Dear parents,

Last Saturday 15th June, I came to school to acknowledge and give my full support to the students and teachers who had given their time in order to commence a Debating and Public Speaking club. I am thrilled by this because to be able to master such skills is exactly what I want. It is the development of these so-called soft skills which increasingly are being sought by the top universities and of course by 21st Century employers. The day was very well organised by Miss Felice Wong and Miss Kanages, so to them a huge thanks. The students found the day exciting and illuminating led by very able facilitators.

In keeping with a similar theme another initiative was also launched this week. Model United Nations. I was thrilled when I found out that this was in the pipeline as in previous schools I have been involved and have seen first-hand how this program can be transformative. Thousands of students around the world take part in this and while it is hard work and challenging it is also developmental and enjoyable.

Model United Nations, or MUN, allows individuals to put themselves in the shoes of a world leader or diplomat denoting a nation or organization and represent their interests on the international stage. Students or delegates as they are now called have to research and argue for or against particular issues, delegates undergo a recreation of a UN committee session, presenting ideas these issues and debating them. In my opening speech on Wednesday I stressed that although a simulation the issues that they would be discussing would be very much real world problems in real time. The end result of all this hard work is to write up a draft resolution - a comprehensive paper that offers a solution to said problem, and after a successful final vote by assembly members, the resolution is passed into effect or not as may be the case.

The skills learned are invaluable. Teamwork, how to construct an argument and counter-argument, skills in negotiation and diplomacy, the writing of position papers, public speaking and all in all building confidence, I pointed out to the students that it is these skills that are being recognised for the future economy. Above all that MUN is FUN because pretending to be a world leader trying to solve world problems is enjoyable. Notable people who when at school were MUN delegates are Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, Ban Ki-Moon, former UN Secretary-General and Samuel L. Jackson, American actor to name a few. I have to express again a huge thanks to Mrs Baker for taking this project and for the Mr Mikes involvement and support. It is greatly appreciated.

If you want to know more I have attached the link.

Elsewhere in Sport we continue to do very well. Many of you had commented to me at the beginning of my tenure that not enough students were being given opportunities to compete and play interschool sport. I took this to my PE team and to their credit have incorporated many more students into teams than before and have given exposure to more regarding competitions. Like all areas there is always room for improvement but we are trying. A testament to that is last week’s Sports Gala where in all three days students participated, had fun and played a variety of sporting activities. A very well organised three days so well done to the PE Department and Mr Mark. Below is TIS Puchong’s record so far this year. With particular strong Girls Volleyball Team and Under 11’s boys Football Team.