Staff Bulletin for 2023 T2W8
Published on Saturday 6 May 2023
You can perform miracles by touching the hearts of those entrusted to your care - St. John Baptist de La Salle
About our SSS Staff Bulletin: This weekly Staff Bulletin is our "virtual" print version of a weekly Staff Contact Time. All staff are expected to read each issue in full and be aware of all the vital aspects of upcoming programmes and processes. The accompanying files/slides for each news item are for your downloading. and reference.. PLUS: Please do continue checking our CES outlook emails daily, for any direct communication as well as urgent / immediate matters.
Principal's Update
Dear Colleagues,
It will be yet another busy week with the WAs starting and the visit by DSS in the midst of the NSG season. Hang in there and we will make it through. We will also be marking Hari Raya this week, so I hope that you take the time to pause and enjoy the celebrations.
It may feel very strange in this May period of the year where we are usually pre-occupied with the Mid-Year exams. We must get into the spirit of the removal of MYE, and help our boys break away from the natural tendency to be anxious about it and rethink what assessments and exams are, and this will be part of our June work week discussion. It is around these high anxiety times that discipline incidents also spike. So let is calm our boys down and show them that we value them no matter what. I end with this story for this week:
A Father and his daughter were playing in the park when his young daughter spotted an apple vendor. She asked her father to buy her an apple. He didn’t bring much money with him, but it was enough to buy two apples. So, he bought two apples and gave them to his daughter.
His daughter held one apple each in her two hands. Then the father asked her if she can share one apple with him. On hearing this, his daughter quickly took a bite from one apple, and before her father could speak, she also took another bite from the second apple.
The father was startled and upset. He wondered what mistakes he made raising his daughter that she acted in such a greedy manner. He caught himself and thought that perhaps he is just overthinking, and perhaps his daughter is too young to understand about sharing and giving.
Suddenly, the young girl, with an apple in her one hand said, “Father, have this. It is juicier and sweeter”.
Her father was speechless. He felt bad about jumping to conclusions so quickly about a small child. His smile came back and remembered that he should seek first to understand.
Credere et Servire!
Keep Believing and Serving,
Timothy Goh
Deputy Secretary (Services) Visit Dialogue Session
By: SLs
Relevant Levels: -
Date and Time of Event: 8 May, Monday, 2:30pm @ Level 3 Old Library
Information Details:
Dear everyone,
I have earrlier shared this via school handphone, putting here too for ease of reference.
This is to share with all the context background to DSS Visit, for our info and growth. Also, if you would like to join in the dialogue session but have not alerted us yet earlier, no worries, just text Edwin at 97424066 or just come join us on Monday afternoon itself @ Old Library. If you have remedial lessons at that time and would like to join us after your remedial, do feel free to come in too.
Every 2-3 years, school may host a visit by one of the Deputy Secretaries or equivalent level in MOE.
This allows HQ top level to get a sensing on key issues and the feedback can feed into policy review and formulation.
It is also a chance for sharing MOE HQ's views to explain and clarify policies and MOE's directions, so we at schools can implement the programmes and initiatives with better understanding of policy intents.
The session is an informal dialogue, and do feel very free to share your views, experiences and questions/clarifications authentically and candidly, so we all can grow professionally in perspectives and understanding, and come together stronger as on education fraternity for the nation. Don't look at this as a hierarchical thing, but as fellow educators all wanting to improve the education process, experiences and futures for our younger generation.
DSS for the visit is Mr Lim Boon Wee, Deputy Secretary (Services), and while his division looks after school services - Finance, HR, Infrastructure etc, you could share other areas as well if you feel strongly about them too.
Also, as he is one of the 3 Deputies to the Permanent Secretary who is akin to the non-political head / most senior civil servant overseeing the Ministry, his framing and perspectives will be something we can take away a lot from and grow in our perspectives and professional capacity, so do let's glean a lot from the session too. That's why we thought it would be a very good opportunity for our youngest teachers to join this session, together with the EXCO and our older teachers too. The session begins at 2:30pm, please be seated at 2:15pm, and bring our own water bottles - as it is an informal dialogue session, there will be no reception.
Hope we all think and reflect ahead too, even as we are rushing our work and marking over the weekend, so we can reap the most out of the session. Many cheers again everyone! 🥂💪😀🤩
Thank you!
Edwin
Hari Raya Lunch
By: SWBC
Relevant Levels: (all staff)
Date and Time of Event: Wednesday 10 May 2.15 pm
Information Details:
Dear colleagues,
See you in the canteen for Hari Raya Makan!
Thank you.
