Secondary News Desk

We gathered to honor and commemorate the achievements, growth, and resilience of our graduating 8th-grade class. As they embarked on their journey from middle school to high school, we took pride in recognizing their accomplishments and nurturing their aspirations.

The 8th Grade Transition Ceremony symbolized a significant milestone, bridging the gap between childhood and adolescence, and paving the way for new opportunities and challenges. It was an opportunity for students to reflect on their academic accomplishments, personal growth, and lasting memories made during their time in middle school. During the ceremony, students were acknowledged for their outstanding academic achievements and positive contributions to the school community. This event served as a reminder of their potential and the importance of continued dedication to education and personal development.

Families, teachers, and friends joined together to celebrate this momentous occasion, showing their support and encouragement as these bright young individuals embarked on their high school journey. A big thank you to Mr. Jeff for his inspiring speech, Mr. Kim and the band drumline, Chef Sarah for the amazing food, and Mr. B for setting up the venue. As well as, the presentation of certificates by Mr. Hornby. We aimed to inspire and motivate our graduates to pursue their dreams and reach their full potential. We were grateful to have welcomed you to this memorable event, filled with pride, excitement, and anticipation for the bright futures that lie ahead for our 8th grade students.

Michael Whittaker – May 26, 2023

On May 19, 2023, Raffles American School hosted its annual Secondary Showcase. It was a huge success thank you to all the teachers, students, and parents.

As the Fine and Performing Arts grew, the showcase was divided into Middle School and High School performances. Middle School starting at 4 pm and High School starting at 7 pm.

The showcase included the art, band, and dance from Middle School and High School. Our student performers and artists have done a fantastic job. The teachers could not be more proud.

Mr. Kim

Middle School Showcase Slideshow:

High School Showcase Slideshow:

Student Council cabinet candidates gave their speeches to the secondary student body on Friday before final votes were made. RAS would like to salute all students who were willing to be brave and offer to lead during the 2023-2024 school year. Regardless of the results, we would love to include your voices and ideas next school year.

Ken Morrison – May 12, 2023

Grades 9 & 10 celebrated Term 3 Academic, GLO and Sports awards in the Black Box this week.

We are proud of their achievements and congratulate all award winners!

 David Hornby – May 11, 2023

8th grade science has been studying Force and Motion, Newton’s Law. Students designed various Investigations to demonstrate these principles.

Designed Investigations:  

1) Marble Roller Coaster (Insulation pipe and Cardboard made): To demonstrate how much the marble’s potential energy at the beginning of the track is converted to kinetic energy at various points along the track.

2) Ferris wheel:  Solve a specific design problem with limited materials,  building a wheel based on their design and reflecting on what changes needed to be made, and demonstrating periodic function and motion. 

3)  Hydraulic Robotic ARM:  Solve the problem of moving objects by engineering and design by using hydraulics to move and control parts to move the objects by using simple materials.

   Tirupathi Nidamanur – May 9, 2023

 Student Council is thankful for the students who participated in the Coin War.  Over the past two months, students were asked to donate some of their coins to a charity that aids flood victims in Malaysia.  Elementary raised: 430.5RM and secondary raised 1517.85RM, for a total of 1948.35RM. In the secondary, Grade 7 won the coin war by earning 4105.5 points. This was a big surprise in the final 24 hours of the event because Grade 8 had been leading the coin war for most of the past two months.  Points are earned through a combination of donating coins as well as ‘attacking’ another class’ coin collection by donating paper money in their coin jar.  We are very thankful for the 5 teachers who volunteered to take a gentle pie in the face to encourage the students to keep donating.  The secondary community came together on Wednesday at lunchtime to watch five representatives of the winning team ‘share a pie’ with the five teachers. Special thanks to Mr. Vin, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Swift, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Emil. It was fun to see the students’ big smiles today during the event. We want to send a sincere thank you to all students and congratulations to Grade 7.

April 26, 2023

The StuCo”s Masked Singer competition held its final round in the auditorium last Wednesday. It was wonderful to be able to hear the singers live and to vote in real time!

Here’s to all the talented student performers who rocked the stage at StuCo’s Masked Singer competition!

