Mangrove Salvaging and Re-Planting 

The mangrove forest is one of the most productive habitats in the world and it’s often teeming with life! Many marine animals use the mangrove forest as a nursery for their young. Also, mangrove trees help to protect the coastline from natural disasters such as tsunamis and floods by preventing soil erosion. Mangrove trees are also excellent carbon sinks as a single hectare of mangrove forest can absorb 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year! Salvaging and re-planting the mangrove saplings enables the plants to have a higher chance of survival as they are spread out to the coastal areas to increase the density of the forest. 

The Green Champs and Student Council collaborated with National Parks Board to replant Mangrove saplings in April 2017.  They spent half a day at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The students first attended a sharing on the importance of saving the environment and the role people could play to do their part for the environment. The students then sunk in the mud to clear the trash and re-plant. It was not an easy task, as they learned though their experience, but definitely had fun dirtying their hands for a good cause, especially when they had their peers for support!

Reflections 

“I remember going to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve to re-plant young mangrove plants as part of the Values-in-Action initiative. This experience has shaped me into a socially responsible leader and has motivated me to find ways to give back to our society. Overall, I am really grateful for the various meaningful platforms that have been provided for me to learn and grow.” - Cynthia Yap, Student Council 2017, Head of Student Relations

“We entered from the old entrance and met our guide who led us pass the bridge towards the bird watching area where we learnt more about the ecosystem in the mangroves, the migratory birds and how important the swamp area was for them. It was just like a pitstop for them to rest before they continued their journey. After that we went to the coastal area and started clearing up the trash that were carried in by the water currents and waves. We spent about two hours clearing the area and bagged about nine black trash bags worth of trash. It was indeed an astounding experience!” -  Tay Wei De, Student Council 2017

“For the Mangrove Planting Activity, we went to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. It was a beautiful place with wildlife all around. We went there to plant mangroves and during the process, we learnt about the importance of the reserve. I started reflecting after the experience about how my daily actions can, and will, impact nature surrounding me. Thus, I began to adopt little ways to do my part - recycling, turning off the running water when washing the dishes, and reusing certain plastic items.” - Evan Ang, Student Council 2018

Reflection 

“Skip for Good Food was a purposeful event that I felt happy to have taken part in. It was a campaign that required participants to skip to raise food assistance for the needy. Not only does this help the community, but it also encourages healthy living among the participants. As part of the Committee organising this event in school, I developed my skills in planning and working together with my team while advocating and leading my peers for a good cause. All in all, I felt accomplished. I look forward to more of these opportunities to do my part and I would certainly encourage others to take part in them too!”  

- Ho Chew Yuan, Students Council, Quarter Master

“Skip for good food as a pretty simple way of doing good for others. The response among our students was overwhelming. The two-week program was met with students from different levels willingly coming forward to participate. The experience was fun. Many people found it enjoyable and were motivated to do more as it was for a good cause. I believe the program was successful as we, the Student Councillors, were able to inspire our peers!” 

- Abdul Hakeem, Student Council, Head of Functions 

Reflection

“I participated in the walk for rice event where we partnered with Cedar Primary school. I was paired up with a primary one student. The race had many obstacles and there came a point when he became rather tired. I encouraged him and we persevered together and completed all the obstacles and the race. I am thankful that I could interact with the students and at the same time do something meaningful” 

- Caleb, 4E3 Class of 2018 

“We participated in the Walk for Rice event together with the students from Cedar Primary School. For every 200m we walked, a bowl of rice was donated to the less fortunate. We were able to inspire and show our younger friends the importance of giving back to society, in the hope of empowering the younger generation with the right mindset for a better future.” 

- Tan Kong Zen, 4E3 Class of 2018

“I remember welcoming the joyful and excited Cedar Primary students. The students were divided into groups and my team was assigned to help and guide them. We started off by playing ice breaker games to get to know one another better. I enjoyed spending time with the students as they came up with brilliant and unique ideas to find out the clues. I was amazed to see the creativity and enthusiasm of the students. They were driven to complete the race and do their best to contribute to the Walk for Rice event. They were motivated to help the needy families. I learned that age didn’t matter when helping people in need, and that we can do and achieve more by working together. “

- Mayrena Gurung, 2E2 Class of 2017

Tote Bag Designing Competition in aid of National Organ Transplant Unit (NOTU)

NOTU came over to Bartley Secondary to conduct a briefing on their mission and the needs of the beneficiaries. The objective and details of the competition were shared with the Service learning Club (SLC) members. One of the SLC Teachers, Mr Darren Tham, who is also an Art Teacher in the school, scaffolded and guided the members on the preparatory work for the designing. Selected drawings by Mr Tham were then sent to NOTU. Five months later (due to the circuit breaker period during the pandemic) the results were announced and SLC members whose designs were sent to NOTU were awarded with certificates of participation. On top of taking part in this competition, the entire SLC team also contributed to NOTU’s care for the beneficiaries by making origami stars which were presented to the latter in glass jars as symbol of goodwill and hope to wish them good health and positivity. NOTU has given SLC members an opportunity to reach out to the less advantaged by doing their part to give them hope and raise awareness of their needs. 

