2023

December: Josephian’s Stellar Performance in the SEA Youth Athletics Championships

During this December school holidays, Tan Jun Jie (LE402) participated in the 15th SEA Youth Athletics Championships 2023. On the first day of the competition, Jun Jie competed in the Boys Discus Throw Final. He achieved a mark of 47.85m to secure a Bronze for Singapore, out-throwing 5 other competitors for a spot on the podium.

He clinched one of two medals for Singapore on Day 1 of the meet in Thailand!

Well done, Jun Jie!

Photo credit: Singapore Athletics

December: Kenan Continues to Shine in Sailing

SJI is proud of our very own Sailing star, Kenan Tan (FN401) who had competed in three regattas where he delivered strong performances since completing his GCE O-Level Exams in November.

Kenan participated in the 38th MSA-NSC National Open Championship Sailing Penang Governor’s Cup Regatta from 16-19 November, where he was placed third in the ILCA6.

He then zipped off to Thailand for the Varuna Cup from 25-26 November, where he achieved First Place in the Monohull.

Back in Singapore waters, Kenan competed in the SAFYC 46th Singapore ILCA Open from 2-3 December, garnering First position in the ILCA6.

This December, Kenan was in Malta, training in strong wind conditions. He raced in the EurILCA Europa Cup Malta, and won the overall 3rd place for Men’s division, missing the championship title by only 2 points!

SJI is delighted to see a Josephian on the podium in the Europa Cup. Well done, Kenan!

November: Josephian Writers at The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition

They penned their thoughts on ‘A youth-powered Commonwealth’ in celebration of the Commonwealth Year of Youth. They shared their views about the power young people hold within the global community and to consider how this power can be harnessed to make a meaningful contribution in the world.

They shared how voices can come together and draw strength from one another. They also wrote stories and poems of growth, community and hope. Their use of rhetoric and the crystalisation of ideas captured the hearts of the judges who described their work as ‘insightful’, ‘sophisticated’ and ‘beautifully written’.

Our medal tally this year stands at 149; 4 Gold Finalists, 13 Gold, 41 Silver and 91 Bronze recipients. Congratulations, Josephians!

“Youth for Causes” (YFC) is a youth volunteerism competition, organised by YMCA, that aims to inspire and empower young people to create positive social change in their communities. In the first round of selection, more than 70 teams across different JCs, polytechnics and universities in Singapore were successful in their business pitch and received seed funding of $1200 to execute their activities. The SJI team from PRISM, PRIZZM, comprising Adithya, Rahul, Everett, Le Vin, was selected, with the aim of raising funds and awareness for Singapore Heart Foundation (SHF).

The final round was the execution phase of our business idea and Team PRIZZM raised a net total of $2856.70 from our different activities and merchandise pre-orders for SHF. The team’s merchandise included customised sweatshirts, T-shirts and socks designed by the SJI MAROON club. Also, with the help of volunteers from PRISM, the team raised more than $800 over one day through the classroom’s advertisements.

The team’s “Dizzy Challenge” trend on TikTok also garnered more than 5000 views, where students try to kick the ball after spinning around multiple times. The innovative TikTok trend idea aims to educate students on one of the major symptoms of heart diseases which is dizziness. Meanwhile, their Instagram page was used to educate the public about healthy practices to reduce their chance of heart diseases.

Overall, with effective cooperation within the team as well as the support from the school, Team PRIZZM was able to clinch the Merit Award for YFC 2023. More importantly, the funds raised by PRIZZM for SHF will be used to fund their patients’ rehabilitation costs (for post-heart surgery patients) as well as financially support patients going for heart surgeries.

From Left: Selvaraj Adithya, Everett Tay Kia Yong, Poh Le Vin, Rahul Singaram Senthilkumar

November: SJI Celebrates our First Concert Agape

On 8 November, in the harmonious blend of talent and compassion, Concert Agape illuminated the spirit of “Agape”—love and charity for all in SJI. Echoing the resonance of unity, Beacon CAS’ vision materialised on stage, not just as a concert but as a testament to the power of giving back; performers comprised SJI students interwoven with talents from other institutions.

Beacon CAS focused on giving back to the community, channelling the proceeds of the Concert to Friends of the Disabled Society (FDS). Six thousand dollars was raised, and now stands as a beacon of hope for those the FDS serves.

This year, Concert Agape served as a gentle reminder to all who attended and participated, in every note played and every dollar raised, that there lies the potential to create a symphony of change in our community.

November: Hive 5 @SJI

A group of Year 2 Josephians was selected to present their project, The Hive 5, to the Minister for Education, Mr Chan Chung Sing at the National Design Summit, an initiative of the Design Education Advisory Committee.

The National Design Project is a design event for youths to raise the appreciation of design, and design as a process for creative problem solving for real-world issues. For this event, Josephians looked at Design for Wellness.

Team Trailblazing Thinkers comprised Adrien Lim (team lead), Elliot D’Cruz, Gabriel Ho, Jayden Ong, and Joshua Chew, with mentors Mrs Pennie Ong (SJI) and Mr David Tham (Studio Norms).

The Hive 5 created spaces for elderly where they could spend their time meaningfully, and with independence. It also served as a space for time with loved ones.

November: SJI Shines at NXplorers 2.0

A team of five year four students comprising of Dishnu Premanandan (LE401), Brayden Chang (LE401), Aaron Wong (LE401), Nathaniel Cheng (ML402) and Ciaran Condron (LE401) participated in the NXplorers 2.0 Journey 2023. The event was organised by the Singapore Science Centre and Shell Singapore. It is a platform for young people to develop sustainable solutions to food, water and energy challenges.

As done last year, the team received a seed funding of $2,500 to further develop their project titled Hydrocool. Focused on sustainably generating electricity while reusing laundry wastewater, the team created a prototype that made use of thermoelectric plates. By utilising excess heat from air conditioner compressors as well as the cold wastewater from washing machines, it was found that the sufficient temperature difference could be achieved to generate up to a substantial 6 volts. With the aid of Arduino components using C++ code hooked to a water pump system, the team further improved the prototype’s ability to maintain this temperature gradient and the resultant electrical output constant.

Throughout the programme, the team learnt many important skill sets from the workshop and the camp organised by Shell. Under the guidance of teacher mentors Ms Gina Tan and Mrs Yeo Siew Li, they pressed on, inspired to be positive agents of change.

October: SJI Celebrates the Thanksgiving Assembly

The Thanksgiving Assembly marks the end of the academic year. This is an occasion for Josephians to look back and celebrate our gratitude towards everything that came and passed us by throughout the course of this year. This tradition encourages us to focus on the positive aspects of life, even in the face of challenges.

At the ceremony, the following awards were presented:

Patrick Zehnder Award: Enoch Seow (FN201)
Peter Martens Award: Zachary Sng (LE202)
Fraternity Championship Shield: Fintan Fraternity
Lasallian Distinguished Service Awards: (Year 4 IP): Aaron Wong (LE401), Ciaran Condron (LE401), Julian Chan (MN401), Kayden Ee (LE401), Kim Sungyun (MN401), Nicholas Pramono (LE401)
Senior Josephian of the Year Award: Jonathan Chen (LE401)

In gratitude, we also celebrated the gift of those staff members (both teaching and non-teaching staff) who will be leaving the school as they move on to embark on new opportunities and adventures, or to celebrate their retirement after years of dedicated service to education. We bade farewell to three staff members who, together, have contributed close to 90 years of dedicated service in education: Miss Lee Siew Lian (History teacher), Mr Anthony Khoo (Mathematics teacher) and Ms May Teoh (Executive and Administrative Staff).

October: SJI Celebrates with IB Class of 2023 Graduands

The SJI community celebrated the graduation of our Year 6 graduands from the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) on 6 October.

Trevor Chan Ee Kit (MN617) was the recipient of the Senior Josephian & Lasallian Distinguished Service Award while the following Josephians received the Lasallian Distinguished Service Awards:

Aeden Chng Yu Khye (FN603)
Anxel Ong (LE607)
Ashley Poh Cheng Yee (ML614)
Ian Nai Chiak Hng (LE607)
Isabel Leong Li Ern (MN618)
Janine Man Jing-Yi (FN601)
Keevan Kanagalingam (MN616)
Koh Tze Ting Kirstin (ML614)
Kristen Ng Chin Woon (ML613)
Kristy Lee Yi Lin (LE610)
Lee Wei Xuan Adriel (FN601)
Luna Trinity Gunawan (ML612)
Raiden Kai Puthucheary (MN620)
Russell Yom Zhen Yi (FN604)

Click to view more photos

October: SJI Educators Receive Awards for Professional Development & Service Excellence

Congratulations to our educators Mr Alan Chan, Mr Karl Lee and Mrs Vivian Tan for being conferred the prestigious Associate of Academy of Singapore Teacher (AST) award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to professional development. The Academy Award for Professional Development recognises and affirms the efforts of officers in the education service and partners in education for their contributions to the professional development of the teaching fraternity. This award is a testament of the unwavering commitment of our teachers to growth and development.

Mr Michael Ee is one of the GOLD recipients of the MOE Service Excellence Award (MSEA) 2023, an MOE-wide award that recognises staff who demonstrate desired qualities for service excellence.

September: Josephians are Winners at Science Olympiads

Congratulations to the following Josephians who have attained various awards at the Science Olympiads:

September: SJI Celebrates with Class of 2023 (Year 4 O-Level Programme)

The SJI community celebrated the graduation of our Year 4 graduands from the O-Level Programme on 29 September. The Graduation Ceremony officially marks the end of the boys’ four-year secondary education in SJI, before they began the national GCE O-Levels examinations. Guest-of-honour and SJI alumnus - Dr Bernard Thio (Class of 1977) gave a rousing address to the students and parents about his personal life story as a young Josephian and how he dealt with life challenges.

Six Josephians were presented the Lasallian Distinguished Service Award - Chua Yu Sheng (ML403), Jayden Foo Yuk Yong (FN401), Kerk Nathan (LE403), Noah Yang Shanwei (LE403), Reynold Simonn (MN402) and Siddhartha Srivathsan (ML401).

Kenan Tan Kee Zen (FN401) was awarded the SJIOBA Sportsman of the Year for his Sailing achievements. Click to view more photos

September: Josephians Awarded MOE Pre-University Scholarships

Congratulations to Nicholas Gerard Koenig (FN503), Owenn Phua Yan Zhi (FN504), Matthew Oon Jun En (ML513), Tan Jing Yi (LE506) who are awarded the 2-year MOE Pre-University scholarship offered to the top Pre-University One students who have achieved outstanding academic results and excelled in co-curricular and other activities.

September: Josephians Explore Scientific Investigations at Singapore Youth Science Fair

Earlier this year, our Year 2 Josephians participated in the Singapore Youth Science Fair (SYSF) organised by the Singapore Science Centre.

The group consisting of Aarush Puniredd, Coen Goh Hong Xuan, Salleh Noah Jian Fei and Bera Saptasindhu (MN201) clinched the Commendation award with their project on investigating the effectiveness of using orange oil from orange peel waste as an insecticide.
The group consisting of Yong Wen Zheng, Aidan Liew An Yi and Haru Toh Kai Tao (ML202) – investigated the use of different shock absorbing materials as backrest to reduce the impact of Whiplash. Their project was highlighted and they presented their project in the SYSF exhibition.

