Dear Parents

Many of our girls, not having lived in the years of nation-building after Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965, may not understand the struggles and hardships that our forefathers had gone through to bring us the Singapore that we are living in today. They may not realize how Singapore has come a long way from a fledgling nation, a little red dot, without natural resources to a developed country with achievements, by our only resource – people, which have placed us on the world stage.

This 9 August, as Singaporeans, we are going to celebrate our nation’s 47th birthday. Held at The Float @ Marina Bay, the theme for National Day Parade (NDP) 2012 is “Loving Singapore, Our Home”. It encourages all Singaporeans to reflect on what it means to love our country, what we appreciate about Singapore, and how each individual can express their love for the nation.

Every year the Primary 5 pupils have the opportunity to enjoy a sneak preview of the awesome performances and spectacular fireworks for the National Day Parade. The National Education(NE) Show has indeed impacted our Primary 5 pupils and we can see that in their reflections:

“Singapore is a place where I can have a future, where I can have a home and where I belong. Singapore is a very beautiful country, a Garden City, a country like no others. During the show, I felt very proud to be a Singaporean!” ~ Sandrie Lum, 5 Charity

“I feel very privileged to be given the chance to attend the NE show. Although I am a PR, I feel very at home in Singapore.” ~ Khine Thuzin Min, 5 Humility

“The NE Show was awesome. The fireworks were spectacular and the Marina Bay scene was breath taking. Although we were caught in the heavy downpour, it was all worthwhile.” ~ Elizabeth Teo, 5 Gentleness

At PL, one of our goals is to nurture every girl that comes to us to become a woman of fine character. We would like PL-Lites to learn to empathise with others through providing them with opportunities to reach out and contribute actively to the community.

One of our community outreach projects, TOUCH-Prep, is a collaborative project with TOUCH Community Services, involving Primary 4 Prefects. This annual project aims to better prepare pre-school children from underprivileged families for a better transition to Primary 1. To equip themselves for this project, the prefects have completed a Basic Service-Learning module as well as learnt how to conduct English lessons using multimedia educational games. Through TOUCH-Prep, our leaders develop empathy and leadership skills as they communicate with children from different backgrounds. After the second session of TOUCH-Prep, Sarah Chow (4 Faith) has this to say:

“I feel blessed to be able to help the little children from the kindergarten to learn their ABCs in preparation for Primary 1. I’d like to get to know more about my buddy and interact with him. I enjoy TOUCH-Prep and I am glad to be part of it.”

We hope that through the character development programme in school, PL-Lites will continue to appreciate what they have and show their love for the nation and put values into action by contributing to the community.

Mrs Christine HoPrincipal

School-based Mother Tongue Languages (MTL) Fortnight & Language and Cultural Camps 2012The purpose of MTL Fortnight is to provide platforms for pupils to actively learn MTL and the associated culture so as to experience MTL as 'living languages'. The activities provided authentic opportunities for pupils to use MTL and

Important Dates

8 AugNational Day Celebrations[Single session: 7.20am – 9.30am]

9 AugNational Day Public Holiday

10 AugNational Day School Holiday

13 AugP5 PP2 – EL

14 AugP5 PP2 – Math

16 & 17 AugPSLE Oral[No school for P1-5]

20 AugSchool Holiday in lieu of Hari Raya Puasa

22 AugP5 PP2 – MT

23 AugP5 PP2 – ScienceP6 Prelim – EL

24 AugP3 Screening TestP5 PP2 – HMTP6 Prelim – Math

27 AugP6 Prelim – MT

28 AugP6 Prelim – Science

29 AugP6 Prelim – HMT

30 Aug – 1 SepP5 Camp

31 AugTeachers’ Day Celebrations[Single session: 7.20am – 11.30am]

1 – 9 SepTerm Break

14 SepPSLE Listening Comprehension[No school for P3-5]

experience the culture. These activities were carried out in Term 3 Week 1 to Week 2 during MTL lessons. Besides the different language activity games, the departments had also arranged different cultural activities for the respective levels, e.g. Introduction of Chinese Kungfu (中国功夫介绍), Chinese Knots (中国结), Comics Drawings(漫画), Congkak, Batu Seremban, Bunga Manggar, Ketupat and Tarian Endang.