Friday Basketball was a great approach to building relationships with the students and promoting a positive sense of community with our faculty and students. I had a great time playing against our students. Though it was a tough game, I find it a win as now students are consistently talking about the game and how they have enjoyed it.

Joseph Kim – April 14, 2023

On Saturday, April 8th 25 secondary students committed to a worthy service learning field trip to Folo Farms.  Folo stands for, “feed-our-loved-ones”. The farm is dedicated to using organic waste, which is transformed into microbes-rich compost. The results are the production of nutritious vegetables, fruits, and juices. 

Students participated in teams and went about set tasks of tree pruning, tree planting, weeding, mulching, and juice making.  Everyone worked diligently all morning and their efforts were greatly appreciated by the leaders at Folo.  

This field trip is another highlight of service learning at RAS that has a positive, and sustainable impact on the local community – fantastic job by all involved!

Ms. Kim and Mr. Hornby – April 10, 2023

One truckload Less

On Saturday, April 1^st, over 50 secondary students from Raffles American School joined forces to help clean the shores of Desaru beach near Tiara Resort. The students worked diligently to pick up a truckload’s worth of garbage. The playground near the beach had cigarette butts and deserted lighters scattered on the ground where children should be able to play safely. The shores of the beach had a plethora of plastic, both large pieces and small pieces that animals or babies can confuse for food. The sand was littered with processed food wrappers and forgotten items from beach visits on days gone by. One pair of students even found a sealed container full of crabs, sand, and water. With the crabs being returned to their rightful home and the garbage bags loaded onto the truck, we were happy to leave the beach cleaner than when we arrived.

Remember that anytime you visit nature, take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints.

   Katrina Schiller – Monday, April 3, 2023

Raffles American School students from grades 6, 7, and 8 spent four days applying their GLOs and real-life problem-solving skills when visitingPenyabong. As they were part of exciting beach activities and coastal cleanup. At RAS, we believe the classroom is only one piece of the learning puzzle and in order to develop all aspects of student learning needs to extend outside of the classroom walls and into the real world. Students are exposed to natural learning environments where they are challenged physically and mentally to analyze, evaluate and reflect on their surroundings and their role in it. Well done to the Raffles American School students in Penyabong! 

For the students’ first adventure of Explore Week Langkawi they got to apply their GLOs and real life problem solving skills when visiting a children’s center. We split into 3 groups; Mural, Community, and Landscape, to set about improving the lives of the children at the center. Lots of hard work and fun was had by both Raffles and the Langkawi children. Our students were a credit to themselves and our school in the way they conducted themselves. A very well done to all!

March 13, 2023

During House Block this week, secondary students competed in an Inter House game of Ultimate Frisbee. For some, this was their first experience of the activity and so they spent a PE lesson learning the basics before the tournament. All students thoroughly enjoyed the event; especially the middle school students who put on some slick passing to score quickly and effectively. 

11th & 12th grade students worked incredibly hard to fully plan and lead this fantastic Inter House activity for all students in the secondary school. Such was the quality that the entire event ran seamlessly and the leaders were confident enough to make adaptations on the spot to increase the enjoyment of the players.

The overall winners were the GREEN house. Congratulations!

   Garth Taylor – March 9th, 2023

Our Secondary School invited a local martial arts academy to perform a Wushu Demonstration today!  After performing various styles, including acrobatics and use of swords and spears, performing members related the benefits of their practice. These include body and mind discipline, team bonding and spirit, and both individual and team recognition in local, national, and international competitions.

Tuesday, March 7th, 2023

Applied Digital Skills class is preparing for Women’s History Month by researching important women in computer history. They are creating both writings and podcasts so that they can change the style for different types of audiences. This week we are also working with Augmented Reality via Apple’s Reality Composer program.  Students are printing their podcasts to life by interacting with the Augmented Reality elements. For Example, if you touch the rocketship on the screen, you can hear JiHyuk’s podcast about Margarete Hamilton’s contribution to NASA.  Raymond didn’t like the frame 3-D photo frame provided by Apple, so he created his own!

