NYConnect

As part of our ongoing efforts to nurture confident, reflective, and engaged learners, we are excited to share that you will see more student contributions from NYConnect!

This refreshed approach places our students at the heart of the publication, empowering them to contribute more actively, share their perspectives meaningfully, and express their interests and passions. Working alongside their teachers, students will help shape content that highlights school events, student projects, achievements, and topics that matter to them. Through this collaborative curation, parents will gain deeper insight into your children’s thoughts, motivations, and school experiences.

We are also pleased to assure you that the positive parenting resource section will continue as a core pillar of NYConnect. These resources will remain thoughtfully curated to support parents in guiding your children academically, emotionally, and socially, now further enriched by student perspectives to help illuminate how your children see their learning journey, navigate different stages of school life, and feel best supported at home.

While NYConnect will continue to be published termly, we will also introduce additional timely student and teacher curated updates when meaningful moments arise. This will allow students to respond thoughtfully to current events and emerging topics of interest, while ensuring parents continue to receive regular, consistent communication each term.

Thank you for your continued support as NYConnect enters this exciting new phase. We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Do check back on our Student Talk section for the latest updates!

Best,
The NYConnect Team

Parenting Sense - Secondary One Transition

The move from primary to secondary school is a significant milestone—one that brings with it new routines, greater independence, and many opportunities for growth and self-discovery for your child.

In this edition of NYConnect, we focus on supporting our students in a smooth and confident transition into secondary school. You will find practical guidance for parents, along with insights from our Secondary One students about their Orientation and Induction experience, as well as our senior students who candidly share their thoughts of their first week back in school.

We hope this issue provides insights and useful strategies as you journey alongside your child during this important phase. Together, as partners in your daughter’s growth, we look forward to helping her settle in, thrive, and embrace the many experiences that lie ahead.

Adapting to Secondary School

ST Feature: How to Help Your Child Ace The Transition to Secondary 1

This Straits Times feature helps parents understand the main changes that their children will experience in secondary school, which includes longer school days, new subjects and stricter digital rules and how to best support them adapt confidently to the demands and opportunities of secondary school life.

Limiting Screentime

What Should I Consider Before Giving My Child A Smartphone

Along with MOE's tightened guidelines on smartphone use in classrooms in secondary schools from 2026 to help students develop healthier screen use habits, here are some key considerations to assess your child's readiness for a handphone before handing one to her.

Spending Time As A Family

Minor Issues: Keeping holiday memories alive by making a mini-memoir as a family

In a letter to her children, ST Press Editor Jill Lim appeals to them to make a family mini-memoir after a holiday — not just documenting the highlights but also the real moments, whether fun, awkward, or challenging. She highlights how writing about experiences together helps families preserve memories that might otherwise fade and create a shared story that strengthens connection and brings past moments alive again when looked back on — making memories richer and more meaningful over time.

TED Talk: 5 parenting tips for raising resilient, self-reliant kids

How can parents nurture children who are confident, adaptable, and ready to take on challenges? In this thought-provoking talk, mother and business owner Tameka Montgomery shares why resilience is the foundation of unlocking a child’s inner potential. Through five practical strategies, this talk offers parents insights on how to empower young minds to seize opportunities, build self-belief, and navigate their own paths with confidence.

ST Article: When Adults Step Back, Kids Learn To Bounce Back

When adults step back, kids learn to bounce back _ The Straits Times.pdf

ST writer, Elisha Tushara highlights how resilience is not something that children are taught directly, but something they develop through experiencing everyday challenges and discomfort. While parents naturally want to shield their children from failure or distress, stepping back allows children to learn how to cope with setbacks, regulate emotions, and bounce back. By allowing children to struggle moderately and modelling resilience, adults can help them reframe failure as part of growth and build the inner strength needed to thrive beyond the classroom.

Notes From The Backpack: A PTA Podcast - Supporting Children Through School Transitions

School transitions can often be a challenging phase for both children and parents. In this PTA podcast, child development expert and author, Deborah Farmer-Kris shares tips on making school transitions a little smoother, whether it involves helping your child get up early for school, manage anxiety in the classroom or dealing with meltdowns.

