Chinese New Year (CNY) is a traditional festival celebrated yearly by the Chinese all over the world. It is significant as it is a precious time for families to bond.

As with most festivals, CNY has a legend of its own. A beast called nian (年), (which means ‘year’) would visit cities and devour everything in its path. This terrified the people as more of them became victims of the beast. Hence, they tried to find ways and means to defeat it. Finally, they discovered that the beast was afraid of the colour red. Since then, people have been hanging red-coloured decorations around their houses and wearing red-coloured clothing during Chinese New Year. They would also light firecrackers as loud sounds terrified the beast away.

CNY is also celebrated in our school. Prior to the day of celebration, students were asked to decorate their respective classrooms based on the zodiac animal of the year and 2017 is the year of the Rooster. On the day of celebration, there were no regular lessons, instead, students got the opportunity to interact with their teachers in a fun and informal way, and express their well wishes to their teachers and peers. Some students also brought traditional cookies and snacks to share with their classmates during class interaction time.

After the interaction session in class, everyone proceeded to the hall for a concert, which featured a comical magic show as well as a sterling performance from our very own Chinese and Modern Dance group.

CNY has always been memorable for those who celebrate it as it is a time for families and friends to get together in the midst of their busy and hectic schedules.

Reported by: The Mother Tongue Language department

Limelight @ Esplanade

Celebrating its 50th anniversary since its founding in 1967, the Crescent Girls’ School Symphonic Band (CGSSB), led by its founding conductor Mr Lee Seck Chiang, held their 7th Limelight concert at the prestigious Esplanade Concert Hall. After months of hard work and determination, CGSSB dazzled the audience with their rendition of The Star Wars Marches and Xiao Xing Yun. Unlike previous years, this year’s Limelight provided a chance for the CGSSB Alumni to come together for a precious reunion and put together pieces such as The Phantom of the Opera and Instant Concert. The night ended on a high note with Subaru, a piece that holds a special place in the hearts of many alumni. Under the baton of Mdm Tan Soh Hwa, Mr Chua Tiong Hong, and Mr Lee Seck Chiang, the band had a memorable 50th anniversary celebration. CGSSB would like to extend our thanks to our conductors, and teachers-in-charge - Mdm Norzaidah Suparman, Ms Nur Rafiqqa Bte Mustapha, and Mr Sambandam Mohan. Our gratitude also goes out to Ms Goh Peishi and Ms Low Geok Pin, the Head of Department for Creative Arts. They were there with us throughout the journey and it would not have been smooth-sailing without their contributions and hard work. In addition, we would also like to sincerely thank our principal, Mrs Helen Chong, and vice principals, Ms Chuang Siew Chin, Ms Priya Rayan, and Ms Cindy Low, for their continuous support, as well as to all teachers and friends who came down to watch our performance. CGSSB will continue to strive to do our best and bring glory to Crescent.

One band; one sound. Crescent!

Reported By: Mabel Loy (4S2) & Claudia Long (4S3)

Total Defence Day

On 14 February 2017, Crescent Girls' School commemorated Total Defence Day (TDD) based on the theme "Together We Keep Singapore Strong”. This commemoration served as a reminder that every citizen is important in defending Singapore.

The ceremony commenced with a parade by the four uniformed groups (NPCC, NCC, Girl Guides, and Red Cross) during morning assembly. The Crescent Girls’ School Symphonic Band (CGSSB) played the National Anthem and our principal Mrs Helen Chong, delivered the TDD message.

In the afternoon, during our assembly program, we had the honour of receiving guests from the Singapore Discovery Centre who came over to tell us more about TDD through an engaging program called, “Donuts at Dawn”. They presented a captivating skit, which started by depicting a terrorist attack. They took some Crescentians as “hostages” to stimulate a terrorist attack, through which we were reminded of the importance of staying calm during an attack in order to increase our chances of survival. They also performed a parody version of a Korean pop song "Good Boy" to tell us more about the importance of Total Defence before playing a game with Crescentians, where we had to hold each other's wrists and stand up together, thus, illustrating the importance of teamwork.

The commemoration of TDD came to an end with a quiz created by the CrezAmbassadors. Crescentians were required to go around the school to search for posters of the five different pillars of defence. They then needed to scan the QR code of the various posters before they could enter the online platform where the quiz was parked. This activity served to re-enforce the five pillars of defence and remind us that each and every one in Singapore has a part to play in keeping Singapore safe.

Through this year's commemoration of Total Defence, Crescentians learnt to "stay alert, stay united and stay strong", so that we can all protect Singapore, our homeland. It was truly an interesting and memorable experience.

Reported by: Michelle Jean Chew Yixuan 3G2 (Director of Publicity in CrezAmbassadors)

Design For Change

Design For Change (DFC) Singapore is an annual competition organised by SoCh (Social Change) in Action, a social enterprise that collaborates closely with schools, educators and the social sector in designing and implementing innovative programmes based on social innovation and human-centred design.

For DFC 2016 (held in Terms 3 and 4), four teams from Crescent took part and effected change by implementing social projects that they had ideated and planned. One team spread awareness about animal cruelty to the school community while another team spread awareness about the dangers of drug abuse to teenagers and young adults in the local community. Another team raised both funds and awareness for Breast Cancer Foundation through 15 weeks of fundraising activities and awareness campaigns.

Our team, named Team Desserts, focused on helping students to manage their own stress as well as motivate them. We set up a motivational booth at the back of our school canteen for 3 days. Crescentians who visted our booth had to, firstly, pen down their "rants" onto a piece of paper provided and drop them into a box. They then wrote motivational notes for other Crescentians. Finally they took some bookmarks for themselves or for their fellow school mates. Each bookmark had a different background and a different motivational quote printed on it. One student shared about how she was able to look at stress from a different perspective and through a positive outlook in life – that stress was not meant to break her but to build her up. Such feedback was heartening and we were glad that we able to touch our fellow schoolmates’ hearts and minds with our actions.

Subsequently, two teams were shortlisted the 7th Annual Be The Change Exposition held on 17th February 2017 at Singapore Management University. Eventually, our team emerged the Winner!

Through planning and preparing for our booth, all of us learnt that time management and cooperating with one another were important. When we met up to do preparations for the booth, we had to produce quality work and do it as fast as possible to ensure that we could finish what we set out to complete. We also encouraged and helped one another whenever any of us encountered difficulties. This helped us to maintain a positive attitude and also have fun in the process. All in all, it was a fulfilling and unforgettable learning experience!

Reported by Louella Lim (2C1) and Trisha Chang (2C2)

Representing Team Desserts consisting of: Louella Lim (2C1), Trisha Chang (2C2), Benecia Tang (3C2) and Anisah Nurhani (3S3)

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