Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to week 5, and how quickly we have come to the mid-point of the term. We have the Prelims Oral exams this week on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Thank you in advance for sacrificing your afternoons to support the P6 boys as they prepare for the PSLE.

MOE Staff Engagement Survey

The MOE staff engagement survey will also begin this week. Do look out for the email link. It is MOE's way of assessing the levels of engagement of the staff in each school and helping schools reflect on the issues that matter to the staff. I would like to encourage you to respond as soon as convenient, as we need to reach a minimum number of respondents.

Updating Attendance

Recently, MOE flagged our school for having a large number of attendance entries marked as "Absent Pending Reason", and I would like to remind everyone to review the attendance for the week so that we can keep track of previous entries that may not have been updated.

Morning Assembly

Just to share an observation for our morning assembly, that some teachers seem unsure about the protocol and their roles. So, to clarify, the morning assembly is an adaptation from military parades and the role of the teacher, whether in class or in the hall, is to act as the presider and to "inspect" the class. So, if you are alone in your class, you should stand in front and face the boys, not the flag, and if there is a second teacher, you should stand at the back and face the front. This is for the formal part of the assembly from the time the command is given to come to attention "sedia" to the time they stand at ease and sit down. Boys who are walking around the school should come to attention and stand still until the command to stand at ease.

Creating a Calmig Tone in the School

As we continue to build a positive school tone and environment, I would like to revisit our mindfulness practices and  prayer practices, and help us as a school harness the power of silence. We will be switching to a teacher-led mindfulness exercise every morning with a focus on raising awareness of breathing and body scan to help reduce tension and increase oxygen to switch on their sleeping brain. While the mindfulness is going on, do stop all your other tasks and role model the priority we give to this mindfulness practice and let the boys see you following along. As mentioned at our staff meeting, if they do not comply, ignore during the exercise but make it a point to correct them after. 

I would also like to re-introduce the simple practice of asking the boys to recall God's presence at the start of every lesson or activity/outing. When I was in school, the Brother, teacher or student leader would cue everyone by saying, "Please stand", followed by "Let us remember that we are in the presence of God", followed by 15-20 seconds of silence, and then conclude "I will continue, O My God, to do all my actions for the love of you." This practice is a good remind, not only for students, but our Founder also meant it as a reminder for teachers of God's presence and that the lesson they are about to conduct is doing God's work. It is an invitation to go to a quiet space according to our faith traditions, as it is in the silence that we experience God. As a practice, if we are at a place where prayer is taking place, (eg morning assembly, recess assembly or over the PA), we should also just pause and enter into silence until the prayer is over.  We should also guide our boys to stop walking and enter into silence. It will take time to change habits but let us start by expecting it from the boys and gently correcting (in this instance, reprimanding would run counter to the purpose) it until it becomes habit. 

In our modern noise-filled age, silence is a lost value and is sometimes even seen as a weakness. But ancient wisdom across our Eastern cultures places great value on cultivating silence. It is also powerful in strengthening the mental health of ourselves and the boys. So let's work as a community to help cultivate silence in our boys, as urged by our Founder in this week's quote of the week. 

Often remind yourself that God is with you. 

~ St John Baptist de La Salle

Credere et Servire!  

Keep Believing and Serving,

Timothy Goh

By:   School Safety

Relevant Levels:   All

Date and Time of Event: 

22 July (T3W5 Monday) - Assembly Zoom Briefing

30 July (T3W6 Tuesday) - Lockdown and Evacuation Exercise

Information Details: 

Hi colleagues,

There will be an assembly zoom briefing next Monday afternoon (22 July).

Below are the zoom details and classes can start to log on from 12.50 pm. We will start at 12.55 pm

Topic: Emergency Preparedness Exercise

Join Zoom Meeting

https://moe-singapore.zoom.us/j/86713434102

Meeting ID: 867 1343 4102

Passcode: EP2024

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Lockdown and Evacuation Exercise (Tues,30 July)

This exercise consists of a lockdown, followed by an evacuation to the school field. We are not proceeding with the initial plan to evacuate to an external holding area (Kampung Siglap) for this round.

The exercise will take place from 9.20 am to 10.30 am. 

2 Level recesses (Primary 1 and 2) will be affected and a PG note to the parents has been sent out to inform them to pack food for their son for that day. Form Teachers are to remind the parents about the packed food via dojo one day before the exercise.

As this exercise will commence towards the end of P3 recess, P3 pupils will move to these safe areas when the lockdown is activated

Courage- student care@ISH block Level B2

Diligence-  student care@ISH block Level B2

Empathy- student care@ISH block Level B2

Fortitude - Subject Based Banding Room 2 @ISH block Level B2

Gratitude - Subject Based Banding Room1@ISH block Level B2

Humility- library

Integrity - library

More info will be  disseminated in the coming days.

Thank you.

By:  SWB

Relevant Levels: STAFF

Date and Time of Event: T3W7, Wednesday 7 August

Information Details: 

Dear colleagues,

The Staff Well-Being team have planned this event on 7 August. 

This is a good opportunity to look beyond just participation and use the test results as an indication of our overall well-being.

We will be circulating a form via the school handphone to provide us with your personal details to sign-up for those participating in either the walk or run.

In preparation for this event, we have scheduled a simple training session on 27 July 31 July (updated and republished)

Should you need any clarification, please do approach any of our team.

Thank you.