Student Talk

Post-Orientation Reflections

Held every year for our newest members of the NY Family, the Orientation and Induction programme is designed to help our Secondary One students in their smooth transition to secondary school life. Nadia Lim (Class 403) speaks to our Secondary One students about their experience of the programmes and their takeaways.

NYC 2026 Term 1 Sec 1 Orientation_Jeslyn Tay (Nadia Lim).pdf

NYC 2026 Term 1 Sec 1 Orientation_Hu Enxi (Nadia Lim).pdf

Afternote: Thank you to the Sec 1s who allowed me to interview them and get a better understanding of their opinions of the same trials and tribulations I went through when I was their age :)

From Juniors to Seniors: Settling Back into School

From new routines to growing expectations, settling back into school looks different at every level. Seniors Lai Xiu Hui (Class 403) and Amelia Pek (Class 312) offer tips and reflections to help students across all levels find their footing.

NYC 2026 Term 1 Notes From A Senior (Lai Xiu Hui).pdf

NYC 2026 Term 1 Back to School Tips (Amelia Pek).pdf

A Cultural Exchange to Remember

Each year, our school has the privilege of hosting partner schools from around the world, opening our classrooms and hearts to meaningful cultural exchange. Through these visits, our girls engage directly with peers from different countries, learning firsthand about diverse perspectives, traditions, and ways of life. Amelia Ang (Class 312) and Nadia Lim (Class 403) gather reflections and insights from our students on their experiences.

Nadia Lim of Class 403 speaks to our Taipei student visitors, Ariana Chang Chen-Yu and Joshua Chang Ee-Hsuan after their Makerspace experience when they visited the school on 21 January.

Afternote: Thank you to the Taipei students for allowing me 15 minutes of your recess break to hear more about your lives .

Photo Gallery

Secondary One Orientation Programme

Taipei Municipal Lishan High School

School Heritage

1968 joint sports meet with Chinese High School where principals of both schools declared the opening of the annual event

(Photo courtesy of Mr Tan Chor Lam’s family)

"In 1967, the education landscape underwent much change. Uniformed groups and extra-curricular activities (later known as co-curricular activities) were introduced, and technical education as well as the use of media in teaching were implemented.

To facilitate the implementation of these changes, upgrading of administrative processes and facilities was needed. A slew of activities was also introduced during this period. It started with the setting up of the History-Geography Society, Library Club and Chinese Society in 1966, followed by the St John Ambulance Brigade, Music Club, Choir, National Police Cadet Corps, National Cadet Corps in 1967 and the Military Band in 1969. Over the next few years, between the 1970s and 1980s, more clubs, societies and extra-curricular activity groups were set up. Over the past decade, Chinese schools had been used to achieve political agenda, and often served as breeding ground for students and labour unions to plan and organise strikes that disrupted school operations.

Hence, the Ministry of Education had to keep a tight rein over Chinese schools, disallowing most student activities. With the independence of Singapore, schools were no longer viewed as places only for academic pursuits. They were also places where students developed their talents and explored their interests and hence were allowed to engage in activities they enjoyed. Gone was the silence that used to enshroud the school at the end of the school day. In its place were sounds of happy chatter, commands by uniformed group leaders, singing and music."

Source: Nanyang Schools Alumni Association and Nanyang Schools (2017). Nanyang Centenary: A Vision Celebrated. p.42-43

Acknowledgements

Our heartiest thanks to the following parties for their contributions to the respective segments:

Amelia Pek, Class 312 (Student Talk - Back to School Tips)
Amelia Ang, Class 312 (Student Talk - A Cultural Exchange to Remember: Hosting Aomori Senior High)
Lai Xiu Hui, Class 403 (Student Talk - Notes From A Senior)
Nadia Lim Rui Ya, Class 403 (Student Talk - Secondary One Orientation Programme, Hosting Taipei Municipal Lishan High School)

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