“I love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Psalm 18:1-2

We started this new academic year with Psalm 18. It is very comforting to note that with God, there is strength, deliverance and refuge. With God’s help, the boys will be able to go through the year victoriously. I shared with the boys the story of the three frogs that fell into a container of rich, creamy milk. Two of the frogs gave up and lost hope of getting out of the container. Both drowned. However, one of them did not give up. He continued to swim and paddle around in the milk. Soon, he felt something solid. Hope rekindled. He continued to paddle and swim, paddle and swim, until gradually the liquid became more and more solid and he was able to jump out free. All his paddling had turned the milk into cream and the cream into butter. The moral of the story is that as long as the boys keep their hopes high and never give up, they will be able to taste the goodness of the fruit of their labour. The hope comes from the knowledge that God is their strength and refuge in times of need.

The school’s mission is built upon the twin pillars of strong character building and academic excellence. As we evaluated the school’s character building programme based on the shared values ‘HOPE’, we found that it was insufficient. Thus, the staff collectively decided that we would add three more values – ‘Faithfulness’, ‘Unity’ and ‘Loyalty’ to ‘Humility’, ‘Obedience’, ‘Perseverance’ and ‘Empathy’. Thus, ACSians are HOPEFUL (full of hope) because we are developing to be people of character. This will carry all our ACSians well into their working lives later on. We have developed a 6-year programme based on these 7 values for the whole school. We are most pleased with our Parents Support Group which has also helped to garner the support of parents to assist the teachers to teach these values in the class. Such a partnership will definitely bring great benefits to our pupils.

Through much prayer and hard work, the Lord has blessed the school with another year of good results in the 2005 PSLE. The pupils have done equally well in terms of passes but surpassed the 2004 cohorts in terms of quality passes especially in Chinese and Mathematics. This is an achievement our boys can be proud of, especially for Chinese. This has proven that our boys can do well in Mother Tongue too. 45% of the cohort scored 235 and above which is the cut-off point to enter ACS (I). Myheartiest congratulations to our pupils, teachers and parents. The teachers and I feel strongly that we should not rest on our laurels but continue to look for avenues to improve ourselves. Starting from this year, we are promoting the Primary 2 pupils en bloc to Primary 3 as we hope to stop the unhealthy comparison among classes. Instead, we are embarking on banding of pupils for subject teaching in Chinese, English and Mathematics. This will enable us to achieve two objectives. Firstly, the pupils will have opportunities to mix with pupils of different abilities. Secondly, the teachers will be able to customize the curriculum for Chinese, English and Mathematics to meet the needs of different ability groups. We hope to strengthen our teaching and learning processes right from Primary 3 so that the pupils will be well prepared when they reach Primary 6. The teachers are exploring new ways of teaching by focusing on outdoor lessons, real life experiences and current affairs to interest the pupils as they see the relevance of the lessons to their everyday life. We look forward to creating more Outdoor Centres for teaching and learning to take place. Ultimately, we hope to achieve our vision - “Every ACSian a young man of character, capability and creativity”.

In order for the school to meet the needs of all our pupils, one group that must not be neglected is the pupils with special needs. I thank God for a group of committed parents who have been assisting the school to provide the additional support for these pupils. We have a Special Needs sub-committee within the PSG which works closely with the PSG Pastoral Care sub-committee. These two groups have helped to train parents to be Teacher Aides in the classroom; they are now looking into training Shadow Teachers to support the Special Needs pupils. With such supportive parents, we can definitely do a lot more for these pupils.

As we move into 2006, we must remember to pray. I would like to quote a poem on prayer by Helen Steiner Rice to encourage you to pray without ceasing:

I said a special prayer for you –
I asked the Lord above
To keep you safely in His care
and enfold you in His love.
I did not ask for fortune,
for riches or for fame.
I only asked for blessings
in the Holy Saviour’s name –
Blessings to surround you
in times of trial and stress,
And inner joy to fill your heart
with peace and happiness.

We need the prayer support from all stakeholders as we look forward to achieving greater things for the pupils and God for ‘The Best Is Yet To Be.’

I would like to thank the Board, the ACS family of schools, ACS Old Boys, and parents for the great support rendered in the year 2005. My staff and I appreciate the warm family spirit and we look forward to working closely with you once again in the new year for our boys. May God receive all the Glory. Wishing you God’s abundant blessings