Raffles Institution (Year 1-4)
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edanson:
Hi edanson,
.........
I saw what my girl did in RGS - the amount of effort and time spent for just the Orientation - is really hard work. The stress they need to go through ( worried that the program will not be successful or the children may not like them etc. ) Their hard work started during the school holidays(when everyone still enjoying and playing) and not just before the Orientation starts. Some PSLs even fell sick and were supposed to be on m.c. but insist not to go on mc, as they wanted to make sure everything went well. They have only one purpose in their mind - to make the whole Orientation a very successful one.
My daughter is one of the sec 1 cohort at RGS this year. Rest assured that the PSLs must have done a great job. She kept commenting that the PSLs at RGS are the nicest people
and that she aspires to be a PSL if given a chance! (I am having a hard time convincing her that she should be a prefect instead, if given a chance)
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哗,真是鬼话连篇!
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Fairy:
Thanks alot Fairy, I will let my girl know when she returned on Friday. She had left for OBS this morning.
Hi edanson,edanson:
.........
I saw what my girl did in RGS - the amount of effort and time spent for just the Orientation - is really hard work. The stress they need to go through ( worried that the program will not be successful or the children may not like them etc. ) Their hard work started during the school holidays(when everyone still enjoying and playing) and not just before the Orientation starts. Some PSLs even fell sick and were supposed to be on m.c. but insist not to go on mc, as they wanted to make sure everything went well. They have only one purpose in their mind - to make the whole Orientation a very successful one.
My daughter is one of the sec 1 cohort at RGS this year. Rest assured that the PSLs must have done a great job. She kept commenting that the PSLs at RGS are the nicest people and that she aspires to be a PSL if given a chance! (I am having a hard time convincing her that she should be a prefect instead, if given a chance)
Just to share a little - after the sec 1 went home after the camp on Saturday, the PSLs still need to stay back for debriefing.
Ok, likewise your girl, my girl loves her PSLs 2 years ago and promised herself to be one. She felt that her PSLs had helped her alot and she thinks she would like to help the juniors too. She likes to return to the 'community' (juniors) what she has gained from the seniors.
Like yourself, I told her to be prefect if opportunities arise but she wants to be PSLs . She felt that being a PSLs, one can be very close to the juniors and can help the juniors in many ways. Anyway both are leadership positions . I have no objection as long as she enjoys. From what I observed, she really enjoys being one PSL and now her brother also wants to be PSL too - ha ha ha - like sister like brother. -
Aiya! Dead Silence and Shutter only. Its not scary at all! If you people are scared of like these two shows, then i also don’t know what to say… :!:
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I am in full agreement with tacit. No one is denying all the good work put up by PSLs but I question the wisdom of having to screen movie which was certainly not suitable for 12 year old. My DS told me that quite a few children were traumatised and left mid-way and just like my DS, many more sat through the whole show so as not to lose face.
As an adult, I do enjoy watching horror movie once in a while but this specific show was not meant for 12 year old and should not have been screened in RI. Period.tacit:
Sorry, I'm not attacking you or anything, but I'd really like to ask: what is the point specifically in telling ghost stories and watching horror movies?
These two activities are obviously designed to induce fear, especially with such a high concentration of horror movies and stories in the same night.
Yes, the boys can request to be exempted, and yes, it's a tradition, but I think the objectives of bonding and being able to relate to each other can be achieved through other more wholesome activities.
Bonding through \"common fear\" sounds like a terribly unhealthy objective of an event organised and endorsed by the school, an event meant for the Sec 1s to orientate themselves with RI while having healthy fun.
I encourage parents to raise this issue with the school. You'd really be doing the future batches of Sec 1s a favour. -
Hi all,
I am also a PSL from RI sec 1 orientation 2010, part of the Camp Committee. Just thought I should share some thoughts on points raised by some parents in this thread.
Thank you to parents who have praised the PSLs on a job well done for the camp. We really hope that your son enjoyed himself thoroughly in the camp, because we as PSLs did
The thanks and praises in this thread have been relayed to the PSLs and we are all very delighted to hear them. Some parents have compared the orientation camps and PSLs with that of RGS’ – I really am not sure of what exactly goes on in our sister school, but from what the parents have described, I believe we as PSLs go
through pretty much the same things.
