Monday, August 11, 2008

National Day - Youth Racial Harmony Day

1. Youth and Racial Harmony Day, 25 April postponed

Youth and Racial Harmony Day was postponed because our canteen vendor Mr Daniel Hoe passed away during the week. He had been with us for 10 years and we keep him in our prayers. Prayers were said in the morning for him and a condolence book laid out for the week. He leaves behind his wife and two son.s We keep him in our prayers

2. ASEAN Day, 7 August 2008

Montfort School celebrated ASEAN Day on 7 August. Mr Lloyd Yeo read out the message from the Director-General of Schools. He began by asking students 'where are you from?' and emphasized the importance of feeling and being Asian because it gives all of us a common sense of identity and sense of belonging.

3. National Day / Racial Harmony Day 8 August 2008

The National Day and Youth and Racial Harmony Day was celebrated on on 8 August 2008. There was a joint observance ceremony held in the School Field. It was delightful to see Montfort School as one full school. Students then proceeded to the hall for a hall assembly. It featured an Indian Dance, Video clips on 'Common Space' and a wonderful performance by teachers singing Kit Chan's recent National Day song. In the true spirit of racial harmony, Ms Rashidah, Mrs Prema, Mr Christopher Foran, Mr Edwin Lee and many other teachers sang the song in mandarin.

There was also the Annual Youth and Racial Harmony fair held. Class 4E2 were champs again in raising the most amount of funds. The Parent Support Group even had a store and came in a close second. A total of $8,155 was raised for the School Pocket Fund for our needy students.

Montfort Chorale will perform as part of the National Day Combined Schools Choir during the N-Day parade on 9 August 2008.

Montfort Softball

1. Montfort Softball Team beat ACS 5-3 and held on a last minute surge to enter the Semi-Finals of the National Softball Tournament

2. Montfort Softball Team calls themselves 'Giants' and slew the Chinese High team 4-0 to enter into the Finals of the National Softball Tournament.

3. Montfort Softball Team lost out to Raffles Institution 5-8 in a hard fought game held at TPJC. Montfort softball team are the second best team in Singapore!

Montfort had won several SRC Championships but never come in second in the Nationals. Their last Top 4 Standing was in 2003 and 2004. We wish our Montfort Softball team all their best in their future performance and hope the sporting culture at Montfort continues to grow.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

The spirit rages on

At Tampines JC, our Montfortian Giants played against Raffles Institution for the title of National Softball Champions. Despite their hardest efforts, the giants were unable to win their first National title. Nevertheless, the Montfortian spirit will not falter. The silver medals they got are definitely worth ten times more than gold, because they played with all the heart and gave it all. Though they were disappointed by the loss, which was only by a small margin, they will definitely return to the finals next year, even more eager to win the title. As Winston Churchill said, "Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.", the school is extremely proud of the team making it this far and this close. Reaching the final took about 8 years in the making, winning it will take far less than that, we the kind of 'never say never' can-do spirit which the team possess. I'm sure the team will return to give another 100% plus the 200% they gave today.






Brian Theng, 2E4

Friday, August 1, 2008

Student Council President Elections

Student Council President Elections
On the First of August, the whole school gathered at the hall for the Q&A session with the two student council president candidates, Boey Teng Ann(3E1) and Daniel Lee(3E1). The student population was able to pose questions and clarify any doubts during the session.

No Promise
With Mr Victor Ong as moderator, queries where quickly raised and it almost became like a mini-debate session. One asked why there were the candidates made no promises for them. Their response: not all promises can be kept as the president is not the ultimate authority in school, whichi is the principal. Therefore making promises that may not be kept would only anger the student. Promises that are possible may take a long time to fufill. But one promise they can keep is to promise that they do the right thing, and not what is popular or easy.

Councillors
Several questions were asked about the student councillors and their bad points. The simple response was that the councillors are people, and noone is perfect and make mistakes. Questions about the council were not really related as the Q&A session was for the school.

Raising the bar
One student posed the question of raising the standard of the students and not only the councillors. The candidates agreed that a change in the council is needed first, as they are of smaller size. Then, with the councillors as better role models, the students would most likely follow their example. That way, the whole school's image could be changed.