September: Josephians Clinch Top Medals at National Taekwondo Kyorugi Ambassador Championships

Three of our Josephians fought hard in their respective matches at the 48th National Taekwondo Kyorugi Ambassador Championships 2023 to become the top winners! This competition is organised by Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) and recognised by the Sport Singapore and open to all members of clubs affiliated to STF. Congratulations to:

Cadet 1 Category (Body Kick)

Under 49Kg: Isaac Koh (FN102) – GOLD
Under 59Kg: Yu Cheng Xing (MN103) – BRONZE

Junior 2 Black Category (Head Kick)

Under 51Kg: Henry Zhao (LE301) – GOLD

September: Josephians Present at MOE Literature Seminar

The Literature Seminar is a prestigious national literary event organized by the MOE Gifted Branch. At this event, student presenters from various schools are selected to present a paper on a literary topic of merit. SJI was ably represented by the following teams whose presentations were well-received:

Aidan Foo Yi Kai (MN401), Luke Chan Onn-Jit (MN401), Jack Li Murray Wigmore (LE401) and Ciaran Liam Condron (LE401) presented on the topic: Understanding the Romantic Era through the lens of romantic poetry.
Nathaniel Cheng Le Shan (ML402) and Sebastian Jerome Chin Long Yee (MN401) presented on the topic: The Role of the narrative voice in Dostoyevsky’s works as a critique of Western influenced philosophical movement of rational egoism in 19th-century Russia.

September: Josephian is Recipient of SPF Book Prize

Our heartiest congratulations to Russell Yom Zhenyi (FN604) who was presented the Singapore Police Force (SPF) Book Prize 2023 by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mr. Azfer Ali Khan, an SJI alumnus from the Class of 2011, on 12 September.

The Singapore Police Force Book Prize is awarded to students in recognition of their academic excellence and stellar co-curricular achievements. The award aims to motivate students in their continued pursuit of excellence in school and affirm the SPF’s commitment towards the holistic development of students as future leaders of Singapore. The SPF Book Prize is only awarded to 20 second-year Junior College and third-year Polytechnic students every year.

As part of the SPF Book Prize journey, Russell will be given the rare opportunity to participate in enriching experiential programmes that allow him to interact with various SPF officers to get a glimpse of the exciting world of policing.

DSP Azfer Ali Khan is currently the Commanding Officer of Orchard Neighbourhood Police Centre. He graduated from SJI in 2011 and holds a Master of Arts in Law from the University of Cambridge and a Master of Law from Harvard Law School. He is also an Adjunct Faculty at the Yong Pung How School of Law at the Singapore Management University where he teaches Business Law and Criminal Law.

September: Josephian Represents Singapore to Compete in ITF Asian Junior Championships

Zachary Sng (LE202) was among the Top 24 U14 boys and girls in Asia invited by the Asian Tennis Federation to compete in the inaugural ITF Asian Junior Championships, held in the Morodok Techno National Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 2 - 9 September 2023.

Leading the team was National Youth Squad Head Coach, James Buswell along with four players - Zachary, Luke Ho Jie Xi, Victoria Alekseykina and Sophie Ashley Chua. Zachary and Luke had a fantastic run in the boys’ doubles and reached the semi-finals before they eventually bowed out to Korea’s Dongjae Kim & Wonmin Kim. 📸 Photo credit: Tennis Cambodia

September: Josephians from SJI Design & Innovation Club Wins Best Animation Award at National Robotics Competition

Since 1999, Science Centre Singapore (SCS) has been organizing the National Robotics Competition (NRC) with support from the Ministry of Education, various partners and sponsors. The NRC spurs interest and innovation by offering students an opportunity to apply what they learned in school and experience STEM hands-on through interactive and meaningful experiences. In the process, students develop skills such as problem solving, entrepreneurial dare, creative thinking and team spirit.

This year, a hybrid competition with fully on-site robot runs was held from 21 August to 9 September at the Science Centre Singapore. During the September holidays, members from the Design & Innovation Club – Joel Goh Jiejun (ML103), Katiyar Indus (ML102) and Ng Qi An (LE101) represented SJI at the NRC and they clinched the Best Animation Award!

September: Josephians’ Research Published in Histories

Congratulations to Kelvin Cahya Yap (MN402) & Tony Jiao (ML401) whose research on the Singapore Stone was published in Histories, an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal on inquiry of change and continuity of human societies by the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

Both students had earlier participated in the Nanyang Research Programme Junior Researcher (NRPjr) from 2022 to 2023, where they achieved a Gold Award for their project. Upon the completion of their NRPjr presentation this year, the duo continued to work with their supervisor, Dr Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, to continue expanding on and polishing up their paper for publication. Their paper is accessible at https://doi.org/10.3390/histories3030019

September: SJI Pipeband and Symphonic Band Present Songs of Tribute and Thanksgiving at annual Novena procession

September: Josephians Win Gold & Bronze at NLB Prove IT! Contest

Eight of our Year 2 Josephians won awards at the 2023 Prove IT! Contest organised by the National Library Board (NLB) for lower secondary students. The contest aims to equip students with news and information literacy (IL) skills, along with instilling the confidence to become effective ambassadors of IL skills in their schools and community. The teams can choose to either write or produce an investigative journalism report based on a selection of topics.

A total of 58 schools took part in this competition and the top 10 teams from each category were present at the prize ceremony on 6 September. Congratulations to the following teams!

Video Category – Gold award

The boys also attained the 1st Prize within the Gold Award!

Auger James Elias (ML203)
Darren Lee Ray Jie (LE202)
Jonas Goh (ML203)
Tan Yi Jun (FN202)

Written Category – Bronze award

Enoch Seow Tian Ern (FN201)
Krishay Gautham Patel (FN201)
Isaac Ivan Seow (LE202)
Kyrtis Koh Jing Lin (LE202)

September: 20 Josephians Receive Prestigious Chief Commissioner’s Award

Congratulations to our Josephians from the SJI Pelandok Scout who received the Chief Commissioner’s Award for their exemplary performance!

The Scout Chief Commissioner’s Award is the highest award that a scout can achieve in secondary school. A scout attains this award by completing the requirements in the badge progress scheme in the areas of citizenship and global awareness, community service, leadership and interests, adventure and outdoors, sports and physical recreation, inspirations, beliefs and attitudes, creative pursuits.

Aric Mark Amaraganthan (ML402)
Ashvath S/O Seenivasagam (ML403)
Bryan Sim Li Ren (MN402)
Daniel Leong Eu Shay (LE403)
Fitri Anwari Bin Roslan (ML403)
Fok Hon Yin Marcus (FN401)
Garion Christopher Gnanasihamani (LE403)
Jerald Lim Jia Le (ML401)
Jordan Won Tian Yew (LE402)
Marcus Chew Hong Heok (ML401)
Muthukumaran Krishnaaram (ML402)
Samuel Lim Zhi An (ML401)
Samuel Surendran (FN402)
Sebastian Jerome Chin Long Yee (MN401)
Shah Mantra Umeshchandra (ML401)
Shelat Nakshatra Vishalkumar (ML401)
Tan Xue Yuan (LE402)
Wang Kang Jun Kenneth (ML402)
Zachary Ho Min De (FN403)
Zhang Shirong (LE402)

The scouts received their award from the Scout Chief Commissioner at an award ceremony held on 16 September.

August: SJI Celebrates Teachers’ Day

The SJI community celebrated Teachers’ Day with the presentation of the annual ‘SJI Got Talent’ Concert on 31 Aug. From rock band to dance performance, our Josephians showcased their artistic talents to wow and entertain the audience. Click to view more photos

August: Josephians Win 2nd Runner-up Prize at ACJC Speech Arts Competition 2023

Congratulations to Aarush Nair (LE507) and Aidan Maclaren (LE510) for coming in 2nd runner-up in the comic duologue category in the annual ACJC Speech Arts Competition 2023 held on 26 August. The duo performed a hilarious piece entitled “Eating Monster Machine” by Joseph Arnone, using a donut as a prop and engaging the audience with their well-timed comic delivery. The competition, which also consisted of comic speeches and comic monologues, featured contestants from many schools including ACS (primary) and Kong Hwa School in the junior league and Methodist Girls’ School and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School in the senior league. Well done, boys!

August: Josephian Snags Silver at Asian Tennis Federation

SJI congratulates our Year 2 Josephian - Zachary Sng for his commendable effort at the recent Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) Asian 14&U Series Grade A 2023 held in Selangor, Malaysia!

Zachary, a member of the Singapore Tennis Association (STA) National Training Squad (Kallang), and his partner Akmal Abdullaev put up a tough fight at the finals and shone through with their teamwork and talent to earn a well-deserved 2nd place in the ATF! 👏🥈

📸 Photo credit: Mr Darren Sng

August: SJI Alumni Conferred Prestigious Government Scholarships

Congratulations to our alumni who have received the following prestigious scholarships from several government agencies:

1. Tan Ling En Beatrice (IB Class of 2022) - MHA Civilian Services (Generalist) – Singapore Government Scholarship 2. Joshua Lim Ee Seong (IB Class of 2020) - MHA Civilian Services (Psychology) – Singapore Government Scholarship 3. Lam Ka Wing (IB Class of 2020) - Home Team Science & Technology Scholarship	Beatrice (in black, 3rd from right) Ka Wing (in blue, 3rd from right)
4. Nicholas Yee Seng Cheung (IB Class of 2021) - SAF Merit Scholarship 5. Sim Ray En Ryan (IB Class of 2021) - SAF Merit Scholarship 6. Rebecca Tan Tjia Qi (IB Class of 2022) - DSTA Scholarship	(L-R, middle) Ryan, Nicholas & Rebecca
7. Abdul Mateen B Kamal (IB Class of 2021) - MCI Information Service Scholarship	Abdul (4th from left)

August: Team SJI brings home the Ortega Cup again!

After a lengthy four years break due to the pandemic, the old flames of friendly rivalry between St. Joseph’s Institution (SJI) and Raffles Institution (RI) were stoked again with the resumption of the annual Ortega Cup – a tradition that harks all the way back to the 1970s, where the Under-16 teams from both schools pit in a much-anticipated football match in their sporting calendar.

Graciously hosted by RI on 17 August, the match kicked off finally after enduring an hour of stormy weather. Both teams were evenly matched and took turns to test each other’s defences. Following a nervy and scoreless first half, Team SJI upped their play in the second half and emerged as eventual winners with an impressive 4-0 scoreline! Overall, the game was played in good spirits and with a common display of great sportsmanship by both teams. With that, the ownership of the Ortega Cup continues to reside in Malcolm Road for another year until the next edition in 2024, where we look forward to hosting and welcoming RI on our home ground.
#teamSJI 🏆🥇⚽️

August: Josephians Shine at Live On Festival 2023

Congratulations to the following Josephians who have emerged winners at the Live On Festival (LOF) 2023 – Design & Essay Competition! More than 2,800 artworks and 2,000 essays were received from 89 schools and 71 schools respectively for both Design & Essay Competitions.

LOF 2023	Name	Class
Design Competition	Lim Kai-Ler	FN202
Essay Competition (Junior)	Stanley Pang Wei Jun	ML201
Essay Competition (Junior)	Nicholas Sim En Jie	LE202
Essay Competition (Senior)	Chan Yu	LE303
Essay Competition (Senior)	Nguyen Hoang Long	LE402
Essay Competition (Senior)	Samuel Lim Zhi An	ML401
Essay Competition (Open)	Isaac Ivan Seow	LE202

All the winning artworks and essays for this year’s Festival will be exhibited online: design gallery and essay showcase.

