One of my Heads of Department put it best when he talked about how as teachers we needed to fundamentally accept that students these days are really different – not because they are brought up poorly etc., but that their environment (and other things) has changed fundamentally. He shared that;

“It is almost like expecting those of us using smartphones to use a Nokia 8210 [me: my favorite was the Nokia Navigator 6100]. What will the experience be? We can still make phone calls and send SMSes (not to mention the cool SNAKE game) like what a phone should do. But won’t we want more? [me: like what we have on the current iOS, Windows Mobile and Android phones?]. Can the phone company then blame us for being spoilt and demanding? [me: Thankfully they didn't - Nokia has been busy working and coming up with new models and built new strategic alliances]. We are different from 10 years ago and we want different experiences. Same goes for education. Some things have to change. =)” 

This got me to take out my pre-”Smart Phone” phone (Nokia Navigator 6100)… though I am sure in those days, it was considered smart… I liked my Nokia Navigator – that’s why it is still with me.  Looks like a relic now and when I put this next to my iPhone 4 – the world does seem like it has changed dramatically… though some fundamentals do and need to remain essentially the same.

Here are some photographs to show what the first few weeks have been like!

As they walk in every morning, the boys are reminded that they are to be the salt and light to the world! And their education here in Montfort is to help them make an impact to those around them!

This year, we started school a little earlier at 745am so that at least three times a week, our boys get about 20 minutes of sustained silent reading. It is important to cultivate this habit of reading!

Students discussing with a D&T teacher about their project. One of the new design approach is a garage style D&T workshop where the studio is integrated with the workshop for a more integrated and seamless flow between design and execution.

Our Junior Master Chefs in the making! I must say I was "drawn" to the kitchen as I made my rounds because of the scent of their cooking!

Our boys working in our new computer laboratories.

We have two purpose built ICT resource room - this is the Humanities Room and above it, our Mathematics Room.

Physical Activities is always important and great fun! This is one of our mass workout sessions and thanks to the Synthetic Field, we are able to better conduct these activities!

On January 18, we had a talk for Sec 1 Parents on the transition to Secondary Life. We used our enhanced canteen space for the talk. Parents could have their dinner while listening to the talk.

Our Sec 4 boys working in the Science Laboratory.

A nice article on our new building and our first day of school in the Catholic News!

Montfort Secondary also made its mark in the Sec 5N results with Koh Chit Hui being one of two top students in Singapore with 4A1s and 1A2!

What is heartening is that all three boys have come from our affiliate Montfort Junior School and we are happy to have been able to build on the wonderful work done by our Junior School counterpart.  Truly, there is value in continuing one’s education for 10 to 11 years in the same school!

I want to congratulate all students and staff for their hard work as well as the parents for their strong support to their sons.

Some of our top performers. We are proud of them all! Benjamin Lin is directly to my left and Chit Hui is towards the far left. Congrats to one and all!

Certainly, academic results are important and an area we continue to focus on as we want all our boys to do well so that they will have broader opportunities in their post-secondary years!  However, at Montfort, we don’t see the pursuit of academic excellence and character development as mutually exclusive – very clear to us is that they work hand in hand and necessarily so.  More than the academic results, we are proud of the holistic development we had been able to provide the boys – that had shaped their minds as well as their character.

You can read more about the O-level results from MOE’s press release and the information sheet on schools and students with good performance.

Age Quod Agis!

The first week of school was great as we all began to discover the new building and all the wonderful things we could do.  Walking around, the classrooms were brighter, there was more space for the boys in the classroom, canteen and just about any where in the school and this space was great for them!

When I asked the boys if all was well – they said that they loved the new toilets, the library as well as their classrooms.  The boys across all levels were really happy with their new school.  In the first day assembly, the boys were reminded by the Chairman of our Board to ensure that they learnt well and take good care of these facilities preserving them for many generations of Montfortians to come.

Our first morning assembly at the quadrangle. We start school earlier at 745am now to give our boys a chance to spend about 15 minutes every morning reading.

