sembawang primary school innovative learners, rooted in …

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Sembawang Primary School, 10 Sembawang Drive, Singapore 757715 Tel: (65)67567330 Fax: (65)67560367 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.sembawangpri.moe.edu.sg/

SEMBAWANG PRIMARY SCHOOL Innovative Learners, Rooted in Values

SBPS/21/132

6 Aug 2021

Open Letter from School Leaders 6/2021

Dear Parents, 1. We hope everyone at home is staying healthy and safe, in the midst of changing National posture due to the COVID pandemic. 2. At the school front, we have adjusted well to the Safe Management Measures and tightened ring-fencing measures in the fight against COVID-19.

3. On a lighter note, we would like to extend a warm welcome to the following staff who have joined our school in the last 3 months:

Ms Farah Binte Mohd Rezal (English Language and Social Studies)

Miss Wee Li Jia (English Language and Mathematics)

Mr Silas Abdul Karim Bin Noor Shah (Physical Education)

Mr Ng Yi Chao (English Language and Social Studies)

4. The Muslim noodles stall (Stall 3) will reopen on 13 September 2021. The new vendor Mdm Husnani Bte Hussien has more than 6 years of experience working in the school canteen and is therefore familiar with the preparation and serving of healthy meals in accordance with the Health Promotion Board (HPB) guidelines. We welcome her to the Sembawang family.

Important Information…

Update on COVID-19 Matters

5. Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) from 22 July to 18 August 2021. In ensuring the

continued safety and well-being of students and staff against the backdrop of a spike

in community COVID-19 cases, our school has reverted to tighter SMMs in tandem

with Phase 2 (HA), and introduced new SMMs to our school bus vendor and Student

Care Centre. In addition, our school will carry out regular Antigen Rapid Test (ART)

on high-risk personnel in the school. Further ring-fencing measures to keep COVID-

19 at bay have also been implemented for external vendors and visitors to the school.

6. Our staff will continue to screen students at the school’s entry points and

throughout the course of the curriculum periods, to sieve out unwell students with flu-

like symptoms and/or trigger temperature. Our staff and teachers have been instructed

to contact parents to fetch their unwell child home and seek medical attention as soon

as possible, even for mild symptoms. We have also issued more restriction orders

such as Leave of Absence and Approved Absence to our staff and students whose

http://www.sembawangpri.moe.edu.sg/



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household members are identified as close contacts of recent COVID-19 cases or

unwell with Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) symptoms.

7. To enhance the safety and well-being of your child, we would like to seek your

support to remind your child to don a mask at all times (unless eating or drinking) when

they step out of the house and observe safe distancing measures, in particular keeping

to a maximum group size of 2 persons for social gatherings. Given the recent spate of

COVID-19 community cases, it is advisable for your child to return home immediately

after dismissal and avoid congregating at public locations such as playgrounds, void

decks or the bus interchange within the vicinity of the school, where contact with the

general public is highly possible.

Student Matters

8. Gifted Education Programme (GEP). The Ministry of Education is carrying out the identification of students for the GEP 2022, which comprises Screening and Selection exercises. The school will be conducting the Screening exercise for students whose parents have given their consent for their participation on Wednesday, 18 August 2021, during curriculum hours. Students who are shortlisted to participate in the Selection exercise will be informed through the school in early October. The Selection exercise will be held on 19 and 20 October 2021. Shortlisted students who are interested should make themselves available on both days. 9. Arrangements during the PSLE Written Examinations. PSLE Written examinations will be held on 30 September, 1, 4, 5 & 6 October 2021, during curriculum periods. Given the COVID-19 situation, P6 students will take the examinations in smaller groups with adherence to more stringent SMMs, utilising all the classrooms of our P5 students. Therefore, all P5 students will be placed on Home-Based Learning (HBL) during the PSLE written examinations. Selected P5 students will attend face-to-face lessons in the afternoons of 30 September, 1, 4 & 5 October. More details on schedule and names of affected students will be provided nearer to the date. Security and Safety

10. SGSecure Exhibition in School. The school has collaborated with the Ministry of Home Affairs SGSecure Programmes Office to put up a SGSecure Exhibition in the school. This exhibition creates awareness of the importance of vigilance, cohesion and resilience in today’s society. In the lead up to our school’s National Day celebrations, students visited the exhibition during their Social Studies lessons where they learnt about the SGSecure movement (see Figure 1). Students learned how they could stay safe and protect themselves if they encounter an emergency situation.




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Figure 1 – Students Learning about SGSecure

11. New Media Literacies (Cyber Wellness). Our students are equipped with the skills, knowledge, attitude and values to become effective and successful prosumers in a digital networked environment. This includes the yearly cyber wellness advocacy training for our cyber wellness student ambassadors where they are coached to create and deliver quality media literacies resources to drive peer-learning events in school. This year, the student ambassadors kicked things up a notch by designing exclusive stickers that encompassed important cyber wellness messages. These stickers (Figure 2) were given out during the recent cyber wellness assembly talk and they were very well received by their peers. Kudos to our cyber wellness student ambassadors!

Figure 2 – Cyber Wellness Stickers

Lee Rou Xuan (5RE)

Alston Foo Yixian (5RT)

Seng Jia Xu (5RE)

Wong Jun Zhe (5RE)

Jaden Lu Zhenwei (5RE)

Oh Kai Xiang (5RE)

Ling Yu Jie (5E)

You Mengqi (5RT)




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Jain Shaurya (5RT)

Ahmad Thaqif Bin Mohammad Shahlan (5RT)

Celebration of Successes…

12. Singapore Youth Festival Arts Exhibition (SYF AE) 2021. The SYF AE (Primary)

category is a bi-annual national event aimed at providing opportunities for students to

showcase their artistic talents and promote art appreciation in schools. Themed 'Artist

and Technology', the 2021 exhibition invited student artists to reflect on the impact

technology had on their lives and has garnered over 500 artworks.

