FRIDAY FLYER-Issue 127
13 Oct 2022
Headmaster's Welcome
So, here we are again dear reader!
Welcome to edition 127 of our Epsom Friday Flyer and to another Friday…
Before I go any further I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to our sister school, Epsom UK, on having been named INDEPENDENT SCHOOL OF THE YEAR 2022. This represents a fantastic achievement and we are delighted for Emma Pattison and our many friends and colleagues at Epsom UK.
Time really does fly by when you are having fun!
Speaking of fun, we are very excited to be hosting the much anticipated annual HOUSE CHORAL EVENT on Wednesday 19 October
This special evening will see our Boarding Houses go head to head in musical competitions.
The students’ performances are assessed on the following criteria:
- Quality of Sound
- Togetherness
- Integrity of Performance for the chosen song
- Entertainment value
We cannot wait to see what the Houses have in store for us!! What is clear is that an enormous amount of time, energy, determination and thought has gone into the preparation for this special evening and we are hugely grateful to the Music Department as well as our House staff for their support – it is greatly appreciated and cannot be underestimated.
Neither can the lessons learned by our students as they prepare together to host large scale events such as these be underestimated…leadership, resilience, time management, teamwork are but a few of the skills required and that will stand the students in good stead as they embark upon adulthood.
We look forward to celebrating the achievements of our students on the night, whether they win or not!
Celebration is a key theme of this week’s flyer as you will see as you read Carr House’s message (follow Carr on Instagram – LINK to share in Irsyad’s success in Tennis as well as to share in birthday fun and Mr Balloyo’s sack race and pinata Saturday!) as well as Angela’s…Angela is thoroughly enjoying preparing for the Diwali celebrations and has written a lovely article for us to enjoy on what she has picked up about the festival.
We celebrate the fact that we are able to come together to celebrate! The pandemic deprived us of this for far too long and this will be the first time in several years that we are able to share House Choral and Diwali together.1
Similarly we are delighted to be able to enjoy team sports once more and well done to the boys teams who played against Oasis school recently. While the senior boys did not enjoy the win that they would have liked on this occasion we want to shout out to the juniors who won with a very impressive score of 8-2
At Epsom we believe in celebrating. Ms Archibald, our Head of Maths, has introduced SHOUT OUTS. This is where we write and display small notes of thanks to or praise of others in our Epsom Community. One of our CCA (Co Curricular Activities) is ‘Display’ CCA. The aim of this CCA, as its title suggests, is to assist departments to create attractive display boards for students’ work or important messages.
We have a SHOUT OUT board in our Staff Lounge for teachers to thank and celebrate each other and we are extremely grateful to Ms Wei Teng and her Display CCA team who have created the most beautiful SHOUT OUT board for students and staff to use:
So let me conclude with a big SHOUT OUT to all who have contributed to this edition of our Epsom Friday Flyer, to our parents and wider community for their support of us as they read it and I wish you a wonderful weekend ahead.
Happy Reading and Happy Friday!
Mr Matthew Brown,
Headmaster.
Let's Celebrate, Carr!!
An uplifting message from Carr House (AKA our Green Machine!)
October has been the month of many birthday celebrations in Carr. All of these celebrations have made me think about the importance of celebrating each individual and the fact that the celebration of an individual should not be limited to just one day a year, this should be done at every opportunity.
I often tell the Carr boys that it would be so boring if we were all the same and that the diversity in Carr is so beautiful and something we ought to celebrate.
One of the definitions of the word ‘celebrate’ is to “honour or praise publicly”. In Carr we want to find as many opportunities as possible to both honour and praise individuals publicly.
Over the past couple of weeks, many boys have been singing in the house and some beautiful voices have been identified and celebrated.
Some of our boys have achieved very well in different sporting events, these are to be celebrated. The many acts of kindness showing the selfless nature of our boys is to be celebrated. The boys displaying wonderful manners to those around them is to be celebrated. The boys who are learning from mistakes they have made are to be celebrated. The boys, staff and parents of Carr that are giving up many hours of their free time to rehearse for the upcoming House Music competition are to be celebrated. Carr house leaders that give up every evening to assist staff in putting boys to bed must be celebrated. Boys who are learning in a language that is not their first language are to be celebrated. The great team of staff and tutors that work tirelessly to make Carr a home for all of our boys are to be celebrated. This list is endless… which represents yet another thing to be celebrated!
The Carr House boys and community are to be celebrated and I want to praise and honour them publicly. I hope that all who are reading this are encouraged, as indeed I was, to celebrate at every opportunity and to do as the word suggests: Praise and honour publicly!
Let’s celebrate!
Mrs Jenny Garnett
Housemistress, Carr House
Propert House Update
It has been another busy and fruitful week in Propert House.
The boys have been busy learning the music and the lyrics for the house song(we have the House Choral Competition coming up soon!) and Garrison has led a number of singing practices in house. Bryan and Leighton are busy arranging the rest of the musical items to be performed on the night. There has been a change of song and it is now sounding good although there is a long way to go!
