First Day of School - June 26th

You could sense both apprehension and weariness intermingled with excitement and a joyous yearning to meet of human experiences, when school reopened today.

The morning assembly was held in the hall to the rapturous chorus of Majulah Singapura and the Song of the Brave. This was followed by a prayer by the deep resonaning prayerful voice of Mr Edmund James & a speech by Mr Simen.

a. Dengue

The students were told that the Dengue oubreak was now more potent because there were now several strains which were sometimes fatal. He told the students that there was no cause for concer and alarm because the school had taken extra efforts to ensure that there were not mosquitoe breeding grounds within the environment of the school.

The school is checked thoroughly for breeding grounds. It is also fumigated regularly. He told students that they sould report directly to him if they found any breeding grounds. Mr Simen also mentioned that the school would closely monitor and follow the guidelines and advisories issued by Ministry of Health and the National Environmental Agency (NEA). As far as excursions and learning journeys were concerned, the school had Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) in place to ensure that whenever students visited dengue-prone areas, they would have prior warning that they were entering such and zone and would be issued with insect repellants for students to use. All games and learning journeys would adopt school SOPs.

Mr Simen also encouraged the students to be on a lookout for areas in the house where mosquitoes bred, particulary stagnant water found in the bathroom. He told them to teach their parents and maids of such potential threats and to check their homes regulary.

b. School Strategic Plan

Mr Simen spoke about having the end in mind (from Steve McCovey's 7 Habits of Effective People) book and ran through the 4 strategic thrusts of the school.

The long term goal was: Creative and innovative enterprise founded on character development and Christian values.

He also gave the school a phrase "Sedikit Sedikit, Lama Lama, Menjari Bukit" or "Slowly but surely you would build a mountain/hill" or "Slow and Steaddy Wins the Race".

c. The 3 Legged School

Mr Simen also reminded the boys about how schools Montfort School would be a breeding ground for innovation, creativity and enterprise by using the idea of the three legged stool.

a. Seat - Clear sense of purpose and knowing where you are headed
b. 3 legs of the stool - (i) Aspiration; (ii) Generative Conversation; (iii) Understanding Complexity

d. Values

Mr Simen told our boys about how it was important to understand the values of the school and to be grounded in them:

a. Faith and Compassion
b. Integrity
c. Humility
d. Respect & Teamwork
e. Passion and Perseverance

e. Responsibility

It was the responsibility of all staff and students to understand the long-term goals of the school and the values of the school. The strategic thrusts are the means to achieve these goals.

He told the boys that it was not just the school which was responsible for educating the school, 30% of it also depended on individual responsiblity and another 30% on the family. All you have to do is to alwas choose and do what is right and to be the ambassador of St Louis de Montfort (and by extension, the school).

As if as a microcosmic example of this, he told the boys about the 30 sec. rule. Amidst some restless mummerings and whispers amongst the boys, Mr Simen reminded the boys that gentlemanliness consists of understanding the 30s rule.

f. HWTLS

Mr Simen also expounded on the idea of HWTLS which would be the focus of the school.

H - Happy
W - Working
T - Thinking
L - Learning
S - School

He wanted both students and teachers to submit the following viewpoints to him:

a. What makes a teacher a happy and working individual in the school?
b. What makes a student a happy and learning individual in the school?

c. What has the school done for them thus far?
d. What more can be done?