Racial Harmony Day was celebrated on 21 July in Mayflower. The event was to commemorate the 1964 Race Riots, which took place on 21 July 1964.

Racial Harmony Day also represents a day for us to reflect on, and celebrate Singapore's success as a racially harmonious nation and society built on a rich diversity of culture and heritage.

Here in Mayflower, students are encouraged to be dressed in their traditional costumes such as the Cheongsam and the Baju Kurung and Punjabi suits/saris.

Traditional delicacies are also featured in the celebrations.

Traditional games such as five stones were played.

One of our students learning to perform an Indian dance from Mrs Nathan.

Henna painting.

An exhibition was put up by the English department to showcase the rich culture that Singapore has and students were asked to guess whose wedding clothes these were!

Learning Journey for Staff

On 18th July, the teachers went on an exciting learning journey to the various museums in Singapore.

Some of us decided to visit the Singapore History Museum,



while others decided to drop by at the Art Museum. (Can you recognise any of our teachers outside the Art Museum?)





Meanwhile, a large group of teachers decided to rediscover their roots and dropped by at the Asian Civilizations Museum.


(What do you think Mr Nara is thinking?)

(Hmm.What are they looking at? )


The teachers guide managed to engage our teachers with what he had to share with them.



A smaller group of teachers dropped by at the new Peranakan Museum.

Did you know that two of our teachers are Peranakan? Can you guess who one of them is from these pictures?



We are very glad we took the afternoon off to visit these museums.

For students who are interested in going for a vitual tour, do drop by these websites.

1. National Museum of Singapore

http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/

2. Singapore Art Museum

http://www.nhb.gov.sg/sam

3.Asian Civilisations Museum

http://www.acm.org.sg/home/home.asp

4.Peranakan Museum

http://www.peranakanmuseum.sg/home/home.asp

Outing to Kukup Fishing Farm

A day trip to Kukup, West Malaysia, was organised for the staff of Mayflower Secondary School on the 5h of July. The aims of this trip were as follows:

1. to promote bonding among staff and family members
2. to promote a cosmopolitan mindset through experiencing and appreciating the rich diversity of cultures of Malaysia.



















The first stop was at a petwer factory .

Here the tour guide explained how petwer is manufactured.

Pewter is a metal alloy , consisting of 85 and 99 percent tin , with the remainder consisting of copper and antimony , acting as hardeners.

(Ms Nora, Mr Han,Mr Prem and their families learning about pewter.)






















Next,we visited a fruit farm where we were given an opportunity to taste various local fruit.
(Here, the farmer explained to Mr Fam and his daughter, the various types of fruit that can be found in his farm.)



















And of course we even had the opportunity to eat our favourate fruit, the durian!
(Mr. Mahamood offering a helping hand to open a durian for Wee Mein's mother.)

After a good lunch, we took a boat to visit the fish farm.



































Mr. Nara, the official ticket inspector?

Even a two year old child could "walk the plank."




















Our tour guide explaining to us the workings of a fish farm.



















Later we had the chance to explore the Chinese fishing village of Kukup.

It was an enjoyable trip and it gave us the opportunity to get to know our colleagues and their family members better.

GP Programme to Thailand 2008

In June, a group of upper secondary Normal Technical students took part in the Globalization Partnership Programme to Thailand.

The objectives of this GP Thailand Programmes are:

1. To plant the seed of entrepreneurship in our students.
2. To expose our pupils to the culture of an Asian country other than Singapore.
3. To provide an opportunity for our Normal (Academic/Technical) students to travel to another country.

Our students interacting with a group of students in a school in Thailand.



One of our student using his skills to develop his business skills.

Getting a first hand experience of the Thai culture

N.E. Seminar@Mayflower

The Secondary 1-3 students had a fun time discussing the Mas Selamat Case.

As part of their post exam activities, the students did a simulation of a parliament "After Action Review" session discussing how the case has been handled so far.

The teachers in-charge wrapped up reminding the students that different parts of the government had to come together to handle the case as well as they could.

The students also shared that it is important that we move on but not forget the lesson we learnt from Mas Selamat's escape...the fact that we must not let our guard down.


Attached are short video clips of the sessions we had!

International Friendship Day

What is Mr Raihan doing with Mr Jimmy Lim on stage?

a. He is helping Mr. Lim change into the superman costume.

b.He is holding on to him before Mr. Lim flies off to safe another student in distress.

c. They are performing a skit for International Friendship Day.

If you have chosen option c, you are right ; ) The teachers from the N.E. comm put up a humorous skit sharing the need to understand the various cultures of the world.

Indian New Year
The school also celebrated the Indian New Year in April. Teachers wore different Indian traditional clothes on that day.

The students and teachers presented a skit about the Indian New Year during the morning care talk.

Two of our CSOs also took part in the talk.

International Friendship Day Classroom activities
Throughout the week, various activities were organised to celebrate International Friendship Day.

For example, the lower secondary students made a poster to show the various aspects of Friendship.

And this is one of the posters that were exhibited.

Students of 4D having fun with their form teacher.(Although she doesn't seem very pleased with their progress)

Students of 5H proudly displaying their finished posters with their form teacher Mrs. Nathan

Students also did relfection on what friendship mean to them.

These were formed into a friendship tree.

Off the Beaten Track--- LJ for teachers.

The I-Club is short for "interest-club" and these "clubs" are organised by teachers who have an hobby they want to share with similar-minded colleagues of the school. It is monitored by the Staff Welfare Committee (SWC) where teachers are given time once a month to pursue their interests which include cooking, nature walks and yoga. The N.E. committee is in charge of an I-group called Off the beaten track.

Off the beaten track offers interesting learning journeys conducted for teachers by teachers!

In January, a field trip to Chinatown was conducted.



















Ms Ng, Mdm Santhi and Mdm Tay smiling for the camera before tucking into Beijing timsum.

Mr. Ng and Mrs. Selva shopping for Chinese New Year decorations to welcome the Year of the Rats.

Mdm Santhi looking excited having discovered something new about the Chinese culture.

In February, the teachers visited Arab Street to learn about the Malay culture.


Two of our teachers from China experiencing the hot and spicy food that Ms. Ng was "kind enough" to introduce.

Later, the teachers visited a carpet shop which sold carpets from Iran. We were taught the finer points of how to choose a carpet.

In April, the teachers visited Little India. We had a vegetarian meal before we explored Little India.



Later, we went to explore the shops at Tekka Market.
























We decided to wear what we have brought for the Indian New Year which was approaching. Doesn't Ms Ng look really good in that colour?


















In May, we decided to explore Katong, the heart of the Panarakan culture.




















Can you guess what we are looking at? Jimmy was our wonderful guide for the day.





















It is the famous Red House of Katong. Jimmy had done some research and was explaining the history to us.
























We discovered this very interesting Peranakan shop where we admired the various cultural artifacts displayed.




















Of course we could not leave Katong without buying some of the fabulous food. It was a tough decision but someone had to make it.