Vice-Chairman of the School
Advisory Committee, for gracing the occasion and for
delivering the Guest-of-Honour speech. I would also like
to thank (Dr Maszenan), distinguished guests, parents
and students for being here with us. In addition, I
would like to thank the Achievement Day Organising
Committee, led by Mr. Lim Tow Wee and Miss Dawn Woo,
staff and students for making this event possible.
Finally, I
must congratulate all prize winners. Continue to excel,
continue to make your mark!
Thank you. |