Unity Sec Term 2 Newsletter (2022)

UNITY SECONDARY SCHOOL TERMLY NEWSLETTER

#OPPORTUNITY

As part of Applied Learning Programme (ALP) in Sustainability Education, the Secondary 1 students were introduced to the Singapore’s Sustainable Development Movement (SG Green Plan 2030). Using the problem-solving based learning approach, they were equipped with skills to innovate and develop creative solutions to resolve critical sustainability issues in Singapore.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK - TERM 2 Dear Parents/Guardians, As we approach the end of this semester, we celebrate our students’ success and learning experiences that have strengthened their character. With the easing of the Safe Management Measures in March, we were able to resume many activities in our Co-Curricular Programmes (CCAs) like learning journeys, competitions and community-based Values-in-Action (VIA) programme.

The National School Games season started in March. All our ‘B’ Division Sports CCAs (Basketball, Football, Table-Tennis, Track & Field and Volleyball) participated in the Zonal and National Championships. The students put in their very best effort and pushed their limits in every game or competition. They demonstrated the value of respect not only for the rules of the competition but also for other competing teams. They were very committed during their training sessions. They demonstrated compassion towards their team members by caring for each other, giving moral support to one another and motivating each other throughout the season of competitions.

The trainings for the competitions have instilled resilience in them such that they were able to bounce back quickly, whenever they faced setbacks during the competitions. After each game or competition, they constantly reflected on areas they had done well and areas for improvement. They were receptive to feedback from their coaches, teachers and even peers.

Our ‘B’ Division Girls’ and Boys’ Basketball teams came in the top 6 and 8 respectively, in the West Zone Basketball Championship. Our Table Tennis 'B' Division Girls were placed 3rd in the National Championship.

Our Track and Field students also did us proud in the National Track and Field and Cross-Country Championship. Six of our athletes raced through to the finals and came in the top 15 positions. They also improved upon their previous personal best records.

Besides the Sports CCAs, our Uniformed Groups also did us proud with Gold, Silver and Distinction awards in the Overall Unit Proficiency Awards for NPCC, Girls’ Brigade and NCC (Air).

Two of our Sec 4 NPCC cadets, Aiden Chua Kai Xuan and Melody Ng Yan Jing, were awarded the pinnacle award, SPC-NPCC Badge, in recognition of good leadership qualities and outstanding achievements.

Another Sec 4 student, Ong Yi, from the Boys’ Brigade was awarded the Best Boy Award and S P Chua Medal for being a good role model to his peers and for performing well in the CCA.

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Additionally, our students did well in local competitions. Dhanyashri Prabaharan (Sec 3 NCC), Masy'Aril Alexandria Bin Mahfoot Alexandria (Sec 3 Scouts) and Kong Yan Tong, Karel (Sec 3 Choir) were awarded Bronze Award for their Science Project (Harnessing Energy from Roads) at the 23rd International Elementz Fair.

Our school's Art Club submitted 4 pieces of art works from 4 teams for this year’s Singapore Youth Festival Art Exhibition. The artwork of one of our teams has been selected by the curatorial team for the on-site exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore from 1-28 July 2022. The other 3 teams’ artworks will be featured on the SYF online gallery and presented via an e-catalogue available for public viewing on the SYF Website in mid-July.

The above achievements are evidence of our teachers’ commitment and belief in their students. I applaud the ‘can-do’ spirit of our teachers and their commitment to continuous learning, together with their compassion for the students and their perseverance in never giving up despite challenges in the last two years.

The above achievements were made possible because of the strong support from parents. Thank you parents, for your belief in us and for your relentless support to the school.

We are indeed blessed and thankful for the smooth journey in Semester 1 2022. The mid-year school holidays (28 May – 26 June 2022) have started.

In my recent address to the school, I encouraged all students to take the opportunity during the June holidays to reflect on the areas that they have done well and also their areas for improvement. They were also encouraged to reconnect with their dreams and review their plans to achieve their dreams. I shared the following quote from an American futurist, Joel Arthur Barker: “Vision without action is merely a dream.