.  Ken Morrison – March 1, 2023

Sixth graders have been learning about Cultural Diffusion and the Silk Road trade in Social Studies class. After some initial research about the geographical factors that affected the Silk Road trade, its various land and sea routes, and its impact on the exchange of goods, resources, and ideas, students worked in teams to design a Board Game that integrated their research of the Silk Road. The Board Games aim to simulate the journey from Ancient Europe to China and include the various challenges travelers faced, including bandits, pirates, and the heat of the desert. Winning the Board Games requires players to have knowledge of the Silk Road. Upon completion of the board games, students will play each other’s games to review their knowledge and understanding before their unit test.

   Gisou Ravanbaksh – February 28, 2023

Raffles American School is so proud to have hosted an honor band over the past weekend and to have put on  such a fantastic display of musical talent. Bravo to all the Raffles students for putting on such an amazing performance!

RAS 9th & 10th grade students are currently putting themselves through their paces in the fitness suite, with a focus on strength and conditioning as part of their resistance training unit. Students are using different free weights to exercise different muscles around the body. The focus is on technique and form to ensure the muscle is isolated and safe.

  Garth Taylor – February 23, 2023

The first movie night of the semester was a Minion-tastic success! We had a blast watching those little yellow fellas in their Rise of Gru adventure. It was truly a despicable delight to experience it with our fellow Raptors. Can’t wait to see you all at the next screening!

Friday, February 10th

A difficult start to our badminton season; especially with a 90-minute drive over to Repton. The A and C teams started off very lethargically against some very talented Repton players which saw the RAPTORS take a 9-0 deficit. However, a fantastic win from our A team doubles of Alfie and Lucas started our winning streak. The B team stepped up and quickly demonstrated their domination against the mixed Repton team, moving the shuttlecock from side to side to manipulate their opponents. This brought the final score to a much more respectable score of 9-6.

Lots for our U14 badminton players to learn from this experience including how to avoid the big smash of a strong opponent, and how to get high energy levels even when fatigued from an awful drive to the venue.

However, I must congratulate the students on their ability to turn a difficult situation around.

When objects collide the results can be complicated. Yet even in the most chaotic of collisions, as long as there are no external forces acting on the colliding objects, one principle always holds and provides an excellent tool for understanding the dynamics of the collision. That principle is called the conservation of momentum. For a two-object collision, momentum conservation is easily stated mathematically by the equation:

𝐩𝑖 =𝑚1𝐯1𝑖 +𝑚2𝐯2𝑖 =𝑚1𝐯1𝑓 +𝑚2𝐯2𝑓 =𝐩𝑓

Where m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, v1i, and v2i are the initial velocities of the objects (before the collision), v1f and v2f are the final velocities of the objects, and pi and pf are the combined momentums of the objects, before and after the collision. In this experiment, we have verified the conservation of momentum in a collision of two air-track gliders.

  Emil Arbudu – January 27, 2023

Every Thursday, our Secondary School students take the opportunity to tutor our elementary students to learn various instruments. We have a clarinet, flute, saxophone, and other instruments that the elementary students choose to learn. This provides a teaching experience for our secondary students but also a fun collaboration with elementary students where they learn from their older peers.

Joseph Kim, Band Teacher

The Secondary school World Language department organized a New Year celebration in Malaysia, China, Korea, Japan & America. The fun-filled event is celebrated with the introduction of culture, food, games & craft from these countries. Grade 10-12 World Language students have displayed their leadership, critical thinking, cooking, and entrepreneurial skills by planning, preparing, and promoting this event.

On Wednesday, January 18th, the Secondary School celebrated accomplishments in GLOs, academics, and sports.  Our MCs were brilliant and many students were recognized for their achievements in Term 2!  Congrats to all who received an award and their parents too!

   David Hornby, Principal – January 18, 2023

The Fine and Performing Arts department went on their annual field trip to Refugee School, Orphanage, and the disability rehabilitation center, Jaro. 

Our musicians, dancers, and artists got to share their talents with the local community. On top of that, our Service Learning Committee from Student Council was able to provide goodie bags and Christmas gifts for each location.

   Mr. Kim – December 13, 2022

A massive congratulations to our very own RAS 7th grade student Lisa! Champion (gross) of the Girls 10-12 division in the Srixon Malaysia Junior Development Tour, played Nov. 29th – Dec. 1st.

