Ushering in the Year of the Pig with a Big Bang of Drums and Cymbals

This year, we celebrated the Year of the Pig in full blast on 1 February. There was a pre-event, Lantern Making competition, and on the morning, Tutor Groups participated in a contest to make the best Lunar New Year (LNY) Greetings video clip in 15 minutes.

The celebration started with literally a big bang of drums and cymbals as a lion dance troop kicked off the occasion with a dazzling display of acrobatic ability. This was followed by a display of diverse talents in our school, including a LNY-themed Lego Animation by Emmanuel Carter (3 Oldham) and Luke Carter (2 Oldham), Diabolo by Rowan Cumming (2 TCT), Taekwondo by Darren Yap (3 TKK) , and a medley of Chinese music with Guzheng, with a guest appearance on flute by Ui Ogino (5 CKS). Mr Ang Chew Yan and his Year 6 class then entertained the audience with a modern interpretation of the classic Journey to the West. The performance ended with songs by our very own singing sensations, Shermaine Saw (3 LSG) and Bella Chang (6 SVM).

Among the audience were guests from the neighbourhood who were participants of our joint outreach programme by the Interact Club and TKK House. Students and staff each received a pair of mandarin oranges, a traditional way of giving blessings. The staff then stayed on for a reunion lunch.

Student Reflection

“ It has been almost a month since the first meeting with Mdm Koh who was the teacher-in-charge of the Lunar New Year Celebration, when I first got the information about the programme. Throughout this period, Annie and I prepared the slides for school assembly announcements and made posters for the Lantern Making competition. Indeed, I only completed the slides for the celebration on 31 January and sent it for vetting right away.

Honestly speaking, Annie and I felt very glad for the opportunity to organise the event – both of us learnt a lot from it. At first, we were worried if we could handle it by ourselves as this was a huge project which involved many aspects – publicity, performance, the slides – especially since Annie was one of the emcees, she had to spend extra time writing the script and discussing the programme with the other emcees. We had to balance the extra time we spent on this project and that spent on our studies and other deadlines. Mdm Koh asked if we needed more people to help, but considering that others were also busy with their assignments and tests, we did most of the work ourselves – with minor help from our friends.

Throughout the process, we received many constructive and interesting ideas contributed by the teachers and peers. After careful consideration, we only retained the Lantern Making competition as it was the most suitable one for this event. Choices had to be made, and we learnt to be realistic – it’s not possible for us to take in every good idea or the programme would end up very messy. In the end, we were glad to have made that decision as the competition attracted a few hundred entries! We used the best works to decorate the Sports Hall, and felt great satisfaction.

At the end of the celebration, we were really exhausted but felt all our hard work had paid off! ”

Shirley Chen Xinmiao, 6 Thoburn and Annie Wang Xiran, 6 GHK