Last week also saw our first Open Mic and a number of Propert students were involved in performing. Well done to Everest for his contribution.
Last Saturday saw a whole boarding Trip to the IOI Mall which is now the biggest mall in Malaysia. A number of students took the opportunity to go ice skating and Mr Carroll impressed the boys by sliding gracefully off the ice. Lots of the boys enjoyed the shops and the restaurants!
This week also included the house volleyball competition and the Propert teams had been practicing hard over the last two weeks. The competition saw the Junior team win two sets to nil after being 24-21 down in the second game, the team recovered to win 26-24. The senior boys team also played very well and they won their match, two sets to nil. The first game was convincing, 25-10 and then a hard fought second game saw Propert come out as victors, 25-23. Well done to all who took part, it really was a great occasion.
Congratulations to the winning Propert junior team.
This week also saw the first football fixtures of the term and the Under 19 and Under 15 boys played against Oasis School. A large number of Propert boys were involved in both teams. The under 15 team played first and in a competitive game they ran out eventual winners, 10-2. Well done to Jack Dale who scored five goals and Luke Fowler with two goals.
The Under 19 team played in a competitive well fought game and took the lead through Tom Whitney in the first half. A few defensive errors let the opposition back into the game and the final score was 2-1 to Oasis. The boys are looking forward to a possible return fixture.
Mr Nick Folwer,
Housemaster, Propert House
Discover the world of Business and Economics
By Elizabeth & Jing Yan from the BSE Society
We recently held a Business and Economics Week …
We kicked off the start of the week with an introduction to our forthcoming events, this was led by Aisha and Jing Yan. Aside from the fact that BSE stands for “Best Society Ever”, our lovely leaders illustrated what would turn out to be a fruitful and informative week.
During lunchtime, the Comfort Society hosted a session about Emotional Well-Being in the Workplace presented by Molly.
We discussed ways to maintain a healthy work-life balance through reward systems and tracking your progress.
We began our Tuesday morning by involving all the tutor groups in a (nearly) whole school Kahoot quiz.
We had questions ranging from guessing the logo/entrepreneurs or what BOGOF stood for (Hint: It’s a promotion method that can be found in stores).
One of our weekly ventures is the Instant Happiness Cafe in The Grayling Centre.
You’ll see our busy selling team, serving milo and toasts to hungry students.
In the lunchtime session, the Magazine Society (hosted by Xin Ling) talked us through “The Extent of Which Journalism Prioritises Business” with contradicting yet intriguing views and opinions.
She talked us through different perspectives and the “Ideal” versus “Reality” of journalism.
On Wednesday morning we hosted Epsom Alumni videos featuring You Cong from Durham and Alif from Warwick who are both studying Economics. They shared their university experiences as well as tips and tricks to the students on matters such as budgeting.
At lunchtime the ScienZ introduced Chemotherapy: How it Affects the Body – from a Business Perspective.
We talked about the common drugs used in chemotherapy, the availability of the treatment and the general prices of chemotherapy (ranging from RM 18,000 – 98,000)
During Thursday’s Key Stage 5 assembly, Shin presented Learning Economics from The Nobel Prize. The creator of the Nobel prize, Alfred Nobel, who also invented dynamite, made a provision in his will for a ceremony to celebrate breakthroughs in Science, Medicine, Literature and Peace. The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901. Shin focused on the award added much later in 1969: The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Later on in the day, Ann Yi, representing the Violet Society, considered whether “Girlbossing is Ethical?”
They discussed how marketing had led it to no longer be empowerment for women but rather a means to sell their products.
We were very grateful to Tan Sri Tommy Thomas for attending our Epsom Live talks moderated by Cebelle, Lynn and Mr Brown.
Tan Sri Tommy Thomas discussed recent and past cases such as the Najib trial and how he assisted the country in dealing with insolvency businesses during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis affecting South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. He closed his talk on a note of advice: that you should pursue what you want to do in the future.
Our last event was held on Friday, Ethics in Business by Woorin and Everest. Although making ethical decisions puts the company at a disadvantage in the short-term, as it can be time consuming and costly, over time, it may help maintain customer loyalty and provide good publicity/brand image of the business.
Subsequent to the BSE Week was the European Week, in which we collaborated with the MFL department, International Prefects and the Language Society on two selling events.
One was the European Snack Selling, where Ms Perrang’s homemade pancakes sold out and received a myriad of 5-star reviews! The Language Society also purchased chocolates derived from countries in Europe like Switzerland, Italy and Germany to be sold. All of the profits will be donated to alleviate difficulties faced by Pakistan flood victims.
Our other successful selling event was at the Open Mic Night on Thursday. Along with the splendid performances orchestrated by students, the BSE Society was up and running to provide the audience with drinks and snacks to enjoy during the show. We are thankful to students that participated and supported us by buying our products. Additionally, we are honoured to be part of the event as it is one of those nostalgic nights that will be remembered by Epsom students – an evening filled with songs that mingle and fuse the interconnected cultures and unite us as ONE.