We are very proud of her and can’t wait to see what’s to come.

The Grade 12 Applied Philosophy class has been developing the ability to build arguments and support claims with evidence. They are also developing their public speaking skills this term. This week, they were tasked with researching an innovative gene-editing technology called CRISPR Cas9. After some initial research, they had to determine whether or not they believed using this new gene editing technology is ethical. They were then randomly allocated into teams to debate the question, “Is it ethical to use CRISPR Cas9 to enhance human senses and abilities?” An in-class debate was held today with four judges, Mr. Lyle, Mr. Hammond, Ms. Dewi, and Ms. Martin, deciding on the winning team. The judges decided that the Negative Team won the debate.

Mrs. Gisou Ravanbaksh – Dec. 1, 2022

With COVID mandates lifted earlier this school year, things are beginning to go back to normal, and we are able to enjoy watching our Raptors teams compete! JSAC is an athletic league comprising 8 international schools, Raffles included. In the culmination of the Term 1 season, the best of our team joined with the best of other schools in JSAC to compete against a U18 school from Pakistan.

This week we are learning about energy and in this Lab Activity we will try to answer the questions:

What is the total amount of mechanical energy for a pendulum bob at three different locations along its path? How do the results compare to the expected results? And the purpose is to determine the total amount of mechanical energy of a pendulum bob at three different positions along with its trajectory and to compare the results to the hypothesis.

   Emil Arbudu – Nov. 23, 2022

StuCo hosted its annual Talent Show on Thursday at lunchtime. This has been a tradition to motivate and encourage the musical culture at Raffles American School. Students have slowly but surely stepped out of their comfort zone and taken risks to perform in front of their peers. We are so proud of all the performers for participating in the talent show. It was fun to feel the excitement in the cafeteria as students cheered on their friends. The winning three performances received gift baskets from the StuCo Store. Our winners included First Place: Kai You & Friends, Second Place, Selina & Lisa, Third Place: Lloyd.

   Mr. Ken Morrison – Fri Nov, 18, 2022

To match this Critical Thinking theme of this term, the Student Council Class Representatives organized a Trivia Night event in the Black Box during Wednesday’s House Block.  Student Council provided snacks and drinks from some of the funds they have raised this school year.  Students worked as teams to answer a wide range of trivia questions. One Grade 10 student said that the event was run well and was a very new concept to her. Students also appreciated the cookies that Student Council purchased from Chef Sara and the excellent RAS Kitchen Staff. The winning teams will be announced next week in Homeroom.

A solid start putting 8 points on the scoreboard in the first 4 mins saw the Raptors take a dominant hold of the game very early on. Substitutions were made in order to give all players the opportunity to get their hands on the ball and to put their presence in the game. However, in the middle section the Stellar team found their footing and started to notch up the points slowly. At half time the score was 16-8.

In the second half, the fitness and the quality of the Raptors shone through. With the Stellar team only scoring 2 more points in the second half and the Raptors regularly putting points on the board, the gap grew.

Special Thanks:

Carey (Gr10) & Jay (Gr12) for refereeing the game so well. The Drumline for the musical accompaniment. Zooq for coaching the team as an extra. Thank you to all for your help and support.

   Mr. Garth Taylor – Thur Nov 3, 2022

Students and parents joined together with secondary teachers to celebrate their achievements over Term 1.  At the beginning of the Secondary Awards Ceremony, teacher’s recognized the GLO awards; organization, and research attributes.  In addition, students from grades 6-12 earned certificates for academic achievement in both core and non-core classes.  There were a record number of high school students who received a GPA over 3.6, therefore, a large percentage of students were on stage. Congratulations to all students for an outstanding term 1, we look to celebrate again in January 2023.

