Hari Anugerah Cemerlang 2011

Hari Anugerah Cemerlang HAC on 9th April 2011 was a very happy day in SMK Convent Sentul!

Teachers and students worked very hard to ensure that the school was ready to welcome the invited guests - VIP Pn Phoon Yoke Meng, PIBG YDP Pn Rose Saidah, Pn Suseela and Pn Zaini from the Board of Governors , honoured parents, ex-students and current students.

The beautiful backdrop with flowers and butterflies were done by Pn Intan and her team.

Puan Suraya is superb! She and her team handled the kecerian very well. She prepared so many things to make sure everything looked beautiful. She had new stage curtains, and sewed the new red scalloped cloth. She spruced up the little staircase leading to the stage by wrapping it in new carpet. The old curtains were recycled and made into skirting for the MC's table and the VIP's table. Apart from buying new flowers for the event, she also brought flowers bouquet from her own home for the VIP table. Such dedication and excellence is not easy to find! Simply amazing!

Puan Rubiah made sure all the noticeboards were redecorated by the students and the teachers! It is a delight to walk around around the school and see the beautiful and informative notice boards. Pn Rubiah 's dedication and love for the school is a joy to behold. She juggles many duties cheerfully. Thank you Pn Rubiah.

Teachers and students, thank you for playing your part to ensure everyone had a wonderful time that day! From the jemputan to the kebersihan to the jamuan to the juruacara and the persembahan and ..............! Thank you teachers and thank you students for all your hard work! It was very good to see your dedication to the school. Big kudos to you all especially those working in the background .

My heart overflows with grateful thanks to the teachers for their dedication. Thank you Pn Vasantha for looking into every detail and checking everything to make sure the HAC went smoothly.

Most of all, our girls stole the hearts of the parents and the rest of the guests by their creativity in putting up a very very entertaining show! I enjoyed the singing and the dancing and by the look on Pn Suseela's face, I knew she too like the rest of the guest enjoyed it tremendously.

The event was a celebration of womanhood and so many things pertaining to feminity! I am now very glad I am in an all girls school although several months ago, I was slightly apprehensive.

You have stolen my heart away!

School song makeover

Apart from the school hall getting a makeover, the time has come when our well loved school song also has a makeover.

The choir girls under the supervision of the choir teacher Cik Nik Syawani have been practicing hard and they sounded so wonderfully sweet when we heard them practicing in 4 Anggerik room while we were having a staff meeting in the APD room. I just could not resist it. I had to pop over to 4 Anggerik to see how many girls were actually singing because it sounded like there were so many of them. Surprise! Guess how many girls I found? Only 6 girls but whoa ... they sounded awesome!

Today, I drove these 6 girls- Teoh Wei Yee, Pavitra, Dimple, Jaz Lyn, Janice and Diana to Majestic Oracle at Tabernacle of David for the recording of the school song.

Mak Kien Loong kindly and graciously did the recording for us FOC. Wow! Earlier some else had quoted me a minimum basic of RM 500/- for a recording. Thank you Mak and thank you TOD.

Mak briefed the girls through what they had to do. As usual , Mak was gentle and clear and cool and that did much to calm the girls who were recording for the very first time.

Mak started with the pianist Teoh Wei Yee. He recorded her playing first. Next 3 singers were called in to sing together with the music track. We watched them through the glass window of the recording studio

Then the next batch of singers went in to the studio and the first 3 singers - Jaz Lyn, Dimple and Pavitra exited.

Finally all 6 girls went in and sang together. Imagine how happy we felt when we heard the recording! It was so good to hear their sweet voices so clearly especially when I compared it to our previous minus 1 track which must have been done many many years ago. See how happy and relieved the girls are when their work is finally done and they have finished the recording. Now the girls can relax. After visiting the most important place - the loo, they go around testing the many musical instruments. Rain sticks, gongs, many types of drums, etc...! They have fun singing whilst Wei Yee plays the grand piano at TOD. From their singing, I can see they have been practicing together for a long time. So ... now watch out for the posting of the new makeover of our well loved school song on the school website. We are going to try sing the new version this Monday assembly!

