Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The more you know about the past, the more prepared you are for the future.” The knowledge of the past, to a large extent, has constituted to the present achievements. In order to deepen your understanding of the old days, “Footsteps from the past” was chosen as the main theme of the Humanities Week this year.

Last week, there was a big crowd in the school hall at lunchtime. There were S1 and S3 students showcasing their projects about the roads in Hong Kong and their dream products in relation to Industrial Revolution respectively. There were also students from different forms of the school, who acted as audience, learned from the presentations and showed appreciation towards the presenting groups. The hustle and bustle of the showcase reminded me of the genuine sense of your ownership of learning. Well done, everyone!

While the students were sharing their projects with others, you were also given chances to try the traditional Chinese snacks, such as Ding Ding Candy and Dragon's Beard Candy. I am sure you know the origins and stories of the snacks now. Stay sweet at all times! 

Speaking of stories, it is our honour to have Ms, Fran Stallings, a world renowned professional storyteller, with us in the Humanities Week. Ms. Stallings told stories and brought messages of the past to the junior form students in our Humanities lessons. Ms. Stallings' session gave a different taste of the learning of Humanities to our students. The stories told are truly fascinating and thought-provoking.

Field trips were organised for S1 and S2 students to extend their learning beyond the classroom. For S2 students, a visit to the religious premises in Hong Kong was organised. They went to different churches and learned about the religious development in Hong Kong.  For S1 students, an electric tram journey was arranged for advancing their knowledge about the development of Hong Kong Island. The smiles on their faces are the symbols of what happy learning should be!

I hope you had fruitful and rewarding learning in the Humanities Week. While we are looking forward to a brighter future, we should always look back to the past. 

Mr. Bryan To Ka Ho

The following quote from Richard DeVos, the Co-founder of AmWay, tells what I learned from this year’s experience from Humanities Week.

“The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.”

Yes, success comes after attempts, perseverance and failures. Our group never thought we could complete the 2015 item with flying colours when Ms. Fung first gave us the guidelines of the project. But, we make it in the end! By the end of Hum week, we received 35 ‘Likes’ from both teachers and students.

The topic of Form 3 students’ project was “Changes and Continuities”. We had to choose a product that was invented in the past and research on its changes and continuities over time. We were also asked to design the future version of our chosen product based on the needs of people and condition of our environment. We chose telescope and gave our future product a cool name – Skyniscope. A name combining ‘sky’, ‘universe’ and ‘telescope’. Our design aimed at bringing you the amazing views of the universe and inspire user to jump out of the box.

Our design is connected to a satellite in the universe, which brings views of the universe to the users. The proudest functions we added in are ‘photo-taking’ and ‘3D printing’. The user can choose to have a photo or a tiny 3D model of the planets they directed at.

We came across a lot of difficulties, ups and downs during the discussion, research and preparation for the project. We had arguments and disputes because of the project. However, we solved the problems together and worked as a team to make our design come true. We did not focus on only making our model a creative one, but also apply scientific knowledge from our research and considerations of the need of modern world. We redid the models for 4 times until we were all happy with the design.

Many teachers  and also our principal Ms. Tam appreciate our effort and gave us a “like”. We were very happy and truly learned a lot from this group project, including how to work with others and the influence of the past. Most of all, I learned not to fear failures. If you believe you can succeed, you will succeed after overcoming the difficulties.

Finally, I would like to thank my group members who achieved this success with me and a big thank you to all the teachers who supported us.

Yumi So (3S)

My dear S6 students, you may now have mixed feelings upon your graduation. I am sure with no doubt you all have enjoyed the school life in LTPSS. Has it been full of happiness or sorrow, gratitude or regret? I certainly know you must have attained precious friendships and have many fantastic memories of your school life.

The graduation from secondary school is a great moment in life. This is a day of happiness, a day you all have longed for and awaited eagerly. It is a great and glorious occasion. Yet, it may be one tinged with sadness, as it officially marks the leaving of the familiar scenes of your teenage years and now you are setting out to seek a bigger and better world.

I am really proud of you all. May I wish you all a great success in your HKDSE, and a prosperous, healthy and happy future!

Miss CHAN Hilary Hiu Wai

It is my great honor to be part of the Speech Day for two consecutive years, especially when I was chosen to be one of the representatives for ‘Igniting The Flame’ this year.

‘Igniting The Flame’ is one of the traditions of the Speech Day, representing the passing on of the school’s core values and spirit. This solemn ceremony may seem redundant, but it indeed requires a lot of preparation. Nevertheless, Jeff, Katina, Log G and Stephanie, together with our graduates and teachers-in-charge made it memorable and successful. I am thankful of how our effort has made things go well.

I would like to thank everyone for making the Speech Day enjoyable and fantastic. I sincerely hope that the spirit of our school will never fade, as long as we all do our best and shine bright like the stars.