August: Team SJI Score Silver and Bronze at NSG Tennis & Football Championships

August: SJI Congratulates our National Day Award Recipients

SJI is happy to celebrate our SJI staff and alumni who are conferred National Day Awards this year! Congratulations! 🥳

Distinguished Service Order

Mr Timothy James de Souza (SJI Class of 1963/1965), a member of the Founders’ Memorial Committee

Meritorious Service Medal

Justice Chan Seng Onn (SJI Class of 1972), immediate past president of the Industrial Arbitration Court

Commendation Medal

Ms Winnie Yap

Long Service Medal

Dr Lee Lye Hin
Mr Joseph Edison Junior

Read more about the awards and winners here.

August: Josephians Raced to the Challenge at SJI Cross Country

On 7 August, more than 1,500 SJI students and staff took up the challenge to run together and complete the 4km Cross Country Run at Bedok Reservoir Park. The event was planned to coincide with this year’s Singapore National Day Theme of “Onward As One”. It calls upon us to look forward confidently and move onward together in building our shared future as one united people. Through this event, we hope Josephians remain steadfast, resilient and continue to strengthen our core values of Faith, Service and Community.

National Day Commemoration on 8 August

View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

July: Josephians Perform Well at National Poetry Recital Competition

Congratulations to our Josephians who gave a strong showing at the National Poetry Recital Competition that concluded in July:

Patrick Nott (ML303) - first runner-up in the Secondary School category
To Ngoc My (FN505) and Darren Darwis Tanuwijaya (MN618) - Merit prizes in the open category of the competition

July: SJI Hosts CURATE! 2023

Five Josephians exhibited their works at this year’s CURATE, an Art programme initiated by three participating schools, Fairfield Methodist School Secondary, Nan Hua High School and SJI:

Issac Low (ML201)
Reiden Liew (ML202)
Joakim Neo (ML203)
Cheng Jaehin (LE202)
Akif Bin Mohamad Adil (LE203)

Ms Neubronner with student artists from SJI - Reiden Liew, Joakim Neo, Jae Hin Cheng, Akif Bin Mohammad Adil Reiden presenting his work to guests at the opening Akif’s collaboration with Duncan from Nan Hua High School Jae Hin’s collaboration with Mindy from Fairfield Methodist

With the support from National Arts Council (NAC), CURATE hopes to connect passionate Art students from various schools to experience the joy of art-making as they broaden their perspectives of art forms through personalised mentorship by artist practitioners. Through CURATE, students undergo a series of sessions and artist workshops from February to June 2023. Students gained an understanding and appreciation of Art in its various forms is deepened, particularly since the students obtain a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact with peers from different schools while being mentored by artists.

July: Team SJI Win Distinctions at International Mathematical Modelling Challenge for 3rd Year

Two teams from SJI spent their March holidays producing a 20-page Math paper for a problem that eventually earned them Distinction awards for their efforts. Congratulations to the following members who attained Distinctions for SJI for 3 consecutive years! Well done!

SJI Team 1:

Rahul Singaram Senthilkumar (ML512)
Chen Wei En James Ryan (FN502)
Sun Xiaoyan (FN504)
Tong Guy Ian (ML402)

SJI Team 2:

Agil Singaraselvan (FN504)
Wong Hoe Yan (LE401)
Nguyen Hoang Long (LE402)
Lau Cheng Xun (LE402)

July: Josephians Clinch Top Awards at Illustratum

Congratulations to our 9 Josephians who have done very well at the Illustratum 2023 competition, where they clinched either Distinction or Merit Awards amongst other awards. This was the first time SJI is participating in the Illustratum competition organised by the NUS Physics Department (with support from MOE and Science Centre Singapore).

The Illustratum competition seeks to hone participants’ scientific communication skills, by encouraging them to present real-life Physics-related phenomena in an engaging and innovative manner. Participants also had the chance to engage with faculty members of the NUS Physics department during workshops and clinics. These experiences have given our Josephians the opportunity to demonstrate and strengthen their 21st century competencies and passion for Physics.

Name	Awards
1. Jerome Tan Kay Jun 2. Chng Yixun Gareth 3. Tan Eu Chern (MN303)	• Distinction Award • Teaching Innovation Award
4. Michael An-Jie Shacklock 5. Ngiam Chong Rui, Shaun 6. Ryan Vaswani (MN303)	• Merit Award • Journal Award
7. Chua Yi Qing Joshua 8. Jayden Toh Gak Heng 9. Joshua Ethan Chew Wei Xuan (ML402)	• Merit Award • Teaching Innovation Award

July: Josephian Sails to Victory at NSC Cup Regatta

Congratulations to SJI sailor Kenan Tan who sailed to another victory at the National Sailing Club Cup regatta in July! This was an unexpected win compared to his past achievements in the ILCA4 class, as this is first time he is sailing in the ILCA6 class with a sail that is 22% bigger and competing in an illustrious field against 2 previous Sea Games ILCA6 silver medallists. nsccup-kenan

July: Josephians Kick Off to Top Spots at Singapore Youth Olympics Pesta Sukan Taekwondo 2023

Congratulations to our Josephians who won a total of 5 medals - 2 Gold and 3 Bronze, at the Singapore Youth Olympics Pesta Sukan Taekwondo:

Poomsae (Pattern)

Name	Category	Award
1. Kaedrin Herman Isaac (MN303)	Cadet Male Individual Poom Belt	Gold
2. Nicholas Koivuaho (MN303)	Junior Male Individual Poom Belt	Bronze
3. Isaac Koh (FN102)	Cadet Male Individual Poom Belt	Bronze

Kyrougi (Sparring)

Name	Category	Award
1. Henry Zhao Shuheng (LE301)	Junior Male Black Belt under 51Kg	Gold
2. Isaac Koh (FN102)	Cadet Male Poom Belt under 49Kg	Bronze

July: Josephians Attain Top Awards at Nanyang Research Programme (Junior Researcher) 2022

Congratulations to the following Josephians who have attained Gold or Silver awards at the Nanyang Research Programme (Junior Researcher) 2022:

Project Code	Name	Award
SOHjr01	Jiao Wenyao Tony	Gold
SOHjr01	Kelvin Cahya Yap	Gold
SOHjr02	Le Nguyen Thanh Minh	Gold
SOHjr02	Nguyen Hoang Long	Gold
EEEjr01C	Choo Jit Xen John	Silver
EEEjr01C	Shelat Nakshatra Vishalkumar	Silver

July: Josephians Receive Scholarships & Awards

Congratulations to our students and alumni who have received the following scholarships and awards:

	To strengthen STEM education and encourage greater participation in STEM-related higher education and careers, the Ministry of Education (MOE) introduced a new Engineering and Tech Programme Scholarship (ETPS) for pre-university students from 2023. The scholarship seeks to ensure a robust STEM talent pipeline and is targeted at students with strong foundations in mathematics and science and those who exhibit inclination towards applied and interdisciplinary learning. Seven of our Year 5 Josephians received the inaugural ETPS - Jonas Wong Jun Yi (MN519), Liew Jun Xiang Damian (FN505), Tay Kia Yong (FN504), Keagan Goh Rui Xian (ML513), Peter Tan Chao Xing (ML512), Leung Wing Kan Ernest (MN516), Chew Ethan (MN518).
Miss Chuang Weng Yan Natanya (IB Class of 2020), received the PSC Scholarship (Mid-Term) from Minister for Education, Mr. Chan Chun Seng on 19 July at the 2023 PSC Scholarships Award Ceremony. She is currently studying Psychology at Singapore Management University.
	Miss Yip Xiao Tong, Adonia (pictured left) and Miss Megan Arty Prem (both from IB Class of 2019) are recipients of the MOE Teaching Award (Undergraduate).
Mr Gan Tze Qiang Benjamin (Class of 2006) is one of the six recipients of the Outstanding Youth in Education Award (OYEA) 2023! The OYEA is a national award that recognises young teachers for their commendable enthusiasm, energy, and for being inspiring role models for the fraternity. The OYEA recipients have demonstrated a strong belief that education is about developing students holistically and instilling in them a joy for lifelong learning. Beyond honouring the achievements of young educators, OYEA aims to inspire youths to take up teaching as a fulfilling profession. Benjamin who currently teaches at Gan Eng Seng Primary School was selected from a pool of 10 finalists out of 2,932 nominations by a selection panel comprising representatives from MOE, NIE, the National Youth Council, and members of MOE's COMPASS (COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools) group. Benjamin has a heart for disadvantaged students. He looks deeply at how to provide every child with personalised support and the caring and supportive environment they need to grow and excel in. Through the programmes he designs and his everyday work as an educator, he hopes to prevent vulnerable students from deteriorating into long-term absenteeism and other behavioural issues. He shared, "SJI was the cradle of my teaching vocation and it was in SJI where I first formed my passion for teaching. As a beneficiary of the holistic education and lifelong learning emphasised in SJI, where we ‘learn how to learn, and learn how to live’, I have witnessed how my teachers had the power to touch lives and empower young people. It was also in SJI where I was inspired by the mission of our founder, St John Baptist De La Salle, in helping ‘the last, the lost, and the least’. These valuable lessons and perspectives have stayed with me since, and I’m grateful to be able to pay it forward." Read more about his story at https://www.schoolbag.edu.sg/story/how-a-chat-and-a-toothbrush-led-a-child-back-to-school

Mr Muhammad Zikri Bin Hajhari (Class of 2019) who graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic with a Diploma in Design has received 3 awards - Keppel Land Silver Medal & Prize, Diploma with Merit and DCA Architects Prize!

July: Josephians Attain Awards for Creative Writing

Three Josephians have attained awards for their creative works after attending the Naanum Oru Padaippaali Programme 2023 organized by MOE’s Tamil Language Unit. The main objective of this programme is to harness the synergy across community partners and agencies to nurture the passion in students for creating local literary works of quality and to ensure a continued pipeline of local writers. A series of workshops for secondary and JC students who were involved in the Budding Writers’ and Budding poets’ competition were conducted to develop the students’ skills on the fundamentals of short story writing and poetry writing.

Upon completion of the workshops this year, the students submitted their creative works to local writers and scriptwriters. Based on the quality and effort of the works submitted by the students, MOE selected all three Josephians’ creative works as winners in their respective categories during the ‘Vetri Vizha’ Prize Presentation Ceremony on 22 July.

1. Ashwin Arnold Raj (LE203) – Winner for Budding Writers’ Competition
2. Vishal Raj Kalyan Palanikumar (LE402) – Winner for Budding Writers’ Competition
3. Sumugan Kapila (ML514) – Winner for Budding Poets’ Competition

July: Josephians Emerged Winners at National Schools Literature Festival

Four perceptive young men - Bryan Loh, Cephas Tam, Chew Zhen Kai, and Mathieu Wee from ML302 - represented SJI at the National Schools Literature Festival Unseen Poem Debate (Upper Secondary) on 15 July 2023. They emerged winners for their calm, well-considered analysis and sound defence of the motion.

The Debate centred around the evocative poem “November” by Simon Armitage, where they formed the Proposition to the motion about the powerlessness over death. In their presentation, Cephas eloquently set the stage, defining the meaning of death and introducing the poem. Bryan built upon this foundation, delving deep into the symbolism within the poem, and Mathieu concluded by delivering an impressive rebuttal that left the opposition team speechless.

July: SJI Vocal Ensemble Sings at Kaleidoscope Concert

The SJI Vocal Ensemble was invited as one of the guest choirs to join the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) Youth and Children’s Chorus in this year’s Kaleidoscope Concert held at the Victoria Concert Hall on 9 July.