FANTASTIC SPM 2010 RESULTS.

23rd March 2011 was an exciting day for all secondary schools. The atmosphere was also equally exciting in SMK Convent Sentul. Students waited excitedly in our newly painted hall for the SPM results to be released.

SMK Convent Sentul had a record number of outstanding students! We had 10 straight As students!! Congratulations. The school grade purata ( average grade) not only broke the 2010 target but also broke the 2011 target so we have to revise our targets for this year!

Amazing and simply ...awesome!.

What brought a lot of joy was seeing the many happy families come in support of their daughters and the many happy families rejoicing and beaming at the good results.

As I work on the analysis of the SPM results, I am amazed by the very very obvious improvement . Kudos to the adminstrators, the Guru Kanan and the teachers for their hard work and to the students for high achievement. Pn Phoon Yoke Meng, the previous principal must be given due honor and credit for her leadership which have inspired this great improvement in results.

•14 out of 24 subjects recorded the best ever performance in the past 5 years. These subjects are B.Melayu, B.Inggeris, Pend. Islam, Sejarah, Mathematics, Science, Pend.Seni Visual , Add Mathematics, Perdagangan, Ekon Asas, B. Cina, B. Tamil, B. Punjabi and Kesusasateraan Tamil

•22 out of 24 subjects showed a marked improvement in the average grade with 3 subjects showing over 40% increase and 2 subjects with over 30% increase and 7 subjects with over 20% increase

We set our sights high for this current year! We pledge to work towards better results. and a reminder to all students and teachers - real meaningful learning begins first in the classroom with students paying attention and yet enjoying the lesson.

Let SMK Convent Sentul flag fly proudly!

•12 out of 24 achieved 100% passes.

School makeover begins

In the first month I was Principal at Convent Sentul, I typed out a very very long wish list. I sent some parts of this wish list to people I loved and trusted. One part of the wish list involved getting funds from those who had abundance to give to the needy.


Allysa - my ex-student awaiting SPM results from my former school Seksyen 5, helped me see the wish list could become a reality. She saw part of my wish list and offered a sum from her angpow money to help a needy student for one year. That inspired my faith because this 17 year student had the faith to give despite being a student and not even a student related to Convent Sentul in anyway.

Another part of the wish list involved a physical makeover for our 71 year old school. So I asked for help. We have to date 3 different paint companies who are considering our request for free paint. The first company - SKK already started the ball rolling by generously donated the paint for our hall. We also have 3 different parties to provide the labour to paint different parts of the school.

The first contractor, Andrew Seoh came by to the school and then sent us 4 of his workers so that we can finish repainitng the hall before school reopens. The workers started on Thursday, immediately after the pengawas camp










But makeover do not begin by merely camouflaging really - it really must begin first by repairing. The first thing the workers did was to locate all the flaws areas and the uneven areas and to patch up with white filling.


Next the ceiling and we do have a fairly high ceiling.



See the men at work and see the work of their hands. They have to work through Saturday and Sunday so that the hall will be ready before the students come back from the holidays.







They worked first with the ceiling and gradually I saw the change of colours from our former green to a happy yellow.



The change of colours.


The external doors to the hall are being repainted.

The difference between one coat of paint and two coats of paints. Hmm.. I wonder how three coats of paint will look like?

In our personal makeover as wholistic people, we must first begin by repairing those areas where we have personal issues.

We need to sort out a priority list on which areas to begin with first - for example the ceiling or the walls? Do remember if we start first with the wall, the repainting of the ceiling will splatter on the walls.

Finally we need to experience at least two coats of the new paint before it even looks pretty. Too often we fidget too fast and say - "Look I have already improved "and the change of colours is not so obvious or permanent because it has just been only one coat of change. Let your makeover be more obvious by going through the right steps in the right sequence and for a longer period. That way the paint materials and the labour has the most impact. Remember God is interested in giving you a physical and spiritual makeover but you have to cooperate with Him so that his donated materials and his labour in you have maximum impact.

