LO - HEI LUNCH FOR TEMASEK SCHOLARS

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:11:05 +0800

The Lo – Hei lunch for Temasek Scholars was held on Friday, 27 January 2012. The spectrum of foreign students (about 60 of them) came from China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia.
It was an event of importance for the scholars as they had an opportunity to interact with the Principal, Vice Principals, teachers and PSG members.
It was my first time attending the event in the school as a PSG member, so I was
a little nervous, but I did not feel out of place. The teachers and PSG members were very friendly. The surrounding was very cozy. We chatted with the Principal, Vice Principals, teachers and the scholars too. One of the scholars, Cheah Cai Yun from Secondary 4/3 commented “ I feel that the PSG has been very altruistic to support many events for the scholars of Temasek which include this CNY lunch. Personally, I feel that the lunch had helped the Chinese scholars feel at home even though we are now in a foreign country while the non-Chinese could experience the atmosphere of CNY. We would like to sincerely thank the PSG for their care for us. It is very much appreciated.”

Another scholar, Huang Han from Secondary 3/2 said “It was my first time spending my Chinese New Year with my friends, classmates, teachers and PSG, instead of my family. To be honest, I felt that it was odd initially. However, the PSG made me feel at home by holding this event that I was able to spend my Chinese New Year with the whole big family of Temasek. Thank you for whatever you have given me.”

I met a few of the PSG members whose children have already graduated from
Temasek. These members are still helping in the activities organised by the school and PSG. This shows their passion and dedication to help the students in the various activities and be in touch with them.

As a token of appreciation for the efforts put in by the PSG members, the scholars
Presented a “thank you” card to them.

On behalf of PSG, I would like to wish the scholars all the very best in their studies
and hope that the year of the Dragon will bring prosperity and good health to one and all.

Contributed by PSG member Sonali Mohanty

TEMASEK OPEN HOUSE

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:16:15 +0800

The sun cast its rays on the Saturday morning of November 19th, provided a beautiful backdrop for Temasek Secondary School (TMS) Open House. The Open House offered the parents and students a perfect opportunity to visit TMS and find out more about its academic, aesthetic and sporting performances and outstanding achievements.

The Open House featured presentations and booths on the school's uniform groups, sports and other CCAs, including various student leadership groups. The teachers, coaches and student representatives were at full force. They explained the different benefits that the visiting parents have if they wish to enrol their children into TMS. The visitors even had an opportunity to have a chat with the principal, teaching staff and the student leaders.

Among the many booths that I have visited, I was most impressed by student Glenna Liew who manned the booth for the Shooting Club in the school canteen. She shared with me confidently what were the shooting equipments used by the club members for training and competition, their training schedules and the many awards the club had won. She also offered to show me their air-conditioned underground shooting range converted by the school from a Civil Defence shelter.

Some of the aesthetic CCA groups such as the school band and the Wushu team also took to the centre stage with performances in the school hall for the visitors. The Temasek Chorale, who took the Gold (Hons) award during 2011 Singapore Youth Festival, impressed the audience with a couple of songs named "Magic of Wizard Davinza" and "Dance in the Woods".

Although TMS had to compete with more than 10 other secondary school open houses to gain the attention of students and parents on that day, I estimated more then 500 visitors attended the TMS Open House. I believed the visitors have enjoyed all the events put up and left with newfound knowledge of TMS like I did.

On behalf of the Parents Support Group, I would like to thank the students and staff members who had worked hard, and provided their time and enthusiasm which helped make the 2011 Open House a glowing success.

Contributed by PSG member Jimmy Goh

PSG Family Day @ Big Splash on 5th November 2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:03:05 +0800

Following the success of the June Forest Adventure Family outing @ Bedok Reservoir, the Parent Support Group (PSG) recently organized its second family bonding outing for this year at The Playground @ Big Splash.

Seven families joined the joyful sporty event that was held outdoors under a beautiful weather that Saturday morning 5 November.

For three hours, parents and kids of each family competed in good spirit by testing their newly learnt skills in Kangoo jumping and cycling along East Coast Park searching for locations based on clues given at the beginning of the Wheel race.