SJI Vocal Ensemble with CHIJ Katong Convent

Kaleidoscope is a celebration of the diversity of choral music, genres and singers. Members of the SJI Vocal Ensemble embraced the stage and expressed themselves through the choral art form. The sold-out concert was a resounding success, and the enchanting voices of the SJI Vocal Ensemble captivated the audience, creating a memorable experience for all attendees. The Grand Finale

Photo credit: Singapore Lyric Opera

July: Winning Team of UNLEASH Hacks 2023 - City in Nature

Two Year 5 Josephians – Jasmine Goh and Rais Aqila Tossin, both from ML511 are two passionate youths who were engaged in the UNLEASH Hacks 2023 - City in Nature, and proudly held their own among the older participants. UNLEASH is a global initiative that brings together young leaders, experts and entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Their mission is to empower (SDG) and unite passionate youth and engage cross-sector partners to generate and grow solutions to achieve the SDGs. Jasmine (in black) and Rais (in red) presenting their pitch to the judges

In their team of four, Jasmine and Rais identified the overwhelming usage of single-use plastic bottles in the hospitality industry in Singapore and came up with a bottle-for-rent scheme to address this problem. The program sponsor, University of Newcastle Australia, was very impressed with their work. They are offering them mentorship and the team will be awarded $1000 to further develop their ideas and see them come to fruition. The organisers observed, “Despite being the youngest among this year’s cohort whose average age is 25, Jasmine and Rais showed maturity in their thinking and work ethic. They also volunteered to be the presenters for their team at the final pitching session and were able to present their idea clearly and with conviction.”

SJI Principal Mr Justin Pierre opined, “We are indeed proud of our two students for coming up with innovative ideas and solutioning in the area of environmental sustainability.”

SJI awaits the day when the team’s vision will materialise and the bottle-for-rent scheme becomes commonplace in the hospitality industry.

July: Josephians Excel at Science Fairs

Our Josephian Scientists have been busy participating in various science fairs this year where they clinched several awards!

Three teams represented SJI at the A* STAR-VJC Science Fair in July this year, a competition meant for secondary school students with an interest to develop and deepen their learning in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through research. They also participated in 2 research-related activities - an e-symposium and communication workshop which were conducted to support the participants in their research journey. In addition, to provide all the participants with a more enriching learning experience, teams with similar research themes were grouped together in breakout rooms for on-site project sharing on the prize presentation day.

Kudos to our Year 4 Josephians who shone with their projects at the A* STAR-VJC Science Fair:

Aaron Wong Yi Cheng, Brayden Chang Jon Yon and Daniel Ho Dawei (LE401) clinched a Silver for their project - Investigating and Predicting the Trajectory of a Paper Airplane using Mathematical Modelling
Gabriel Ng Ghim Chuan, Balakrishnan Akshath and Ciaran Liam Condron (LE401) received a Merit prize for their project - Investigating the Periodic Motion of Water in Ponyo’s Heat Tube
Premanandan Dishnu (LE401), Lee Jayden Seojin (LE401) and Nathaniel Cheng Le Shan (ML402) received a Certificate of participation for their project on exploring the efficacy of Orange Peel Filtration in the adsorption of harmful ammonia in fish tanks

Prize-winners (L-R): Aaron, Daniel, Gabriel, Akshath and Ciaran

In April this year, SJI was represented by 5 teams of Year 5 students who took part in the International Elementz Fair organised by Anderson Serangoon JC. The annual event is a platform for students to showcase their scientific research which can contribute to the betterment of society. The research projects are student-initiated and cover interesting topics such as investigating how we can use organic fruit waste to grow algae that can reduce our carbon footprint, to find out the effect of pH on the rate of calcium mineral lost from the chicken bones as well as preparing homemade hand sanitizer with essential oils to kill bacteria. Congratulations to the following Josephians on their achievements!

Fan Enrui (LE510), Rahul Singaram Senthilkumar (ML512), Poh Le Vin (MN520) - Gold
Matthew Oon Jun-En (ML513), Lee Chen Xing, Tristan (FN501) - Silver
Koh Zer Ray, Ansley (ML513), Reuel Fong Shi Cheng (MN517) - Bronze
Abhay Rajesh Tralshawala (LE510), Fan Enrui (LE510) - Commendation
Sim Weilun (FN501), Teo Hansen (ML514) - Commendation

Back row (L-R): Abhay, Hansen, Weilun, Ansley and Reuel
Front row (L-R): Le Vin, Rahul, Enrui, Tristan and Matthew

July: Josephians Win Gold at Taekwondo Championships

Congratulations to our Josephians who participated in the 16th National Taekwondo Poomsae Ambassador Championships 2023 over the weekend. Collectively, they picked up three Individual Golds, two Team Golds and a Team Silver! Organised by Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) and recognised by the Sport Singapore affiliated to the Singapore National Olympic Council, the competition is open to all members of clubs affiliated to STF. The participants are recognised by age divisions and belt category.

	Isaac Koh (FN102) is Junior Black Belt Poom 2 Belt who participated in the D Division (13 & 14 years old): ~ Male Individual D Division Poom 2: Gold ~ Team Male Division Poom 2: Gold
	Kaedrin Herman Isaac (MN203) is Junior Black Belt Poom 3 who participated in the D Division: ~ Male Individual D Division Poon 3: Gold
	Nicholas Koivuaho (MN303) is Black Dan who participated in the E Division (15 to 17 years old): ~ Open Male Individual E Division Black Dan: Gold ~ Combined Team E Division Black Dan: Gold ~ Open Mixed Pair E Division Black Dan: Silver

July: SJI Alumnus Receives URA Scholarship

Congratulations to our alumnus Zikry Nasrullah Zairul Azidin (IB Class of 2018) who received a URA scholarship for his undergraduate (NUS) and postgraduate (overseas) studies. The 23-year-old is one of 30 scholarship recipients under the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) Executive Development & Growth Exchange Programme (EDGE) programme, a joint talent development project implemented by MND and the main statutory bodies under it. Read more about his story in the Berita Harian.

July: SJI St John Brigade Receives Top Awards

SJI’s St. John Brigade (SJB) received the top honour - Gold for the Corps Achievement Award, along with 18 SJB cadets who attained the Chief Commissioner’s Badge. This is the highest accolade issued by the SJB as part of the Cadet Proficiency Badge Scheme (CPBS). The awards were presented in SJI on 10 July, in commemoration of St. John Day which was celebrated internationally on 24 June. Well done, Josephians!

Aidan Foo Yi Kai
Casper Wee Yong Sian
Chen Leqi
Daniel Ho Dawei
Go Youngwoo
Guhan Venu
Hayden Lam Yi Fong
Hey Jiun Yi Cedric
Jonathan Chen Xiao Jing
Kelvin Cahya Yap
Lim Yi Yong Jay
Liu Yaxin
Lucas Char Kai Shuen
Manav Eshwar
Senthilkumar Praneet
Sharrwin Senthil Kumar
Yong Yao Jun Matthew
Zavier Choo

Proud recipients of the Chief Commissioner’s Badge

July: Josephians Awarded Peter Lim Scholarship

Congratulations to our SJI sailors - Kenan Tan and Russell Yom, who received the prestigious Peter Lim Scholarship (U18 High Performance) yesterday from alumnus Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law! Well done, Josephians!
(Photo credit: Mrs Rita Tan)

June: Josephians Score at DSTA #BrainHack 2023

A team from SJI’s Coding & Technology CAS – James Chen (FN502), Damian Liew (FN505), Damien Lau (MN519), and Joshua Hanitio (ML511) spent their June holidays learning new skills at the DSTA #BrainHack 2023. Their hard work and determination paid off as they put their design thinking skills learnt from SJI’s Innomakers and Signum Fidei programmes to good use, clinching both the Best Minimum Viable Prototype and Runner-Up for Human-Centric Design for their proposed concept and prototype.

CODE_EXP is a competition under DSTA Brainhack which involved a month of learning app development with React Native and putting these skills into practice by designing an interactive and functional mobile minimum viable prototype that has the potential to benefit the public. Qualifiers for the competition happened virtually from 9 to 12 June with the final hackathon taking place between 21 and 22 June at Mariana Bay Sans Expo and Convention Centre.

The team first narrowed down the target audience to schools and focused on improving student mental health and wellness by bridging the gap between counsellors and students. Their application, “CounseLink” has two principle features – a unified booking system that allows students to book counselling sessions to improve mental health accessibility and an anonymised feelings journal feature that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to detect key issues and student pain points. This data can be used by counsellors and school administrative staff to identify areas for school improvement for student welfare.

The team presented their poster (below) to the DSTA judges: Their work culminated in a presentation of their prototype and commercialisation and scaling strategy to the DSTA judges where they clinched both Best Minimum Viable Prototype and Runner-Up for Human-Centric Design, beating many other schools and emerging as the overall champions of the competition.

James shared, “This competition required a great deal of teamwork and coordination, especially as the qualifiers were done virtually. During the final hackathon itself, we had to finish our final design, implement it in code and make a fully functional prototype in less than 2 days. This was a very stressful experience but with the skills taught during Signum Fidei, and our combined effort, we were able to persevere and emerge as the only group which won in two separate categories.”

The team was featured on Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen’s Facebook page: “A group of students presenting their newly-developed mobile application aimed at youths seeking counselling, which they coded from scratch and deployed on the cloud.”

June: Josephians Shine at TI-Nspire™ IB Mathematics Competition

SJI ranked 2nd in the TI-Nspire™ IB Mathematics Competition 2023 with 2 Gold and 2 Bronze awards. This competition is open to all IBDP students from schools in the Asian region. Congratulations to the following Josephians who participated in this competition:

Participant Name	Class	Award
Aeden Chng Yu Khye	FN603	Gold
Seng Johann	FN601	Gold
Anish Ketan Gathani	FN605	Bronze
Zhuo Chengsheng	ML615	Bronze
Chew Cate	FN605	Participation
Lim Zachary	LE610	Participation

June: SJI Pipeband Wins First Place in SEA Championship

Congratulations to the SJI Pipe Band who were crowned Champion in the Juvenile Section of the Singapore and South East Asian Pipe Band Championships held on 4 June!

The following Josephians also won awards for the individual categories:

Under 16 Pipes - 1st place: Lucius Ong (LE301)
Under 16 Bass - 1st place: Tan Ang Khuen, Damien (FN303)
Under 16 Snare - 3rd place: Aiden Issac Tan Rui Yang (FN402)

June: Josephian Puts Up Art Exhibition to Raise Funds for Charity

June: Josephian Awarded the 2023 Edwin Thumboo Prize for Literature!

June: Team SJI Wins Multiple Awards at DHAP

The DHAP is an annual Model United Nations (MUN) conference hosted by Dunman High School’s International and Strategic Affairs Council (ISAC), in conjunction with the school’s Humanities Programme. Designed to simulate the workings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other United Nations (UN) bodies, this three-day conference aims to provide engaging discourse pertaining to regional and global issues, where delegates take on the roles of various stakeholders, whether countries or individuals to champion their respective stances, balancing the fine line of diplomacy in the process.