Another part of my wish list which I recently added. I saw this lovely orchid garden in BTPN in Cheras while attending a course there.

They have this metal trellis above which they have grown this very fragrant vine that smells like pandan with luscious leaves and clusters of small white fragrant flowers. Pots of orchids hang below. But their orchids do not bloom profusely as of yet.

My dream orchid garden will be something like this. Beneath the fragrant vine on a wooden trellis, orchids hang and bloom profusely as those orchids in my house.

I will keep on dreaming for myself and for SMK Convent Sentul.

Success in SMK Convent Sentul

Congratulations Pavitra Nayagi 3 Anggerik for winning the National Level Chess Competition Under 16.

SMK Convent Sentul is proud of you and we hope you are equally proud of SMK Convent Sentul. Carry on being a bright shining star for SMK Convent Sentul.

In the last post, I blogged about accepting failures, now we speak of our joy in success!

Help us accept success and failure in work and play.

SMK Convent Sentul school song

It's quite unusual but lately the school song has been ringing overand over again in my mind and in my heart . And the sections that alight on my mind and heart doesn't always start from the beginning of the song - sometimes just the chorus will come to mind and at other times the end of the song. Hmm...? I do wonder why this happens.


Our school song goes like this.

O! Hark now hear our joyful cries of pride in our school
Steadfast are we in our duty, simple in virtue
We pledge to you our loyalty and hardships we endure
We will strive to make you proud our school that we adore
O! Lord we pray for guidance and blessings on our way
Help us to accept success and failure in work and play
O! Hark now hear our joyful cries of pride in our school
Steadfast are we in our duty simple in virtue

When I first heard the minus 1, I thought it was pretty difficult to follow. Now after about 4 months in the school, I am struck and awed by the wise words in this song and the ethos that has been ingrained in the school through the school song.

This morning for instance, the part that became alive to me was the line "Help us to accept success and failure in work and play." Typical traditional culture teaches us to embrace only success and reject failure. But this song teaches us to accept both success and failure in work and play. How profoundly wise.

I am at this point of time reminded of a movie I often showed to students and teachers on white water rafting near Jeram Besu between Raub and Pekan. Before the people embarked on their 5 km journey down the river, they were literally trained to fail as part of their safety procedures. They were asked by their trainer to deliberately capsize their boat, to be thrown into the cold waters and then to work together as a team to make their boat turn upright again after they had been thrown into the water. This was to ensure that in the event when the boat actually capsized, the participants would not panic and drown due to the panic of having the cold waters strike them

It is only when the boat is made to capsize that the reality of the cold fast and raging waters strike us. In the face of the crisis or so called failure, we have to calm our fears, settle our embarrassment and other issues and simply learn to rise again.

We need to purposefully teach our students and society that failure is a neccasary part of life and failure is a stepping stone to success. Too often we unknowingly propagate the myth and the lie that life is pure success all the way. And when our students faced failure at some point in life, they feel embarrased, ashamed and depressed and drown in these negative feelings and become unable to deal with the crisis.

How much wiser to recieve the words of the school song and to know that failure is part and parcel of life and handling failure positively brings us closer to success.


Down the river of life are challenges and crisis. We need to handle the failures before we can taste real permanent success.

Fun in Physics Lab

Doesn't the picture make you think my Physics students in 5 Anggerik are doing some crazy stunts seemingly hanging upside down from some beam?

Relax - that's just an image from a convex lens and the image is inverted (upside down ) so it looks as if the girl is upside down but truth is she is just standing normal and raising her hands up.

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You can see my girls are safely grounded right way up on solid ground - it is just their image on the white screen which is upside down . Even the reflection of the girls in the convex lens show they are standing right way up normally

Our beautiful Harkiren from 5 Anggerik smiling happily and showing off our SMK Convent Sentul badge.

This is one of the essential elements we want to incorporate in learning and teaching here in Convent Sentul Hands-On, Heads On and Hearts on Learning.

