Cambridge IGCSE
For the first and second year of High School (14-16 years old), I took part in the Cambridge IGCSE curriculum. This is the international version of the British GCSE. One has the opportunity to get a basic understanding of a wide variety of subjects, and get an internationally recognized qualification for each. These are the subjects I chose:
- English Language
- World Literature (in English)
- Co-ordinated Science (Physics, Biology, and Chemistry)
- Extended Mathematics
- Additional Mathematics
- Mandarin – Foreign Language
- Global Perspectives
- Geography
- Design and Technology (Systems and Control)
The subjects in blue were electives or optional at UWCSEA East.
CREST Project – Final Reflection
Here is my reflection presentation. Here is a summary of what I think is the most important reflection that I did there. For my CREST project, I made a picture book with the aim of educating young children and their parents about the environmental impacts of clothing...
“Planet of the Humans” – Is the backlash truly warranted?
At the end of this year, I joined the group Solar for East, which aims to raise money to install solar panels in the school and integrate environmental awareness more into our school curriculum. We are currently at the stage wherein Grade 10s like myself and Grade 9s...
Online PE Week 2 Reflection
This week, I think I really exceeded my goals for social and mental wellness. This is because I learned a lot about Irish grammar, and I did several calls with my friends. This week helped me realize just how helpful watching children's TV really is for language...
Online PE – Week 1 Reflection
In PE, we have recently been given the challenge of taking part in physical, mental, and emotional wellness throughout every week. We all had to set goals, and put some evidence that we are working towards them on a padlet. This was my goal: Mon: 11/5 - 30 min body...
Soil and Soil Erosion – Why We Need Another Agricultural Revolution
Before this year, I had never stopped to think about the soil. But now, after learning about soil erosion in geography and going through our recent PSE unit on the environment, I feel I have a much better understanding of it. What Have I Learned About Soil?...
SWOT Analysis for Science Projects
Strengths: I am interested in various areas of science, so I will probably be interested in and committed to the subject I choose Independent working is my strength, as I tend to be quite efficient and focused on the project when I do it I am very organized with...
Who Do I Want To Be During Lockdown?
After almost a month of a "circuit breaker" (a near-total lockdown), the Singaporean government is slowly easing measures. It had been quite difficult to adapt to online academic learning and service meetings, but I feel like I am quite well-adapted now, and...
Skills I have learned through Service
Throughout my almost 5 years at UWC, I have learned lots of soft and hard skills through service. And yet I had never really sat down and reflected on them. To assist in brainstorming, perhaps I should list out all of the services I have been a part of: Grey Area GC...
CAIE Design and Technology Coursework – Resilience
One of the biggest challenges I faced while manufacturing is figuring out how exactly my selected circuit works. At the very beginning, I selected the Future Kit 444 to use, due to its ability to count down from a wide range of time ranges and its digital display,...
CAIE Design and Technology Coursework – Evaluation and Empathy
One major characteristic of the DT coursework is that we are designing for one specific client. This means that we have to be in communication with them to ensure that the final product meets their needs as well as possible. Therefore, I interview my client multiple...
Analysis of an advertisement – “Go See the Folks Before They Come See You”
This is an advertisement urging university students studying in various cities and towns in Ireland to take the Irish train system to go home and visit their parents. This is clear because "the folks" is often used to refer to one's parents, and most of the text on...
How Culture Is Reflected in Visual and Textual Language
Due to IGCSE exams being canceled, we are continuing to attend lessons, which focus on teaching skills and preparing us for IB English. Lately, in IGCSE English Language and Literature, there has been a focus on texts from specific cultures, and of visual texts...
CAIE Design and Technology Coursework – Product Development and Critical Thinking
A major buzzword lately is "critical thinking", the ability to make choices objectively. I believe that this is fair enough, as it has helped me in many areas of my academic journey, namely my DT major project. Design requires a lot of decision-making to produce the...
CAIE IGCSE Design and Technology Coursework – Manufacturing and Adaptability
I faced a lot of difficulties while manufacturing for my DT Major Project. Circuit components I thought were in the workshop were not there, manufacturing methods turned out to be impossible, I misunderstood my circuit (twice!), and my product broke in half. And yet I...