SJI was represented by a team of delegates which comprises of Jamie Michael Lam (MN401), Nithil Chakravarthy (MN401), Zavier Choo (LE401), Win Win Kyaw (LE303) as well as Lý An and Vorajate Suntratonpipat (both from MN303), who have obtained the following awards:

Honourable Mention : Nithil Chakravarthy
Outstanding Delegate : Jamie Lam
Best Position Paper : Vorajate Suntratonpipat
Best Delegate: Vorajate Suntratonpipat
Most improved Delegate: Win Win Kyaw
Honourable Mention: Lý An

May: Team SJI Paddle to Silver and Bronze at Inter-school Dragonboat Competition

The SJI Dragonboat A-Division Boys and Girls teams competed at the Inter-school Dragonboat Competition held at Bedok Reservoir on 27 May. Paddling against other Junior College teams in the 22-man boat category, the SJI Boys and Girls teams clinched the 2nd and 3rd positions respectively after 2 intense rounds of races. Well done, Team SJI! DB Boys

DB Girls

May: Josephians Win Bronze in the Young Reporter News Challenge

May: SJI Welcomes New Student Leaders

The last day of school in Term 2 saw the commemoration of our student leaders where the SJI community thanked the outgoing student leaders for their service to the school in the past year. We also welcomed the new student leaders who will begin this new journey of leadership as they assume new responsibilities in their various CCA/CAS and leadership communities within SJI. View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

May: SJI Trio Wins Third Place at IDE Series Competition

IDE (Innovation, Design and Engineering) Series is a national technology and engineering competition aimed to challenge students on problem solving across domains such as electronics, programming, and mechanical design. Comprising of 7 different competition events in 2023, each event has an unknown surprise mission or challenge that will be revealed at the start of the competition. These challenges vary from year to year, but the emphasis on innovativeness, design elements and engineering remains at the heart of the competition. The IDE Series started in 2011 with the IDE Challenge with a total of 11 secondary school teams. Since then, the IDE Series competition event has introduced new competition events including:

IDE Challenge
IDE Robotics
IDE Maker
IDE Sprint
IDE Sumobot
IDE Code Builder
IDE Code Hacker

On 20 May, SJI was represented by a group of boys from the Design & Innovation Club for IDE Series Competition at UWCSEA (East Campus) and the trio – Elliot Shan Murray Wigmore (MN101), Lo Sheung Chit Chet (FN103) and Gabriel Tan Hong Kai (LE102) won 3rd place in the Sumo Bot Category!

May: SJI’s Team Midas Clinches Most Sustainable Project Award at Young Trailblazer’s Competition 2023

SJI’s Team Midas -Wah Wen Hu, Addison (MN518), Lim Yee Kai, Jason (MN518), Wong Kei Hoi Rico (MN517) and Pandi Balaji Bavaesh (LE508) - clinched the Most Sustainable project award at the Young Trailblazer’s Competition (YTC) 2023, making it one of the top 5 teams in the competition.

The YTC is an innovation competition based on the 6 pillars of the ForwardSG vision where students are tasked with solving real world problems as social entrepreneurs. The problem statement this year was to spark change towards sustainability on a personal level.

To tackle this issue, Team Midas, one of the 4 from SJI, focused on food sustainability for supermarkets, where they created a cutting-edge Business-to-Consumer (B2C) app that notifies shoppers on deals and bundles regarding ugly foods and foods nearing the expiry date. Their app, ResQ Foods, works in real time with supermarkets to save a portion of the 20,000 tonnes of food waste that are generated each year. The team won the Most Sustainable project award after completing several elevator pitches and feedback from various stakeholders.

May: SJI’s Team Plutus Win Award at GIC Financial Education Competition

SJI was represented by 4 teams, including Team Plutus -Aung Min Khant (MN520), Lim Yee Kai Jason (MN518), Wong Kei Hoi Rico (MN517) and Pandi Balaji Bavaesh (LE508) - at the GIC Make FinLIT Video Competition 2023, a financial education competition based on GIC’s five investment principles in managing Singapore’s foreign reserves. Students were tasked with producing a 3-minute video featuring one of the 5 principles. finlit 2023 winning photo.jpeg Team Plutus chose the investment principle “Leveraging Your Strengths”, where the team made use of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), online brokers and the power of compounding as their approach to investing for youths in their creative short film. After completing several insightful discussions with like-minded youths and working together to produce the video, the team clinched the Best Visual Editing and Effects award in the finals.

May: Josephians Clinch Awards at Singapore Mathematics Project Festival (SMPF) 2023

	Team 1 - Isaac Alastair Tan, Isaac Ivan Seow, Nicholas Sim En Jie, Wong Jun Hang (LE202) won Bronze with Excellent Presentation for their project on "Usage of Yoshimura Folding Techniques for Collapsible Tent".
	Team 2 - Shravy Jindal, Benedict Tong Zhi Kang, Chong Chi Ethan, Joshua Chew En Xu (FN202) took home the Honourable Mention for their project on "The Mathematics Behind Origami".

May: Josephians Present Innovative Design Ideas at Archifuture Design Challenge 2023

Two out of our three teams of Year 4 students won awards at the Archifuture Design Challenge 2023 (Secondary/JC Category) organised by the Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). As part of the challenge, the students attended a three-day immersive workshop to foster their abilities to innovate and design based on this new city narrative. Throughout the workshops, they had to complete several mini challenges followed by the main challenge submission. Congratulations to our Josephians from:

1 . Team Bobs the Builders – Luke Chan Onn-Jit (MN401), Balakrishnan Akshath (LE401) and Venkatesh Pranauv (MN401) won the 2nd Prize in the Challenge.

Prototype 1:	Prototype 2:

2 . Team Jutobastian – Damhaut Justin, Hayashi Yuto and Sebastian Jerome Chin Long Yee (all from MN401) received a certification for the Mini Challenge. archifuture-team jutobastian prototype

The boys received the award from Mr Heng Swee Keat (Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies) at the award ceremony held in conjunction with SUTD Design Innovation Forum on 26 May 2023. The Mini Challenge award was presented by the Head of Pillar, Prof Tai Lee Siang at the Mini Challenge Award ceremony held at ASD office.

Team Bobs the Builders archifuture-bobs the builders (2nd position)

Team Jutobastian archifuture-team jutobastain (mini challenge winners)

May: Bonding Through Games at Lasallian Carnival

SJI organised the inaugural Lasallian Invitational Carnival on 23 May, where seven schools participated to play football and floorball together. Besides our Lasallian primary schools - St. Stephen’s School, St. Anthony’s Primary School and St. Joseph Institution (Junior), Pasir Ris Primary School, Damai Primary School, St. Gabriel’s Primary School and Monfort Primary School attended this carnival as well. This event was organised to foster better bonding and social mixing amongst the primary school students, and to reach out to them to consider SJI as a school of their choice. The event also created a service learning opportunity for our own Josephians to lead and serve in their respective CCAs - Football and Floorball, empowering our young student leaders to organise this event for the juniors.

The primary school students first went on a mini tour of the school before the games embarked. After the opening address by SJI Principal, Mr Justin Pierre, the carnival kicked off and the competition was rather intense amongst the players. The carnival concluded with a prize presentation where medals were given to schools which achieved top 4 positions. Congratulations to the young sportsmen from the following schools!

Floorball	Football
1st - Pasir Ris Primary	1st - Monfort Primary
2nd - Damai Primary	2nd - St Stephen’s School
3rd - SJI Junior	3rd - SJI Junior
4th - St Stephen’s School	4th - St Gabriel’s Primary

May: SJI Literature Festival celebrates The Beastly and The Beautiful

SJI celebrates Literature Festival every year to promote the love for English Literature through a wide range of activities beyond the classroom. The theme of the festival was ‘The Beastly and the Beautiful’. A spin on the title of the classic fairy tale, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, the theme invites Josephians to examine how these two concepts are often used to represent opposing forces that exist within human nature. Students were challenged to consider that even those who exhibit negative behaviour or traits may justify their actions as necessary based on their personal beliefs and experiences. This further underscored the importance of empathy and understanding, as everyone has the potential for both beauty and beastliness within them.

The activities for the Literature Festival were peppered across from Week 4 to 8 in Term 2. All Year 1 and 2 students participated in a Literature Quiz and the winners from every class formed a team to represent their fraternity in the closely contested Lit Quiz Finals which was held live before their respective cohorts. In addition, Dr. Ian Tan, Assistant Professor of English and English Literature from the National Institute of Education delivered a talk to the Year 1 students to deepen their understanding on the theme.

Guessing the answers for the Lit Quiz

Talk by Dr Ian Tan

The most exciting event was the costume competition where students dressed up as their favourite character. Each class in Year 1 and 2 was represented by a team who dressed up for the competition, and the contestants were cheered on with great gusto by their classmates as they paraded through the Founders’ Hall to present their character.

Angel on clouds	Joker ready to wreak havoc
Pirates!	Teacher turns witch

The final activity was a game conceptualised and carried out by the students taking Literature in the Upper Secondary levels. The game was designed around Shakespeare’s Macbeth to stretch the creative and critical thinking skills of the participants.

Cracking the Macbeth puzzle at macbunker

Riddles galore at macbunker

All in all, the Literature Festival this year was truly a collaborative effort by the English Language and Literature teachers who believed in learning beyond the classroom. The students thoroughly enjoyed the wide array of activities that were curated especially to infuse fun into their learning experiences.

May: SJI Team Wins NUS History Challenge

On 6 May this year, a team of 6 Josephians participated in the NUS History Challenge themed “Race against Time”. The NUS History Challenge is an annual challenge for secondary school students to come together and compete with each other in history-related activities. This is the first challenge since the pandemic and the aim of this challenge is to encourage students to know more about Singapore. Organised by the NUS History Society, teams must complete a range of challenges related to Singapore history and heritage.

The SJI team comprising Daniel Ho Dawei and Kayden Ee Kai Wen (LE401), Sidharth Subramanyam (MN401), Joel Seet Zhi An and Rohanveer Singh Sidhu (LE303) beat several teams from schools such as HCI, VS and RI to emerge as champions.

Exploring the historical places

The Winning Team

May: Team SJI Wins 2nd and 4th Places in B- and A-Division Judo Championships

The National School Games Judo ‘A’ and ‘B’ Division Championships 2023 that took place over an intensive 3 days of competition from 3 to 5 May witnessed exceptional exchanges and remarkable achievements from 199 talented young judokas across 21 schools. The championships showcased the incredible skill, dedication and determination of these athletes, with their impressive throws, strategic groundwork, and relentless spirit.

The SJI Judokas performed well, attaining an overall 2nd place in the B-Division Boys Championships 2023! Hugo Gauthier clinched the Gold medal in the -73kg weight category; Goh Chuan Gin clinched the Bronze medal in the -91kg weight category; Ng Kuan Fai attained 5th place in the -60kg weight category, and Win Win Kyaw took the 7th place in the -73kg weight category.

Participating in the ‘A’ Division Judo Championships for the first time, Alston Cheng Yu Yang and Bryan Lim Zheng Wei also did SJI proud by clinching a Bronze medal and 7th place respectively, placing SJI in the 4th position in the ‘A’ Division Boys Judo Championships 2023!

Hugo Gauthier - Champion of the -73kg weight category	Chuan Gin takes home Bronze
Alston Cheng - Bronze	A Division - 4th

May: Josephians Sail to Championship at NSG 2023!

May: Josephians Win Medals at National School Games - Taekwondo

April: Celebrating SJI’s 171st Founder’s Day

In honour of our founder, St John Baptist de La Salle, SJI commemorated our 171st Founder’s Day to celebrate our students’ achievements in the past year. Mr Lawrence Chan, alumnus from Class of 1984, Group Chief Executive Officer of NETS was the Guest of Honour at this event.

