Recent Events

Y10 trip to Ho Chi Minh, 7 - 11 May

On Monday 7th May our Year 10 learners set off for a five day residential trip to Vietnam. The aim of the trip was to support their learning in their Humanities subjects and Global Perspectives. It was a great week and the learners experienced a wide variety of activities. The highlights for many of our learners were crawling underground for a 100 metres in tunnels used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War, the cyclo rides and also eating crickets! Learners visited a range of historical sites that demonstrated the effect the war had on Vietnamese society including the Reunification Palace, the Thích Quảng Đức monument and the War Remnants Museum.

Our learners were deeply affected by the images of the victims of Agent Orange and some spoke to the victims in person about how they live with their disabilities. We also visited several businesses and our learners were amazed by how quickly Vietnam has developed in the post war period with high tech industries expanding rapidly. Our learners behaved exceptionally well and were praised by the local guides for their politeness and the interest they showed in the places visited. It was a highly rewarding trip for all and the learners clearly benefited from the experience.

Vicky Holdcroft, Learning Area Leader: Humanities

Year 12 Geography trips, 22 and 24 May

This week saw our Year 12 Geographers out and about on two days in Singapore to collect data for their internal assessments.

On Tuesday morning, we traveled to Changi Point to get a bum boat to Pulau Ubin. On arrival, we found a place to rent bikes and headed off to the Chek Jawa wetlands. Here Nexus learners photographed the area to (sadly) record the presence of rubbish on the beach and in the mangrove swamp, as well as complete observational surveys. We ran into another school group which allowed our learners to conduct surveys on why people come to Pulau Ubin. We also came across some local wildlife in the form of monkeys and a female wild pig and four babies, which made for slightly tense times until a vehicle came along and scared them back into the jungle. After completing our work, it was back on the bikes and up the hills back to the village. Although not massive, the hills did prove challenging for some, though not Mr Tony, who made it to the top of all the hills!

Once back in the village it was time for lunch and chance to be undercover as a small storm passed over the island, as well as an impromptu Geography lesson from one of the local residents. After lunch, the learners made their around the stall and bike rental places to talk to visitors to complete their surveys. Once complete it was time to find another bum boat to head back to the ‘mainland’ and the bus back to school.

Thursday saw the Team Geo off again, this time to Sentosa Island. After getting dropped off near Universal Studios, the learners headed off in small groups to chase more visitors to complete their surveys. As the day was warming up quickly, we took an early-ish lunch to beat the crowds. After lunch the group made their way from Universal Studios to Palawan Beach via the Merlion to complete observational surveys of the surround environment, as well as completing more tourist surveys. Once these were completed, it was time for a well earned ice cream before we met our bus and headed back to school.

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Year 12 over these two days as they showed themselves to be mature, polite and respectful. They are most definitely a credit to the Nexus community.

Mr Tony, Ms Mak and Mr Hughes, Geography teachers

Year 12 Trip to Loola, Indonesia, May 17 - 20

Year 12 Biology and Environmental Systems and Societies learners had a very successful trip to Loola last weekend. The purpose of the trip was to collect data for their IB Internal Assessments. The learners had a fantastic attitude and took everything in their stride. The learners working on the beach had some very early start times, so we got to see some beautiful sunrises.

It was a pleasure to take such an enthusiastic cohort who worked diligently to ensure they made the trip valuable; we know many of the learners are relieved to have completed this part of their IB requirements.

Nika Kuncewicz, Biology Teacher

Y10 and Y12 trip to the National Supercomputing Centre, 15 May

On Tuesday 15th May, Year 10 and 12 Computer Science and ITGS learners had the opportunity to visit South East Asia’s only supercomputer: ASPIRE 1. Located on floor 17 at Fusionopolis, we arrived to be led into the Charles Babbage lecture theatre to learn more about the machine and why it was built. The aim of ASPIRE 1 is to open up access to supercomputing to Universities and research companies across Singapore.

As well as learning about the overall speed of the computer, 1 petaflop, learners explored the warm water and air cooling systems needed to prevent it from overheating. They even had the unique opportunity to walk through the main housing of ASPIRE 1, something which we didn’t expect. The control room was like the set from a sci-fi movie with screens showing all kinds of output from ASPIRE, including processor load, number of applications running and of course system temperature. It was a really interesting trip and we hope to revisit in the future.

Lee Wilson, Director of Learning Technologies