13. Our school submitted two artworks comprising (a) Mr. Eight-ist and (b) Solve

I.T!, which were featured in the online art gallery and digital catalogue

(https://www.syf.gov.sg/art-exhibition/the-online-art-gallery-2021). To top the icing on

the cake, the artwork “Solve I.T!” was awarded the Certificate of Recognition and

featured in the SYF virtual exhibition using immersive 360-degree technology

https://www.syf.gov.sg/syf/virtualexhibition/gallery-2. Members of the public will be

able to view over 260 selected artworks set against a digitalized backdrop of gallery

spaces within National Gallery Singapore.

14. We would like to congratulate the following students and teacher mentors for

their contribution to SYF AE. (see Table 1):

Table 1 – Students and Teacher Mentors of Artworks in SYF AE

Artwork: Solve I.T! Mr Eight-ist

Teacher Mentor:

Mr Winston Tay Mrs Hazel Boo

Students: Julia Luise Cahanding (4RE)

Darwishah Zarifah (4RE)

Yao Yanchen (4RE)

Rajanala Srinithi (4RE)

Liu Yu Xuan (4RE)

Fang Yixin Iris (6RE)

Lim Chen Xun (6RE)

Daniel Ong (6RE)

Ong Zhi Peng Orlando (Wang Zhiping) (6RE)

15. e-Open House 2021. The live chat session of our e-Open House was

successfully held on 10 July 2021. Our Principal, Key Personnel, PSG Chairperson,

as well as the Head Prefect were present to answer questions from the public on our

school programmes and activities. (see Figure 3). We are delighted by an

overwhelming response of close to 900 views on Facebook and 700 views on

YouTube for the live stream. We wish to express our sincere appreciation to all parents

and students for supporting us that day.


https://www.syf.gov.sg/art-exhibition/the-online-art-gallery-2021

https://www.syf.gov.sg/syf/virtualexhibition/gallery-2



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Figure 3 – Live Chat Session during e-Open House 2021

16. Climate Action Week 2021. Our school took part in Climate Action Week

organized by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment from 12 July to 18 July

2021. Two of our P5 Green Leaders shared with the school on climate change during

Positive Minutes on 13 July. At the same time, our students participated in an online

lesson and shared their thoughts on what they would do to fight climate change. (see

Figure 4).

Figure 4 – Students’ Submissions for Climate Action Week

“I can reuse the cardboards by sectioning them for my socks.” – Patil Nishka Sajesh (5RE)

“I upcycled a Pringles can to

create a colour pencil holder.” – SK Shravan (4E)

17. Even our teachers supported the event by taking part in a Bring-Your-Own

(BYO) campaign to reduce the use of single-use disposables in our daily activities.

(see Figure 5). We are proud of everyone’s effort to promote sustainability in the school

community.




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Figure 5 – Teachers championing BYO efforts

Up-coming School Events…

18. National Day Celebration in School. This year’s National Day Celebration marks the 56th Anniversary of our independence. The theme for this year’s celebration - “Together, Our Singapore Spirit” – calls on Singaporeans to draw strength from our “can-do” spirit amidst challenging circumstances from COVID-19 and potential disruptions in the new decade. The school has planned for a series of Positive Minutes starting from 2 August 2021, leading up to our school-based National Day Observance ceremony on 6 August 2021.

19. National Day 2021 Celebration@Canberra

Constituency. The Malay Dance CCA will be putting

up a virtual performance, titled Manis-manis Lebaran,

as part of the mini-virtual concert in celebration of

National Day 2021 by Canberra RC 8.

20. In addition, our school will be sharing National Day greetings at this event. The virtual event will be held on 15 August 2021, from 10.00am to 11.00am, via zoom. We would like to welcome all parents to join in to support our students at this event, and soak in the festivities. Please see Figure 6 for the event flyer.

Figure 6 – Canberra Zone 8 National Day Event




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21. Head Prefect Election. The Head Prefect is one of the pinnacle appointments in the student leadership journey in the school. To provide a longer period to develop the leadership potential and allow for more mentoring opportunities of the Head Prefect, the school will appoint a deserving P5 prefect to helm the post of Head Prefect from Term 4 of the current year to Term 2 of the following academic year. Please see Table 2 for the key changes to the Head Prefect tenure.

Table 2 – Changes to Head Prefect Tenure

Current With effect from August 2021

Candidates P6 prefects P5 prefects

Appointment period

Term 1 to Term 2 of the academic year

Term 4 (P5) to Term 2 of the subsequent academic year.

22. The Head Prefect Election campaign was held on 6 August 2021, and the students will cast their votes on 11 August 2021. We are pleased to announce the candidates for the next Head Prefect in this coming election:

a. Chan Zi Leng (5RT) b. Jalen Liang Zhenle (5RT) c. Tan Ler Yee (5RT)

Other Information

23. National Day falls on 9 August 2021 (Monday), hence 10 August (Tuesday) will be a scheduled school holiday. All students do not need to report to school. 24. On 12 and 13 August, our P6 students will be taking their PSLE Oral Examination. Thus, there is no school for all P1 to P5 students. We wish all our P6 students all the best!

Concluding Remarks…

“There is no substitute for hard work”

~Thomas Edison~

25. Thank you parents for working with the school to support your child’s learning during this pandemic period.

26. Have a restful break during the National Day weekend. Please continue to stay safe and healthy.

Warmest regards.

Mrs Grace Chua Principal

Mrs Cindy Tay Vice-Principal

Mr Shawn Tan Vice-Principal (Admin)

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]


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