More than 200 students received awards and prizes for their outstanding academic and sporting achievements. Tokens of appreciation were also bestowed to members of the SJI Board of Governors and Parent Support Group for their invaluable support and advice to the school. View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

April: Josephians are Champions of YDSP Science & Technology Challenge

Over the 2022 December holidays, a team of 5 students participated in the YDSP Science & Technology camp. Based on the theme of utilising Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (AUGVs) in Singapore’s defence, the students embarked on a rigorous 5-day course where they dived deep into the technical aspects of machine learning and artificial intelligence. At the camp, they had the opportunity to attend talks about current applications of technology by military personnel and DSTA engineers. Towards the end of the camp, there was also a challenge where they were required to smoothly deliver a presentation depicting the possible implications of AUGVs in a select historic war and showcase how it could possibly reshape the battlefield. They pitted against representatives from other schools in an AUGV race on both the simulator, and in a real life track using Donkeycars. The SJI team emerged Champion at the challenge and was invited to present their project at the YDSP Congress in April this year. The Champion team at the YDSP Science and Technology Camp 2022.
(L-R: Tay Kia Yong (FN504), Ernest Leung (FN503), Kieran Tan (FN503), Nicholas Pramono (LE401) and Wong Hoe Yan (LE401)

The team’s project showcase at the YDSP Congress 2023, with Mr Eric Lam (SJI Vice principal) and Mr Justin Pierre (Principal)

Scholarship recipients - Jedidiah Eo (FN301), YDSP scholarship award (2nd from left) and Chen Wei Wen James Ryan (FN502), DSTA JC scholarship award (4th from left) with Guest-of-Honour, Mr Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State for Defence

April: SJI Marks Earth Day with Inter-Class Decoration Competition

To commemorate Earth Day 2023 on 22 April, the SJI Green Club organised an inter-class decoration competition, themed “Green My Classroom”. The objective of the competition is to encourage the classes to decorate their classrooms through the creative use of recyclable materials. Each class is to submit 1 best photo of their class decoration with a write-up to describe the materials used. The top 5 winning entries were determined by the school community via voting.

1st place: FN202	To commemorate Earth Day we decided to decorate our class using recycled materials that we found lying around in our school. Old magazines and catalogues were rolled into paper beads to make curtains and coasters, glass jars were fashioned into luscious terrariums, and scrapped grass turf from the artificial field is now beautifully decked on our class ledge to reduce glare from the afternoon sun. We also rescued plants from the science laboratories and nurtured them back to health in our classroom rather than buying new ones. All these little projects contribute to our class’ effort to build an “Eco-ledge". These are on display for all to experience and learn. Our environmental message is that we should always make it a point to reduce, reuse, repurpose and rescue as much as we can to be sustainable and eco-friendly. The Earth needs everybody's help to survive.
2nd place: FN301	This dragon is made out of recycled ang paos from CNY, from the last few years. Our classmates got these old ang paos from their homes which they received from others or were unused, which could have been thrown away. This is a great way to recycle old ang paos. The dragon also consists of fishes made out of the ang paos as this allows us to always remind us of the importance of keeping the oceans clean, thus saving the fishes which face threats from waste thrown in the ocean. Overall, this design helps reinforce in us the importance of recycling.
3rd place: LE202	Looking Through The Lenses Of Gaia Looking through the lenses of Gaia refers to taking the perspective of a Mother; creator of life. With this understanding, we know it is our humanitarian duty to care for Mother Earth. The terrariums are inspired by the different locations of SJI, manifesting how greenery coexists in our daily lives, creating a propitious well-balanced learning environment by improving air quality. Through these terrariums, we can contribute to safeguarding the environment – be it taking public transport, repurposing paper or simply not littering. The materials used – reusable plastic containers, propagated plants, and miniature figurines, were all given a new lease of life.
4th place: MN303	Our Earth is a precious yet delicate place, and we must do everything we can to preserve its beauty. That's why our class has created this artwork for Earth Day, using torn pieces of recycled paper. Our creation not only showcases the vibrant colours of our planet but also highlights the importance of recycling and repurposing materials. Each small piece of paper may seem insignificant, but when brought together, they combine to form a masterpiece that reminds us of the fragility and wonder of our world. Let's celebrate Earth Day by recognizing the power of recycling to make a difference.
5th place: ML103	The materials used to create the decorations are recycled plastic bottles and plastic bags. We used plastic bottles to create our class name on the notice board (ML103) and used the plastic bags for flowers. We are trying to send an environmental message: to recycle bottles and bags properly and try to make an effort to create something new. There are many plastic materials containing edible food that are littered and dumped into the recycling bins haphazardly .This inconsiderate practice not only renders the bottle or bag unrecyclable, but the rest of the waste in the bin as well.

April: SJI Guitar Ensemble attains Distinction at SYF 2023

April: Celebrating our Uniformed Groups at the 171st Anniversary Parade

Our five Uniformed Groups celebrated their annual achievements and promotion of new student leaders at their Anniversary Parade on 20 April. This is the first time our Parade resumed in full force since the pandemic disruption three years ago.

LTC Steven Jude Barter, alumnus from Class of 1998, Head C2 Operations Branch, Air Operations Department, Republic of Singapore Air Force, was our Guest of Honour at this year’s event. View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

April: SJI Symphonic Band secures Distinction at SYF 2023

April: SJI Vocal Ensemble Sings to Distinction at SYF 2023

April: Team SJI Paddle to 4th Placing in both B & C Divisions

Our dedicated SJI canoeists had been working tirelessly for months in preparation for the recently concluded National School Games SSSC Canoeing Competition. Despite tough competition from strong teams from other top seeded schools, the team managed to secure a highly commendable 4th placing in both the C and B divisions, narrowly missing their chance to be placed 3rd for the B division.

The team’s hard work and dedication paid off as they consistently posted strong timings throughout the competition, with some individuals even clinching commendable positions, contributing to the team’s overall success.

This was also the team’s inaugural entry into the A-Division. Despite being first-time participants in the higher division, the team put up a valiant fight and secured a commendable 5th place, a testament to their tenacity and unwavering spirit.

April: Josephians tee off to Bronze at NSG Golf

April: SJI Rugby Team Scores 4th position at NSG 2023

April: Josephian Scores 2nd Place in Research Competition

The Annamalai University Alumni Association conducted a research competition for secondary and JC students where participants are required to submit a research paper encapsulating an analysis of the well-known Tamil epic ‘சிலப்பதிகாரம்’ (silapadikaram). Sumugan Kapilan (ML514) whose proficiency in the language and his writing ability equipped him to present a well-detailed essay to win the 2nd place. Deepak (ML403) won a Consolation prize in the secondary category while Rahul (ML512) and Kirithick Kirsh Satheesh (LE202) received certificates of participation. Sumugan’s competency in critical thinking as depicted in his writing also gave him the opportunity to join several famous Tamil experts and other students in a panel discussion on how to grow Tamil among the new generations. During the panel discussion, he presented novel and thoughtful ideas that were well-received by the Tamil enthusiasts in the audience and he was recognized multiple times by the key speakers for his confident and intellectual thoughts during the panel discussion.

Winners at other Indian Language Competitions:

Ashton Lee (ML302) who took part in the Thirukkural Recitation Competition for non-Tamil speaking students and recited 3 Tamil couplets in Tamil, attained the 3rd prize and was highly commended.

April: ICS Organises Tamil Language Camp

The Indian Cultural Society organised an overnight camp for from 15 to 16 April, to teach students about their Indian heritage and its roots. The camp has helped students to further embrace their Indian identity and learn about the importance of many activities that are still in practice today such as Kabaddi and Yoga, and how many aspects of the Indian culture blend with technology advancements and modern tastes. One of such activities was through music workshop and a comic writing workshop where they learned how to use their devices to create new pieces of music and write different advertisements. These activities emphasized the importance of classical poetry, drama, traditional music, and dance. In addition, the Year 4 and 5 students also conducted an amazing race to explore various aspects of Tamil culture in a fun way, which includes music, clothing, and general knowledge and literacy. The camp proved to be an educational and meaningful journey for our students.

April: Josephian Wins Honourable Mention (French Category) at Nationwide Foreign Language Translation Competition

Olivier Sujun Morel (MN402) who is offering French in lieu of a MTL subject, has performed spectacularly in the Nationwide Foreign Language Translation Competition 2023 and is awarded Honourable Mention - French Category.

Organised by the Polyglot Club SG, Singapore’s 1st Polyglot Club of Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary), participants are required to translate an excerpt from a famous literary work, from a foreign language into both English and Mandarin Chinese. The contest held online over a period of two weeks, from 6 to 20 February 2023 attracted a total of 180 participants.

April: Josephians Receive Pinnacle NPCC award

Two NPCC cadets Pakrisamy s/o Balakrishnan and Aidan Tan Zhen Xuan (LE402) received the SPF-NPCC Badge on 1 April at the Home Team Academy.

The SPF-NPCC Badge Presentation Ceremony is an annual event to recognise and affirm NPCC cadets with good leadership capabilities and outstanding achievements. The SPF-NPCC Badge is the pinnacle award that an NPCC cadet can attain in secondary school.

Pakrisamy and Aidan were required to go through interviews by the Officers-in-Charge and Area Commandant followed by NPCC and SPF officers in HQ. Both of them displayed outstanding qualities and were selected for this award from the shortlisted candidates from the other secondary schools.

March: SJI Alumnus Receives TP Scholarship

Congratulations to Choong K-Ron (Class of 2017) who has won a prestigious Temasek Polytechnic Scholarship (Engineering) worth $3,000 per year for the academic year 2023/2024.

March: Navigating the “Winds of Change” at SJI’s Youth Leaders’ Dialogue

SJI hosted the annual Youth Leaders’ Dialogue (YLD) organised by the SJI Student Council for 200 students from 21 secondary schools and Junior Colleges on 25 March. The theme for this year’s YLD, “Winds of Change” is especially relevant in the context of our fast-paced, ever-changing world and to mark the re-opening of countries and borders since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three distinguished guest speakers from various fields were invited to share their views on leadership and their perspectives on how they had led their respective organisations during the challenging times:

Mr Walter Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief for CNA (Channel NewsAsia) and Chief Sustainability Officer at Mediacorp
Dr Chin Pak Lin, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Co-founder of the Orthopaedic Centre and CEO as well as Co-founder of Asian Healthcare Specialists (AHS)
Mr Barathan Pasupathi, CEO of Jetstar Asia

The speakers shared candidly on their leadership journeys and the key principles and values that influenced their decision-making. The participants were engaged by the anecdotes and experiences shared, evident through the lively question and answer session after the sharing.

Interspersed with the panel discussion were activities planned for participants to interact with their peers from other schools. They were given problem scenarios to work on which required creative and critical thinking and effective communication skills that allowed them to express themselves effectively. At the end of each session, participants were led through a reflection session to help them consolidate and identify areas they could work on to further develop their leadership skills.

It is the hope of the organising committee that the 2023 YLD participants would gain insights into how they can be nimble and adapt to changes in the way they communicate, work and study, and that these would equip them with the skills to navigate the ever-evolving world and how they can ultimately serve the wider community.

March: SJI Celebrates Sportsmanship & Excellence at Annual Track and Field Championships

After a 3 years hiatus, the SJI Annual Track and Field Championships returned with a bang! The theme of this year’s championship is “Unleashing the Athlete Within: Celebrating Sportsmanship and Excellence”. Leading up to the finals of SJI’s 113th Annual Track and Field Championships, two rounds of heats for the 200m, 800m, 1500m Shot Put and Long Jump were held at Academy of Singapore Teachers. Our Josephians were very competitive and motivated to do well in their respective events.

On the day of the finals, the event began with the traditional March Past led by the SJI Bagpipers and the Fraternity Captains to cheer for their respective athletes. The event was declared open by Principal Mr Justin Pierre after the Athlete’s Prayer was recited by Edmund from the Michael Fraternity. The events kicked off with the 100m, 400m followed by 4x100m, 4x400m, Fraternity Race and Lasallian Invitational race.

At the finals, the Fintan Fraternity led from the start to the end. Lawerance Fraternity put up a good fight against Fintan Fraternity throughout the day of events but lost narrowly to Fintan Fraternity by 20 points!