6T LEE Ming Hon

Spanish Week has concluded. What a great time we had!

It was really fantastic to see students, teachers (including our principal and APs!) and parents dancing salsa together, cooking (and eating) some arepas and hallacas, enjoying a latin music band and finally discovering what “fiesta” means for us, latino people. We will definitely repeat the experience with the “piñata” in the future.

Students were really engaged in the preparation of the event; for those of you who were helping us during the Spanish Week, I would like to say a big “¡GRACIAS!”, we could not have done it without you. Also, parents and colleagues have enormously contributed with their support and participation in this event. ¡Gracias!

I am very grateful to our school for celebrating the Spanish Week. It is an excellent opportunity (and responsibility) for us to bring our Hispanic culture closer to our Tai Po community. “Hispanic culture” is not just cooking and dancing but laughs, smiles, friendship, love, loud voices, togetherness, family, caring, respect, etc. Based on the reactions shown by everyone during the Spanish Week, I think we have achieved our purpose. ¡Gracias!

We will not rest in this objective of showing you our rich culture, therefore we will keep organizing and urging you join us in different events throughout the year. Thank you all for your support! ¡Gracias!

Mr. Javier SILVA RIVERA

If I had to describe the Latin Week using only one word, I would say it was colourful. The Oxford Dictionary has two meanings for this adjective, and is the second of them in which I would like to focus: Interesting or exciting; full of variety, sometimes in a way that is slightly shocking. 

The atmosphere of every single event was completely welcoming and friendly, and the amazing performers we had the honour to had in our school showed not only how talented they were, but their passion about what they do as well. Through dances, food and music, both students and teachers in LTPSS got a priceless opportunity to get a hint of how latin culture is. 

The only downside in this experience that I can point out is that i won't be here to take part in the next Latin week! Really, taking on account that Spanish is a language spoken by over 559 million of people all over the world and the official language of 21 countries, I can't wait to see what surprises will the Spanish Department bring for 2016. 

As the bottom line, I had lots of fun! And for all the ones who didn't join the activities and the party, don't forget to make sure you'll take part next year, is something I can assure you, you won't regret! 

5M Luna Molina

Time flies real fast these years. It’s hard to believe that it’s the start of another year.

Happy school term! Happy 2015-16!

This year, the term started off with a special holiday- the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII with the surrender of Japan. My generation and this generation are lucky as we have not experienced war. We just heard bits and pieces from our parents on how they made their way through in their early years. From the history books, photos and documentaries, we saw desperate faces mourning for the loss of families and relatives; waste land of soldiers holding on to their guns while whispering on their beds missing their families. How sad!

I read the poem below recently and just have to share that here. This is written by an American years ago on his father’s experience as a soldier in the War.

Rob Walker

Three months was the least we would sail,
From Fort St. John to St. Ives,
And we set out again with one hundred-six men
 In hopes we would come home alive.

The able on both sides enlisted,
To wage the Great War on their foe,
And the safety of those who were loved and held close

This was my fourth tour of duty,
With more than our fair share of nubs,
But they would return with the lessons they'd learn,
As long as we stymied the subs.

Two ounces of rum was our issue,
To be drunk before bed for our nerves,

No ninety-day wonder deserves.

We checked on our stockpile of foxers
That were saving our lives by their sound,

The Third Reich developed a missile
To skim slightly under our wake

Our Corvette could never stop moving,
For the noise from the foxer would fail,

And the 'fish' would be right on our tail.

The Captain had given us orders,
For whenever the engine was down,
To slip off our shoes - so we'd break out the booze

Two weeks out of port, in the crossing,
When the spray of mid-April still bit,

The engine decided to quit.

The subs kept on ringing the radar,
And now we were waiting to die.
As we prayed, the mechanics, who couldn't make noise,
Had no other choice but to try.

As they laboured to fix what was broken,
The men up above faced their fear,

I saw the crew stagger and stumble
As the waves and the booze took effect,
But they knew that their eyes never would see St. Ives

The carryings on and the binging,
With an absolute absence of noise
Caused a fear so intense it turned boys into men
 And some of the men into boys.

And somewhere above me a seabird
Looked down upon miles of sea

Must have made it feel glorious and free.

As it spotted our speck of a vessel
And thought how men must be at peace
,With forty-eight million warriors killed

It spied this superior species
From its vantage point, miles above

Out of hatred and fear, out of love.
The scenes depicted in the poem were so vivid and scary. I just hope there would never be any wars in the world. Unfortunately, I just had a push notification on the phone by CNN about the out flux of the refugees from Syria…

It’s still a promising sign, I would say, that the Chinese Party Chairman, Mr Xi jin ping mentioned the reduction of the troops and the notion of PEACE during his speech on 3/9. As an educator, how to plant the seed of PEACE in our next generation is the biggest challenge. We ask the students to be nice to themselves and to the others. It’s crucial to have kindness and respect in whatever things we do every day. We should all have good manners, good habits, and respect each other’s differences. No picking on nor bullying others!