Action without vision just passes the time.

Vision with action can change the world.”

I do hope that during this holiday, as you spend time and connect with your child, you will also help your child to reconnect with his/her dream.

Wishing you and your family a good and meaningful holiday, and I look forward to welcoming your child in Term 3 2022.

Take care.

Mdm Aini Maarof Principal Page

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UNITY COUNCILLOR APPOINTMENT & APPRECIATION CEREMONY The Unity Council Appointment and Appreciation Ceremony was a monumental and meaningful event, witnessed live by the upper secondary students in the hall, and via Zoom by the lower secondary students. It has been two years since the school cohort assembled in the hall for a school event due to the pandemic. The school would like to express our gratitude to the 11th UC for all their hard work and contributions as we make way for the 12th UC to serve and lead with pride and dedication. The UC will continue to be the backbone of school programmes and activities, and the voice of the student body.

12th Unity Council Page

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CCA LEADERS APPRECIATION & APPOINTMENT CEREMONY A year has passed in the leadership journey of the 2021 CCA Leaders and to recognise their commendable efforts and invaluable service, the school hosted the CCA Leaders Appreciation and Appointment Ceremony. The leaders have been exemplary in displaying the five practices of leadership in their respective CCAs and hence, they were presented with the Leaders of Leaders Badge to signify the legacy that they are leaving behind in Unity, as well as to emphasise how significant their contributions have been , which also exemplified the Unity Spirit.

Additionally, we celebrated the appointment of the new CCA leaders of 2022. They were presented with the CCA Leaders Badge, consisting symbolically, the different body parts of the Eagle. According to the Eagle Leadership Philosophy, each body part indicates the importance of each CCA group and the leadership traits of vision, fearlessness, and tenacity, embraced by each Unitian CCA leader. The school would like to wish the newly appointed CCA leaders success in their leadership journey.

CCA Leaders Badge Eyes (Sports Group)

Wings (Performing Arts)

Talons (Uniformed Groups)

Tail (Services Groups)

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AWARDS CEREMONY - DAY 1 The Awards Week is a week of celebrations of our Unitians' growth and achievements. Having gone through various changes and challenges throughout the past year, these Unitians have certainly shown their outstanding ability to become resilient and future ready individuals, as they overcame all odds to perform well not only academically, but also holistically.

C o ng ra tu l a tio ns ! s n a i r o t c i d e l a V S ec 1, 2 0 2 1 Page

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AWARDS CEREMONY - DAY 2

C o ng ra tu l a tio ns ! s n a i r o t c i d e l a V S ec 2 , 2 0 2 1 Page

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AWARDS CEREMONY - DAY 3

C o ng ra tu l a tio ns ! s n a i r o t c i d e l a V S ec 3, 2 0 2 1 Page

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AWARDS CEREMONY - DAY 4

C o ng ra tu l a tio ns ! s n a i r o t c i d e l a V 1 2 0 2 , 5 & 4 c e S Page

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INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP DAY COMMEMORATION

8 April 2022 marked our first mass assembly, in the parade square, after more than two years of pandemicrelated restrictions. We commemorated International Friendship Day with differentiated activities for upper and lower secondary levels. The Lower Secondary Peer Support Leaders led a mini game on identifying national flags as part of the IFD CCE lesson. CCA Leaders led their peers in designing appreciation cards for their Secondary 4 seniors, to thank them for their guidance and support during CCA sessions.

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Secondary 4 and 5 students had an interactive in-conversation with Vice Principal, Mr Lim, to have a deeper understanding of what is happening in Ukraine and Russia.

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PDLP @ UNITY Secondary 1 PLD Onboarding

The 2022 batch of Secondary 1 students were elated to receive their Chromebook, a Personal Learning Device (PLD) on 13 April. The PLD would enhance students' learning experience not only in school, but also at home by enabling self-directed and independent learning. Students can access additional educational content, like videos and articles, and deepen their understanding of topics covered during lessons.