Learning hands-on by successfully conducting the experiment.

Learning heads-on by understanding the image on the white screen is inverted, diminished and real and being able to measure the focal length accurately by measuring distance from the lens center to the screen for a distant object using a ruler.

And finally hearts on learning - her grin that says it all and both students and teacher have enjoyed the lesson.

My prayer and hope for Convent Sentul is that this scenario of real meaningful learning that brings smiles to teachers and students be found in every single classroom in SMK Convent Sentul.

Celebrating learning and teaching in and out of the classroom

Where does learning begins? There are so many points at which one can begin but paying attention, listening and focussing is vital to learning.

Setting a conducive atmosphere to learning is another factor. Learning is faster when the environment in the class is safe and when students feel happy and relaxed.

Give simple clear instructions on how to conduct an activity. Learning that is based on activity usually bring more joy to the students.

Smiles of success! The smile on our faces shows we have understood the instructions and have set up the apparatus correctly. Our reward - this rainbow spectrum formed on the white screen. Our smiles says it all!

Pride in SMK Convent Sentul. The spectrum is formed on my school badge. I am proud of SMK Convent Sentul and SMK Convent Sentul is proud of me! Yes!

If you want to produce a spectrum, this is the setup! Lightbox, power supply, broad slit, glass prism and hey presto - it's done.

If you can't understand the setup from our photo - come consult us.We -the students of 4 Kenanga can set up the apparatus in a very short time!

Learning is fun.

Joyful cries of pride in our school SMK Convent Sentul KL

The recent farewell on 11 Feb 2011 for Pn Ong Sian our PK Koko who has faithfully served our school with excellence and dedication for 28 years opened my eyes to the talent and passion of both teachers and students in our school.

The memorable and pleasant event evoked the emotions linked with the opening stanza of our school song which is O hark now hear our joyful cries of pride in our school.



There were so many things that made me proud and honoured to be the principal in SMK Convent Sentul. Where do I begin?
First I was touched by the speech made by our head prefect Roseanna. It was spoken from her heart and it was a beautiful speech.



To see and to hear the choir sing acapella passionately led by their conductor and to see them present pink roses one by one brought such joy to my heart. I am sure Pn Ong was equally touched.












Parveen from 3 Cempaka conducts the choir with focus and passion and a sweet smile!


The girls were really creative . The Chinese fan dance was graceful and the girls were beautiful.







I loved the quick movements of the Indian dance - oh how I wished I was as flexible as the Indian and Malay girls who took part in the Indian dance.















Please make sure you watch the video of the Malay dance. Wow! I just loved the nimble and graceful movements of our students and when they are so beautifully made up, I could hardly recognize them But I saw Najiha and Aliah and several others and my heart and face must have beamed with pride.





The teachers were equally creative and talented. They sang " Sealed with a kiss" in Dm to Pn Ong. The words were so appropriate -- Though we gotta say goodbye for the summer ..

What gave us a lot of laughter was Cik Anil, Cik Hamidah, Pn Intan and Pn Rosemawati imitation of Pn Ong and her voice! They imitated her right down to the very tone of the voice Pn Ong often used.

As we left the hall and walked through the guard of honor, the uniformed units took up a march and a chant. The girls under the guidance of Ms Ainil did a rousing Mexican wave.

When Pn Ong finished walking through the guard of honor, the girls mobbed her as she went up the stairs. Here is a beautiful picture of Pn Ong with the students she has loved and nurtured with the words We love ( red heart's meaning) and miss you.

What a befitting farewell to someone who has poured her love and her life into nurturing the staff, teachers and students of SMK Convent Sentul!


SMK Convent Sentul - may the words of our school song ring loud and clear in our hearts and all that we do echo its words.

Let there always be cause for joyful cries of pride in our school! And in truth, we pledge to you our loyalty and our willingness to endure hardship. We will strive to make you proud, the school that we adore. O Lord we pray for guidance and blessings on our way. Help us to accept success and failure in work and play