   Mr. David Hornby – Wed, Nov 2, 2002

Saturday, October 29th

Nearly 100 students and staff had a chance to relax and enjoy a spooky Halloween party together on Saturday.  Student Council and Senior ExCom collaborated together with the extremely supportive RAS Boarding Staff in the weeks leading up to the event.  Students entered the party through a safe Haunted House led by Boarding Staff.  Students then walked through a spectacular recreation of some of the scenes of the popular Netflix Stranger Things series. Ms. Natalie and Mrs. Branch spent weeks preparing the deep details to help the students get into the fun spirit of the event.  Music was provided by a RAS graduate who came back to help the students dance the night away in their costumes. Students also had an outdoor chill area where they could chat with friends and enjoy snacks prepared by the Seniors and Mr. Kho. But like the grandfather clock in the show, time eventually ended as the students went home with many fond memories. Additional thanks to Ms. Fortuné, Mr. Chris, Mr. Kho, the Security and Maintenance teams, and our volunteer chaperones for making the event a success.

Mr. Ken Morrison – Sat Oct 29, 2022

This week’s House Block saw over 140 students come together in an Inter House Volleyball Tournament. Split into Middle School and High School teams, each house played each other in an adapted 9v9 tournament. The increased numbers on the court enabled greater rallies to take place and some incredible pick-ups from the players. This certainly got the crowds entertained and made for a much more competitive event. Once all the games had been played, the results from middle school and high school were added together to find the RED house were the champions; doubling the points of BLUE house who came second, GREEN third, and Yellow house fourth.

A magnificent sporting afternoon, with an incredible atmosphere from the supporting students and the music from the band.

Thank you all so much for helping make SrExCom’s very first event possible. All of you were an essential part of the successful event! We learned so much from the movie night and we are looking forwards to holding more movie nights and other events this year that are even better!

Kind regards,

Olivia McCallum (On behalf of SrExCom)

In Mr. Tiru’s 8th-grade chemistry class students used red cabbage juice to classify various chemicals into Acids and Bases by using red cabbage juice as an indicator.

Grade 10 Technology students finished their first unit on Artificial Intelligence (AI). through self-paced lectures from a Google Engineer, a learning journal, team presentations, and learned and exploratory extensions, they learned how AI is used in areas such as customizing vocabulary-building games, fine-tuning translations, asking for help from humans when needed, music, and art.  Students even had a chance to co-write a poem with an AI ‘author’. Students’ core project was using AI to help them use Google Slides to create interactive flashcards for learning a new language with AI-assisted clipart to aid memorization.

Ken Morrison

High School Dance students went on a field trip to Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Melayu in Iskander Puteri. The RAS students taught the basics of street jazz to the host school students. They used their organizational as well as their communication skills to divide 40 students amongst themselves. The host students were quite pleased and enjoyed themselves throughout.

Student Council Homeroom leaders led their first event on Wednesday during House Block. Student Council is very proud of our newest members as they did an excellent job of planning and leading the event.  All secondary students participated in team-building activities which included a Lego contest, “find the difference”, ball toss, and a memory game to match cardboard cutouts of teachers’ faces.  Each game was designed to include some elements of our GLO focus this month of “Organizational Skills” Student Council will lead one House Block each term this year. They want to thank their friends for the active participation from the student body.

Students were finishing up their first contemporary choreography. This routine involves a lot of self-expression, ground techniques and transitions. Body balance and rhythm are the two key elements of this choreography.

This experiment illustrates various physical and chemical properties of metals in the periodic table. Students can clearly differentiate various physical ( melting, evaporation, density, state, and appearance of metal) and chemical reaction indications (heat, gas production), and also understand what safety measures are involved in carrying out this experiment.

Tirupathi Nidamanuri

In a hard-fought battle against Crescendo, the RAPTORS  came away with their heads held high. Whilst they didn’t find the back of the net, they certainly overcame the difficulties from the first half to be the stronger team and created many shooting chances.

Some fantastic individual performances, but hopefully we can develop our teamwork for our next game against Marlborough

Player of the Match (as voted by the players):

Kim  – amazing performance in the goal, preventing clear-cut goal opportunities

Special Mention:
Mr. Hornby for refereeing the game
Mr. Kim and the band
Mr. Kho and StuCo

Computer Science students are advancing well toward their coding Goals. Each Friday, they make ‘how-to’ videos that show what they learned that week when coding in Python through the CodeHS website. Students get real-world experience by making a team website where they publish these tutorial videos that they make each week. Students also advocate for themselves and share helpful tips by typing short summaries each day about what they learned. This Summary Dashboard helps others know who might be able to help them when they get stuck. We will share this website with the RAS community near the end of the 1st Semester.

