Excelling at work and at play
CHUAH BEE KIM
2009/11/02
The demonstration of artistic talent and academic achievement at Sekolah Seri Omega’s Prize Presentation Day explains why the private school’s enrolment rate has been growing at the rate of 20 per cent per year since its establishment six years ago. CHUAH BEE KIM is called to the principal’s office
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| The school’s curriculum include traditional ‘guzheng’ lessons, which results were proudly brought to the stage on its Prize Presentation Day. |
SEKOLAH Seri Omega's Prize Presentation Day at the hall of Southern College in Johor Baru was packed with 1,250 students and over 400 parents and guests.
Year One and Two pupils, dressed in the national costumes of various countries, kicked off the show with the song Love Makes Our Life Livelier.
This was followed by a group of students performing the Cicada Song on violin. Year Three and Four pupils the trooped on stage to render a medley of Somewhere Out There and Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
Not to be outdone, Year Five and Six pupils went up to perform Top Of The World.
The guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument, was played by lower and upper secondary students, with the juniors performing The Heritage and the seniors, Call Of The Ocean.
Finally, the stellar cast of high achievers in academics and extra-curricular activities like chess and ping pong were called on stage to receive their prizes. The school prefects were also awarded certificates of appreciation by the school principal, Ooi Chong Beng.
More performances were rolled out after that. They included a recital of Hansel and Gretel by the choral speakers, and Chopin's Waltz by the violinists.
The school choir, Singing Club, paid homage to Michael Jackson with Heal The World, after which students, Lee Sin Yee and Jessnie Yee, delivered a graceful ballet performance of Swan Lake.
Professional musician Cheong Hoon Keat presented Whisper Of The Snowbird on er-hu, a Chinese music instrument known in the West as the Chinese violin.
The noise of the over 1,000 students filling the hall at the school's seventh prize-presentation day is a far cry from six years ago, when the private school was established with just 200 students.
The enrolment rate of the school at Sutera Utama, Johor Baru, has grown at an amazing rate of 20 per cent a year.
Next year, it will share its two-hectare compound with Seri Omega International School.
Ooi said the school recruits professional musicians to teach the choir, guzheng and er-hu because it believes students should excel not only academically but also in extra-curricular activities.
"We have 75 teachers, and we are increasing that number by 10 next year.
"Sekolah Seri Omega offers a Malaysian syllabus, but Seri Omega International School will offer the British syllabus," said Ooi.
The international school is allowed to have Malaysian students make up 40 per cent of its total intake.
Ooi said in the past, parents sent their children to study in Singapore but there are good schools in Johor Baru these days, which spare them the expense and hassle of travelling across the Causeway.
Ooi, who holds a master's degree in science, was a secondary school teacher in Terengganu for three years. He then served at the Teachers Training College for 17 years before leaving to establish Seri Omega.
"I am strict about discipline. If teachers or school staff were to come across students loitering in shopping centres without a parent, the students will have to see me at my office the next day.
"We have 15 security guards in our compound at all times to ensure the safety of the students at school," he said.
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