For the first time in several years, the response from other schools to participate in the Lasallian Invitational race was overwhelming! Catholic JC and St Patrick’s Secondary School ran against our Josephians who were thankful for the friendly but tough race. Many friendships were also forged with the students from our Lasallian schools. In the primary school category, the younger students were given a glimpse of how their other Lasallian “brothers and sisters” performed on the track.

The event personified the theme of the championship where sportsmanship, excellence and participation were celebrated. Congratulations to all the winners, sportsmen and women who participated! View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

March: Josephian Scales to Bronze at Inter-school Bouldering Championships

Congratulations to our female Josephian O Hao Han (LE606) who won the Bronze medal at the recent Inter-school Bouldering Championships! Hao Han scaled the climb at Xinmin Secondary School against 27 other girls from several schools to clinch third place in the A-Division Girls category.

March: Josephian Attains Bronze Medal at 10th Singapore Astronomy Olympiad

Congratulations to our Year 3 Josephian – Monai Sitavarin (MN303) who secured the bronze medal in the prestigious 10th Singapore Astronomy Olympiad (SAO) at Raffles Institution on 11 March. The SAO is a nationwide competition focused on Astronomy and Astrophysics, designed to identify potential candidates to represent Singapore in the upcoming International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) that is scheduled to be held in Poland later this year.

Comprising three distinct sections, namely the Theoretical, Data Analysis, and Observation Round, the SAO challenges participants in various aspects of the subject. The entire examination lasts for four hours, allowing participants the flexibility to answer questions in any order they prefer. The Theoretical round encompassed multiple-choice, short-response, and long-response questions, predominantly revolving around computational astronomy and astrophysics. The Data Analysis round primarily featured inquiries related to professional astronomy research involving graph plotting and basic statistics. Lastly, the Observation round entailed two components: Telescope parts and the observation of celestial objects and constellations in the night sky.

Monai showcased his strengths and demonstrated exceptional performance in both the theoretical and observation rounds, but he could not complete the data analysis section due to time constraints. Nevertheless, his overall performance was commendable, thus securing the bronze medal. His achievement in the previous year's International Junior Astronomy Olympiad in Romania, where he obtained a silver medal, had significantly contributed to his success. Monai aspires to improve his performance in the upcoming 11th SAO, exhibiting great determination and effort.

Monai with Mr Joogal, Teacher I/C for Astronomy Club (CAS)

March: Josephians Shine at SSEF 2023 with 6 Awards

Out of the five projects that competed at the SSEF 2022 Final Judging Round on 8 March 2023, four received a total of 6 awards. These four projects from SJI this year were also led by Josephians – with 3 individual Main Category projects and with one Junior Scientist category project (for Sec 1 and 2 students). Congratulations to the following Josephians:

Junior Scientist Category (for Sec 1-2 students):

Patrick Nott Pei De (ML303)-Team Leader, Jedidiah Eo Shuo (FN301) and Jaden Lee Zhijie (FN301). Their in-house project "Investigation of Nitrogen-Potassium based liquid fertiliser in the growth of broccoli microgreen" (project code – JBI014) mentored by Mr Ng Shuh Lit, won them a Distinction Video Award!

Main Category:

Aeden Chng Yu Khye (FN603) won a Silver Award (Research Attachment Programme (RAP) project 2022) for his project on "Phase Change Material Based Thin Film Coating for Tunable Optical Devices", conducted in the ASTAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) as part of the requirements for the ASTAR Science Award (Junior College) (project code – MS039).
Zhuo Chengsheng (ML615) received a Participation Certificate (RAP project 2022) for his project on "Clarification of the Water Access Pathways of the Fo Domain of Escherichia coli F-Type ATP Synthase", conducted in the ASTAR Bioinformatics Institute (BII) as part of the requirements for the ASTAR Science Award (Junior College) (project code – CO016).
Keane Tan Ee Hunn (MN616) won a Bronze Award (Science Research Programme (SRP) project 2022-23) for his project on "Novel Growth Method of Microalgae to Increase Protein Content Under Mixotrophic Conditions", conducted at NUS, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (project code – PS039).
Fan Enrui (LE510) – together with 2 other students from RVHS (Team Leader) and RGS won a Bronze Team Award (Research@YDSP internship project 2022) for their project on "Design and Analysis of an Autonomous Electric Wing In Ground-Effect Drone For Ship Chandling" mentored by Ms. Gina Tan, conducted at DSO National Laboratories (project code – ET022).

In addition, Enrui’s project also won 2 Special Awards:

James Dyson Foundation (JDF) Design Engineering Award – To recognise projects that show the design engineering thought process where students design something that supports innovation for sustainable living.
SUTD Research and Innovation Award (Aviation) – To recognize outstanding SSEF projects that demonstrated innovation and creativity in line with SUTD’s next phase of growth in four key economic sectors of aviation, cities, healthcare and sustainability, supported by capabilities in artificial intelligence and data science. SUTD awarded a total of 10 awards to 10 projects, with 2 Awards focusing on the applications in Aviation.

March: SJI Table Tennis Teams Win Double Silver at NSG South Zone Games

The NSG 2023 Table Tennis (South Zone) competitions began since 1 February and concluded on 3 March. Throughout the tournament, the SJI B and C Division teams showcased their skills and determination, winning several matches against their opponents. The players displayed excellent techniques and strategic play, which helped them secure their victories. They worked cohesively as a team, communicating effectively and providing support to each other, which contributed to their success. Both our B and C Division teams performed exceptionally well to reach the finals, where they faced off against our perennial rival, Raffles Institution. Despite the loss and winning second place for both Divisions, our boys showed great sportsmanship and congratulated their opponents on their win. They displayed resilience and determination throughout the tournament, which earned them respect from their opponents and the audience alike.

Ong Yi Dong playing his best against Raffles Institution	Aaron Wong playing doubles against ACS in the semifinals

The boys’ exceptional performance at the South Zone Table Tennis competitions is a testament to their skills and the dedication of their coaches and teachers in-charge. Their hard work and dedication have paid off, for them to reach the finals of the NSG 2023 where they will meet formidable opponents from other schools at the National level in Term 2.
🏓🥈#TeamSJI

March: SJI Badminton Takes 4th Place in NSG B Division South Zone Games

Despite fielding a team of only 7 players from the original 15 as half the team was down with flu, the SJI Badminton B-Division team did not disappoint at the 2023 National School Games (NSG) South Zone competitions that concluded in March. Led by Jerome Ng and Ratul Ramachandran as the Overall Captain and the Year 3 Captain respectively, the team continued to show its prowess and tenacity to bring home excellent results in the first round.

Towards the end of the season, the SJI team was matched up against ACS (Barker Road) for the 3rd and 4th placing on the final day. With one of our key singles players down with an injury, the SJI team drew level at the end of the 2nd doubles but could not overcome their 3rd singles player who was able to bring the edge into the game. The team has fought hard to win the 4th-place medal at the South Zone games and this experience has definitely prepared them for a better showing in the Nationals in Term 2.

March: Gold for SJI Sailors at Singapore Youth Sailing Championships

Returning from a three-year-long pandemic-imposed hiatus, the Singapore Youth Sailing Championships brought with it glamorous sailing conditions allowing for twelve races to be conducted over the four-day event. Following a long-drawn battle at the top of the leaderboard, SJI is proud to announce that our sailors Russell Yom (FN604) and Felix Koo (FN401) overcame the odds to emerge national champion and under-16 champion in the ILCA 6 Division respectively. Not to be outdone, Kenan Tan (FN401) also clinched the top spot in the ILCA 4 category, thus ensuring that SJI triumphed with the national title in 2 out of the 3 categories that we fielded sailors in. Well done, SJI sailors!
🥇#TeamSJI
📸 Photo credit: Kit / Donovan Ho for Singapore Sailing Federation

Russell Yom

Felix Koo

Kenan Tan

March: Josephians Are Winners at ViaRT Competition

Our artistic Josephians shine again at the annual ViaRT art competition that was organised in support of the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) “Say YES to Waste Less” campaign. Based on the theme of the competition “Before Semakau Landfill in 2035”, the inspiration or theme behind each piece of art should relate to the Semakau Landfill or any other sustainability topics.

Congratulations to the following students from Josephian Arts Programme for their achievements in ViaRT!

Marcus Ee Jun Wei (FN403) - The Most Artistic Award: 1st prize

Isaac Low Tze Shui (ML201) - The Most Artistic Award: 3rd prize

Cohen Seah Jia Hern (MN302) - "You Made a Difference" Category: 3rd prize

The artworks of Isaac Low and Cohen Seah, as well as other finalists Jotham Foo and Aaron Tan, will be auctioned at ViaRT’s inaugural artwork auction on 24 March from 6pm - 9pm. (RSVP required via email: info@viart.green).

All auction proceeds will go to charities including Zero Waste Singapore, Bluestar Charity Asia and the ViaRT 2023 programming.

ViaRTauction2023

March: SJI Tennis Team Wins Bronze in NSG B-Division Championship

Our B Division Tennis boys team defeated ACS (Barker) 4-1 on 9 March to clinch 3rd place in the National Schools B Division (Boys) Tennis Championships! Well done, boys!
🎾🥉👏
📸 Photo credit: Samuel Lim (ML403)

February: Singapore Junior Boys Tennis Team victorious in Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Singapore Junior Boys’ tennis team emerged victorious on 18 February, winning the ITF World Junior Tennis Asia Oceania Pre-Qualifying Tournament by defeating Kyrgyzstan in the finals at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

SJI’s Zachary Sng (pictured left) was part of the squad, together with Luke Ho Jie Xi (Raffles Institution) and Allen Leong (Victoria School), who were led by Singapore Tennis Association (STA) National Training Squad coach and Team Captain Kiren Kumar, played a nail-biting doubles decider, and won straight sets 6-4, 6-1 after a tie on the singles match played earlier in the day.

During the 6-day tournament under extreme conditions that saw participation from 14 countries, the Singapore Boys team topped their group matches defeating perennial arch-rivals Malaysia 3-0 and Yemen 3-0. They progressed to the quarterfinals defeating Lebanon 3-0, and Turkmenistan 3-0 in the semi-finals before defeating Kyrgyzstan 2-1 in the finals to claim a historic win.

This is the first time that a Singapore team has won the ITF Junior Tennis Asia Oceania Pre-Qualifying Tournament. They will continue to the Asia Oceania Finals Qualifying to be held in Kuching, Sarawak in March where they will face the powerhouses of Asia tennis comprising 16 teams including Australia, Japan and Korea.

📸 Photo credit: Singapore Tennis Association

February: Commemorating Total Defence Day

About 20 Josephians from our Uniformed Groups joined in the commemoration of the 56th War Memorial Service at the Civilian War Memorial last Tuesday 15 February, Total Defence Day. Chen Leqi from St John Brigade represented SJI to lay the wreath during the War Memorial Service.

The students who attended the War Memorial Service reflected on the nation’s past and the importance of Total Defence. Abhinand Ram Koottala (Year 3), “I feel proud as I am able to pay respects and pray for the civilians who sacrificed their lives so that we now can lead a peaceful life.”

Fellow Year 3 Josephian, Muhammad Khalid, shared, “I have learnt from the exhibition that each individual can contribute to the defence of Singapore by carrying out simple daily routines. I can educate my friends and family on what we can do to keep Singapore safe and united. I can spend more time with my family and friends and try to understand one another’s feelings and views they hold.”

