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.