I am not here to boast or exaggerate about what the PSLs went through, but we did start work early in the holidays, activities include meeting up with past years’ PSLs for advice, meeting with our respective committees for detailed planning, meeting with teachers’ for advice and proposal approvals, attending training workshops and having a overnight dry run camp for PSLS to run through all the games and activities. Schedule was really tight, and as some of you may know from the Camp Commandants’ speech during JRIC, the Camp Committee was understaffed. I must really commend the PSLs for coming together and finishing the whole planning of the camp within a month, with special gratitude to the 2 Camp Commandants for helping to coordinate and oversee the whole planning and running of the camp.
When the positive responses from parents in this thread were relayed to the PSLs, all the other comments were inevitably viewed by the PSLs too. I must say that many PSLs feel quite upset over some comments, although we recognize that everyone is entitled to their own views. Comments that question the PSLs’, FTs’ and school’s motives can really be quite hurtful to us, because they ultimately question our abilities as a whole to plan and manage a camp by ourselves. I personally feel that this is a very unfair comment to make as the PSLs really did put in a lot of hard work and time into ensuring that the camp runs as smoothly as possible. Details in the camp were vetted many times by PSLs and teachers. Safety was our main concern for every event, which proved quite a tricky issue to deal with. We had to ensure that everything was
safe, but yet at the same time, maximise the fun for the sec 1s.
As the PSL in-charge of Fright Night, I would like to also clear up some doubts and thoughts posted by some parents. I am quite taken aback by some parents’ comments which hint or suggest in that the PSLs, FTs or school were out to scare your sons’ to their wits end, and for no apparent reason too. All that happened during Fright Night was just to add another dimension of fun to the whole camp, not a sadistic night where PSLs take their revenge on sec 1s as some parents might have painted. I would like to clarify that the objective of Fright Night was not to bond the sec 1s under a common fear, but to bond them under a common experience. This was one of our key objectives that ran throughout the camp, including activities like Armageddon, War games, Bishan Hike etc.
As pointed out by some parents, Fright Night is a tradition that is included in each orientation camp in RI. As pointed out too, we felt that some past Fright Nights were quite “lame”, simply wasting the sec 1s and PSLs’ time for the night. My Fright Night committee met up many times during the holidays, several occasions into the night, just to walk around the school at night and experience how it would really feel like. We created stations, routes, tasks (we planned every detail, down to measuring the length of the pool with a measuring tape) and stories from there, editing it over and over again to ensure maximum safety and fun, similar to all other activities during the camp. Just a note, many PSLs did go through the Fright Night during our dry run camp – it was not a one-off planned attack on the sec 1s by my committee during that night.
Regarding the movies, I personally loaned them myself from EZY videos located inside Best Denki in J8 on level 3. We visited the shop several times and spent very long looking through all the movies before making our selection, ensuring that the movies were all PG. Do note that there were PG stickers from the Singapore Board of Film Censors stuck on the front cover of the movie cases, so if there are any issues with regards to the ratings of the movies, please take it to the Singapore BFC and not lash out at any of the PSLs, FTs or school.
To parents who commented that the movies were “too scary”, all I can say is that everyone is entitled to their own views, and that some movies may seem scarier to some people, while other movies may not seem so scary to them. There is no way for us as PSLs to gauge whether the movie is very scary, a little scary or acceptably scary.
To the comments that Fright Night is a metaphor for RI’s life, I would like to clarify that the PSLs, FTs nor school adopt that stand. I agree that it is indeed a big jump for primary 6 students to secondary school, but Fright Night is not necessarily a symbol of what’s ahead in the new Rafflesians’ lives. While it is true that the rigour of life in Raffles is really intense, we did not tell nor imply to the sec 1s that if they could not survive Fright Night, they would not be able to survive life in Raffles.
However, it is a sign that some sec 1s need to mature mentally quickly, as matured thinkers would be able to differentiate between truths and lies, realities and fiction, as pointed out earlier by a parent. Speaking from personal experience, it was also a big leap for me from primary 6 to sec 1, and sometimes, I felt as though we were forced to mature mentally very quickly. Life in Raffles requires Rafflesians to be strong both in the mind and the spirit, because these are what drive all of us on to face challenges and give our best. I understand that some parents are still hesitant to sometimes let your sons venture out of their safety zone, but honestly speaking, there is not much time left to waste, or else they will be swept along forcibly very soon and they will struggle to survive in RI. I think what sec 1s really need now (as pointed out earlier by a parent) is support from their parents, as secondary school is still a very new concept and new environment to them. Fright Night, and ultimately the camp, simply serves as a reminder to sec 1s and parents that it is a new environment and it is time for everyone to move on and try to adapt to secondary school life.
