From the Head of Secondary 06.03.2021

Dear Parents,

It has been a very busy week in Secondary as we all excitedly prepared for the return of the remaining Year groups on Monday. When chatting to some of the younger students earlier in the week, I asked them what they will miss most about online learning. It will not come as any great surprise, but the overwhelming majority said that they will miss the extra hour in bed each morning! Lie in aside, the return to physical lessons will enrich the learning experience for all. It is amazing how far we have progressed with technology and online learning but it simply cannot replace some of the everyday things that are central to a ‘holistic’ approach to education; social interaction being one of them. In preparation for Monday, please can you ensure your child brings in their own digital device so we can continue to make good use of some of the Educational Apps that have been developed over the last year.

Since Wednesday, our Year 12 and Year 13 students have been sitting their mock examination papers. Assessments in any form are stressful but this can be significantly reduced with good planning. It is wonderful to see students taking onboard the guidance they have received by making full use of the time they have to prepare for each exam. It is important to recognise that it is not just our older students who worry about the pressure associated with doing well at school. Please do have a read of 8K’s contribution to this week’s newsletter as their thoughts and suggestions are perceptive and highly relevant to each and every one of us.

It has also been a jam-packed week of competitions. We recently received the results of the 2021 UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge. Congratulations to everyone who took part and a massive well done on achieving such a wonderful set of results. Full details of the award winners, along with a couple of taster questions can be found below. Furthermore, to celebrate International Women’s Day all students were given the opportunity to hone their creative skills to showcase, and recognise, the achievements of women throughout history. The work is inspiring and further information, along with a range of examples of the art work, can be found in Ms Yuen’s article.

I wish you all a relaxing weekend.

Kind regards,

Andrew Hallas

Deputy Head of Secondary/Head of Sixth Form

International Women’s Day (March 8th) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge‘.

To commemorate this special day, the Creative and Performing Arts Department organised a Digital Art Competition to challenge our students to produce a poster design to celebrate the achievements of women in history, or the women who have made an impact in their community. 

Thank you to the students who have submitted their digital poster design. The work is outstanding and will give inspiration to many. The winners of the competition are:

3rd Place Pik Ern Y7

2nd Place Julia Y8

1st Delia Claudette Y12

Their work will be selected for entries to an external FOBISIA Digital Art Competition organised by Dulwich College, Singapore.

Happy International Women’s Day ahead!

Ms Yuen

Head of Creative and Performing Arts Department

 “Obvious” is the most dangerous word in mathematics (Eric Temple Bell) 

In the first week of February our Year 10 and 11 students joined tens of thousands of other mathematicians around the world in tackling the 2021 UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematical Trust) Intermediate Maths Challenge – a 60-minute online multiple choice exam designed to get students thinking both divergently and convergently on their way to solving problems.

These tests are, happily, becoming familiar to our students, but the questions grow in complexity as the test progresses, and stress levels rise due, in no small part, to the fact that calculators are not allowed and that incorrect answers can receive negative marks. Apart from being intrinsically great fun, these tests work towards providing students with a reserve of resilience and flexibility of thought, which can make a huge difference when they are confronted by something which is superficially unfamiliar during the more mainstream examinations.

Here are a couple of typical questions for you to try at home:

Earlier this week we received our results, and they are very impressive – with no fewer than 26 of our students receiving special awards. This is an excellent achievement.

The following students were awarded Bronze certificates:

Y10: Jackson Chin, Ivan Chin, Farah Idrena, Ian Kanesan, Lewis Lee, Alan Ling, David Mills, Ervin Tan, Jia Min Tay,

Y11: Isla Forsyth, Angelina Hutchinson, Chanel Lo, Mani Venmathimaran, Xie Heng Wi

The following students were awarded Silver certificates:

Y10: Clement Choo, Alexis Chu, Iden McElhone, Ricky Minette, Jed Ngu, Chanameth Sangmookda, Marc Wong

Y11: Junseo Hong

And special congratulations go to the Gold Award winners:

Y10: Yanging Liu and Benedict Wong

Y11: Ryan Chen and Jayden Tan

Well done to everyone who took part, and we now look forward to the Junior Challenge in late April.

F J Davis (Head of Secondary Maths)

Everyone experiences stress. However, when it is affecting our life, health and wellbeing, it is important to tackle it as soon as possible. Stress can affect everyone differently. Here is the Year 8K class sharing their experiences and ideas for how they cope with stress and are able to maintain a good balance of mental health.