For the first day, I spoke about Formal Authority.  I shared with the boys that I was given this school to run by the authority of the Ministry of Education as well as the Brothers of St Gabriel’s.  It was my responsibility to run the school well and ensure that we delivered high quality education to all our boys and I would exercise my authority to make that happen.  The teachers were in the classroom as an extension of my authority and they took instructions from me.  Students therefore needed to respect that authority.  Not that our authority was infallible and could not be challenge.  It can.  But it must always be done with respect.  The boys must understand that respect towards everyone was important.

The second day, I spoke about Relational Authority.  That we also had authority over them because we cared for them and we wanted the best for them.  And sometimes that meant that we would not do things they enjoyed or liked, but what was needed.  For instance, when we reprimanded them, restricted their behavior or pushed them beyond what they felt were their limits.  All this done because we cared for them and wanted them to grow.  This was much like the authority that God had over us – that He cares and love us and sometimes things we don’t understand happen to us and after it has passed and we reflect, we realize how we have grown from it.  The boys must understand that as teachers, we care for them and want what’s best for them.

The third day, I spoke about Self-Authority.  This was about self-control and was most needed when we are provoked or when no one is looking.  It is during these times that we needed to exercise authority over self.  When another person makes me angry and I want to get back at him, exercise self-authority.  When I have an assignment I have not yet finished but am too lazy to do it, exercise self authority. The boys must understand that fundamentally what they want to achieve is the authority over self.

We have moved back for about a month now and as I was walking the spanking new facilities – wonderful as they are – would be meaningless until they are filled with the footsteps, laughter, conversations, learning and development of our students that was meant to take place here.

And we have been hard at work.  The teachers have been back these last two days attending workshops and going through procedures for the new school year in a new school building – so much excitement!

As part of our workshops, we learnt how we can be more boy centric, understanding how boys are “wired” and how we can best respond and support them in their journey of learning.  We also re-visited our skill teaching concepts as well as looked at approaches to Character and Citizenship Education.

Our student leaders have also been hard at work.  They stayed overnight last night until this morning to prepare and plan an orientation programme for our new young Montfortians.

We are really looking forward to 2012 and beyond!

A photograph with the top N-level students 2011

We have done very well for the year 2011!

66.2% of our boys have done well enough to go on to Secondary 5 next year in 2012.  This is better than our results for the last two years of 55.6% (2010) and 40% (2009) and it is the first time we have breached the 60% mark in the last four years!

Our boys did well across the major subjects.  Notably, we did well for Mathematics with 98.6% Passes with 52.8% Distinctions – compared to the National Distinction rate of 31.8%.  Our D&T subject also surpassed National Averages in both Passes and Distinctions.  Our subjects like English and Science also improved against our own results last year.

Credit for these results certainly go to our teachers and staff of the school who have worked with the boys over the last four years.  Not just in delivering content, but more importantly, nurturing and guiding them to be the young men they are today; building in them a sense of self discipline and personal motivation.  I am deeply grateful to the dedication of our school staff and their efforts have paid off!

Above all else, we have opened doors of opportunity for our young men so that they may go on to be wonderful “Man for Others”!  We are proud of you!!

Age Quod Agis!

I had a lot of hits the week of the PSLE result release. Click on the image to see the graph more clearly.

So I have been blogging for a year now – the first post was in mid Nov 2010 and I have had about 80 posts and if you minus June and Dec – that averages 8 posts per month.

So the million dollar question is “Has it been worthwhile?”  ”Will I keep doing it?”  To be honest, there were times when I lost my momentum but it soon picked up when there were exciting things happening in school and exciting stories to share!  So the short answer is, I will keep blogging for as long as this remains meaningful and useful for myself and the school.

Blogging has given me an opportunity to personally reflect as I share these posts (and photos) and there were enough times when I referred back to my posts when I needed to submit official reports to get some important details (like the date of an event) and there were times when, as I read my past posts, I went – “wow! we did that? Cool!!”

But the screenshot above also suggested another way my blog was useful.  The PSLE result release was on 24 Nov and you can see that for about a week after that, the blog registered significantly more hits – on the day after (25 Nov) – almost 260 hits.  Compared to today, I had a measly 13 hits.

So at least there was another source of information for those who were considering Montfort Secondary as a possible option for their secondary education. Given that there were about 1000 hits at the time and assuming that everyone at the site made about 5 clicks, I would say about 200 or so individuals were, hopefully, able to make a more informed choice for their sons – regardless which way they chose!

And that… has some meaning for me.