Joy at PMR results!

Early in the morning of 22 December 2011,  I went to school to make sure all preparations for the Majlis Umum Keputusan PMR 2011 were readied. Yes, the school looked nicely spruced up. We were ready to recieve the girls and parents coming  for the event. Then I went to the Education office and waited for the officers to give us the results. When I opened the envelope, I saw the number of straight As was 31! Wow! I was really happy because last year's record for all As was 22.

Then I noticed an sms from Mr Lee Geok Ai, the chairman of our board of Governors. The sms read; "Pn Tan, for this year PMR straight As, I am giving total reward amounting to RM 3000/- to share and I will top up to minimum RM200/- each. And the best overall student will get double the reward. The more the better, keep it up and good luck."

 I answered Mr Lee immediately and smiled as I typed the sms reply " Wow! We have 31 all A compared to last year 22. Thanks!"  Mr Lee next sms read; "Congratulations to all teachers, staff and PIBG for the excellent results. No problem the total amount will be RM 6400/-" So girls, smile and be happy because Mr Lee Geok Ai, the Chairman of our Board of Governors will give RM 200/- to each of the straight As students on the morning assembly of Jan 9th 2012 and RM 400/- to the best overall student. Thank you Mr Lee!

Happy parents, teachers and students! Our all 31 all As champs!

Seeing all the smiles make the hard work so worthwhile.

Thank you Pn Wang for all the hard work in pushing the girls and teachers to success! Pn Wang, the examination secretary PMR even sacrificed going to her son's school to recieve his results so she could coordinate all the details of today's ceremony.Thank you Pn Wang, we love you!

Proud dad! That's my girl! ....

and he is the very proud dad of  twins -

and both scored straight As! Wow!

                                                                     Behind the scenes.
                                 The happy teachers - Pn Vasantha, Cik Arpannah and Pn Anna.

Pn Anna's joy is very very obvious. She is the head of the English department which had a record haul of 79 As and broke its 6-years record in the CGPA and the % passes and scored way above the target result. Anna is also the proud form teacher of 3 Bakawali - the best performing class!





This year the percentage of all A's at 14.22% beats the previous best record of 14.20%
in 2008 even though our 31 all As was slightly less than the the 2008 haul of 33 all As
 because they had more candidates.







My favourite table is the MAD - Make A Difference PMR 2011 results. Here in this table, you see students making a progressive improvement for example; Ranggitha (No 9 ) goes from 4B to 3D and then to 1A2B and finally she strikes 7A for the actual PMR.  Filzah ( No 10) shows a big MAD from her initial 5B3C to 7A1B. You really see the impact of the teachers on the students as they steadily bring about an improvement in the students results. I like this table most because it gives other students hope even  if they were weak or mediocre in the beginning of the year like Filzah and gang, they can still finally achieve excellence if they focus and work hard under the guidance of our dedicated and skilled teachers!

Another happy part of the results were the Science outstanding results. We broke a 7 year record and also achieved beyond our ETR expected target results. Th haul of 78 As was the highest ever, the percentage passes the next highest ever and the CGPA was beyond our target. Amazing! We know  very definitely, one of the main reasons is due to the the innovative approaches the science teachers used in our action research the PAS, Pendekatan Aktif Science where students did science experiments not only in the Science lab but outside the labs, in the school fields and during assembly. Thank you Pn Fitri Yanti, Head of the Science Department

My favourite part of the Majlis Umum PMR 2011 is when the excellent students invite and escort their proud parents or family up stage to recieve the examination slip from me or from Pn Rose Saidah our YDP PIBG. You see the tears, you see the proud beaming smiles, you see the hugs and the family support and you see families knitted together in joy! And in that one split second you see all this, all our hard work is worth it all! 

It is more blessed to give than to recieve

Last week I had several urgent emails from Mr Lee Geok Ai, the Chairman of our Board of Governors. He needed me to urgently compile the list of needy students in the school as well as the names of students who needed aid in acquiring reading glasses . Thanks to the efficiency of Pn Nor Azlina, our data teacher and Pn Rohana Abu Hassan our new PK Hem and En Mazwan's help, we managed to quickly provide the data to Mr Lee.


Mr Lee Geok Ai, the Chairman of the
Board of Governors, SMK Convent Sentul



Mr Lee's response was even faster than ours. In about two days, he informed us that he had successfully helped the school recieve financial aid for our needy students through his friend Mr KS Lee in Freyssinnet PSC (M) Sdn Bhd.







Freyssinnet, a French company based
in Malaysia gave us RM 5000/- for our needy students.
Thank you Freyssinet and Mr KS Lee.