The Kangoo Power Obstacle Course was held at Playtrium and all participants had safety gears and Kangoo Jump shoes provided. Trained instructors conducted a forty minute introductory and safety class where all learnt how to balance, walk, run, jump and even skip rope with the Kangoo jump shoes. To our surprise, what looked like a challenge seemed quite an easy task and all, children and adults happily jumped like kangaroos after some trial.

Once all were ready for the main challenge, the Kangoo Power Obstacle race started with each family member performing one at a time a series of runs, jumps over obstacles and finishing with rope skipping in the fastest time.

What a satisfaction to complete this challenge under the heat, it only took each about three to five minutes but it was physically tiring and all enjoyed a short refreshment before carrying on with the next event… The Amazing Race on Wheels.

The Amazing Race on Wheels was actually a timed race to realize in less than fifty minutes cycling along East Coast Park zone A to C using specific clues given by the organizers to identify a location.
Bicycles were provided for to each participant. Fastest time wins.

Families would cycle together and once they find the location, would need to take a family photo at the identified site and quickly jump onto their bike and move to the next area guided by the next clue. Some windsurfs, a metal bridge, nearby a beach volleyball area …Quick, faster, wrong place, let’s search again, hurry up, team no 2 is catching up, we won’t make it in 50 minutes…. A lot of team spirit to encourage each other, analyze the location and some stress to complete the Amazing Cycling Race on time and faster than other teams. It was hot, tiring, quite a large distance to cover and a challenge for families with younger kids below 10. Eventually, all families made it and handed over their papers with the solved locations and showed their group photos to the organizers hoping to qualify.

Everybody was then looking forward to some well-deserved refreshment and a meal at the nearby KFC.
The event ended with prize-giving ceremony for the winning families of the overall challenges.

Thank you Mr Segar for organizing this event;
Thank you PSG parents and children for joining.

We hope that all of you had fun and will keep happy memories of this second outing for 2011.

The Parent Support Group wishes all a very Happy Holiday, a Merry Christmas, Joy and Good Health as the Festive Season approaches.

We look forward to meeting again in 2012.

Until then, Happy New Year!

Contributed by PSG member Sophie Bochot

Understanding Your Unique Teen

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:21:41 +0800

The School of Family Education (SFE) organised a talk entitled “Understanding
Your Unique Teen at the AVT of Temasek Secondary School on Saturday, 29th October 2011.
We had a cosy yet in-depth exploration on the above relevant issue of this generation. Indeed, this is every parent’s challenge in our everyday life. As a matter of fact, teenage is just a growing phrase but in this an ever-changing world, parents are called to equip ourselves with knowledge and skills so as to align with our children’s growing-up years.
Mr Joshua Ng who is a Certified Behavioral Consultant and a Professional Trainer was the speaker and a parent of 3 children himself, helped us to acknowledge the basic changes in teenagers: be it physical or emotional due to puberty development. Once we recognize these changes, we can empathise with them and stretch our patience and love towards them, even though we may view them having numerous problems on attitudes, relationship and academic performance etc..
Correcting vs connecting, which one comes first? Correcting is important but connecting is even more crucial. We may correct teenagers hundred of mistakes but connecting fewer times can hardly make up for the hurts sometimes we unknowingly bring forth to them during correction. Disciplining does not necessarily come with punishment. Parents actually demonstrate how we deal with conflicts with our children, their response depends how we react to situations, such familiarities will mould them into their adulthood and subtly influence them how to be parents next time.
Conclusion:
The principle is: we are not just parenting children, we are preparing and developing future adults who will shoulder future responsibilities in families and society. Treat them an unique person and love them for who they are.
Every human mind is delicate, we parents must learn to handle with great care. There is no perfect parent but the best parents are those who are willing to learn and grow up with their own children.
We are never alone, there are many parents out there sharing the same struggles. TMS PSG spending time to find resources and support to make these seminars available. Parents please come forward to take advantage of such opportunities and you will bring home a new insight in your parenting walk.
Contributed by PSG member Phyllis Lau