Graduation: No gown, scroll or photo op

[vamjok]

don't think the kids will give a damn its the parents that are making all the noises

 

[Maximilian Chua-Heng]

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Nov 13, 2010
Traditional ceremony tiring for kindergarten pupils

WE THANK Mrs Yap Wai Ling for her feedback on Thursday ('Graduation: No gown, scroll or photo op').

We recognise that kindergarten education plays a significant part in the start of a child's educational journey. Each child is special to us. Hence, each year, Pioneer PCF Branch commemorates our pupils' graduation milestone in three separate events.

The first event is a photography session, where our pupils are dressed in the traditional kindergarten graduation gowns to have their photographs taken individually and then together as a group with their graduating class.

The second is a graduation concert involving the graduating K2 pupils from all Pioneer PCF centres, to showcase their artistic talent before parents and guests.

The third event is a class party ceremony in which pupils are each presented with their graduation certificates by their class teacher who has taught them through their kindergarten education.

This presentation ceremony is followed by a celebration party where pupils celebrate their graduation with their classmates over food, games and treats.

The five centres of Pioneer PCF Branch comprise over 1,160 pupils and each year, about 300 to 400 pupils graduate from these centres.

Pioneer PCF Branch has previously considered the idea of presenting scrolls individually to each of our pupils at the graduation concert instead of at the class level. However, it would have taken up to 2 1/2 hours to complete the presentation ceremony alone.

Such a presentation would exceed the four-hour period set aside for the concert performances put up by the graduating children and other preparations.

We have decided against this idea as it would be too tiring for our young children.

Cheah Chai Luan (Ms)
Principal,
Pioneer PCF

http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_602638.html

Nov 11, 2010
Graduation: No gown, scroll or photo op

I ATTENDED the full-dress rehearsal of my six-year-old son's graduation ceremony at a grassroots kindergarten, PCF Pioneer Kindergarten, last Sunday.

I expected to see him and his fellow graduands go through the full, happy process - putting on graduation gowns and going on stage to collect their scrolls as the photographer took pictures.

Instead, the ceremony was reduced to a superficial shadow of what such milestones should be.

A pupil went on stage to receive the scrolls on behalf of each class. The focus appeared to be on the accompanying concert.

Shocked, I questioned the principal, who replied that the truncated ceremony had been the kindergarten's practice.

I was also given to understand that it was too time-consuming to have each pupil go on stage as the ceremony involved hundreds of graduating preschoolers.

Shouldn't the organisers focus on the primary purpose of the graduation ceremony, which is to acknowledge and celebrate the completion of a child's preschool education - marking that first milestone in their journey of lifelong learning?

Is the success of a dance item or two more important than recognising a child's first rite of passage?

Does the PCF headquarters issue guidelines to its kindergartens to ensure that such acknowledgements remain the primary focus of the ceremony?

My son's kindergarten ceremony is tomorrow. Except for the class representative, he and his fellow classmates face the unhappy prospect of not wearing the graduation gowns, not hearing their names called, not going on stage to receive their scrolls and not having their pictures taken.

The kindergarten may argue that it had fulfilled these separately earlier, but such canned arrangements of convenience defeat the purpose and spirit of a graduation ceremony.

The kindergarten's omission will be felt painfully by parents, unless the organisers do the proper thing: change its attitude and the ceremony, quickly.

Yap Wai Ling (Mrs)


http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_601826.html

 

[scroobal]

Real arsehole. Its the kids that a graduating. Yet they are using the occasion to showcase their own planning and organisational ability for the sake of their bosses and therefore hijacking the event. They should not then call it a presentation or graduation ceremony but a graduation celebration.

Many moons ago, George Yeo's son was finishing his first year at St Stephens. There was also the son of Head of UN mission on Geneva. The acting vice principal was organising the event. She decided that she and her fellow gang members would do a line dance. It became very clear that it was not about the pupils. It was a chore to see the item drag on and on.