During the debriefings every night of the camp till 2.30am and other meetings we had after the camp and JRIC, many PSLs (myself included), actually felt that we didn’t give the batch of 2013 the best experience. We felt that the orientation camp we went through was better and rougher at the same time. (Just for your interest, there was no morning PTs and very limited amount of push-up forfeits given during this camp as compared to our own camp, just to name a few things. Our PSLs actually even had a 4 days 3 nights camp in Sarimbun camp, out of school, for their own orientation camp. The school subsequently decided that orientation camps would be held in school instead, to our dismay.) We were disappointed with ourselves although we know that we managed to pass on the key values and the Rafflesian Spirit, we felt that we could have done much better, and felt as though we let down the sec 1s.
Through the parents and sec 1s feedback, we are very glad to know that the sec 1s have enjoyed the camp. We acknowledge that we could have done better, even though we did put in a lot of time and effort, but we know that there is room for improvement and we seek the parents’ understanding on it. We will try our best to help and guide the sec 1s along through their life in Raffles, and we seek the parents’ support in this.
As a Camp Committee member, I did not get the chance to attach myself to any sec 1 class during the camp, but I know I speak for all PSLs when I say that the PSLs have formed deep bonds with the sec 1s through the camp. As a fellow PSL pointed out during one of our debriefings -- once a PSL, always a PSL. The PSLs are all here to guide and support the sec 1s along if they have any issues in school, all the way till even the time they become PSLs.
On behalf of all PSLs, Thank You again, for the kind comments and notes of appreciation by the parents and we look forward to all your support
Please feel free to drop me emails at [email protected] if you have any queries or anything to say. Thanks
Cheers,
Zhi Yuan (RI Secondary 1 Orientation Camp 2010 Camp Committee member) -
lameking:
Well Done PSLs and you are indeed a very responsible Camp Committee member.
As a Camp Committee member, I did not get the chance to attach myself to any sec 1 class during the camp, but I know I speak for all PSLs when I say that the PSLs have formed deep bonds with the sec 1s through the camp. As a fellow PSL pointed out during one of our debriefings -- once a PSL, always a PSL. The PSLs are all here to guide and support the sec 1s along if they have any issues in school, all the way till even the time they become PSLs.
On behalf of all PSLs, Thank You again, for the kind comments and notes of appreciation by the parents and we look forward to all your support
One man's food is another man's poison, so please do not worry too much as there is no way to satisfy every single person. As long as you (the team) knew that you have done your best, just keep up the good job. I believe there are many sec 1s and their parents who will appreciate all your (the team) hard work. At least I definitely enjoy the program and appreciate all the effort place in by the team. I love the bonding and like all the PSLs.
3 Cheers for R.I. PSLs :celebrate:
All your (the team) time and effort placed on this project (sec 1 orientation/camp) are really :udaman: -
Dear Zhi Yuan,
I do not question motives of PSLs - I fully appreciate hard work put up by PSL's and I am sure organizing this camp must be a great learning experience for PSL's as well. However, I seriously question the need for a PG / R rated horror movie which many parents may not prefer their 12 year old to watch - PG stands for \"Parental Guidance\" and in this case Parental Guidance was not sought beforehand.
My elder daughter is already in Raffles so we very much know what life in Raffles' is all about. Instead of horror movie, a more wholesome activity could have been used to achieve same objective (build bonding, overcome fright etc.).
Anyway - what is done is done - but please take this as input that many parents do not like this idea of ghastly horror movie and take this as feedback notwithstanding all the great team work that went in to prepare for the camp.
Please convey my compliments to whole team for the excellent camp that our sons had otherwise. My son thoroughly enjoyed the camp experience.
- Kathylameking:
Hi all,
I am also a PSL from RI sec 1 orientation 2010, part of the Camp Committee. Just thought I should share some thoughts on points raised by some parents in this thread.
