Happy things and happy people in school.

School has just started for about 10 days in 2012 and there are so many causes for joy. Of course, some crisis do happen here and there in school too but my joy comes when I learn to focus on the positive. I gain more energy that way.

One of the prettiest sights in school is
our colourful orchid garden near the fish pond.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever! The orchids above are courtesy - Yvonne and her brother who works as a landscaper. Yvone is an ex-student of Convent Sentul and also a parent of a student here. This is the 2nd batch of flowers Yvone has sent to the school FOC. The first batch of flowering orchids came as a welcome gift for me when I was first appointed to the school in December 2010. Under Maran's tender loving care, the orchids bloomed profusely throughout 2011 and brought joy to many hearts. Maran ( our gardener) was so captivated by this colourful 2nd batch that he insisted they must be displayed in the hall during the Form 1 Orientation program. Now he has artistically re-arranged them for display in the shade of the palms near the fish pond.
 



Students happily using the red green cards which
contribute to a emotionally safe learning environment.

 We recently introduced the usage of laminated red green cards. When students understand and can follow the lesson, they show the teacher the green part of the cards. When they cannot follow the lesson, they show the teacher the red part of the card.  See how happy the girls are at using the red-green cards. They have a silent voice to indicate their understanding. This innovative idea was learnt from North Light School in Singapore. The red green card is part of a list of items to create a emotionally safe learning environment  where students can express their level of learning. Thank you Datin Cheam, Eva ( Datin's daughter ) Pn Bong, Pn Wang and many others from the Kooperasi for personally laminating and making the cards so that the cost of the cards would be kept very low for the students 




Foldable banquet tables donated by Datin Soon Phaik Im
from Merryfair Trading alleviates our overcrowding.

 This picture shows that the students are quite crowded in the classes. Since our building is already 72 years old and we cannot expand the classes physically, we came to the idea to use foldable banquet tables that can seat 3 students to a table to save space. An idea is one thing but getting funds to purchase the tables is quite another. But Mr Lee and his vast circle of contacts came to our rescue! He persuaded Datin Soon Phaik Im  from Merryfair Tading to generously donate 20 banquet tables. We managed to put in about 44 students in our limited size classroom using these banquet tables. Thank you, Datin Soon Paik Im  from Merryfair Trading Sdn Bhd . The classroom scenario here shows the students are quite crowded but happily learning.

Students have learnt to give happily and quickly. Bravo!

Another cause for joy is when I see students have learnt to willingly give back quickly and readily to the school and others in need. The hand written list above shows the straight A students' contributions from the RM 200/- angpows  they recieved from Mr Lee Geok Ai's personal donation to them. Some students have been very generous - they straightaway gave RM 100/- and RM 50/- . I deliberately blocked out the names of the students here since I do not want to embarass those who gave less. I asked the students to give me a synopsis of Mr Lee's motivational speech at assembly on 9th Jan 2012. The first line that came back to me was " Give and Take. " So ,the girls have not only learn to take but they have learnt to give. The heart of education is the education of the heart and when a child has learnt to give, she has been truly educated. Thank you Mr Lee for education in the real sense of the word.



Prefects working on their board after school.


On one of my rounds in the afternoon, I spotted this group of girls happily working on a beautiful board. These are morning prefects and they are happily working on their prefectorial notice board. Their joy was so infectious.

So school is a very happy place despite issues that cropped up because we are kept in the loving embrace of Papa God. This week, I look forward to more happy things in school.