Horray!! We finally got a SILVER!!

it have been such a long journey till here.. all of you have worked really hard.. and  got back wad you all  have work hard for!! whee~~ this is the moment! have to thanks all the instructors and teacher in charge miss lin etc, who have put in so much effort on this co. from a COP standard to a SILVER!! unbelievable!!=D  we have to thanks our conductor too!! Mr Wong Deli Dedric!! He is the best!!!!

Now we have gotten what we wanted.. We need to improve and improve! hope that the spirit of not giving up will still be there forever!! CO need to be more bond!! NEVER SAY DIE!!=D
hope next SYF we will have a better result then today!!

three cheers and three cheers and threes cheers for SLSSCO!!
HIP HIP HORRAY!!
HIP HIP HORRAY!!
HIP HIP HORRAY!!

well done guys!!


from your alumni,
felix =)

I went for my farewell picnic on the 17 Dec.

I want to say THANKS to the people who prepared the food and bought the drinks.

There's fried sotong balls and fish nuggets, boiled hotdogs, fishballs and crabsticks (Alan, it will be better if the wrapper is removed b4 dropping the crabstick into the water :p) and cut fruits. Thank you Chee Wee, Felix, Alan and Chee Siong, for preparing the food and fruits at the expense of your fingers and sleep. I hope they didn't make a mess out of Alan's kitchen. There's also fried rice, sandwiches and Twisties courtesy of Shuhui, Katherine and Stephanie. I'm still alive after eating the fried rice so I think Shuhui can cook :p Katherine prepared egg, black pepper tuna, egg & mayo sandwiches and 2 slices of kosong bread. She brought along extra tuna and 4 hard boiled eggs..haha...

Thank you to Feng Hao, Wang Ying, Huiqi, Shichao and Kuo Shu for buying the drinks :) They were very thoughtful to buy carbonated, non-carbonated drinks and even mineral water. In the past whenever we had our BBQs, I was lazy and usually just buy 1-2 kinds only, so the increase in the variety of drinks is a welcome change.

I also want to say THANKS to all who came, no matter how lost you are or how heavy the rain is. It's holidays, usually attendance won't be so good :p Some may have work or school, but they made the effort to come :)

The past 3 years with the CO is full of ups and downs. I had both good and bad experiences during the time I was here. I've seen some strong teamwork among some of you and I hope it can spread to the whole CO so that everyone can truly understand "Unity is Strength". I will miss you guys and I wish the best for all of you.

Farewell my dear CO members.

Miss Kwan Shuxian

The CCA Promotion Day is brought forward to the 1st Saturday of January! I'm sure everybody knows what this means. It means that we have very little time left to practise before going for the combined rehearsal in the hall!!! And this means that every member has to turn up for practice without fail. There's 1 on the 28th Dec 07. Be there!

I had already hung up the banners, so members just have to do the flyers (Ms Lin will give instructions).

Do get ready your white top, black pants and black shoes for the concert on Sat. Impress the Sec 1s and recruit many many new members!

Ms Kwan

There'll be practices during the year end holidays. This is to prepare as much as we can for the CCA Promotion Day on the 2nd Saturday of January. Everyone must work hard!

Ms Kwan

The end of year examinations are over. All of you should already know your results. I hope that all of you have done well. :)

Therefore, it's back to PRACTICES for you guys. I know that most of my foreign students will be back in their homeland(s), so I've arranged the practices to be within school term (inclusive of the Sec 3 Nov Programme). These practices are to prepare the CO for the CCA Promotion Day Concert very early next year (the 2nd Saturday in January). We are aiming for a SILVER next SYF so we want to attract serious and responsible students into our CCA. Hence, it's crucial that we put up an impressive performance to "WOW" the Sec 1s and other newcomers. The teachers will work out the practice schedule with the instructors and I'll post it online asap.

Let's all work hard together. Unity is Strength!!

Ms Kwan

It's been almost 2 months since I last posted. I was kept busy, there seems to be new work/problems popping up every day...真是一波未平，一波又起。Now that the mother tongue papers are over, I've at least cleared 1 thing out of the way. And that's when I realised that I've completely forgotten about updating the CO blog. paiseh paiseh

CO attendance has been giving the teachers i/c problems, giving us major headaches also.

There will be practices after the end of year exams, so guys...don't slack off...we want to put up an IMPRESSIVE performance for the Sec 1s next year. We are not contented with only a Bronze for SYF, we want a SILVER for the 2009 SYF!!!

Ms Kwan who's now faced with a small mountain of papers to mark.

Yup, the cd is finally here. If I remember correctly, there's a total of 54 photos. Will post them online soon.

Ms Kwan

Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been kept busy trying to keep a very young puppy alive.

Let me try to recall what has happened since the last post.

Attendance is not good.

We do not have to perform in the National Day's concert.