Thank you to parents who have praised the PSLs on a job well done for the camp. We really hope that your son enjoyed himself thoroughly in the camp, because we as PSLs did The thanks and praises in this thread have been relayed to the PSLs and we are all very delighted to hear them. Some parents have compared the orientation camps and PSLs with that of RGS’ – I really am not sure of what exactly goes on in our sister school, but from what the parents have described, I believe we as PSLs go
through pretty much the same things.
I am not here to boast or exaggerate about what the PSLs went through, but we did start work early in the holidays, activities include meeting up with past years’ PSLs for advice, meeting with our respective committees for detailed planning, meeting with teachers’ for advice and proposal approvals, attending training workshops and having a overnight dry run camp for PSLS to run through all the games and activities. Schedule was really tight, and as some of you may know from the Camp Commandants’ speech during JRIC, the Camp Committee was understaffed. I must really commend the PSLs for coming together and finishing the whole planning of the camp within a month, with special gratitude to the 2 Camp Commandants for helping to coordinate and oversee the whole planning and running of the camp.
When the positive responses from parents in this thread were relayed to the PSLs, all the other comments were inevitably viewed by the PSLs too. I must say that many PSLs feel quite upset over some comments, although we recognize that everyone is entitled to their own views. Comments that question the PSLs’, FTs’ and school’s motives can really be quite hurtful to us, because they ultimately question our abilities as a whole to plan and manage a camp by ourselves. I personally feel that this is a very unfair comment to make as the PSLs really did put in a lot of hard work and time into ensuring that the camp runs as smoothly as possible. Details in the camp were vetted many times by PSLs and teachers. Safety was our main concern for every event, which proved quite a tricky issue to deal with. We had to ensure that everything was
safe, but yet at the same time, maximise the fun for the sec 1s.
As the PSL in-charge of Fright Night, I would like to also clear up some doubts and thoughts posted by some parents. I am quite taken aback by some parents’ comments which hint or suggest in that the PSLs, FTs or school were out to scare your sons’ to their wits end, and for no apparent reason too. All that happened during Fright Night was just to add another dimension of fun to the whole camp, not a sadistic night where PSLs take their revenge on sec 1s as some parents might have painted. I would like to clarify that the objective of Fright Night was not to bond the sec 1s under a common fear, but to bond them under a common experience. This was one of our key objectives that ran throughout the camp, including activities like Armageddon, War games, Bishan Hike etc.
As pointed out by some parents, Fright Night is a tradition that is included in each orientation camp in RI. As pointed out too, we felt that some past Fright Nights were quite “lame”, simply wasting the sec 1s and PSLs’ time for the night. My Fright Night committee met up many times during the holidays, several occasions into the night, just to walk around the school at night and experience how it would really feel like. We created stations, routes, tasks (we planned every detail, down to measuring the length of the pool with a measuring tape) and stories from there, editing it over and over again to ensure maximum safety and fun, similar to all other activities during the camp. Just a note, many PSLs did go through the Fright Night during our dry run camp – it was not a one-off planned attack on the sec 1s by my committee during that night.
Regarding the movies, I personally loaned them myself from EZY videos located inside Best Denki in J8 on level 3. We visited the shop several times and spent very long looking through all the movies before making our selection, ensuring that the movies were all PG. Do note that there were PG stickers from the Singapore Board of Film Censors stuck on the front cover of the movie cases, so if there are any issues with regards to the ratings of the movies, please take it to the Singapore BFC and not lash out at any of the PSLs, FTs or school.
To parents who commented that the movies were “too scary”, all I can say is that everyone is entitled to their own views, and that some movies may seem scarier to some people, while other movies may not seem so scary to them. There is no way for us as PSLs to gauge whether the movie is very scary, a little scary or acceptably scary.
To the comments that Fright Night is a metaphor for RI’s life, I would like to clarify that the PSLs, FTs nor school adopt that stand. I agree that it is indeed a big jump for primary 6 students to secondary school, but Fright Night is not necessarily a symbol of what’s ahead in the new Rafflesians’ lives. While it is true that the rigour of life in Raffles is really intense, we did not tell nor imply to the sec 1s that if they could not survive Fright Night, they would not be able to survive life in Raffles.
