Urgent Announcements

1) Due to popular request, I have decided to allow P6 boys to go on the visit to Healthzone on 30 August. After the visit, you will have to complete assignments in a booklet and pass a written test. Then, you will be awarded the Healthy Lifestyle Proficiency Badge. Daniel, Gerald and the other P6 boys who are interested to sign up, please let me know by Thursday. I will be going to Scout HQ on that day to register. (I can't understand why you're so crazy over the badge - don't you fellas have PSLE to study for???)

2) There will be an additional Scout Meeting on Friday, 11 August after National Day. This is to faciliate the new P4 boys (Sean, Hyzal, Shawn & Lance) to earn their World Scout Badge and Bronze Arrow rank. The "old" Scouts are welcome to attend and serve as examiners for the various tests. But please don't torture the newbies! After they pass the tests, they will be officially welcomed as Temasek Cub Scouts through an Investiture Ceremony. The time remains the usual - 4pm to 6pm. Full uniform is required.

3) Finally, I am calling an Emergency Meeting for Leaders and Assistant Leaders this Wednesday afternoon. We are going to repaint the National Day banners to make them more presentable as well as paint a few additional banners. Only P6s allowed. (I bet you fellas have been waiting to hear that!) We will not be doing any painting during Friday's Scout Meeting. We will instead use the time to thread and hang up banners - not just ours but for the P3/P5 Cub Scouts, Brownies and Red Cross as well.

For Wednesday's Emergency Meeting, we meet at 1:30pm after lunch, do the painting and end at 4pm. Hopefully, we can finish everything in two-and-a-half-hours. Dan, Feng, Nat, Chio, Lim, Gerald and Jerrell - all must come to help unless you have tuition. Remember, our reputation is at stake. Surely you don't want the whole school to compare our banners against the girls and laugh at us, riggghhht?

Banner-Making Post-Mortem

Thank you all for coming down for today's banner-making activity. To be honest, it was a disaster. The Brownies and Red Cross girls were much better than us in their organisation and teamwork. Out of our 4 banners, 2 are totally unusable because of overpainting and smudging. The other 2 banners still need some touch-up work to make them fit for public display.

But considering the fact that the majority of you were P4s for whom this is the first time you are making banners I must say that you did well. I always try to focus on the process and not the product. At the end of the day, it's more important to learn something useful that can benefit you later.

Overall, I'm happy with the enthuasism shown by everyone, especially by those of you who went to buy your own spray paint to paint your banner. I hope you enjoyed yourself. Some things I learnt today - Christian likes Ultraman, Zhi Yong likes Pikachu and Chio has a sexy butt! Do leave a comment at the end of this post to share what you learnt today and what you liked or disliked.

In the meantime, have a good weekend. Shawn and Derrick, I hope your hands do not hurt as much now. You certainly learnt a painful lesson today!

National Day Banner-Making

Here's information on the coming National Day banner-making project.

Date/Time: Fridays, 28 July & 4 Aug, 4pm to 6pm
Objective: Design, paint and display National Day banners
Materials: Cotton cloth banner, rope, paint

We will be making National Day banners to commemorate National Day. After the banners are painted, we will thread rope through them before tying to the railings along the corridor of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors facing the quadrangle and flagpoles. This project will be carried out by all Uniformed Groups (Scouts, Brownies and Red Cross) in both morning and afternoon sessions. But since we are the main organising CCA, we must take the lead, set the standard and do the best!

Every P4 Cub Scout must turn up to help. (Don't just appear during special movie outing and not come for normal Scout Meetings!) P6s are greatly welcomed but please let your parents know well in advance and explain what this project is all about. The best banner has already been reserved for the P6 boys!

Here are some possible designs for the banners. Must be National Day designs, of course - no pirate skulls, please! All designs must be sketched and approved before they can be painted on the banners. Remember, the whole school (and parents and visitors) will see your banners!





Things to Bring:
1) Old T-shirt to wear while painting
2) Watercolour paint and brushes

So, how? Excited or not? Start thinking of those designs!

message from the Captain

I've got some things to say.

To the P6s: I know that some you are disappointed at not being able to go on the 'Pirates of the Carribean' movie outing. But I promise you that you will have your own outing after PSLE. By the way, the movie outing wasn't organised specially as a Scout activity. My Form Class went on a combined outing with 2 other P4 classes and I thought that it would be nice to let the Scouts tag along. After all, pirates and Scouts have much in common! Obviously, the P6s can't go because of Supp class and PSLE. Your P6 Form Teachers would have stared me to death for bringing you out for movie!!!