Mr Lee Geok Ai together with his wife Madam Low Bee Lan and his mum Madam Tan Kwee Eng  and Elegant Vision Care also jointly sponsored the spectacles of 40 students in our school. We have already shortlisted 30 names for the free spectacles from Form 1,2 and 4. We have space for 10 more students especially if you are from  Form 3 and 5 and you  need help for getting free reading glasses. Please come to school and request to see Pn Tan or the teacher on duty so your details  can be provided to Elegant Vision Care. Students who have already been shortlisted are to come to the school office and to take the confirmation letter and to fill in other details before proceeding to the optician's shop in Sri Gombak.


The flyer with details on the procedure to acquire the sponsored specacles.

For your information, Mr Lee has spearheaded the drive for many sponsorships in the school. The 30 new computers, the maintainance of the school buildings, the 3 new donor boards, the repair of the piano and the chairs are largely due to Mr. Lee's untiring efforts aided by his very helpful secretary     Ms Lee Foong Lian. In school, I am blessed with Pn Latifah and En Najib who helped me greatly in coordinating the reciepts, letters and other work associated with the sponsorships.

We also recieved from the president of the alumni - Datin Baljit Kaur A/P Sharanjit Singh, another     RM 5,000/- from the Alumni for the needs of the school. Thank you Alumni - you are a great source of help and encouragement to our present day students. You are warmly welcomed to come and visit the school and rekindle the flames of affection and nostalgia.

At the year's end I also want to take the opportunity to thank several others who have given to the school especially those I have not thanked publicly.





My ex-classmate Ms Chi Oi Meng
who sponsored RM 4K/- for the computers and
got her friend Ms Ng Yee Sin  to sponsor too.



   My husband Jason Yeong - very happy in Arsenal Stadium
Jason sponsored the entire repainting of the school hall
      and helped find sponsors and painters and paint  for
the repainting of the school external facade.
        He also got James of Suntrack to sponsor the drainworks
          and the awning and the cement floor repairs.

My father, Mr Tan Giap Swee who sponsored 1 unit computer  and
helped find workers for the ERT and GK room ceiling.

My mum Madam Lim Soy Moi who broke both her legs in March,
went through a major operation sponsored another computer
 in gratitude for her speedy recovery

Alysa Ng,  my ex-student from

5 Dinamik 2010, SMK Seksyen 5 Wangsa Maju

      who in the beginning of this year, 

 encouraged and inspired me greatly

     by her gift of RM 600/- from her ang pow money

         towards a needy student here in SMK Convent Sentul.

The 3 new donor boards thanking donors who gave from Jan- Oct 2011.

I also want to end by expressing my  thanks to the girls of SMK Convent Sentul who has now learnt to give generously as just as so many others have given to the school.  It started first with the choral speaking group in 2 Kenanga 2011 who gave very generously -  RM 500/- out of their RM 700/- winnings.

The giving of 2 Kenanga spurred many older students who recieved the YTL awards to also give back to the school.  Some girls gave RM50/-.   Many gave RM 100/- out of the RM 700/- ( for SPM )and RM 500/- (for PMR) and RM 200 (for co-curriculum) they recieved. They gave from 10-25% of the award money they recieved.

The heart of education is the education of the heart. When my students have learned to give in response, I know, we at SMK Convent Sentul have succeeded,  not just in educating them in their brains but we have educated their hearts. I believe it is the many examples of those who have given to the school that have encouraged and inspired my girls. Thank you for helping me educate my girls in the part where it truly counts - their heart and their wallets. The heart of education is the education of the heart.

Good day

The morning started well. I was simply pleased to find that not only was I recieving the award as Pengetua for Innovasi but also 4 other teachers of Convent Sentul were listed in two separate awards for Innovation. Some schools were not listed at all and Convent Sentul were listed in two categories. What an honor to be a Pengetua of a school of dedicated teachers and sweet girls!

There on the very first page of the programe book,  I was delighted to discover that Cik Anne Mathews, Cik Arpannah and Pn Norreha were honoured for their work on the "Kikubari and 5S Innovation " studies done on 4 Mawar. Just above their names, I also saw my name and  Pn Fitriyanti  listed in the "Pendekatan Aktif Sains Innovation " award. When I went up stage to recieve the awards, Pengarah Dato' Haji Khairil asked me how the "Pendekatan Aktif Sains" was carried out. He was delighted when he realized it was a very hands on approach and especially when I said the girls loved it! He invited us to share it with other schools.

Ms Anne is always serving and always smiling.

Raudah and Arpannah have beautiful faces and beautiful spirits.
They serve the school with joy.

Norreha is such a gem -
batu permata yang amat bernilai.

Downstage, I was very happy when I opened the awards and found the certificates of appreciation,  prepared for each individual teacher. My greater joy is that all these 4 teachers are really amongst those who are most proactive, full of initiative, and "paling tak kira" in the way they serve the students and the school. God certainly knows how to reward those who love the students like these 4 teachers do. Praise God.

