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.
- Kathy
lameking: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 didThe 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)