PE lessons for Sec 1

Sec 1 boys have spent their first month in Victoria School and we can see that they are now completely at home in their new environment.

Here we see Sec 1E actively engaged in PE.

GCE PE Feedback Role-play for CA

Today, Sec 3B had a their first component of CA- a Role-play giving examples of Good and Bad Feedback.
Here was the assigned task:
In groups, of 5-6
Role-play the demonstration and teaching of one skill by a coach to his students
i.e. in soccer (heading, passing) or hockey (dribbling, juggling)

In your role play, present 2 scenarios:
1-Effective use of feedback in coaching
2-Ineffective/poor use of feedback in coaching
You will need to identify clear coaching points for the skill.
You will need to make sure all members in the group have a role to play

Began by getting the boys to set-up and prepare in the Flexsi Amphitheatre on the
4th Floor:


First group up was Naren's group (together with Marcus, Eugene, Irsyad, Muhyiddin and Shaun). They began by showing us examples of good feedback:


Then came examples of how poor feedback affects performance:

(Must commend Marcus for his flamboyant volleys as well as Naren for his polished delivery)

Next up was Amsyar together with Ryson, Jordan, Izzat and Dilip

(Don't you all think Jordan look like kindergarten kid with his new hair style?)

Our next group of Fadhil, Danial, Haaziq, Haseef and Hidayat used Hockey to showcase the use of feedback


Fadzly, Clement, Aldrin, Desmond and Chong Chieh also used Hockey to demonstrate their role-play.


We had Hong Kwang, JJ, Ernest, Alym and Jaren show us the use of feedback in Goal Keeping


The creme of the crop came from Group 6's performance by Wei Yang, Jeremy, Daren Tang, Khairul and Daniel.
They too showed the use of feedback in both positive and negative scenarios and were able to capture both the use of effective teaching points and the consequences of the use of negative feedback.


Well done boys, look out for your on-line PE CA in 2 weeks time!

Urban Shield Personal Protection Workshop

Victoria School was priviledge to have a team of guest speakers come down to deliver a session on personal protection and crime awareness.
Our panel of speakers comprised of Mr Nigel Februrary, who has done research into criminal methodology in South Africa; Mr Lloyd de Jongh, who works in close protection and has been the bodyguard of celebrities like Wesley Snipes and even Bill Gates, and Mr Corey Perry a former US Marine.

Our guests came to deliver a concept known as the Urban Shield to our students to show how physical assault is only the 4th Stage in a long series of events. Urban Shield presents the crime scenario as follows:

INTENT - This is where the person crosses a normal mental boundary.
INTERVIEW - This is where the criminal decides if you are safe to attack.
POSITIONING - This is the criminal putting himself in a place where he can attack you.
ATTACK - The attack is the criminal using force, or the threat of force to get what he wants.
REACTION – The aftermath of the assault, and potentially the most dangerous stage
In their words "During the first three stages, if you know and understand the consistent methods and signs, you can prevent an attack without the use of violence. These are where the criminal (or violent person) decides whether or not he can get away with it safely. He may want to (INTENT), but if he doesn't have the opportunity (POSITION) he cannot succeed. In the same vein, he's going to make sure he can successfully use violence against you (INTERVIEW and POSITIONING) before he commits himself to act. Once he is sure of his ability to succeed and as put you in a position where he can quickly overwhelm you, he will attack."

Our presenters showed presented this concept to the audience and showed how easy it was for a criminal to gain the trust of an unsuspecting civilian by the following role-play:

It was a sobering fact that only 2 students out of the group of 50 plus had noticed their young female friend leave with a stranger out of the designated presentation area.


Our presenters role-played the scenario and show how a criminal tries to close in on his victims personal space to assess and access the potential success of his intented crime.


Our presenters then presented us with the most common manifestation of violent crime-a knife attack. They show students how criminals commonly use misdirection and deception to rob us of our awareness to make us vulnerable to their attacks.


We then explored how we could safetly define and demarcate our personal safety zone through non-threatening gestures and use of verbal cues. A simple 'Stop!' and question to discern the intent of someone approaching you often gives you an added safety barrier in terms of time and personal space:


Our students enjoyed the session alot with the fast paced presentation and hands-on demonstrations.
I think the part that they enjoyed most was when our presenters used me as a victim and role-played the various mugging scenarios that commonly happen in South Africa:
yes, yes boys, you know who you are.... I saw that gleeful look in all your eyes! You all loved it when poor Mr Siow got 'mugged'! I'm so hurt that none of you came to my rescue :(

We hope this workshop was reinforce in all our students the need to be safe and aware and that their personal safety lies in their own hands

Release of GCE O Level Results- Victoria, Thy Triumphs Seek!

Today is Thu the 24th of Jan- it's the official release of the GCE O Level results in Victoria School.

Many of the graduating class of 2007 had arrived bright and early to await the announcement of results- some here as early as 7.30am. Many of the juniors showed up at 2.30pm in eager anticipation to lend support to their seniors.



We began with Principal Mr Low giving a quick re-cap of the past year. We also remembered fellow Victorians, Azhri who was still recuperating in hospital; and Wrixon whom fate has taken from us. We spent a minute of silence celebrating the lives and memories of our cherished Victorians



As some of our tears flowed freely, we listened with pride and fierce determination when we heard how the cohort of 2007 defied the odds and perception surrounding VS to prove that even with some of our best students leaving for IP, we still performed above the national average in many subject areas:



Next came the annoucement of the Top Performing classes, I'm not going to spoil the surprise for those that weren't there, so here's the clip:



Next, we had our list of individual top performers:


In the words of Mr Low: "Victoria School continues to stand tall and stand proud because ALL of you here, CHOSE to STAY."
We have shown conclusively and undoubtedly that the best is present in each and everyone of us.
The class of 2007 has showned that even standing on our own two feet, without having to really on others for support, the class of 2007 has managed to deliver the best ever result for Victoria School in the last 10 years with a mean L1R5 of 10.5.


My heart swells with pride each time I see and hear the Victorian Anthem playing during this occasion. It is with great gratitude that I feel priviledge to be able to teach here and be part of your lives:


With all the boisteroud celebration of our good performance, I experienced a quite quiet joy of my own when Firdaus Ismail our soccer player and Camp Leader came to me with his results slip.

Firdaus was a dedicated student leader and passionate about the school. He starred as my 'Fed Ex' Delivery man in the video I made for our 130 Anniversary. But he had always struggled with studies.

Quietly, Firdause came up with me to shake my hand. I have never taught him any of his academic subjects. But nevertheless, when I saw his result slips, I knew in my heart that this the greatest triumph of any teacher- seeing the seeds we plant, blossom and flourish in the fruits of our student's labour

Firdaus had often faced diffuculties with his studies- and just looking at the result slip without knowing him, no one will know the blood, sweat and tears that he and all his subject teachers went through to pull through this final hurdle together


In the words of our Victorian from 2007, Liu Tianyuan, "Inside VS, we are proud of VS; outside VS, we are the PRIDE of VS"


Class of 2007, your excellence have made us proud.
Class of 2008, we wait with pride to celebrate your exceleence

Nil Sine Labore