Hari Raya Lunch.pptxArrangements for WA and NSG clashes
By: IP Heads
Relevant Levels: All Levels
Date and Time of Event: NA
Information Details:
Dear Colleagues,
As we are starting our WA soon, there will be boys who will be affected by the clashes in the dates for their NSG events and WA.
The arrangement for such cases are as follow:
For P3-P5:
Please get the boys to join another class for the paper first, if possible. In such instances, there may be a possibility that the boy may sit for 2 papers in a day, if there is no clashes in the timing. Do inform the affected boys' parents of the arrangements earlier.
If they are unable to join another class, we will arrange for them to stay after school to sit for the paper. Subject teachers are to note down the boys who are affected and inform your respective IP heads.
For P6:
We will arrange for them to stay after school to sit for the paper. Subject teachers are to note down the boys who are affected and inform your respective IP heads.
We may seek the assistance of some of the CCA teachers (those affected with the clashes) to invigilate for the abovementioned arrangements.
The make-up sessions will take precedence over remediations or CCA sessions. If the boys also miss the make-up session, they will need to provide an MC, or they will be awarded AB for the assessment.
For further clarification, do approach your respective IP heads.
Thank you!
Class Committee Cockpit Entry (Sem 1)
By: CCE - Student Leadership Team (Elias)
Relevant Levels: P1-P6
Date and Time of Event: T2W8 and or T4W8
Information Details:
Dear colleagues,
Attached is a guide on how to key in the Class Committee roles into School Cockpit.
We hope this gives clarity into the administrative work tasked and we apologise for any unclear instructions given previously.
Thank you!
Class Committee Cockpit Entry Guide
Teaching & Learning Survey 2023
By: Teacher Leaders Council (TLC) & SLs
Relevant Levels: (all subject teachers)
Date and Time of Event: Week 9 and 10
Information Details:
Dear colleagues,
There are 3 sets of slides attached:
1) T&L Survey for Teachers
2) T&L Survey for P1 to P3 students
3) T&L Survey for P4 to P6 students
Please read the slides for teachers especially slide 5, before you conduct the survey. Sign out your OAS from Juminah in GO and use the appropriate set of slides for your subject classes. Once done, please submit your OAS to Juminah.
Attached too is the Tripod 7Cs Survey Guide that P shared during last Wednesday's Staff Contact Time. Do read the Guide as it includes recommendations and strategies on how to improve in the different areas. This year's Survey with more questions uses the full versions(s) of the Tripod 7Cs Survey; the TLC, EXCO and SLs deliberated quite a bit on whether to use the full version or still stick to last year's condensed form, and which to use for lower or upper levels, and we decided finally that the original full version will provide us all with better quality of feedback on precise areas/items.
A good time to do the survey is after our class has finished the WA and while the scripts are still being marked, we could take 1-2 periods for the boys to do the survey. Do see it not as time wasted but time well-spent to get this feedback from our boys to feed-forward in our T&L in the longer term. Also, there is no need for the boys to over-deliberate on each question; their gut first-instinct response is always the most accurate and meaningful.
To recap the spirit & intent of the survey - it is to provide us with timely and precise useful feedback from students for us to at mid-point, as our personal secret recipe roadmap, to further tweak our T&L and hone our craft further. Let's keep an open mind and have a growth mindset, and use it to help us create an even stronger learner experience for our boys in each of our classrooms.
P.S. Do approach the SLs if you require further support or clarifications. :D
Thank you and cheers again,
Edwin
TL Survey_Teachers.pptxTL Survey_ Students_P1 to P3.pptxTL Survey_ Students_P4 to P6.pptxExhibit C_Guide to Tripods 7Cs Framework of Effective Teaching.pdfFounder's Day and Honours Day Deployment and Classroom Activities
By: Irene and Danielle
Relevant Levels: All levels
Date and Time of Event: 15 May 2023
Information Details:
The school will commemorate Founder’s Day and Honours Day on 15 May 2023 to remember and celebrate our founder, St John Baptist de La Salle. As a community, this is a day that we all come together as a reminder to remain faithful to the principles of a Lasallian Education – have faith in the presence of God, be of service to the last, the lost and the least, and support all persons in our community. We do this to remind our boys that they enter the school to learn and leave to serve. Mindful of this, let us strive to form our children into Men of Integrity and Men for Others as they grow together in the Lasallian Family.
Refer to the link below for staff deployment and pupils’ seating plan in the hall. The boys need to know which row number and group (Ethics or Catechism) they are in but they do not need to sit in the numerical order.