To the P4s: I'm pleasantly surprised that ALL of you turned up for the movie outing. Either you are hardcore movie fans or pirate-wannabes! Actually, I think that you probably just wanted an excuse to skip tuition and remedial lessons! Anyway, I'm glad that you all enjoyed yourselves. I hope you learnt and picked up something useful from the movie e.g. courage and loyalty to friends.

To All: I know that I've been giving more attention to the P4s lately. This can't be helped. We have the new recruits and we need to look after them well. I still care about the P6s. You are always welcome to find me before or after school to chitchat. I can sense some of you are feeling PSLE stress. I will try to arrange lunch with you in groups next week onwards. We can talk about soccer or just talk crap - anything but PSLE!

Your Captain
Bernard "Barbossa" Lee

Healthy Lifestyle Badge - Change of Date

Attention P4 Cub Scouts!

The date for the visit to Healthzone (Health Promotion Board) has been changed from Wednesday 2nd August to Wednesday 30th August. The time remains the same from 2pm - 4:30pm. The capacity for the earlier date has been fully booked.

All P4 Cub Scouts have been automatically registered for this Healthy Lifestyle Badge Programme. The school is paying $3 for each participant. The aim of this badge is to educate boys on the importance of healthy living. The requirements to attain the badge are a visit to Healthzone, personal assignments and a written test. After passing the test, Cub Scouts can wear the badge on their uniform.

So make sure that you are free on 30th August for the visit to Healthzone! It's on the last week of school for this Term after CA2. If you miss this visit, you have to wait until next year to attain this badge!

Potential Pirates!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

The New Paper: Will Scouts and Guides compete for members?

Some unhappy that girls can now choose scouting as an CCA
(The New Paper, 15 July 2006)

THE decision to allow girls to join scouting as a CCA in primary and secondary schools has caused a stir. While some are overjoyed at the Ministry of Education's announcement, others are not. Girl Guides Singapore (GGS) chief commissioner Yvonne Lim said: 'It is regrettable that approval was given for the Singapore Scouts Association (SSA) to recruit girls into scouting.' This is because scouts and guides - seen as brother and sister organisations - will now 'compete' for members, said GGS deputy chief commissioner Jessie Tan. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, who founded both scouts and guides almost 100 years ago, had created two organisations because of the 'fundamental differences' between the sexes, she said. 'Or he wouldn't have started two separate movements,' said Ms Tan. So, she said, GGS would remain committed to being a single-sex organisation catering to the needs of girls and women. The scouts now focus on non-formal outdoor-based education for all youth, while guides seek personal development for girls in home, community, outdoor and international settings.

Mrs Chua Yen Ching, 47, principal designate for NorthLight School and vice-president of the guides' national council, said there would always be a place for guides. She said she developed confidence and leadership skills after becoming the teacher in charge of guides 20 years ago. Singapore Chinese Girls' School guide Christina Chew, 16, agreed. She said: 'It doesn't just teach you rugged skills, but homecraft skills. Nowadays, we are losing those skills traditionally taught to girls. 'We can't have a whole population of girls with no skills like cooking and tending to family.' But the scouts have a different take. Said one scout leader, who has been in scouting for 12 years: 'When Baden-Powell wrote Scouting For Boys, in that era and time, girls were not supposed to do what scouts do - running around in the jungle, going to camp. It was virtually unheard of, which is why he designed a special programme for the guides. 'That was 90 years ago. Now, society has changed and the girls want to assert their rights. What boys do, why can't they do?' Internationally, scouting evolved about 30 years ago. It's now a youth movement - regardless of colour, religion, and gender.

Today, 119 of the 155 countries with scouts - more than three-quarters - have girls in their organisation. Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan are among these. Said SSA chief commissioner Nicholas Tang: 'We felt that we need to keep up with the times. In this whole region, Singapore is the only one without girls in scouting in schools. We feel that girls can also benefit from the scout programme.' Hwa Chong Institution student and scout Anthony Chan, 18, supports the idea but has some worries: 'What if only one or two girls join a unit but there are many boys? Then the girls might be marginalised.' Han Jiaying, 16, a guide at Raffles Girls' School, added that the co-ed environment during physical activities would be awkward. She said: 'I would personally feel awkward and more withdrawn in the presence of the prying eyes of boys.' Ms Teo Hui Fang, 20, who joined scouts four years ago, said the boys may experience some inconvenience and adjustment issues switching from an all male to a co-ed environment. She recounted how the scouts in her unit learned to adjust and take her into consideration when planning activities and 'tone down' the way they speak and behave in front of a female scout.