Viewing artefacts at the Exhibition Hub

Reading stories about war heroes at the Exhibition Hub

Josephians at the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce Industry

February: SJI Hosts Swift Innovators’ Summit

SJI hosted the 5th Swift Innovators’ Summit on 11 Feb. This annual event also called the Swift Accelerator Programme, saw graduating students showcasing the apps that they had developed and published through the 180-hour accelerator. 5 SJI students (Chan Yap Tong, Chong Jian Hang Geoffrey, Damien Lau Jia Hui, Lim Zheng Xuan Daryl, Zachary Pak) were amongst this cohort of 56 students who participated in this accelerator programme supported by IMDA, Apple and TinkerTanker. Guest-of-Honour SMS Mr Tan Kiat How presented the graduation certificates to the students.

February: SJI Hosts Swift Innovators’ Summit

February: Empowering Future-ready Josephians through learning, living and leading

The Inaugural Celebration is a school tradition and the first formal school assembly that formally marks the start of each new academic year when the entire Josephian community comes together in thanksgiving and prayer. It is the culmination after a month of orientation and authentic experiences when the school comes together to celebrate its sense of being a Lasallian community. At this celebration, SJI officially welcomes the new addition to the school – Year 1 boys, Year 3 Scholars, and Year 5 JC students, teaching and non-teaching staff members.

Josephians gathered at this assembly as a praying Lasallian community, remembering the presence of God and adoring the Will of God for SJI through the Eucharist Mass in the new academic year. The celebration is anchored on the Principal’s Address, which puts forth the direction SJI is charting ahead as a Catholic, Lasallian school for the 2023 academic year with the theme - “Empowering Future-ready Josephians through learning, living and leading”. Fr Edward Seah who celebrated the Eucharistic Mass, also blessed the school colours and the symbols that represented the various faculties of the school. View more photos at: SJI Flickr Albums

February: Josephians Bond at Year 5 Orientation Week

SJI welcomed the new Year 5 Josephians to our family on 3 February. Their new JC journey in SJI began with the Orientation Camp “Nova Aurora” (which means “New Dawn”), which saw them bonding over games and forming new friendships with new classmates and their tutors throughout the following week.

Welcome to SJI - Ora et Labora! 💚🤍 View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

January: Being Future-Ready Through SJI Work Experience Programme

As part of our Education and Career Guidance (ECG) Programme, SJI embarked on its inaugural Work Experience Programme (WEP) for all the Year 4 Integrated Programme (IP) students where students were assigned to various external organisations to learn and gain valuable work experience for a period of 2 weeks from 9 to 20 January before they resume school in Year 5 in February.

Through WEP, the students gained a greater self-awareness as they explored their career interests and were able to better understand the world of work beyond school. Several students also shared their interesting work experiences at the WEP closing ceremony on 1 February.

Choo Yi Ming, who was attached to Changi General Hospital, shared that his WEP experience provided him with valuable insight into what doctors do on a daily basis. It also allowed him to connect with professionals in the field and clarified doubts he had about the medical field. The doctors were very caring and explained everything to him patiently.

Matthew Oon commented that his experience at the Spectra Secondary School, a specialized school for Normal Technical students, was very interesting as he shadowed the teachers and helped out in the lessons. He observed that the teachers were very caring and often went the extra mile to foster a positive relationship with their students, such as getting to know students better after school, so that they can be a positive influence in their students’ lives.

Joseph, together with his teammates Bavaesh and Daniel had an exciting time at the Nanyang Business School. In the first week, they were attached to the Academy of Career Excellence (ACE) where they attended talks and gained exposure to business, marketing and finance. In the second week, they were attached to the Undergraduate Programmes Office (UPO) where they were involved in event planning and marketing campaigns. They gained first-hand experience learning about the prerequisite and skills required for business-related careers.

January: Josephians Represent SJI at International Science Youth Forum

Three Year 4 Josephians – Premanandan Dishnu (LE401), Ciaran Condron (LE401) and Nathaniel Cheng (ML302) and Science educator Mr Wong Chee Choy represented SJI to take part in the International Science Youth Forum (ISYF), a prestigious science enrichment programme for top research students from all over the world. Hosted by Hwa Chong Institution, the ISYF aims to benefit not only students but also Science educators as it provides a rare and valuable platform for eminent scientists to interact and share ideas with young budding science and mathematics talents as well as build capacities of science educators.

The students attended the 5-day Science Camp from 15 to 19 January, which included dialogue sessions with Nobel laureates and eminent scientists, excursion to research institutions, cultural exchange events as well as sightseeing around Singapore. For the project challenge, the students worked in small groups with peers from other local schools and international delegates and learned how to create a Rube Goldberg machine – a chain reaction type machine to perform a simple task. The SJI team also shared their school project on the use of orange peels as a natural bio-adsorbent to remove harmful ammonia in fish tank water at the poster exhibition.

January: Josephians Welcome the Lunar New Year

From CNY paper-cutting, calligraphy, lantern making, and spring couplets design conducted during the CNY tradition lessons to the Inter-Class CNY Decoration Competition, Josephians joined in the festivity to celebrate and welcome the Lunar New Year on 20 January. View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

January: SJI Sailors Race to 2nd Place at Singapore SailGP Regatta

SailGP Inspire Photo (Photo credit: Chloe Knott for SailGP)

As part of the inaugural Singapore SailGP regatta, SJI sailors Russell Yom (FN604) and Kenan Tan (FN401) from the Singapore Sailing Federation were selected to participate in the SailGP Inspire WASZP Racing series. Apart from being provided with an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse into the internationally acclaimed event, the boys pitted against some of the very best Under-21 sailors in Singapore for the chance to represent the Nation at the SailGP Inspire Grand Final held in San Francisco. With unyielding light winds throughout the series, racing took place in immensely tricky conditions just meters away from the East Coast Park shoreline. After three days of extremely tight racing, SJI is proud to announce that Russell and Kenan have ultimately emerged as joint vice-champions in the male division. Congratulations!

January: Clothing Merchandise for a Good Cause

January: Josephians Reach Out to the Community

As part of their Values-in-Action (VIA) project and in partnership with the People’s Association, the entire cohort of 360 Year 4 boys helped and guided senior citizens on the redemption of their CDC vouchers from 4 to 11 January. Besides teaching the elderly how to redeem their vouchers online using their SingPass and printing out vouchers at 36 community centres around Singapore, the Josephians also reached out to the merchants and hawkers to encourage the adoption of the CDC vouchers at their shops or stalls.

Ably led by the Year 4 student leaders from Prefectorial Board, the boys started planning the manpower schedule and worked on the translation of basic conversational terms and scripts to dialogue with the elderly since December 2022.

Find out more about what the boys did in Shin Min Daily and Berita Harian.

January: Welcoming the Year 1s to the SJI Community

The Year 1 Orientation Programme resumed with much excitement and fanfare after a 3-year hiatus, to welcome the youngest Josephians into the SJI community. Besides the overnight camp, the Year 1s spent their first week exploring the various CCAs, from sports to the uniformed groups and performing arts.

The fortnight-long orientation programme concluded with the Initiation Ceremony and the long-awaited campfire on 13 January, celebrated with more than 700 parents, students and alumni. There were many firsts at this year’s Orientation Programme, one of which was introducing a cohort batch song, “We are the Young.”

The 2023 Year 1 Orientation Programme continues to reiterate our focus on community, and it is through this community of Peer Support Leaders, Peer Support Facilitators, CCA leaders, new friends, and teachers that the Year 1s will grow and develop in SJI. The brotherhood and friendships forged show the significance that we continue to be with all – a community that cares and serves. View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

January: Year 3 Josephians Bond Through TABA

Embarking on a new journey in upper secondary, the Year 3 Josephians discovered the importance of community and being a person for others at TABA - Together and by Association. During this two-day programme held on 3 and 4 Jan, the boys learnt about their own calling to be servant leaders and the importance of class community. They began with a class envisioning exercise where facilitators guided the boys on the importance of working together as a class. The students analyzed their own strengths and personality profiles through the DISC assessment which in turn contributed to classroom discussions on how each of them was called to be active contributors to recognising the vision and goals of their class.

The second half of the TABA programme sent the students on a trip to East Coast park for a morning of sandcastle building. Students were guided in designing and constructing these sandcastles which resulted in a time of fun, laughter and camaraderie while not forgetting the important skills of working together as a community.

The TABA programme was to prepare the boys for the challenges ahead and to remind them of the Lasallian charisms of being in association with one another and with the last, the lost and the least. TABA concluded with a Paraliturgy conducted by the Form Teachers where this same message of the Founder St John Baptist De Lasalle was reiterated and contemplated upon. View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

January: SJI Celebrates 2022 GCE O-Level Examination Results

SJI congratulates our Class of 2022 who has performed very well in the GCE O-Level examinations. All 228 boys who sat for the GCE O-Level in 2022 will advance to junior colleges and polytechnics for their post-secondary education, with 97% of the boys qualifying for junior college. 100% of our students received at least 5 GCE O-Level passes. 53% (120 boys) achieved scores of 10 points or less (L1R5).

SJI is proud of our Class of 2022 who have performed very well in the GCE O-Level examinations. They testify to the holistic education that SJI provides.

Summary of SJI’s GCE ‘O’ Level Examination Results	2022
Candidature Size	228
% Passing with 5 'O' Level Passes	100%
% advancing to JC or Polytechnics	100%
% advancing to JC	97%
% scoring 5 Distinctions or more	69%
% scoring 10 points or less (L1R5)	53%

Mr Justin Arul Pierre, Principal of SJI, says “We are very proud and happy for our boys who have risen to the occasion and performed very well in spite of having to navigate various challenges and make adaptations to their learning over the last three years. Throughout this challenging period, they have supported each other, shown tremendous resilience, persevered, stayed the course and worked hard to achieve these results. The O-Level results of the Class of 2022 are an affirmation of the quality of the balanced and holistic education offered at SJI.” View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums

January: SJI Releases 2022 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Examination Results

Congratulations to our Class of 2022 for their outstanding results achieved at the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) November 2022 Examinations! All 266 IBDP students passed and were awarded the International Baccalaureate Diploma, with an average score of 41.3 out of 45 points. This is higher than the national average score of 39.48, the global average of 30.91 and the Asia-Pacific average of 35.6 out of 45.

IBDP Results by SJI Class of:	2022
Number of students	266
Diploma pass rate (%)	100%
Average points out of maximum 45 points	41.3
Number of students with 40 or more points	214
Percentage of students with 40 or more points	80.5%

The Class of 2022 includes 117 boys who were admitted to SJI at Secondary 1 in 2017 under the 6-year Integrated Programme that leads to the IBDP in years 5 and 6. The results achieved by our Class of 2022 is evident of a trend that the SJI IBDP relates well with students who enjoyed high academic expectations from the programme. They have found joy in learning by being critical thinkers and risk-takers who pursue their interests and passion by moving beyond their comfort zone to serve the community even during the pandemic.

Mr Justin Arul Pierre, Principal of SJI, says “The Class of 2022 has demonstrated that resilience, determination, effort and great faith in their ability to overcome challenges can produce good results, despite having to navigate through the various disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The students exemplified the very best of being a Josephian – by staying the course with faith to keep learning, through service to help each other through the examinations, and as one community to look forward with hope. The excellent results testify to the work of the competent and caring teachers who are always prepared to go the extra mile and they have done all this in the face of the more demanding circumstances of this pandemic time. The school is immensely proud of their achievements and wishes them the very best as they move on to seek their passion in their future endeavours.”

As a Catholic and Lasallian school, SJI is committed to developing every student’s character and to helping them realize their academic potential so that they become men and women whose education empowers them to make a positive difference in the world. The IBDP results of the 2022 cohort are an affirmation of the quality of the balanced and holistic education offered at SJI. View more photos at SJI Flickr Albums