During the first flag raising ceremony few days ago, I quoted a line from the Back to school speech by President Obama to our students,

‘We should all have a dream. But just that would not make USA strong. We need to help others work for their dream.’

This was so true. Our success is not only our individual success, but success of the class, the school, our hometown and our country. We need to work in harmony as an entity.

To me, a strong country is not the one with most troops or the most bullets, but one which embraces diversity, one with citizens all supporting each other in harmony.

Let’s work on it. Start with
Doing a nice thing every day!
Making no complaints any day!

Ms. Lancy Tam

 

 

Beginning of School Year

People love the beginning of everything because they are so full of promises and they always have a vision that they will do better and accomplish great things. However, I love the duration of the mid sprint to the finishing line as it is the time when we cannot yet foresee our destination in the long run. This is the time that we start losing our motivation and slowly accept the fact that we cannot achieve our goals like previous years. To turn this around, it is always important to set goals and dreams in the beginning but it is even more important for us to take one step further to have concrete planning. It is necessary to think of how to make good use of everyday to ensure we are taking one step further towards success. We need to mark the time for achieving goals as a part of our daily routine and habits. And most importantly, make our goals and dreams a part of us. In the end, we will realize that we've made a good start, that we have set achievable goals and planned well ahead, that what we've aimed for is within reach. This is the time we start waking up and start living.

5M Wong Wing Gi, Gigi 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was not the first time that I was impressed by the musical talents of LTPSS students. Last Saturday, the performance in the annual charity concert was marvellous. I could not imagine how difficult it was to organize such a large scale performance by student leaders, but they did it! I could see another side of my students – they were shining on stage. I was proud of them. The concert was so meaningful. Students could make use of their talent to serve the needy. I agree with our principal that learning is more than just reading books. The students definitely learnt a lot through their involvement  I'm the charity concert.

 

Ms. Eva Chow

 

 

 

 

Charity Concert

This is the fourth year that I have participated in the Charity Concert. For me, each performance in the charity concert was to support my effort to raise fund for the needy. I am pleased that I could have a chance to participate in it as a performer, so I can contribute myself to the society. What we do today can help the needy to have a better future. If a small amount of money and effort from us can help them, why don’t we try to help them? This is really a chance to work for the charity organization, so I hope you can give out a hand to them whenever you have a chance to do so.

 

 4M Tang Yuet Ching

 

 

 

Book Week

Books are nutrients to our soul. Reading brings not only knowledge but pleasure. This year, our library team brought us another fruitful Book Week with varieties of activities which benefit students in different ways. We had visits from poets, writers and artists, Battle of the Books, mural painting, etc. I was especially and absolutely fascinated by the masterpiece done by our students and Ben James. Two days were what they needed to finish that! How unbelievable!

Thank you our library team for having all these activities organized and I believe there will be another wonderful Book Week to come in the year ahead!

Ms Helen Chu

Our school has put tons of hard work on stimulating students' motive on reading and encouraging them to build up the habit of reading. There are many activities based on the spirit of "Reading is good." such as the Battle of the Books, Story Pilot, etc.

In March, the school held the Book Week which impressed me a lot. I originally thought there would be an all-week book fair and nothing really special, but I was wrong. This time, the school had some brilliant ideas on encouraging students.

During the book week, we had some poets and writers to come to hold workshops. Since I enjoy writing very much, it's really awesome that the school offered these precious opportunities which introduced me a whole new level of poetry - Performance Poetry. I was greatly inspired.

The Book Week was quite mind-blowing. I would like to thank the school and the library team for doing this for us. Thank you!


2R Rachel Tse Yik Ching

Science Days

The Science Days this year was held on January 19th and 20th. Science teachers set up activities and competitions around the school to promote curiosity about scientific knowledge. I think the students had a lot of fun in addition to learning about science and famous scientists. We had great participation by the S1 students in the boat-making competition. There was also a talk by a physics professor from CUHK on the 27th, and it was a very thought-inspiring talk. Quite a number of S4 and even S1 students also attended and they asked many questions. This is the kind of attitude we want: to inquire and explore. Hopefully, future Science Day events will be just as successful, if not more successful, as this one.

Ms. Sally Jia

This is the first time ever that I have joined any activities on the Science Day, I have joined the inter-house competition about Physics, Biology and Chemistry. I know most of the puzzles, but then I need some time to buffer awhile before loading up an answer in my mind. It was a great experience for me to know more regarding Science. Before the Science Day, I think the experiments on the Science Day were similar to the experiments that I have done before. However, with that many Science experts on that day, things started to get interesting, leading me to be inquisitive. It was an opportunity to ask a question when I do not know something. Overall, I am satisfied with all the events on the Science Day. 


3T Chu Chak Hei, Dino