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HARI RAYA CELEBRATION Unity welcomed back festive celebrations with pomp. Hari Raya was celebrated on Friday, 29 April. The mass celebration in the hall consisted of traditional songs like "Kenangan Di Hari Raya" sang by Danish, Nauwaf and Afiq, skit by UP: ON Stage and dance by UNIque Dance Fusion. There was also a vlog, "A day in Ramadan" by Natasha and Zulyana and performance by Indian Orchestra. These performances enabled students to deepen their understanding about Ramadan as a time of spiritual reflection, self-improvement, and heightened devotion and worship.

This was followed by a CCE lesson which enhanced students' understanding and appreciation of the religious festival of Hari Raya Puasa in Singapore, as well as in different parts of the world. Students learnt the significance of traditional food as a reflection of the culture, identity and heritage of the Muslim community.

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EARTH DAY COMMEMORATION @ UNITY

Earth Day is dedicated to combatting climate change around the world and to bring everyone together to invest in the only home we have. The UniqEcologists organised exhibits at the canteen to raise awareness on the ways we could work together to create a Zero Waste school. Tips were shared from the SG Green Plan 2030 to reiterate to students on how they can make a difference through sustainable living. Research has shown that Gen Z is providing inspiration, with more than 40% of them having stopped purchasing certain brands because of ethical or environmental sustainability concerns. Let’s come together to take small actions to invest in the planet for all of us – today and for our future!

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ELEMENTZ FAIR

We are pleased to share that a team of students from our Young Scientist Programme (YSP) has won a Bronze Award in the 23rd International Elementz Fair organised by Anderson Serangoon Junior College. They had submitted a project idea under the category of 'Innovation', addressing a societal issue that Singapore is facing in relation to the theme of Sustainability. The students proposed "Harnessing Energy from Roads" by utilising piezoelectricity as a renewable source of energy.

The team of students involved were: 1. Dhanyashri Prabaharan (NCC), 2. Masy'Aril Alexandria Bin Mahfoot Alexandria (Scouts) & 3. Kong Yan Tong, Karel (Choir) Congratulations! We commend their commitment and hard work!

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UNITY YOUNG WRITERS FESTIVAL (UWF) - DAY 2 The second day of UWF was hosted on 20 May via Zoom. Despite being conducted on a virtual platform, we had a good attendance of 89 participants from various secondary schools across Singapore. In addition to the Principal's address, we were also honoured to have our Vice Principal, Mr Lim Cheng Tzu, as our guest speaker to share his experiences as a writer. Participants were able to view the pre-recorded recitations of the winning poems based on this year's theme, Beyond, as well as listen to an engaging dialogue session with local writers who exchanged their perspectives about students' entries, and the ways to improve their creative writing.

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SEC 1 - APPLIED LEARNING PROGRAMME (ALP) As part of ALP in Sustainability Education, the Secondary 1 students were introduced to the Singapore’s Sustainable Development Movement (SG Green Plan 2030). Using the problemsolving based learning approach, they were equipped with skills to innovate and develop creative solutions to resolve critical sustainability issues in Singapore.

Students co-created STEM-based solutions to contribute towards building a resilient future, by brainstorming on ways to increase food production in Singapore. They designed and built prototypes of Smart Home Farm Systems that would allow homeowners to live more sustainably by growing some of their own food. In their groups, students discussed and chose the type of food to grow and the technology that would be suitable in a typical Singapore home, based on considerations such as local demand, energy efficiency and ease of maintenance. Their systems incorporated M5GO micro controllers which students learnt how to code through the Code for Fun programme. These were then built into their designs for automation, hence ensuring ease of maintenance by homeowners.