CAIE IGCSE Design and Technology Coursework – Design Drawing and Communication
For several of the components of my systems and control coursework, I utilized sketching and Fusion 360 rendering to communicate what the final product should look like. This was for both the ideation phase, in which I brainstormed what kind of housing would fit the...
Should Writing Be Definitive? – A Reflection On “The Fat Boy” by Owen Marshall
Yesterday in English class, we analyzed the short story "The Fat Boy" by Owen Marshall. It is, as you might expect, about an overweight child. But there's more to the story than that. This is is because the child is murdered for crimes that the author arguably depicts...
Grade 10 Personal Statement
My name is Ran McClean. My name is also Ran Okochi, or Okochi Ran, or even, as some would say it, Ookoochi Ran. I don’t really like the last one, though it does make typical teenage me snicker. Although it is not the name on my main passport, I am increasingly...
Transition into Grade 11 and the IB
It is now the Monday of the week my IB subject form is due, and I finally have 6 subjects lined up. They are: HL Global politics HL Physics HL English language and literature SL Japanese literature SL Design and Technology SL Math: Analysis Although I immediately...
Career Path Exploration and Career Carousel
During and after the Chinese New Year break, the school started to introduce the IB subject selection process to us Grade 10s. So, I have received the official options form and we've been given online resources such as the subject brochure and a transition website....
September Progress – Healthy Living
These 2 sessions have been a lot about working on the fundamentals of flute-playing, such as music theory and good sound. One element that I worked on a lot was loosening the lips when playing, and instead puffing them out. The way I held them tight wasn't really an...
A Reflection on Grade 9 Service – NYAA
The video is linked here. I posted this so late as I had forgotten to take this out of the drafts folder.
Joining the High School Service Executive
Towards the end of my third year at UWC, I decided that I wanted to contribute something more meaningful to the school than chores for various college services. So, after some encouragment from friends, I signed up to be a College Service executive officer. After the...
August Progress – Healthy Living
This month has been much more productive flute-wise than July. Along with some Grade 5 theory (the dreaded 6-sharp and 6-flat scales), I am getting back into singing and playing more systematically. With a new book full of simple songs, I intersperse normal playing...
June Progress – Healthy Living
This month, I spent 3 of the weeks almost completely away from any music. This was because I was hiking in the Himalayas (see the post Ladakh and Buddhism). However, the last session of the HS orchestra was very productive. We played Divertimento by Mozart, and due to...
May Progress – Healthy Living
May has been relatively less productive as far as my goals for Healthy Living go, although I suppose that has at least partially to do with my having achieved my goal. Now, I am pondering creating a new goal. Perhaps I could log my work in a future activity I may end...
Never Fail, Just Learn: Paper 2 (MCQ) for Science
1 emoji that represents my performance: : > I got 2 questions in total wrong, and they are: I had written that the right ventricle would have the thickest muscle wall, as I thought that it was the ventricle that pumped blood to the body and thus needed to be the...
My Personal Statement
I have just begun High School, which is well-known as a time of personal growth and self-reflection. So it is kind of strange to report on “who I am”, as I have seen that change so much just over the last 3 and a half years. However, I think that what makes this...
April Progress – Healthy Living
Due to the Spring holidays, I could only work on my Flute-playing in the second half of the month. As well as this, my flute teacher couldn't come, as he was sick. However, I have been doing some flute work. In the HS orchestra, many people (Grade 10s and 12s) have...
March Progress – Healthy Living
This month is quite an exciting one, as this is when I participated in another school concert, From All Corners, on the 26th. So, this month's practises were very focused on ironing out details for the concert and making sure that we can 100% nail our roles. For me,...
Rainforest Restoration Project – Session 6
We had to do more general chores today, and we quickly split into groups to do necessary jobs around the nursery. I ended up doing some watering (which I now do as I wait for the others to arrive), breaking up the soil (increasingly popular with the male members),...
Rainforest Restoration Project – Session 5
This session was a slightly unusual one, as myself and 3 other new members of the group volunteered to go to Mr Hunt's office and help with contributing to the East-Dover Rainforest Restoration Project blog. Strictly speaking, 3 of us wrote the first blog post the...
Trust and Intimacy
When I went to the assembly we had on Wednesday, 26th of March about trust and intimacy, I felt that I didn't learn much. A lot of it was things I had eventually figured out for myself or had been introduced to through online information pages. We discussed what trust...