The reason why the the candidates posed questions back to the school population as some of the questions asked were not thought through first.

Daniel Lee wishes to get the student population to suggest what they want to see/have in school and will impliment student character development, together with the school's current programme, to fufill his vision of 'everyone is a man of reason'.

Boey Teng Ann hopes to use his knowledge, experience and ability to take action and get results to win the election.



Overall, they feel that as it is just the 2nd time the whole school is electing the president, the school is not 'seasoned' enough for a true and real election. What they can also promise is the fact that no matter what the outcome of the election is, they will work together for the benefit of the school. The results of the election would be releasd on the 4th of August, Monday




Written by:
Brian Theng, 2E4

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Boiled Frog Theory

Mr Simen reminded the school about the importance to gather quickly at assembly session and that there were a minority who were either:

a. Too unconcerned about starting the day well and doing the small things well.
b. Those who just simply didn't care.

He then demonstrated how students should get ready quickly for the assembly with Mr Faizan and told a real interesting parable of the boiled frog

The boiling frog story states that a frog can be boiled alive if the water is heated slowly enough — it is said that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will never jump out.
The story is generally told in a figurative context, with the upshot being that people should make themselves aware of gradual change and aware of its surroundings. They should gravitate towards school as an organization otherwise in the future they would be a jeopardy to others and to themselves.


Thursday, July 24, 2008

Passing on of our School Canteen Operator, Mr Daniel Hoe

On 22 July, a special assembly and announcement was made in the hall by Mr Simen about the passing on of our school canteen operator,Mr Daniel Hoe. He was popularly known to us as Uncle Daniel.

On the 21st of July, Monday 7pm++ He passed away in Hospital because of cardiac arrest. Here are some excerpts we were able to gather from our student blogs:

"I left school around 4.45pm and I can't believe he passed away. He was a healthy and active man. As a person,he was ever so cheerful,and never failed to greet us with a smile when we purchase drinks from him. He was a person with a generous heart,and a charitable spirit. This year, as with so many of our years, he had even donated to us coconuts to be sold by my class at the Youth and Racial Harmony day Funfair"

"I remember he was very helpful,and offered much assitance when i went with a few classmates to get the drinks and coconuts from him..He even lend us a big bucket to put the drinks..Not forgetting the ice that we use during the Funfair was kindly donated by him."

"I remember his selfless acts,staying back till 5 plus everyday to sell drinks to us because we have late lessons.He never complained when he had to walk all the way from the vending machine back to his stall,just to sell us a bottle of drink,or just a cup of drink...He would just cheerfully ask us "Yes,Ah boy?What do you want?"
He would also ocasionally chat with the students..I remember he helped us a lot during our choir camp,regarding the food and stuff."

"I guess The student body on the whole respect him a lot.During recess,if there were to be quarrels or scuffles in the canteen,he would always be the first one to step in to break up the feuding ones because he is there all the time.I admire his bravery."

" Uncle daniel was a Nice man,with a generous and charitable heart.His bravery and charitable spirit shall always be remembered.To His Family,My deepest condolencesm"

- Daren Ng

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Being the Punctual Gentleman



Mr Simen emphasized the need to be punctual and to be in sync with what being a gentleman is about. He emphasized that it was important to 'wake up the giant' and not to be the dwarf because it was observed that some students did not move with urgency and promptness to the assembly courtyard when the signature tune was played.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Sporting Achievements Update




Goh Shao Jie of 4A1 did the school proud by clinching 1 Gold and 1 Silver medals at the recently completed National Inter-School Canoeing Championships (C1-1000m and C1-500m category). This is definitely a well-deserved reward after gruelling hours of training!


The 'C' Division Rugby team has completed the qualifying stages in the National Inter-School Rugby Tournament and came in overall second in their group. They are now in the Cup Category Quarter-Finals, being grouped together with RI, Pioneer and ACS (Barker). Let's wish them well for their first game this Thursday.

The 'C' Division Softball team has also completed the qualifying stages in the National Inter-School Softball Tournament and came in tops in their group. They are now in the quarter-finals stage, with strong possibility of getting into the semi-finals. We wish them all the best too!