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ELECTIVE MODULES PROG RAMME In the last week of school, the Secondary 3 and 4 Normal Academic students participated in the Elective Modules programme. The sessions enabled students to broaden their learning experiences through interesting hands-on activities and learning journeys to various industry sectors to gain insights into the working in real world. The modules ranged from High Tech Farming and Sustainable Farming, Hospitality and Tourism, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Operations to Aerospace and having fun with Coding.

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CCA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS Sports

Congratulations for their good performance in the 2022 National School Games!

Table Tennis 'B' Division Girls (3rd placing) Unity Secondary School is proud to announce that our Table Tennis 'B' Division Girls have achieved 3rd placing in the National School Games West Zone Table Tennis 2022. The girls have demonstrated strong commitment, camaraderie and teamwork during the course of the games, so they definitely deserved the win! Kudos girls!

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CCA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS Basketball 'B' Division: Top 6 (Girls) & Top 8 (Boys) Volleyball (Girls) Soccer (Boys) Track and Field (Boys and Girls)

Uniformed Groups UG Overall Unit Proficiency Award Girls' Brigade (Silver) NPCC (Gold) NCC Air Squadron (Distinction) J M Fraser Award for Excellence Boys Brigade (Gold)

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CCA GROUP ACHIEVEMENTS Clubs & Societies Our Art Club students' artwork, "Can We Survive?", is chosen for Singapore Youth Festival 2022 on-site Art Exhibition under Category A, Lower Secondary. The artwork which was submitted by a team of 8 students from the Art Club, namely Lydia Ming Li Ping, Tan Wan Yi Phoebe, Tey Xuan Qin (class 24), Tan Rui Min (class 22), Angeline Chen Yu Fei, Li Yitong (class 1C), Lee Rui Ting Charlotte and Nurin Irdina Aleesya (class 1B). The Art Club had submitted 4 pieces of artwork from 4 teams. Besides the team whose artwork is selected for the on-site 2022 SYF Art Exhibition, the art works submitted by the other 3 teams will also be featured on the SYF Online Gallery and presented via an e-catalogue available for public viewing on the SYF Website in mid-July.

Congratulations to the Art Club students and the teacher-in-charge, Mrs Constance Tan! "Otters have become one of Singapore's iconic local inhabitants.

Through irresponsible discarding of trash, we have caused suffering to them as they consume our trash mistakenly, suffocate and die. We used actual trash and newspaper to make this sculpture to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability to protect our environment."

The team observed the lifestyle of the relatively new local inhabitants, the otters, and aptly depicted the idea of how irresponsible discarding of trash has directly affected the quality of life and safety of the local inhabitants. Newspaper was used to skillfully manipulate the forms of otters.

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"This artwork depicts the suffering of inhabitants on earth caused by waste pollution. The bird family symbolizes how living normally is hindered because of our irresponsible actions. Through this artwork, which is made of recycled materials to support sustainability, we hope to raise awareness about how trash has adverse effects on the environment."

This artwork is a bleak glimpse into the future of Singapore, if the issue of sustainability is not addressed adequately. It showcases the iconic Merlion spitting out humans instead of water, as Singapore runs low in water supply due to our negligent and unsustainable usage of water. The end-result is destruction for the human race, as depicted by the sea of human bodies.

"We use The Singapore Flyer as a Singaporean icon to represent the idea of the importance of practising sustainability, in order for the economy and Singapore to progress as a nation. Made completely of recycled material, we are serious in spreading the message of sustainability."

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CCA INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS SPF - NPCC Badge Award Highest badge award given to cadets in recognition for their good leadership qualities and outstanding achievements

Aiden Chua Kai Xuan, Sec 4

Melody Ng Yan Jing, Sec 4

Boys' Brigade (BB) Best Boy Award 2022 & S P Chua Medal Top Boy among BB Companies in secondary schools

Ong Yi, Sec 4

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See you in Term 3!

Visit our school website: http://unitysec.moe.edu.sg/ Follow our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/unitysec/