The objectives for the camps are to provide an immersive environment for pupils to learn and use MTL, and to appreciate the respective MTL cultures through hands-on tasks. Different language and cultural camps were arranged for the pupils: P4 Chinese Language Camp (7 July), P1 to P6 ML Learning Journey cum Cultural & Language Camp in Pulau Ubin (2 July) and P3 & P4 Tamil Language & Cultural Camp (12 May).

Racial Harmony Day 2012The school commemorated Racial Harmony Day on 20 July with a blast! Racial Harmony Day reminds us to treasure and protect our society’s harmony and unity. In line with 2012’s theme on “People, Places and Memories”, an opportunity was provided to reminisce Singapore’s unique and multicultural set-up. A Multi-Ethnic Costume Parade Competition was held for the Primary 1 and 2 pupils while a range of interesting classroom activities such as henna painting, chinese mask painting and making of bunga manggar were carried out during Social Studies lessons for the Primary 3 to 6 pupils. During PE lessons, the lower primary pupils danced the Aarokkia Aattam and Kebayaerobics while the upper primary pupils were taught how to play traditional games such as spinopper, kicking paperballs and chapteh. It was a day for us to reflect on and celebrate our rich diversity of traditions and heritages.

P4 Learning Journey to Kampong Glam In July, our P4 girls went on a learning journey to Kampong Glam. The objectives of the excursion were to allow pupils to explore different cultural, religious and historical sites in Kampong Glam and learn to appreciate Singapore’s diversity. Pupils were organized into small groups in their trail and were given the opportunity to see how believers worship in Sultan Mosque while learning about Islam and their five pillars of faith. They spent their time playing various traditional Malay games, such as Sepak Takraw, Gasing and Chapteh. The girls also had fun learning how Sarong is worn and competed with one another for the ‘Best-worn Sarong’. Though ‘The Malay Heritage Centre’ was closed for redevelopment works, we managed to catch a glimpse of the yellow royal building from outside and learnt about its significance.

P1 and P2 Home-based Learning 2012This year’s Home-based Learning (HBL) for P1s and P2s was carried out on 18 and 19 July. The rationale behind the exercise is to prepare the girls in the event of real school closure and for parents to be aware that there is a system in place for continuity of their learning. Various subject lesson packages were prepared by teachers and the girls had to access their lessons via instructions given on their timetable which was emailed to them as well as posted on the school’s website. Even though it was challenging for some of the girls to wake up early to do their e-learning, many were able to complete their work within the stipulated timing. More than 90% of our parents have found the exercise useful and beneficial for the girls. We will continue to look into the constructive feedback given by the parents to further improve our HBL processes for 2013. We would to thank our P1 and P2 parents for their support in this exercise.

National Day Celebrations 2012The school is celebrating National Day on Wednesday, 8 August. The school will go single-session that day. All pupils from P1 to P6 will report to school from 7.20a.m. to 9.30a.m. Please make the necessary transport arrangements if your daughter does not ride with the school bus.

The girls are encouraged to come in red and white on that day. They may also come in a red T-shirt or their House T-shirt with skorts/shorts.

PSLE Oral, PSLE Listening Comprehension and PSLE Marking Days 2012There will be no school for P1 to P5 during PSLE Oral on 16 & 17 August (Thursday & Friday).

Pupils from P3 to P5 do not need to report to school during PSLE Listening Comprehension on Friday, 14 September. School is as usual for P1s and P2s in the afternoon session on that day.

There will be no school during PSLE Marking Days from 15 October to 18 October (Monday to Thursday).

Teachers’ Day Celebrations 2012This year, Teachers’ Day falls on 7 September (first Friday of September) during the term break. As such, the school will be celebrating Teachers’ Day on 31 August (Friday). The school will be going single-session that day. Pupils of Primary 1 to 6 will attend school from 7.20am to 11.30am.

All our school bus operators will be notified of this arrangement. Do make the necessary arrangements for your child if she does not take the school bus.