The Tote bag design competition was extremely fun and enjoyable as I got to do it together with my peers. It allowed me to unleash my creativity in the drawing of the human heart.  More importantly, I got to realise how precious our human body is and the challenges faced by the patients who have to wait long for organ transplants putting their lives at risks during the long wait. Through this competition, I feel proud of myself doing my little part to bring hope to these special people 

- Krithika, Member of SLC

A HEARTy National Day Celebration

Flyers and Class Briefing sessions were used to raise awareness of the daily maintenance needs of the less advantaged in the society. Required Food and House Provisions were listed clearly for the school community to take note during their purchase. Form Teachers (FTs) also briefed the students on the need to take note of expiry date and the approved Halal requirement as well. Each class chairpersons helped to collect all the donations and as advised by their FTs worked as a pair or teams to pack and wrap the donations into attractive and creative food hampers with encouraging messages from their classmates tagged to the hampers. 

On the actual day of the school celebrations, all these hampers were displayed in the school hall. The beneficiaries were all warmly welcomed by Service Learning Club (SLC) members and ushered to the school hall where they were given a roaring welcome by the entire student and staff population.  The then Principal, Mr Azhar, presented some of the hampers to the representatives of the Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) and the rest were transported to the rest of the beneficiaries with the manpower support from SLC and other student volunteers who were more than willing to help out. 

School’s teaching and non-teaching staff also contributed to the donation and packaging of these donations. Meanwhile, in the school hall, the beneficiaries sang the National Day Community Songs along with the school staff and students as waved the Singapore flag sticks given to them as door gifts. SLC Members and the Parent Support Group Members helped to serve light refreshments and interacted with the seniors making them feel at home.

More than 100 hampers were transported to the beneficiaries who were overwhelmed by the generous donations from the entire school community. The spirit of togetherness was brought alive indeed via this VIA celebration programme.

It was fun and meaningful how we could contribute to the community by sharing the joy of our nation’s birthday with our beneficiaries and engaging them in our celebrations! - Maya, SLC Member

Everyone in the school, the teachers, staff and children are very kind and friendly. We thank all of you for supporting us and bringing us all the way to your school and making us sit together with the students and teachers and celebrate National Day! We want to come every year to celebrate with all of you!” - Resident from Tembusu

Story Telling VIA @Tampines NLB

Selected students from Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary cohort in Service Learning Club (SLC) were cherry-picked and trained to conduct this VIA session. Three sessions were conducted. Two were in English and the other in Chinese, Malay and Tamil language. The teachers who trained the story tellers were Mrs Peters, Ms Nurul and Ms Prema. The students were also guided to make the props and prepare post story telling resources for the children to keep them engaged in the story telling sessions that lasted about 20 minutes with pre, actual and post activities. NLB coordinator facilitated the venue for our members and provided the necessary technical support for the session.

The children were fully engaged during the three sessions and gave full support by taking part actively in all the respective segments of the sessions.

Overall, all of us enjoyed this VIA opportunity. It was not easy to keep the young ones fully engaged but we did it using our creative ideas and building rapport with them. They enjoyed the stories we selected for them and the games we played with them aligned to the story theme.

Spring Cleaning Bartley Food Lab

To pay it forward, Netball girls volunteered to assist in the maintenance of the equipment in the Food Laboratories. This was apt as the pandemic was at its peak and hygiene in the Food Laboratory was crucial just like in any part of the school. The Netball girls worked in groups to spring clean the 2 food two laboratories. They planned and worked together through the process with the main end in mind, hygiene. On the actual day, the girls divided themselves into 2 groups and then further into 10 units per lab. They had a checklist of what needed to be done and started work thereafter.

The project impacted the NFS Family @ Bartley mainly the FCE & NFS students as well as teachers. Everyone got to enjoy a cleaner, more conducive environment. The project brought about a closer team spirit within the CCA. The girls were able to learn more from each other and discovered strengths of their team members. 

NKF Water Pledge Kidney Health Awareness

Service Learning Club (SLC) members visited the interactive gallery at NKF to gain an insight to the importance of kidneys and the need to maintain healthy kidneys. Following this, students were given access to vital information on the role of kidneys in our human anatomy. Equipped with this knowledge, SLC members then prepared powerpoint slides for school wide assembly talk and invited students and staff to take part in the 500ml water pledge activity. Those who took part were presented with NKF information leaflets and colourful brochures and keychains. This awareness drive concluded with the SLC members collecting cash donations from entire student population by collecting cash donations from each form class. All the proceeds were presented to NKF beneficiaries. The cash proceeds definitely played a key role in the lives of many NKF beneficiaries as the amount raised was used to buy the logistics needed for their dialysis treatment.

It was not only a moving experience talking to the patients but it also  widened my view on the importance of taking good care of our kidneys.  I have started to be more cautious of my meals since my last visit to the DC. - Denice  

This experience opened my eyes to the importance of my kidneys and ways to care for them. Not only that, but it has also taught me how important it is for us to share the knowledge with others. - Chew Yuan

Encouragement for The Purple Symphony

Having been inspired by the work The Purple Symphony does, and knowing how difficult 2020-2021 might have been for the Purple Symphony (especially the choir), the Bartley Voices hoped to bring some comfort and joy to the members who may have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and unable to make music together.