Some scouts, like Lim Yuan Hao, 16, at North Vista Secondary, is fine with having girls join the CCA. There are already five girls in his school who love scouting so much that they have been taking part in the activities for a year without getting CCA points. He admitted it was 'quite a big change' at first, but he has since learnt how to bond with them. Tiong Yayan, 14, a girl scout at Yuan Ching Secondary, said: 'It's not girl or boy bonding. It's scout bonding.' More than 150 of the 10,000 or so scouts in Singapore are girls, while there are nearly 14,000 guides here. Mr Tang emphasised that SSA will not go on a massive recruitment campaign for girls. He said: 'We will leave it to the principals and educators. We are not going to push them. If they want to start, they can start. It must tie in with their educational goals and objectives.'

Latest News: Girls can join scouts as CCA

MOE allows scouts to recruit girls in primary & secondary schools from next year
(The New Paper, 13 July 2006)

FROM January next year, girls will be able to join their male schoolmates as scouts. Currently, school girls can only join the girl guides, not the scouts which accepts only boys. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has announced that it has granted permission to the Singapore Scout Association (SSA) to recruit girls in primary and secondary schools. Previously, though SSA opened its membership to both genders, it was only allowed to recruit boys in schools. Girls who were interested to join usually do so on their own accord, outside of school. In an e-mail sent to all 357 primary and secondary schools yesterday afternoon, the ministry explained that the move was to give students 'flexibility and more choices in CCAs'. Also, girls have been participating in scout activities in many countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong, for many years. An MOE spokesman said parents and schools were consulted on the change, and the response has been supportive.

The announcement comes as sweet news to SSA chief commissioner Nicholas Tang. He told The New Paper that SSA had first proposed the idea to MOE about two years ago. He said: 'In this whole region, Singapore is the only one without girls in scouting in schools. 'We felt that we need to keep up with the times. The rest of world has already changed. We feel that girls can also benefit from the scout programme. It's suitable for all genders.' There are currently more than 150 young and adult female scouts, out of over 10,000 scouts in Singapore. Said Mr Tang: 'Although we told the girls they won't get any CCA points, they said it's all right.'

NOT SEPARATED

He noted that in the past few years, three girls had received the President's Scout Award, the highest scout award for youth members. Mr Tang explained that girls will wear the same scout uniform as the boys. They will not be separated in two different groups in school, as the purpose of having girls in scouting is to see them develop through an integrated and common programme. An MOE spokesman said: 'Similar to other uniformed groups, schools need to ensure that female officers are present for all overnight activities.' SSA will also be writing a letter to schools soon and organising a briefing for schools interested in admitting girls later this year. The announcement was welcomed by principals like Mrs Edelweis Neo of Dunman Secondary School. She said: 'Every year, a handful of girls would come up to us saying they are keen to join scouts. This would be a good opportunity for them.' It was good news too for Ms Joanne Lio, 20, who joined scouts when she was 17 and went on to win the President's Scout Award last year. She said: 'All along when I was in secondary school, I wished there was female scouting, but there wasn't, so I had to find an alternative and join another uniform group.' Added Madam Rafeah Awang, 34, who has seven children aged 8 to 17: 'It's good. It's more challenging, and girls can learn to be tough.' But some had reservations. Mrs Tan-Soon Eng Peng, vice-principal of Cedar Girls' Secondary, said that her school already has two strong girl guide companies. She said: 'We wouldn't want to stretch our resources by offering something similar.'

SOME UNHAPPY

Mr Tang acknowledged there are some who are unhappy about girls joining scouting. Girl Guides Singapore chief commissioner Yvonne Lim said the decision was 'regrettable'. She explained that Lord Baden-Powell, who founded both scouts and guides, had started a separate programme for girls as there are fundamental differences between boys and girls. She said the guides would remain a single-sex organisation. Said Ms Lim: 'In the long run, we are confident that parents, principals, teachers and the girls themselves will realise that we have a very established, relevant and strong programme, specially developed for girls and women - by girls and women.

"Fly Our Flag" National Day Project

Thank you, boys, for coming back on Saturday morning to sell national flags. Siglap CC's Uncle Hai Yong is very happy that we sold out all our flags in such a short time. Many of you have the potential to be successful salesmen when you grow up! Well done to the P4s, especially the newbies, Sean and Lance!