If you know in advance that you will not be in school or if you are on ML, please inform Meng Thong, Danielle and Irene as soon as possible so that we can make the necessary arrangements. If it clashes with any other duties, please also alert us as soon as possible.
Deployment from 0735 to 1130
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e2CACGHy8XZpq5JIzaHiFO5ajQCudNiO/view?usp=sharing
Deployment from 1130 to 1330
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bJPQXomvHY_5VEGzNryLsTNnfFyJg0W7b069Cytdtv4/edit?usp=sharing
P1 and P2
Download the videoes onto your desktop before 15 May
a. P1 and P2 Life of SJBDLS _35min version.mp4
b. P1 to P6 Celebrating 170 years of Lasallian Education in 2022.mp4
c. We Are Lasallian with Subtites.mov
Play P1 and P2 Life of SJBDLS _35min version.mp4 for the boys to learn about the life of our Founder (Can stop at 32:20)
Pupils to share about what they had learnt about our Founder
Pupils to complete the activity sheet. They can bring it home. Take photographs of the classroom activities and place them in Classroom photographs.
Play P1 to P6 Celebrating 170 years of Lasallian Education in 2022 to share with pupils how Lasallians are making a difference in society.
Play We Are Lasallian with Subtites.mov. This is a song that rallies all Lasallians!
P3 to P6
Download the videoes onto your desktop before 15 May
a. P3 to P6 Life of SJBDLS.mp4
b. P1 to P6 Celebrating 170 years of Lasallian Education in 2022.mp4
c. We Are Lasallian with Subtites.mov
Play P3 to P6 Life of SJBDLS.mp4 for the boys to learn about the life of our Founder
Pupils to share about what they had learnt about our Founder
Pupils to complete the activity sheet. They can bring it home. Take photographs of the classroom activities and place them in Classroom photographs.
Play P1 to P6 Celebrating 170 years of Lasallian Education in 2022 to share with pupils how Lasallians are making a difference in society.
Play We Are Lasallian with Subtites.mov
Do take time to go through the activities meaningfully with your classes. P3 to P6 classes will move to the hall to be seated by 1200.
“Young people need good teachers, like visible angels.” - Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Thank you!
Ascension Day Mass
By: Catholic Teacher Ascension Day Mass Team
Relevant Levels: P1 to P6
Date and Time of Event: 18 May 2023
Information Details:
Dear teachers,
Forty days after Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday, He ascended into heaven. The Ascension is significant to Christians as it signifies the success in Jesus’ earthly work and allows Him to prepare a place for us in Heaven. It also reminds us that He will one day come back and we have to be ready for Him.
Ascension day is a day of obligation where all Catholics should attend Mass.
Lessons will be suspended on 18 May 2023 from 0735 to 0830 for Ascension Day Mass.
Boys in Ethics classes will go to their Ethics classrooms for their Ascension Day Ethics Lesson once they reach school. Ethics teachers, please be in the classrooms by 0715.
Boys in Catechism classes will put their bags in the Catechism classrooms once they reach school and go to the Hall for Mass. There will also be parents joining us for the Mass that day.
Please refer to the Google Sheet for teachers' deployment and do arrange with the teacher partner in your class if you need a break that day due too a stretch of more than 6 periods in a row because of the suspension.
Thank you!
P3 P4 Sports Festival 2023
By: PE Department (Elias OIC of event)
Relevant Levels: P3-P4
Date and Time of Event: 0735-1330 hours - T2W10, Thu, 25/5 - P4 level | T2W10, Fri, 26/5 - P3 level
Information Details:
Dear colleagues,
These are the venues that will be used by the programme from 7.35am to 1:30pm:
Hall (P4s to assemble on 25/5, P3s to assemble on 26/5, P5s to assemble in classrooms on 26/5)
Indoor Sports Hall (ISH)
Sheltered Basketball Court (SBC)
There will be no classroom lessons occurring for the day but subject teachers will continue to follow their timetable as per normal, going to the respective venues to meet up with their classes to maintain discipline during their subject lesson period. The venues to go to for each class are shown in the briefing notes for teachers.
P3-P4 PE teachers will be briefing the P3-P4 classes on the programme.
P3-P4 subject teachers on the actual day can take a look at the "briefing notes for teachers" document below for your job scope and other details of the event.
Briefing notes for Teachers:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iw3mRahLNTPM784gNu-PEywolA5gC76c2So_RPp7B7g/edit?usp=share_link
Documents regarding Sports Festival:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14gs2tZqn23t7jowgpO4lLrqRKmqf-6sW?usp=sharing
Thank you for your help and support!
Stephenians
Living in Faith,
, Leading in Service and
Learning as a Community,
for the Glory of God.