The Purple Symphony is an inclusive orchestra comprising talented musicians with and without special needs. However, as it was not possible for most members to meet up face to face to rehearse and make music together due to Covid-19 safe management measures, some members may have felt disheartened and lonely.

Hence, the Bartley Voices decided to work together to create a video of encouragement for the Purple Symphony, with a special mention to the choir section of the orchestra. Recording our voices separately, a virtual choir was assembled to perform the song, “Remember Me”, in hopes to bring the members comfort and joy. Even though we may not be able to meet the Purple Symphony face to face, we wanted to let them know their voices will never be forgotten. Words of encouragement were also drawn up and included as images in the video.

We hope to spread the joy of singing with everyone. Using the power of music, we hope to bring hope and comfort to those who may feel lonely or be facing challenging times.

The VIA was a very fruitful one as we sang for the Purple Symphony, to encourage them through our voices. During this special period, I felt that it was very necessary to encourage and support one another to overcome this generational crisis. Through this VIA project, I gained more experience singing as a choir, and we also helped each other during the process which was very meaningful. I thank the choir and all the teachers who gave me this opportunity to perform for the Purple Symphony. Once again, thank you very much! - Alan Fong, 4E3 2022

Through this VIA, I learnt about the Purple Symphony, an inclusive orchestra comprising musicians with and without special needs. They used various instruments such as, violin/cello. It was a memorable experience for me to record a song for them, to show support and encouragement during the hard times for musicians: the pandemic which has affected musicians as they are unable to gather together to make music. To be honest, it was kind of hard recording myself, because I was unsatisfied with my own recordings, the sound and angle. But it allowed me to persevere more and instill patience in myself to show gratitude for The Purple Symphony. - Norizzati, 4E2 2022

The VIA was really fun for us to be featured in. I really enjoyed how our choir participated in The Purple Symphony Group’s commemoration, singing ¨Remember Me¨ as a whole.  It was really nice seeing all of us in one video singing like an a cappella group and it never fails to amaze me. I hope that we can do more of such things with the choir in future as it was really fun. - Prescott Goh, 4E2 2022

To be honest, I did not expect the choir to have a VIA in 2021 due to all the Covid-19 restrictions but we somehow pulled it off. Our VIA involved recording a performance for The Purple Symphony but before we recorded the video, we were given more information through SLS about who The Purple Symphony was and what they did before Covid struck. After finding out more about them, the choir decided on the song 'Remember Me' from the Disney movie 'Coco'. Once the song was confirmed, members of the choir were then assigned to record a video of themselves singing their part of the song. This was a little challenging for me to do as being a perfectionist, I kept having to record the video over and over again. I eventually managed to film one that I was satisfied with. The videos recorded by members of the choir were then sent to the teachers who stitched them together and the end result was better than I had expected. I was glad that the amount of time I put into the VIA paid off. All in all, although doing this VIA was a little tiring, it was enjoyable and I would not mind doing something like this again. 

- Clara Tan, 4E2 2022

It is quite unfortunate that the choir could not go out to the actual venue because of the pandemic. I had no clue who The Purple Symphony was before the VIA. But after getting to do research on them, I was amazed at how there could be such wonderful talents, despite their respective disabilities, could exist in Singapore. I am honestly glad that we got to perform the song "Remember Me" as a dedication video to them, especially since I love that song. I thought that I was not going to get much out of that experience. After all, recording a video of yourself is not the same as performing it live on stage: I spent close to 3 hours just to adjust my camera and record myself and it was much easier to point out errors in my singing. But after the VIA, I started to appreciate the fact that I had a voice, not just to speak, but to sing. I also learned to appreciate that even people whom society may see as incapable of making music could surpass society's expectations. - Moira, 4E1 2022

Sports VIA by SLC and Volleyball in collaboration with Team Nila

Team Nilla provided disability training to the students from both the CCAs prior to the sports event. Students were also encouraged to take part in dressing of ethnic costumes and uniquely Singapore costumes to represent as ambassadors during the sports event. This was followed by the students providing their befriender service to the elderly who arrived at the stadium. The students welcomed them warmly and wheelchaired them around the stadium to facilitate them with an event experience tour of the sports event that was in progress. Following this, students also helped to serve light refreshments to the elderly guests and interacted with them and gave them company during the progress of the sports event. The programme ended with the students sending them off back to the Home.

It was a good exposure for our students as they got to experience an outdoor sports VIA with the beneficiaries in a highly energized atmosphere. With the training provided on how to facilitate guided tour for wheelchaired bound elderlies, the students were very engaged and demonstrated their excellence through their passion for service by interacting with the seniors and engaging them to make the day pleasant and memorable for them.

It was very exciting to be with the elderly in a very hyped up setting. Some of us were very happy to even fan the elderly as the weather was very humid. It is a great feeling to bring smiles on their faces as many of them never get to come out of their Home to attend such events. We feel proud of our small contribution in bringing joy to the elderly and making them smile. - Sec 1 and 2 SLC members