Rainforest Restoration Project – Session 4 and Family Festival
One of the biggest events on service's calenders is the campus Family Festival. It is essentially a school fair with rides, second-hand goods shops, and food. A lot of these goods and services are provided by the service groups, with additional stalls set up for...
How can UWCSEA be more LGBT-inclusive?
From what I have seen and experienced, this campus is relatively accepting of LGB people. Although it does get joked about, and people would probably keep quiet about their identity; it is not that dangerous if such information leaks out. For example, there are quite...
NYAA Progress Video
The video file size is too large to be uploaded to this portfolio, but here is the link to it.
International Women’s Day
Why do we have International Women's Day? Because in today's world, even in the most progressive countries, women are held back by deep, subtle ideas that they are less than men in many things aside from being beautiful. If something she does doesn't make her...
Rainforest Restoration Project – Session 3 – Tree Planting at Woodleigh Park
Although it was only my third session, it was time for us all (the Dover members included) to bring some of our "babies" (saplings) to their future homes to grow up. To do this, us East members carried 6 of our saplings down to the service bus bay and into our bus,...
Rainforest Restoration Project – Session 2
This session, we looked in more detail at why we are doing this project, discussing the benefits of trees -especially local - in Singapore. From flood management to temperature control, and biodiversity encouragement and mood lifter, I learned even more benefits than...
Rainforest Restoration Project – Session 1
As an introduction, the RRP is a UWCSEA service wherein we volunteer to take care of saplings of local trees in our tree nursery, and then help plant them around the island. We mostly get our trees from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Although the first session was...
February Progress – Healthy Living
One major thing that has slowed my progress in flute playing so far has been how stiff my fingers are. Whenever I press on the keys, they press hard, and then they spring off as if the flute were on a flame. I've noticed that this creates unnecessary tension in my...
Buddy Session with 8GTs
On Thursday (February 28th), we had another meeting with our grade 8 buddies. To prepare, Kai and I had lead the creation of a slideshow, with top tips for the Grade 8s on how to deal with Grade 9 in general. BhN and DJC had met up the week before to plan the meeting,...
“Flying Toilets” and Compassion: A Lifelong Social Worker Shares What Motivates Her
"Flying Toilets" and Compassion Fiona Herbert shares why she's devoted her life to helping children in need When one thinks of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, one usually thinks of safaris. Yet it is also home to millions living in slums and is the resting ground...
January Progress – Healthy Living
January has been a slightly inactive month flute-wise, with the HS orchestra being cancelled twice and the external classes being easygoing. Due to Kahani and Aida rehearsals, we also didn't have Mr TM as conductor the 3rd time, but a newcomer, who was very cheerful...
Reflection on First Grade 8 Buddy Meeting + Analysis of Self
On Thursday, 24th January, we had our first meeting with our Grade 8 buddies. We were told of this a few days before and assigned buddies. In two sessions beforehand, we got into groups with DJC and each made surveys (this is mine and Ella's) with questions for our...
4 Familiar Faces and Their Stories
On the second day of the Writer's Fortnight Carousel, I attended the talk by 4 IB students at our school: Zubin, James, Anthony, and Arman. I knew Zubin before from being in the HS Law Society with him, and James knew because he was obviously the older brother of my...
“Flying Toilets” and Compassion
Nairobi, known for the safaris and wildlife in its vicinity, is also home to millions living in slums. And Precious was a hair width away from being among those who die there. The slums, like many, have their sewage problems. Hence, the “flying toilets”, water-filled...
A teacher in a prison
Chris Huntington looks like the last person you'd see in an American prison. At first glance, he is the archetypical, skinny American teacher – the one with the students rolling their eyes in the films. And yet, he taught medium-security prisoners so that they can...
The cheerful man’s response to racism
Sanje is one of the most uplifting people one could ever hope to meet. A smile or a joke almost always bursting through him, a whole room feels like his best friend when he is there. And yet, there have been quite a few incidents throughout his life he, of all people...
Omer and his Cousin with Autism
I do not pretend to know much more than average about Autism Spectrum disorder, aside from observations of my older cousin (who is thought to be somewhere on the spectrum) and half-remembered medical facts. So it was a great opportunity to learn more when my...
