Damai Secondary School
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| Motto | FAITH HOPE CHARITY |
|---|---|
| Established | 1994 |
| Type | Government, Single session |
| Principal | Loh Cheung Ming (Changes will be made by 2008) |
| MOE Code | |
| Colours | |
| Locale | Bedok, Singapore |
| Enrollment | 1500 |
| Website | Link |
| Ministry of Education | |
 Republic of Singapore |
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Damai Secondary School (DMSS) is a government co-educational secondary school located in Singapore. It was founded in 1994 and is located next to the Bedok Reservoir, flanked by the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).
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[edit] History
Damai Secondary School was established in 1994. It has nurtured countless youths who are ready to contribute to the society, with their best results. Currently, it has a school-wide population of approximately 1600 people (also known as Damaians), with approximately 1500 of them being students.
The school was expanded several times. In 2000, the National Education corner was added into the Damai. And during the years 2002 - 2004, the school was upgraded under the PRIME programme, thereby enlarging, enhancing and improving the school facilities for a more conducive environment for learning.
From 2002 - 2003, Damai was one of the top 50 schools, 49th specifically, for express stream. And in 2002, it was awarded the People Developer Standard (the People Developer Standard of Damai was renewed in 2005 for another three years.)
[edit] Facilities
As a well developed school over the years, Damai consists of main building with a general-purpose hall, about 40 to 50 classrooms (including the Geography and History Rooms), an AV Theatre, Media Resource Library, 4 Computer Labs, 2 Physics Labs, 2 Biology Labs, 2 Chemistry Labs, Staff Common Rooms, a canteen, a bookshop, general office, conference room, Homec kitchen, Homec Sewing Room, Design and Technology staff room, D&T Innovation Lab, 2 D&T workshops and many others.
One facility special to Damai was its Civil Defence shelter for emergencies, which was located next to school's canteen.
[edit] Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs)
As an integral part of Singapore's educational system, Damai has planned for suitable CCA programmes to teach pupils skills, inculcate in them the correct values and desirable social attitudes, and provide for healthy recreation. These include Computer club, performing arts, and uniformed groups such as the NPCC.
[edit] Student's Council
Members in the student council are known as student councillors, known simply as "councillors". Entry is based on teacher's recommendation or nominations when he/she is in secondary one. Once entered, they would obtain lots of LEAPS CCA points under the "Leadership" category, and are given rights to govern over other ordinary students' discipline. Note that they would have to get a specialised school tie and a badge with the word "councillor" or "student councillor" on it, soon after his/her entry into the student's council.
[edit] Peer Leaders
Entry is based on teacher's recommendation. They are here mainly to serve as examples to ordinary students, to guide the other ordinary students to the best possible performance, to help and guide students on forming study groups, and to assist the ordinary students in need of assistance. (Note that there is a specialised school tie with the wordings "peer leaders" or "senior peer leaders" printed on it.)
[edit] House Affiliations
For the belonging, unity and close feelings among the students in Damai, the Damai Secondary School has established the houses system comprising four houses. They are namely the Achievers (Red), Strivers (Blue), Victors (Green), and Winners (Yellow).
At the start of the year, the new secondary ones would be allocated (by the PE department) into one of these houses, based on his/her index number in class.
And so there would be regular house meetings, which would mean selection of new house leaders, and allowing the house members to decide if they want to join in a particular sports events on sports day. Following the house meetings there would be some house-related activities, be it sports or quizzes, etc.
Note that there is a special accumulative point system, which would be strengthened by the participation of sport events or other events. At the end of the year, the house that has accumulated the most points over that particular would be the house of the year, winning the trophy of the house of the year. (In recent years it is typically the Achievers or Strivers which was made into the "house of the year".)
[edit] Damai's emphasis on the society and National Education
In line with Singapore's holistic education system and policies, Damai Secondary School have emphasized on the society and National Education seriously.
Starting from lower sec (sec1-2 pupils), Damaians are given opportunities to serve the society, and to understand the virtues of National Education. This is achieved by means of Community Involvement Programmes, through their curriculum and their CCAs. Flag Days, beach and park cleaning, and other volunteer works are examples of CIPs participated by Damaians.
Currently, Damai Secondary School has adopted MDAS as the designated charity organisation for the year 2006 - 2008. Besides this, Damai has cooperated with many other organisations (such as Moral Elderly Care Centre of Bedok North) to organise and/or participate in the society works.
Also, there is an annual National Education Learning Journeys for all Damaians. Based on their academic levels, they would visit different places of heritage within Singapore. In this way, they would have an actual experience of Singapore's history and heritage, complementing the knowledge of every Damaian.
Finally, to specialise in the area of National Education, Damai have specially set up a National Education committee, supported by student NE ambassadors. (The NE ambassadors are named by DMSS Humanities Department). The DMSS NE committee is responsible for the planning of NE activities in DMSS, and for the NE-related facilities in DMSS.
NE-related facilities in Damai would consist of a mini NE garden, a NE corner at one of the staircase, and a NE concept flowchart mural just outside the school canteen.
With the necessary facilities, it is hopeful that the Damaians can achieve an all-rounded education by the time they graduate from Damai.
[edit] Damai's Twinning and Exchange projects
In view of a rising globalisation, Damai had realised the need for interaction with other schools all over the world, for more resources and better strategies.
And so, to start the interaction, Damai has entered a bilateral "sister schools" link with Dongpo Experimental Middle School (in Emeishan, Sichuan, China) during March-June period of 2006. The agreement was fixed during June 2006. In the process, two head-of-departments from Damai were sent to China to visit the school, and to sign the agreement.
On 3 to 8 August 2006, Damai Secondary School hosted a Twinning immersion project for some DEMS students visiting Singapore. Their activities in Singapore would include curriculum immersion lessons, CCA hands-on, and NELJ. Meanwhile, some administrative personnel who had accompanied the students to Singapore are in Damai to learn about the Singapore's education system, and the mode of operation in a typical Singaporean secondary school.
In return, Damai would send some of its students and teachers to visit DEMS next year.
With this, it is hopeful that Damai could build up more links with other schools from all over the world.
[edit] Achievements
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Damai Secondary School Song - The Faith, Hope and Charity Each day in Damai we are taught |
Express Stream Value Added Normal Stream Value Added Damai Winds Symphonic Band: Singapore Youth Festival Sliver Gu-Zheng: Singapore Youth Festival Sliver Modern Dance: Singapore Youth Festival Bronze English Drama: Singapore Youth Festival Bronze Choir: Singapore Youth Festival Bronze Sports Event/ Competition Award/Results
Netball: 2nd ASEAN Netball Schools Championships Runners-Up -Yeo PeiQin (5A1) and Nurul Baizura (3E3/2005) represented Singapore -Yeo PeiQin was awarded "Fair Play Individual Award"; East Zone Tournament: 'B' Division Champion, 'C' Division Runners-up, National Interschool Championships: "B" Division 2nd Runners-Up, SRC Carnival: "B" Division Champion
Softball: East Zone Softball Tournament: "B" Division Runners-up, "C" Division Champion; National Level Softball Tournament: "C" Division Champion
AV Club: I-Skills Competition 1st place
Creativity Science and Innovation Competition Ranked 5th out of 29 schools
[edit] School Logo
Designed by Samuel Teo Gek Seng, the DMSS logo incorporates the initials DSS of Damai Secondary School, forming the seed of education which is of primary importance in the formative years of young people and which when carefully planted will grow into flames of faith, hope, and charity, setting forth a secure future for every student who goes through Damai as well as in their contribution to the well being of the society and the world.
