First Day of School - June 23 2008

It was the first day of school and a special prayer was said for students who are embarking on their Perak Trip on Monday night and Thursday night.

During the holidays, another group of students went to Shanghai and they had a fruitful trip. We thank the lord that they have returned both safe and sound.

School day also began with Mr Simen welcoming us back to school and the theme fo the term: FOCUS & ATTENTION = PERFORMANCE

Below are the excerpts of a blog from one of our students (mind the grammar but it makes it all the more genuine)

"Today , my Principal say a very important word or you can say phrase. I forgot to say that Mr Simen is a very good person which is MONTFORT secondary principal . He is a nice person I can say I hope people who had graduated from P6 and I hope all of you who have read my blog please come to MONTFORT secondary . It is located at Hougang ave 8 you can see it in front of you . Ok today my principal told us that he watch show which is on discovery channel . He says he saw a person and his friends climbing to mount everest . Mr Simen says that all of them are trying very hard to climb the mountain . then a guy say THIS COULD BE THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE OR THE BEST DAY IN MY LIFE . Life are unpredictable there are up and downs so many happiness and so many unhappy incidents outside,school,family so many things which i just can,t describe it . well i hope you all know what i mean "

http://wanloong95.blogspot.com/

Mr Simen spoke the story about the Alchemist. Below is a synopsis:

The novel by Paulo Coelho tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. After listening to "the signs" the boy ventures in his personal, Ulysses-like journey of exploration and self-discovery, symbolically searching for a hidden treasure located near the pyramids in Egypt.

When he decides to go, his father's only advice is "Travel the world until you see that our castle is the greatest, and our women the most beautiful". In his journey, Santiago sees the greatness of the world, and meets all kinds of exciting people like kings and alchemists. However, by the end of the novel, he discovers that "treasure lies where your heart belongs", and that the treasure was the journey itself, the discoveries he made, and the wisdom he acquired.

"The Alchemist", is an exciting novel that bursts with optimism; it is the kind of novel that tells you that everything is possible as long as you really want it to happen. That may sound like an oversimplified version of new-age philosophy and mysticism, but as Coelho states "simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them".

As the alchemist himself says, when he appears to Santiago in the form of an old king "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". This is the core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that echoes behind Coelho's writing all through

Mr Simen also went on to say that this was the higher forms of our Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) learning framework at Montfort School. It was also the basis for 'Awakening the Giant in You' and choice that we make every day.

With genuine intentions, Mr Simen also delved into the matter of what made education so important. He said that "The happiest moments of the year are when the students are around" simple because he chose to be a teacher-at-heart. Freedom of choice is God's greatest gift to man and what distinguishes him from animals. Therefore, because he chose to be a teacher and to be involved in education, "the happiest momements is when students are around and when there are students to teach"."