Later a flurry of sms flew between me and Pn Afizah. Questions as - "When are you coming back to the school,"  "We are going to tunda the time so you can come back to see the video the Form 3 girls prepared for you"  I am so sorry to dissapoint you girls and teachers and I would have loved to be with you all in the closing ceremony of the Pasca PMR 2011 but I did ask to be given permission to leave the hall to return back to school, for maybe 45 minutes but permission was denied firmly as there were several very important and urgent briefings.

I smsed both Pn Wang and Pn Afizah to tell them to to send you my love and best wishes to you since I may not get to see the Form 3 for a long while. I asked Pn Afizah to make sure I would be given  a copy of the CD so I can view your video on my laptop. Pn Wang smsed me back to ask me to make sure I come back to school and go to my room to collect something the girls left for me in my room.

Coming back to school, I got so excited seeing Pn Norreha that I scraped my car against the car porch pillar. Thud! What a sickening sound!  I was momentarily saddened by the ugly scratch but when I saw  a group of  girls coming to greet me, the sadness lifted.The girls not only greeted me but  helped carry things down from my car .

"Things are to be used, people are to be loved." and when we used things, cars and all, they sometimes get scratched and scraped.  But I would rather the car be scratched by the porch than the people' hearts be scarred. This is as opposed to "things are to be loved and people to be used. "Remember, girls, things are to be used and people are to be loved.

Your lovely bouquet made me feel so cherished.
Thanks a million!

 When I entered my room, I saw the lovely bouquet of roses. It certainly made me very happy to know I  
 am cherished despite my humanity and failings. And your lovely card is very meaningful.

I was kept so very busy after that. I made two trips to the bank on the PIBG matters. I discussed several urgent issues with several teachers and various office staff. It is good to know all the busy activities in  school has a higher purpose - to bring joy and betterment to both students and teachers and staff.  It's a really good day!

The golden girls of Convent Sentul.

There are many golden girls in SMK Convent Sentul. We have golden girls in the form of our very dedicated teachers and our lovely well behaved students. We also have other golden girls. Let me take my time to tell you about some of them.

The golden girls - the teachers. Teachers are all smiles at the end of Hari Kantin 18th Oct 2011. It's been a hard day's work. All hands to the deck - including our beloved Datin Cheam who personally fried many woks of yummilicious fried rice! Thank you, teachers for your hard work and your enthusiasm and for your willingness to work hard for the school. Muach! To the golden girls who groom the golden girls.

Grooming takes money and programmes.  I am so proud of my dedicated  teachers. See my wonderful teachers  gleefully counting the hard earned money during Hari Kantin  and and making sure everything tallied.

                                    

Golden girls being groomed.

We were blessed with another group of golden girls on Hari Kantin. They were the ex-students of the batch of 1978. They came to visit us at SMK Convent Sentul. They had been waiting for a long time for this visit.  Some of them had not been back to the school since they graduated. It was a very nostalgic walk for them, down the aisles of time.




                                    Adeline, Lian Choo, Pn Tan, Roseanna, Fairuz and Margaret
                                                 in the corridors of time in Convent Sentul.                                     



So much was the love of these golden girls for Convent Sentul that this batch of ex- students had compiled a professional printed keepsake of their love for CS - a  booklet entitled CS78 MY STORY. The picture below shows the cover of their booklet where they had shown themselves in the Std 1 picture, the Std 6 pic and the 3A2 & their first reunion in 1990.

May the past continue to inspire the present and the future generations of CS. These wonderful ladies further added to our joy. They presented us with flowers, a lovely healthy carrot cake and a cheque of RM 1000 garnered from the sales of the CS78 booklets. We had a lovely time with these ladies particularly when they regaled me with stories of their times in the school and how they had actually never entered the Principal's office when they were schoolgirls. I caught more glimpses of the beautiful Convent ethos as I listened to them recall those schoolgirls days.

              The batch of 78 presenting us in CS with the RM1000 cheque and the lovely carrot cake.
                                                                  Golden girls - all of us.
                                                          Thank you so much from all of us.
                                          
Two days later after the Hari Kantin, I had the good fortune to be invited to Marina Chin's office at the sport school Bukit Jalil. Marina Chin, the principal of the Bukit Jalil National Sports School  is a towering personality of Malaysia and I am very glad to add, an ex- student who had done Convent Sentul very proud. In her room I had the pleasure to view her treasure trove of newspaper cuttings and old photos and ....

I will post more about the treasures I saw that day in the next post. For now, you have to be content with knowing yet another golden girl.

                                                Another  golden girl of SMK Sentul Convent.

Uncle Buttons in Convent Sentul.

We had a hilarious time in school today! We laughed and laughed! Why? We had a visiting clown in the person of Uncle Buttons aka Mr. Sam Tee Kam Bee.