Practice has been changed to only once a week, on Monday. This was agreed by all Sec 1-3 members present for the meeting. Sec 4-5s are released from practice as they have to prepare for their N and O level exams.

The teachers have asked the instructors to set practical tests so that we can send you guys for the grading exams next year. We do not want to waste money starting from the very 1st grade, so we had asked the instructors to look for scores equivalent to the respective grades so that we can do our own internal grading exams. Those who pass will be awarded a certificate of attainment.

Although common tests are coming soon, but since we are only having practice once a week, there will be no excuse for you all to skip practice.

Ms Kwan

As the number of practices we cancelled was quite substantial, the teachers i/c decided to have another short practice on Friday. We have done the calculations and if we were to cancel all practices until oral examinations are over, there will only be 3 practices left before it's 8th of August. 3 practices are definitely NOT enough for the members to have sectional practice to familiarise themselves with their part and to have combined practice. We (this includes students too) know from experience that we need more practices together.

Friday practice was quite disappointing. Despite the fact that Ms Lin had talked to the whole CCA on Thursday, she and me had to stand guard at the front gate to catch escapees. WHY?

However Monday practice was good. Ms Lin told me that all the sec 3, with a few exceptions (I saw He Bin and reminded him but he didn't turn up), came for practice. Keep up the good work! Sec 2 members were not as good as their seniors. Even Sec 1 members were better (although I will exclude Jindi from this praise, as she chose to run away from practice). It's tiring for both teachers and parents if we have to call them and get them to school to talk about your absenteeism in CCA.

Let's see tomorrow's performance...

Ms Kwan who finished the last HP book :D 

These 2 practices are cancelled due to oral and listening comprehension examinations going on. The AVA is used for the English N level oral and therefore we cannot be practising next door. There's listening comprehension on Monday, students will be dismiss early from school and there's to be no noisy after school activities.

Talking about practice, many members did not turn up for practice on Monday 9/7. Waste my money hiring the instructors. Waste the instructors' time also.

I am very pleased with this year's Speech Day.  The CO has done well!! Performance wise, of course can be better. I am talking about other stuff. This year, most of the members made it to school before 7.30am. Although I said 7.00am, I expected more to come later than 7.30. So it was a wonderful surprise that many made it, especially in such heavy rain. He Bin even called me to tell me he and his friends will be late. Very good! At least I won't scold you for being late as I already know the reason why. However do not take it that you all are already very good and slack off. I do not like/encourage/approve of latecoming.

This year, we have another CO teacher in charge, Ms Lin, so we can coordinate the movements of the CCA better. The members were also cooperative and together we made some progress.

We had time to go through the song several times.

The heavy, bulky instruments were moved down first while the rest remained in the rooms to wait. The boys assigned to carry the instruments did their part. They also remembered to carry the instruments back to the CO rooms after the performance. Very good!

We went down early to wait for our turn to perform and we went straight back to the rooms after the performace. Even though I said the heavy instruments can be kept at the back of the hall until the school song is over to carry them up, the boys also moved them up straight after the performance. I guess they saw no point in waiting, since already carrying, might as well carry all the way up. Hahaha...made Ms Lin and me very happy :)

Of course there are things that were not so good. Latecoming is one as I had written above. Talking while waiting for our turn is another. There were people making speeches on stage and the members were talking away behind the hall. The third thing would be the rubbish left behind after you guys consumed the food and drinks. Despite telling you all to throw the bottles and plastic/paper bags into the rubbish bin/paper box, these rubbish were just left all over the place. No one likes to stay in a dirty place right. I do not want people to come and tell me the CO rooms are dirty and smelly, and something had chewed on your instruments. Keeping the rooms clean is everybody's responsibility!

And where are the ribbons and ties?? When did they go MIA from the CO rooms? 

I had wanted to take a group photo with all the members after the school song as this is possibly my last year in the school. Some waited on stage, but others already went off. So in the end, my wish was not fulfilled. Hope I will get another chance. The pictures I took are in the Photos section. I took a video too but the size is too large to be uploaded. Anyone interested can come and ask me for it.

a tired but happy Ms Kwan   

ps: those who were thinking that my dress seems familiar, yup, i wore the same dress for my 1st speech day in the sch :) 有始有终

Good news: almost all of the members turned up for the rehearsal.

Bad news: although we have used the CO relay system to remind members of the FULL DRESS rehearsal, there were still many who didn't bring their CO costumes. Luckily, they escaped without any scolding.

There was some confusion during the rehearsal, so the CO didn't perform as well as I like them to be. Never mind, we have another chance tomorrow to let the school know how good we can be!

Wed (i.e. today) practice was no good!! Attendance was very poor. Please do not think we teachers in charge are stupid and give us silly excuses. We feel very insulted. I know you guys were dismissed late yesterday, but there's no excuse to skip practice. That's truancy! And it's not as if you all know how to perform the song very well.

Ms Kwan who wonders when will her CO members become sensible, considerate and feel attached to the CCA.