However, it is a sign that some sec 1s need to mature mentally quickly, as matured thinkers would be able to differentiate between truths and lies, realities and fiction, as pointed out earlier by a parent. Speaking from personal experience, it was also a big leap for me from primary 6 to sec 1, and sometimes, I felt as though we were forced to mature mentally very quickly. Life in Raffles requires Rafflesians to be strong both in the mind and the spirit, because these are what drive all of us on to face challenges and give our best. I understand that some parents are still hesitant to sometimes let your sons venture out of their safety zone, but honestly speaking, there is not much time left to waste, or else they will be swept along forcibly very soon and they will struggle to survive in RI. I think what sec 1s really need now (as pointed out earlier by a parent) is support from their parents, as secondary school is still a very new concept and new environment to them. Fright Night, and ultimately the camp, simply serves as a reminder to sec 1s and parents that it is a new environment and it is time for everyone to move on and try to adapt to secondary school life.
During the debriefings every night of the camp till 2.30am and other meetings we had after the camp and JRIC, many PSLs (myself included), actually felt that we didn’t give the batch of 2013 the best experience. We felt that the orientation camp we went through was better and rougher at the same time. (Just for your interest, there was no morning PTs and very limited amount of push-up forfeits given during this camp as compared to our own camp, just to name a few things. Our PSLs actually even had a 4 days 3 nights camp in Sarimbun camp, out of school, for their own orientation camp. The school subsequently decided that orientation camps would be held in school instead, to our dismay.) We were disappointed with ourselves although we know that we managed to pass on the key values and the Rafflesian Spirit, we felt that we could have done much better, and felt as though we let down the sec 1s.
Through the parents and sec 1s feedback, we are very glad to know that the sec 1s have enjoyed the camp. We acknowledge that we could have done better, even though we did put in a lot of time and effort, but we know that there is room for improvement and we seek the parents’ understanding on it. We will try our best to help and guide the sec 1s along through their life in Raffles, and we seek the parents’ support in this.
As a Camp Committee member, I did not get the chance to attach myself to any sec 1 class during the camp, but I know I speak for all PSLs when I say that the PSLs have formed deep bonds with the sec 1s through the camp. As a fellow PSL pointed out during one of our debriefings -- once a PSL, always a PSL. The PSLs are all here to guide and support the sec 1s along if they have any issues in school, all the way till even the time they become PSLs.
On behalf of all PSLs, Thank You again, for the kind comments and notes of appreciation by the parents and we look forward to all your support
Please feel free to drop me emails at [email protected] if you have any queries or anything to say. Thanks
Cheers,
Zhi Yuan (RI Secondary 1 Orientation Camp 2010 Camp Committee member) -
lameking:
Dear lameking and all hardworking PSLs of RI, you guys deserve all the praise showered upon you for a well-organized orientation camp. You have all demonstrated the ability to organize and execute important events admirably.Hi all,
I am also a PSL from RI sec 1 orientation 2010, part of the Camp Committee. Just thought I should share some thoughts on points raised by some parents in this thread...
But just as you say the new Sec 1s need to be mentally strong to tackle a new phase of their lives, I will say to you and all the PSLs that are closely monitoring this thread: One needs to be mentally strong to face up to the realities of adult life too. There will always be criticism from some parties no matter how well one does in his job. And how one handles criticism determines how far one will go in life.
- He can choose to stay in his ivory tower and dismiss all criticism as inane and stupid, and end up being a conceited and misguided fool.
- He can choose to take the criticism personally and retreat from it, never wanting to face challenges again, and end up with low self-esteem.
- Or he can choose to analyze the criticism impassively to understand both sides of the story, so as to react accordingly to manage the situation for each party.
In this case, you have all done a wonderful job looking after and orientating the younglings to your school's way of life. But you are unhappy because some parents criticised your choice of movies, and the need to \"scare\" the kids into conformity. So you have the choices:
1. Wave off the criticisms, thinking that the parents are too protective and the kids are too mentally weak for the rigors of RI life;
2. Accept the criticism and cut out Fright Night from future camps; or
3. Examine how the situation could be improved: eg. review the opt-out options offered to the inductees, provide sufficient warning and explanation to inductees and parents alike about the purpose of the event. There will still be some percentage of parents who disagree with you. But nobody can fault your effort to really listen and understand their concerns. -
I think if the purpose of Fright Night has been sufficiently communicated to the parents and the Sec 1s, there should be less of a concern. At least some mental preparation could be done, instead of a "surprise". Boys at that age would also like to have some excitement!
I talked to my kid about the content of this thread earlier on and he seems looking forward to the Fright Night though he has never seen a horror movie yet…that is if he gets into RI next year …
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