Ken Morrison

Wednesday, September 14th

What a magnificent start to RAPTORS sport for the U18s. They played incredibly well and dominated the game. With a little more practice they could start to develop the build-up play that I started to see glimpses of. Solid in defense, creative in midfield and dangerous upfront is how I would describe the team overall yesterday. Well done to every player.
Player of the Match (as voted by the players): Charlie Taylor – Very creative and dangerous on the attack.

Garth Taylor, Athletics Director

Saturday, September 10th

Over the weekend our Band Department had the privilege to perform in Bangkok for the BIBF, and they made the school PROUD! A message from our Band Director:

What a night! Thank you for sticking with us throughout this trip! We had a fantastic turnout! One of the first collaborating concerts since Covid restrictions. It brought so many tears to the audience to see all of the students work hard and present their work.

We could feel the energy, excitement, and eagerness throughout the whole auditorium. Bravo to all of our student musicians.

Our student musicians started the day with additional 4 hours of rehearsal prior to our concert. After the concert, we went to celebrate at Baiyoke Tower. At the tower, we were able to see downtown Bangkok from the top. We enjoyed our dinner buffet there as well. 

Thank you for your support throughout this trip. 

Mr. Kim

Band Director

We have made it to Bangkok! Around 8:30 pm local time, we safely landed at DMK airport. We started our journey around 2:00 pm from RAS departing to the airport. We spent a few hours exchanging money and grabbing a quick snack at the airport. Then we flew for about 2 hours from Senai to Bangkok. Currently, in Bangkok, it had rained heavily and caused heavy traffic. Therefore, we were only able to get to our hotel around 9:15. After our quick dinner, we are all settling down to prepare for our rehearsal tomorrow.

We are extremely excited to meet new friends and student musicians to share this experience. There are 11 schools represented and a total of 270 students!

Our student musicians are ready to represent our school!

Raffles American School Secondary Mandarin Department hosted a mooncake demonstration to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. Students celebrated togetherness by learning how to make snow-skin mooncakes.

In yesterday’s upperclassmen physics lab students conducted an engaging glider experiment. They tested their theories on air tracks with ramps to calculate how angles can affect the glider’s distance, time, and speed. This data was analyzed and used to defend or disprove their hypotheses.

In Mr. Tiru’s 8th-grade science class, students researched and presented historically famous scientists and engineers, and their monumental contributions to the scientific world. Through this assignment, our Raffles students learned how these men and women prepared the way for the advancement of science in today’s world.

Our StuCo and ExCom representatives held their leadership retreat, in Boarding, over the weekend. These students immersed themselves in high-performing team activities, to better guide their fellow classmates this academic year, and collaborate on events and a timeline for activities. The workshops focused on stewarding skills such as character development, discovering individual strengths, running effective meetings, the importance of self-care, and much more! Through a challenging yet supportive environment, our RAS student leaders are fostering a vision of service for the school community.

What a perfect day for a swim! Raffles PE juniors and seniors participated in the Aerobic Activity Log unit. Today upperclassmen participated in all of the available forms of aerobic fitness. In this unit, they will jog the track, swim in the pool, complete interval staircase climbs, and participate in Zumba. Students also learned how to measure their heart rate by hand and through the heart rate monitor. They tracked heart rates at different stages of each activity to find their “aerobic training zones” (between 120-140bpm). Student efforts were adjusted accordingly to reach this zone. For next week’s Aerobic Activity Log, the students will have the freedom to choose which aerobic activity to complete.

RAS secondary dance students are preparing for their street jazz choreography. Since this dance style demands a lot of flexibility and body control, the students are training their bodies and preparing themselves for the choreography.

It is the start of another great year and we’re thrilled to welcome back our returning RAS community. Please join us in welcoming our new students and parents! It was an exciting first day filled with fun activities–reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.

RAS Seniors ExCom held a fun Time Capsule activity to kick off their final year. They Seniors got together and wrote letters to their future selves, which will be opened on graduation day!