The school holiday in November and December 2012 was one of the busiest periods for the school. It was also very exciting! Why?The school underwent major changes beginning about from early December when the SPM exam ended.
It began when Mr KC Tang, a caring parent offered his expertise in colour coordinating the school paint makeover. Mr KC Tang is an interior design professional consultant with a very busy practice. However he took time off work to come to school several times to study our building and to select the best colours for the paint makeover. He quickly decided the classical design of our 72-years old school should be complemented with the classical colours to bring out the unique heritage building look. However before the mock makeover began, major pre-plastering work had to be done on our ancient walls and pillars.
The mock paint makeover began. The coordinating project manager.Mr KT Yong gave us a sneak preview of the proposed new colours.
Initially we were only supposed to paint the inside facade of the school since we were limited by budget constraints. The painting got underway and the inner facade became got more beautiful each day ....! Aww..! Soon the older outer pink facade and the inner classical facade looked mismatched in colours and in style. Arifin who is a very passionate paints coordinator suggested strongly that we should paint the outside to match the beautiful inner facade. He promised to charge us a very minimal sum for the outer facade as well as to source for free paints. Mr Lee Geok Ai , chairman of our board of Governors sourced for more funding. His contact, Inta Bina Sdn Bhd who had previously donated RM20 K to us in May for our staff training in Melaka donated another RM 20K to us for the painting project. All these extras made it possible for the outer facade to be painted to match the inner facade.
Many projects took place simultaneously. The games courts and the assembly area badly needed to be resurfaced as the old flooring was uneven, cracked and puddles would form whenever it rain. Mr Lee got Mr Tan B Ver to give us very reasonable heavily discounted prices for the reinforced resurfacing which was about 5" thick. The teachers' assembly area was also beautifully done with cement imprint tiles. The new courts, assembly area and new stairs are funded from three sources, namely the funds donated by the Alumni to the school through the mission fund and the freewill collection from the parents during Parents Day July 2012 while the balance of the cost is borne by the board of Governors. Thank you, Alumni , caring parents and a wonderful Board.
30th Dec 2012, Sunday was probably the most exciting day on the school grounds! Two tractors and over 25 trucks of soil and turf were deployed to the school in that one day alone! Five masons, 4 plasterers, plumbers, 6 painters, 3 general workers, electricians and their coordinators all worked very very hard to get the school ready for the the Form 1 Orientation day on the 31st December 2012. Mr. Lee even roped in Mr Alex Chin ( his long time friend) from Johor an expert on landscape contract to help move and supervise the project on the school field. It was a fitting welcome for the parents of the new students!
Students who came to the school to visit got very excited and quickly spread news of the school's new look through Facebook. Read the students' responses to the new look.....
Another area of excitement are the new murals.We took some photos of the outstanding PMR students at the new mural. I like the floral murals as they give a feminine, cheerful bright look to the school. Teacher Ainil commented when she saw the pretty murals, she felt she was in a resort and not in a school.
The prefects' room was also upgraded. New doors and grills were fixed to improve security.The grills were donated by Kinma Construction. Two new mist fans were installed to cool the room. More upgrading will still be done in the future. The area adjoining the prefects room was enlarged to create a store and also a shaded area for the girls.
We also thank Kinma for their kind generous donation and installation of the new gates and the 4 mild steel trellis in the school field. We now have a new entry point into the school from the new car park via the new gate. Father Alan of St Joseph graciously allowed the teachers, staff and parents to park at the church's new park. Father Alan also allowed us to build the said new gate from the church's car park right into the school grounds to facilitate students, teachers and parents.Thank you, Father Alan and the parish of St Joseph. More and more I realize Convent Sentul is like a community school, with so many contributions and favors from the community of the church and contributors like Kinma Construction and many others. We now have a new acronym for CS - Community School!
The school field.underwent major upgrading. For many years, the field sank continually, sand leaked out whenever it rained and the field was devoid of grass in many areas. We often have to top up the field with lorry loads of soil just to keep using it. Since the field is the only patch of green for our school, the primary school and the church, it is very vital it be upgraded from its dismal condition. The Board of Governors took the initiative and responsibility to upgrade the field for the use of the students. Two tractors, 31 loads of lorries were dispatched to upgrade the field. New trellises were added to support our lovely mature vines. New retaining walls were added to prevent soil erosion. We are awaiting the total completion of the new field with new benches for the students and other items.
In the course of all this upgrading, I realize people did not just contribute funds or items but they contributed ideas and they put much thought about how to solve our problems at school. That realization is absolutely very encouraging. One incident that caused me to realize the above is the story behind our two sinks. We had two very sturdy strong sinks near the office. They were however heavily stained and much paint- splattered from many years of washing art brushes and art related activities. Inno Marketing came up with the innovative idea of installing a sink within a sink. Look at the photo below! They also paid for the sinks and now we have two cute innovative sinks totally free of charge.. Thank Inno Marketing not just for the cost of the sinks, the installation but also the innovative ideas that indicate your care for the school.
The school wants to record our thanks to the wonderful team of men who made so many many changes possible in 4+ short weeks. We see many heroes rise to the occasion! Mr Yong Kam Tian from Engtex and Mr Ryan Wong coordinated all the various ongoing projects. We had very generous discounts from Delico, Kinma Construction, Nobel, Mr Wong YC, Mr Tan B Ver, Ariffin, Mr Yu, and Jeremy from Omni Resources. These men coordinated many workers who were very committed and worked through weekends and public holidays so that the bulk of the the work would be completed before the new school term began on the 2 Jan 2013.Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! May the good Lord bless you many-fold and reward you for your labours.
The chief motivation and mover behind completing all these big projects in such record short time is without doubt, our visionary Chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr Lee Geok Ai. This miracle of so many amazing changes in such short time is the best Christmas and New year's present ever, for the school!
Once again, thank you so much from all of us here at SMK Convent Sentul! You men have, by your labours and giving brought many smiles to the hearts of the girls and staff at SMK Convent Sentul.
The best is yet to come for 2013!