We will be having a full dress rehearsal as announced by Mr Yeo on Friday morning. After the flag-raising ceremony, many CO members stayed behind to ask for more details from Ms Lin and me. I hope you all have done what I asked of you, that is to bring the whilte long-sleeved blouse/shirt, black pants and black shoes (pants and shoes can be kept in the CO rooms till Sat's Speech Day) and to remind your friends who were absent of the rehearsal and what to bring.

Shuhui gave me a wonderful surprise today. She smsed me in the afternoon about calling up the sectional leaders and letting them remind the members in their sections. I was touched that she took the initiative to do this. Longyang was the one who called up the sectional leaders, if I'm not wrong. I trust my chairman and vice chairwoman, now let's see if the rest of the committee members will fulfill the duties assigned to them :)

Oh and another thing I want to tell the members, please don't say I don't trust you if you have done things that betrayed my trust in you. Once bitten, twice shy.

Ms Kwan

Today was another disappointing day. Although slightly more students (more graduating students than yesterday) turned up after all the CO members were called out in the morning and given a talking to, those regular absentees remained absent. And this was after they were told that they will be barred from taking their oral and listening comprehension national examinations. Does this tells us that you do not even care about your academic studies? Does personal enjoyment means more than bigger issues (exams, friendships etc)?

I feel sorry for those members who attend practices and rehearsals regularly. I am really sorry that you had to get scolded by either the CO teachers i/c or other teachers due to the fault of the absentees (be it from your own CCA group or another group). You do not deserve such treatment. And I want to tell you all that I am glad and grateful that you all made the effort to continue coming. 

After the rehearsal, I received news that the full dress rehearsal will be on the 3rd July, which is next Tuesday. This means that we do not have a chance to practise the 2 SYF songs to be performed. Most probably I will call a short practice tomorrow, from 12.30 to 2.00pm. We will practise even if there's no instructor or conductor.

Ms Kwan

Today was the 1st rehearsal for the concert items. Mrs Lau, herself, personally made the announcement telling all performers to report to the hall by 2.45pm. I went round to the different classes looking for students who were absent on Tues practice to tell them about the afternoon rehearsal. Very disappointingly, I realised that most of the members' mentality remain the same: SELF-CENTRED.

Why?

Are you the only ones who had homework?

Are you the only ones who had exams?

Are you the only ones who are tired?

I am really curious to know whether you feel good about running away and lying to the teachers. There are people who had to go off early, and yet still came for the rehearsal. I let them go after the rehearsal. There are people whose instruments are sent for repairs and they stayed throughout the whole rehearsal, right till the last part where all the performers sang the school song. There are people who have not learnt the songs and yet showed up and remained till the end.

There are students who claimed that I lied to them. They said that the rehearsals are not reflected in the practice schedule. I did not lie. If you will make the effort to understand what I typed, you will know that the schedule is for the CO's own practices, nothing to do with the school's rehearsals. I also wished that I can include the rehearsals dates into the schedule, but the dates were not fixed at the time of printing. However, I did put in the dates for Speech Day and National Day concerts. Most of you should know there WILL be rehearsals.

I tried to have all practices in the afternoon so that your lessons won't be affected. But you all don't realise that if the rehearsals do not go smoothly and Mrs Lau feels that you all need to improve, you all will be taken away from your lessons to go through everything over and over again. In the end, you are only inviting trouble for yourself. And you have no one to blame but yourself. (For those members who came, you can blame your friends who didn't turn up then).

Let's see the attendance tomorrow.

a disappointed and tired Ms Kwan

I've already given the schedule out this morning. I've also stressed to you all that attendance is compulsory. Please make sure your friends who were absent today know of the practice dates. The songs we will performed for Speech Day concert will be the 2 SYF songs. The pop songs will be performed during the National Day concert.

See you guys at the practice tomorrow :)

Ms Kwan

This was drawn by Shuhui if I remembered correctly (can't remember if anyone helped out ;p). I find it cute so I scanned a copy to show you guys too!

Ms Kwan

I'm advertising on behalf of Mdm Rasidah (tr i/c of SJAB). There's a fund-raising concert on the 24th June 2007 at 7.00pm. Venue is at Singapore Conference Hall and tickets are priced at $20, free seating. This concert is put up by Temasek Secondary and Temasek Polytechnic Chinese Orchestras. There will be 16 songs and 2 instrumentals.

Anyone interested please go ahead and buy the tickets. It's for a good cause!

Ms Kwan

So many of you guys went back to your own country!! -.-|||

I'm going to have to call up everybody!!

ms kwan

I was flipping through some old newspapers when I came across these Chinese quotes.

 

若要活得随意些，

只能活得平凡些；

若要活得辉煌些，

只能活得痛苦些；

若要活得长久些，

只能活得简单些；

若要活得幸福些，

只能活得糊涂些。

 

I quite like it, so thought I will share them with you here.