Uncle Buttons made us laugh when

he chased after Pn Wang and made her perform.

He rewarded her with a pretty balloon flower.

Uncle Buttons twirling a plate on his stick.



Pn Wang and the girls were made to wear funny hats and
to perform balancing plates.

Pn Wang and CS girls twirling plates.

Let's play catch.

Juggling and laughter.

The first part of the clown show was enjoyed by Form 3 and Form 5 students and the teachers. What a great way to de-stress!!

After a short break, Uncle Buttons removed his make up and returned as Sam Tee to conduct the balloon workshop helped by his lovely wife, Adeline and his two handsome sons  Jireh and Caleb. We had a jolly good time as can be seen from the smiley faces all around.





See how happy Cik Raudha and our girls are as they show
off the balloons they made themselves.
Colourful heartshaped and flower shaped balloons make
us smile!

                                               Girls happily waving their colourful balloons.




Happy faces and happy smiles.
What a day!

The girls laughing as they made heart shaped signs to say that
love is the most important factor in our homes.

 

From W.O.W. to M.O.W!

Michelle's slot yesterday was on WOW Women of Worth! And today we continued the Pasca PMR program with Mr Lim Wah Heng. Imagine our amusement when the students describe Mr Lim Wah Heng as M.O.W - Man of Wonder.


 Let me explain.... Mr Lim Wah Heng has been visually impaired ( legally blind) since the age of three due to high fever. Due to early education limitations, Mr Lim only managed to start schooling at the age of 12. He had to leave his hometown Malacca to study in other states. Despite his handicap, he graduated from the University of Malaya with a degree in English. Mr Lim taught in a goverment school and he taught not only his option English but he also taught B. Melayu, Kesusasteraan Melayu, Perdagangan and many subjects at SPM level because there was a need for teachers in his school for these subjects. Mr Lim has retired 3 years ago from goverment service.

But .. his educational records and service alone were not what impressed and touched the students. Let me show you some pictures and explain.

Mr Lim Wah Heng playing the guitar skillfully and
having very fun singalong sessions
with our students .

 

Mr Lim Wah Heng, visually impaired playing the song
"Somewhere out there"
to our captive audience in Convent Sentul.  

Two chess kings were in our school hall today. Pavithira our reigning national chess champion Under 16 played chess with Mr Lim. Mr Lim picked up chess pieces from the board and identified them correctly to the audience, many of which did not play chess despite being able to see. Mr Lim spoke his moves to Pavithira who moved the white pieces on his behalf. Then Pavithira would respond by speaking what she moved on the board. Then Mr Lim would counter with his move and so the game went on for about 12 moves due to time limitations. The crowd was amazed that Mr Lim could see and visualize the chess pieces and how they moved despite his handicap.

Pavithra thinking hard before she made her move in response

Mr. Lim's moves.

        










What Braille looks like demonstrated live
on the Braille machine.

 Now a sample of Mr Lim's under the M.O.W program

We had joy, we had fun,

we had seasons in the sun.

Somewhere out there by Mr Lim.

I will post some videos on Michelle's singing and WOW later on. The videos were too big to be uploaded and need some editing and I need help to get them edited.

W.O.W! - Women of Worth!

A celebrity came to Convent Sentul today in the person of Michelle Tan! Heads turned, some jaws dropped as the girls watched beautiful Michelle walk confidently in.

The girls listened attentively as Michelle shared how she was once the ugly duckling and how she had felt as the ugly duckling. And she told our girls that they were  WOW! - women of worth and they need not feel like an ugly duckling anymore.

She encouraged our  girls and told them they needed to believe they were women of worth - WOW!  Then the transformation from the ugly duckling "itik hodoh" would begin  when they started believing in themselves and in their self worth and dignity.Watching glamorous Michelle tell her story and seeing her confidence was a real treat for our girls. She inspired our girls to believe in themselves and to believe that they could also be like her, transform from the ugly duckling into the glam beauty she is now.



Michelle mobbed by our students





Michelle laughing as she finishes playing her impromptu piece on our ancient piano.

When Michelle finished singing the Night Star, the girls broke out in thunderous applause!

Lyrics of Nightstar

There are days when I just can't wait till the night comes

'Cos when the night comes the stars come out to play

And when the light's off and they are all asleep

That's when I wake up and throw my cares away

I see the night stars they shine so brightly

Softly so gently they will cll out to me

They understand how it feels to be

So silently longing to be free

I'm feeling like a star, like a night star

Feeling like a star, like a night star, and I'm

and I'm shining just for you

Looking back on the days I feel trapped inside

When the days seemed so dark

And the night so bright

I just look out my windows to the stars

Up so high in the sky

My dreams take flight

happy girls in convent sentul