March

March

Student Leaders Investiture 2021

The Class Leaders’ Investiture was held on 12 March 2021 to recognise the responsibilities given to the Class Leaders of each class. The class Leaders were given badges, green ties and appointment certificates by their respective Form teachers to signify and recognise their official appointment and new roles. The theme of this year’s investiture is made up of the acronym “T.E.A.M” which stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. The investiture was witnessed by their fellow classmates in their respective classrooms, and was even more meaningful as it made use of this opportunity to empower their own class leaders in front of the class by setting expectations and class support for the class leaders. We hope that this event was a memorable one for all class leaders and students.

Commendation Day 2021

Commendation Day is held annually to recognise students who have achieved success in their academic pursuits or developed holistically in the previous academic year. In the previous years before Covid-19, Commendation Day used to be conducted over the Meet-the-Parents sessions for the respective levels where parents and school mates witnessed the ceremony and the students received their awards on stage.

Commendation Day was held during assembly period in the respective classes for 2020 and 2021. The ceremony began with video recordings of the addresses by our Principal – Mrs Ng, Student of the year – Yamashita Takehiro  and Valedictorian – Tay Leng Teng.

This year, the School Values Award was introduced to recognise students who are exemplary in displaying any one of the school values – Responsibility, Respect and Resilience. The form teachers spoke to their respective classes to congratulate the prize recipients and encourage their classes to continue to do well or the year. Students received their awards from their form teachers amidst the cheers and claps of their classmates.

Experiential Week 2021

When the pandemic hit us last year, we had to forgo one of our most signature programme, the Experiential Week, affectionately known as “Week X”. Earlier this year, in alignment with a better national posture, the school immediately jumped on the opportunity to plan activities for the different levels. However, with different restrictions that were still imposed, we limited it to a 3 day programme instead of the typical 5 days. Regardless, our students were provided with a variety of opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge in a more authentic learning environment.

Secondary 1
The Secondary 1 students had a variety of activities that kept them occupied. They started the week learning about “Model the Way” from The Leadership Challenge model. Through group work, individual reflections and games, the students identified their top values, learned how to clarify their own values and aligned them with their classmates’ values to become common shared values.

An important skill a leader would require would be the ability to enlist others through speeches. Through the public speaking workshop, students learned useful tips on how to do an effective and impactful impromptu speech. At the end of the session, the students put to practice what they have learnt by speaking on a topic to the class with minimal preparation time.

One of the favourite activities for this cohort is the in-house Math Trail designed by a team of Math teachers. It was encouraging to see students applying what they have learnt in the classrooms, putting into practice the Mathematical concepts involving calculations and taking measurements, in authentic and real-life situations as they explored different areas around the school.

The biggest highlight to the Secondary 1 classes was the Class Bonding Time with their form teachers. Both teachers and students alike, let their hair down to engage in an hour of fun-filled activities planned by both teachers and students to get to know one another better.

Apart from all the above, students also got creative when they mapped out a 2D image of their self-portrait using wires and transformed it into a 3D object. They also went through a ‘Growing Resilience’ session in which they learned practical tips to approach new situations, people or experiences with confidence and a positive mindset which will increase their likelihood to succeed in whatever that they choose to undertake. Last but not least, the students also went through a New Media Literacy lesson in which they picked up new skills to prepare them for when they start working with their Personalised Digital Learning device.

Secondary 2
Week X for Secondary 2 students kicked off with the interesting Aesthetic Programme where classes learnt either Sand Animation, Food Art, Being a DJ, or Wushu according to the choice of the class. Students also went through the LLP Workshop where they were taught the theoretical knowledge of “Enable Others to Act” and “Encourage the Heart” from The Leadership Challenge model, and applied their learning during the S2 Camp 2021 over the next two days.

During the camp, the students enjoyed picking up two new sports – Archery Tag and Tchoukball! Not only were they fun to play, students were challenged to strategise and work as a team in order to win the round. After learning the Mass Dance that connects every batch of WRS students, they could not seem to stop dancing whenever the music came on! The relay race of water games planned by the Secondary 3 Student Leaders was so well received by their Secondary 2 juniors! Overall, the students appreciated the opportunity to participate in the activities, deepened their bonds with one another, as well as co-created a wonderful shared memory of their peers and teachers.

Secondary 3
The Secondary 3 students went through the LLP Workshop on “Challenge the Process”. During the workshop, students were challenged to take calculated risk and think out of the box to solve certain problems while competing with the other teams during the game segments. With this being the last practice for them to learn, the trainers also helped to consolidate the learning from all the five practices that they have learned over the past three years. This enabled the students to see how they can cascade the learning into their lives and be a more effective leader of self and of others.

In preparation for home-based learning, asynchronous learning was also designed for the Secondary 3 students such that they can engage in the learning at their own pace. Students were given the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of concepts through the creation of digital artefacts. To develop knowledge and skills required to draw connections between their education and the real world, a series of SLS lessons was also designed to help students develop new media literacy skills.

Secondary 4E5O
The graduating cohort missed many opportunities in 2020. As such, the committee looked at engaging the cohort in a series of activities which helps to develop students holistically in the 5 domains of learning – Cognitive, Aesthetic, Moral, Physical and Social.

To prepare the students for the upcoming national examinations, the students attended a Study Skills workshop conducted by an external vendor. The objective of the Study Skills workshop is to equip our students with the necessary study skills and techniques so that they can achieve academic productivity. Students were also taught three study skills techniques namely note-taking, mind mapping and mnemonic during the workshop and they were given time to apply what they learned on the spot by creating a mindmap for a Chemistry or Social Studies topic.

The school also strongly believes that we should support our students in making informed decisions when choosing their post-secondary pathways. Therefore, the school partnered with Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) to provide a virtual Course Advising session for our students. To cater to the different interests of our students, each student selected two courses which they wanted to find out more and attended the virtual sharing sessions conducted by the NYP lecturers. They also had the opportunity to ask the lecturers on specific questions related to the courses.

The different bonding activities the students and Form Teachers participated in had definitely strengthened the teacher-student relationship and student-student relationship within the class. Happy times come and go but the school is pretty sure these wonderful memories will stay with the students, and our teachers, forever!

Secondary 4N
To broaden the learning experience of our Secondary 4N students, a 20-hour Elective Modules programme was planned for them. Modules related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) were offered to the students and they were given the option to choose the modules to attend based on their interests. Through the hands-on activities, they had the opportunity to discover how the knowledge and skills learnt during the programme can be applied to related industries. Students were also exposed to possible educational progression and career pathways, thereby enabling them to make more informed choices upon graduating from secondary schools.