Feature Articles – Journalism
What is a feature article? A newspaper or magazine article that delves deeply into one topic or story. They tend to be quite sensationalist, and often emphasise how that topic/person is part of a story or narrative. Instead of reporting on overall trends or public...
Learning in English – Term 1
This term in English I have learned a lot of new skills, vocabulary, and new things to pay attention to more in life. English is both the subject I am best at, and one that is among my top 3 favourites, so I hope that this learning of things I find interesting or...
December Progress – Healthy Living
December has been quite the eventful month for me, especially when it comes to music. Most obviously, on December 11th and 12th, the HS orchestra performed, first as part of an event for the little kids called Afternoon with the Orchestra, and the second being...
November Progress – Healthy Living
Now is a time of great excitement in the silver-plated part of my brain, as the school concert Wavelengths is coming up very soon. Both Poem for Orchestra and Warrior Legacy are becoming pretty accurate orchestra-wide, and the souls of them are really starting to...
Communication, Communities and Relationship building planning
This Thursday we got into groups and looked over the skeleton plan for the unit on the OLP. After this, we were told to pick 6 topics we want to do, as well as the order in which their various activities will be sorted. This is the plan I created: (write more and...
Am I on track with my goals?
So, at the beginning of the year and at the very ends start of this blog, I made a post about the goals I had for the year. As I write this, I realise that I am not 100% sure what they even are, let alone whether I've achieved them. Now that I have gone through all...
October – Mentor Learning Update
Due to the October break, there isn't much to report on mentor time this month. In the middle of the month, the whole grade 9 was given a task: To make a 1-minute music video promoting one of the VIA strengths. We had to dance or perform or act over music. The...
October Process – Healthy Living
This month, due to the October break as well as my flute teacher taking some master classes in America, I have not been able to do as much formal practise. However, to compensate, I have been doing extra practice on my own. For this, I have mostly just been working...
1st Three Way Conferences of the Year
On the 24th of October (a Wednesday afternoon), I had my first Three Way Conferences of the year. All in all, it wasn't very surprising. A lot of the things I was told were already in my mind. For example, many subjects; namely Geography, Biology, and Maths; discussed...
September Progress – Healthy Living
For my NYAA healthy living, I am working on my flute playing. This month, I have been working mainly on improving how well I play individual notes, and especially avoiding "voice cracks". Adding to that challenge is adjusting to my second flute. This is because I must...
How Can I Manage My Workflow?
How do I manage my learning? Usually, around 15 minutes after I got home, I create a to-do list for the day, based on the OLP calender as well as my own projects (my own research, practising my flute playing, etc.). Within this, I sometimes make it so that everything...
Singapore Laws Discussion
On Tuesday, the 18th of September, we as a Mentor Class had a bit of a discussion about laws in Singapore. We started by looking at our own knowledge of laws in Singapore. We knew from before that Singapore was a very strict and conservative country. We raised points...
Loops of Loneliness
There are many ways in which how I act may inform how a person may perceive themselves. This may be through explicit messages such as me saying that they are good at this or bad at this, or implicit, in my body language with them, or how high I prioritize them. I know...
Being Kinder to Myself
I find that I have never really had much confidence or real love for myself, and even as a young child, I consistently thought that the other kids had huge egos (even if in retrospect, I can see that their confidence was normal for their age.). There are many root...
2018 – 2019 Activities and Service Selections
It is time for the annual (semi-annual, really) struggle. The choosing of activities and service from the eye-stretchingly long list on the CIMS system. However, this year, I had some help in the service department. This was because, this year, there was a Service...
10 Strengths
My own Strengths: I am a very curious person, and always want to learn more about the things that I learn. This helps me to be very engaged in class, and keep doing my semi-constant research projects. Ambitious. I am quite a perfectionist in my projects and dislike...
5 Books That Shaped Me As A Person
The Harry Potter Series - J. K. Rowling Although I think it as a generic, slightly dull series now, the infamous Harry Potter series got me hooked on books with more complex themes than my childhood reads of Michael Morpurgo and the like. Harry Potter no.5 delved into...
My Four Favourite Words
What would make me love a word? It's meaning, the sound of it, how it looks, perhaps the rhythm of it? It could even be my mood at the time. But perhaps it doesn't matter, and I should just share these wonderful words with you: Slander: How satisfying it is to say. It...