Celine: I cope with the stress when I have time to play the violin or listen to music, which helps calm my senses. Other times, I just make time to breathe and rest my eyes. This helps me relax and my stress is reduced and my mental health is improved.

Miky: Coping with stress is a process by which a person deals with their personal problems. These are some of the ways how I cope with stress. Usually I will call or message a close friend, but if they don’t reply I will watch tik tok, listen to music, read a book, play the piano or take a bath. If I’m free, I might play some online games with my friends or my sister. Doing these things helps to distract me from dwelling on the negativities.

Joshua: Stress can lead to less sleep and less quality work being produced. To reduce stress, I find talking to friends helpful and also looking to other entertainment such as sports and playing games online.

Han Kyeol: I have coped with online learning pretty well from the start since I have lots of things to do in my house, and nowadays there are many ways to contact your friends and talk to relieve stress. Since most of my hobbies can be done online, this helps.

Pik Yen: To deal with stress, I try talking to others and share what I feel.  Talking to people relieves anxiety and reduces stress levels. Sleeping and doing exercises gives me a break.  I tell myself to avoid self-criticism. Another way is to find people who have positive mindsets, if you are surrounded by negative people, you will still suffer.

Vayne: I cope with stress after the situation and I do it when I am free so it doesn’t impact on my time. I cope with stress and anxiety by taking a long shower. I also plant when I am having a bad day but I do it alone so I can concentrate on the plant rather than on multiple things. Many people like me also exercise or clean their surroundings to cope with stress.

Yan Yee: One way I cope with stress is asking for help from others.  It is okay to ask and reach out for help. Asking for help and talking to someone helps me a lot, especially when I want to share and express my feelings.  Always remind yourself that you are going to be okay and everything will be fine. Writing a story, a poem or any sort of writing helps too.

Amiel: A way I used to cope with stress is to meditate, it helps me keep calm if I have had a particularly stressful day. Being calm can also benefit your mental health; coronavirus has really taken its toll on our mental health and to have a stressful lifestyle will not help.

Azwina: Sometimes, I get some sleep to cope with stress. It helps me grow & develop normally throughout the day. My bed allows me to step away from daily worries. Sleeping also improves my concentration, energy & my mood. A lack of sleep can cause stress. I also sometimes play with my cat.

Myko: How to cope with stress: If you’re currently having stress with school work it’s ok because that’s how life works. Sometime there are happy moments and sometimes there are sad or angry moments; life isn’t always about having fun. If you’re still in school then go play with your friends. It can help you overcome stress from home works or tests.

Anny: To cope with stress, I need to get plenty of sleep and give myself a break if I feel stressed out. By doing exercise and eating healthy can also help. I also try talking to someone like my parents and friends. I also sometimes do meditation to relax myself, do some of my favourite hobbies and read some interesting books I like. And lastly, the thing that helps me release stress the most is watching YouTube or movies, listening to music and playing games.

Sarah: Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Mental health wasn’t really known 100 years ago, and one of the reasons why mental health today is widely known is because people, mostly (we) teenagers, are happy to talk about it. I personally prioritise taking time for myself or have fun with my friends.

Junhu: Actually I don’t have a lot of stress. I just get a little bit of stress from school and I play games to release stress but I also get stress from games. It’s quite funny because I’m playing games to release stress. So the way to relieve stress from games is to watch YouTube or play different games.

Crystle: usually when I’m stressed I always listen to music or read novels. Sometimes I also call friends from my old school to play games or just chat with them since I moved to another city.

To conclude, there are many ways to cope with your stress and to promote positive wellbeing. With all the different coping mechanisms that 8K have shared with everyone we think that at least one of them might help everyone in some way. It is okay if you have tried some and it does not work because not everyone goes through the same thing, but you should try all of them if you can, to find the one that works for you. You are never alone, asking for help or just talking to someone is okay. Try to at least do something to help yourself, to improve your health and release the weight off your shoulders.

Last advice from 8K students

You can…

Exercise

• Try talking to someone, like your parents, friends and the counselor.
• Adopt good sleeping habits
• Eat a well-balanced diet
• Go outside whenever possible
• Do something you enjoy
• Reduce how much time you spend watching/reading the news or scrolling through social media.
• On the other hand, nowadays, there are many ways to contact your friends to talk, or look for entertainment such as online games, so you can also use the internet to relieve stress.
• Laugh! laughter has both short term (stimulates organs, releases endorphins, eases tension) and long term (improves mood and immune system) benefits.
• Take a shower
• Clean your surroundings