Computer Science at Epsom
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND CCA EPSOM COLLEGE LEGO ROBOTICS CLUB INTRODUCES STUDENTS TO CODING
Computer Science and CCA Robotics after-school club at Epsom College is giving students an introduction to Computer Science coding: the process of writing and troubleshooting the computer language used by apps, software, and websites. Best of all, it is doing it in a fun and engaging way using one of the students’ favourite toys: LEGOs. The Club provides students with an opportunity to express their skills, knowledge, and creativity through conceptualising, designing, and programming robots.
Epsom College LEGO Robotics Club has been extremely popular with students. Approximately 20 students altogether will participate in this CCA (Co Curricular Activity) each Thursday. As part of the club, students construct a simple robot built from interlocking LEGO bricks and create a code sequence that guides the robot in accomplishing various tasks. This gives students an introduction to the simple coding systems of today’s world. Also students can build anything from Lego that is related to their favourite subject such as physics or maths or any other engineering subjects.
The motivation behind creating the LEGO Robotics Club at Epsom College was to address a nationwide and international challenge and the need to invest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and maths) education. STEAM fields are projected to increase significantly in the coming decades.
Epsom College’s goal was to encourage and facilitate STEAM-focused education which introduces students to new subjects, allows for different learning methods, and promotes creativity. The goal of LEGO Robotics Club is to introduce students to the concept of coding through self-determination and discovery.
There are numerous benefits in addition to maths, engineering, and programming concepts; the activities also incorporate problem-solving, project design, trial-and-error discovery, and perseverance. After they have built their robot, student’s tasks are to solve and create code that will make the robot stop at a specific place then go back to a specific location. If it doesn’t work out the way they want it to, the students keep working until they have found a solution.
Epsom College’s philosophy is “Even if you try a certain code and it doesn’t work out, you can try again until you succeed.”
Hands-on activities for students included:
- STEM/Robotics demos
- Robotics tournament
- Coding
- Capture the flag with robots
- Mini-engineering building projects
Economics at Epsom
Economics A-level is one of our most popular subjects. This term has seen many students engage with the subject.
As mentioned in an earlier edition of the Flyer, the ability to summarise research and findings into a shorter document / poster is a skill that is required at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Students in Year 12 are working on this with Mr Chris Carroll and here is a sample (notice the title / play on words!).
Watch this space for further updates from our Econs Dept!
Bye for now!
Special Events at Epsom
Diwali
When I first heard the word Diwali, a series of thoughts came to my mind…
Is this a festival to celebrate the darkness and light up the lights? Is it a festival just like Christmas?
Or is it a festival where people light up their houses?
Diwali is a festival of Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, which “drives away darkness with light, defeats evil with good, and defeats ignorance with knowledge”. This is a grand festival.
It was Epsom who brought me into contact with this special festival.
I learned this when Yunn Xynn and I interviewed our teachers about Diwali. The interview was in preparation for the school’s Diwali assembly. The interviews are recorded and ready to be shown at the assembly.
At that time, in order to interview, we had to collect a lot of information from the Internet. This is the first time that I really understand what Diwali is. It is not just having fun and partying all day, it is about much more than that…
We interviewed teachers and gained a deeper understanding from their answers, such as what to eat on Diwali, for example, having a big dinner with colourful rice, wearing new clothes and much more.
The preparations sounded like a wedding preparation!!! So elaborate with lots of things to do.
Preparation can start as early as you want, especially when it comes to getting new clothes. Some will buy or get their costumes tailor-made months before Diwali itself, and some may do last minute clothes shopping just a day or two before. Colours are usually bright and vibrant for the sarees and kurtas. Their attire will then be adorned with gold and jasmine flowers in the hair.
Next to prepare is the food. The usual festive menu for Diwali would be Thosai, idli, chapati, special rice dishes like biryani or ghee rice. These are eaten with lamb and chicken curry plus other accompaniments and side dishes such as vegetables and dips and sauces. I would love to try the Indian snacks, pappadams.
The preparation does not stop there, next is the decoration…
Houses must be washed and cleaned. Decorations such as LED flicker lights are hung around or above the entrance door. In the garden, decorative oil lamps are lighted all around the house making it look like a fairy tale page. Curtains, cushion covers are cleaned and washed or sometimes new ones are bought to replace the old ones. This is a good reason for an interior makeover.
Once the main preparations are done, now comes the Diwali day itself.
What do Hindus do on this day? How do they celebrate it?
In some Hindu families, the morning of Diwali starts very early with everyone having an oil bath, or cleaning themselves with oil. After a proper shower, they wear new clothes and have a family breakfast. Then they wait for their guests, friends and relatives. Malaysians call this practice The Open House, where you welcome people to your house. This is also a time to renew friendships and strengthen family ties. They will also play with firecrackers and visit other friends and relatives.
This is an overview of Diwali in simple terms but this festival is so much more than what is described here.
Diwali is a special time of getting together and sharing love and kindness.
Best,
Angela, Yr 9, Crawfurd House.
Epsom Debate Competition
As those of you who are regular readers of our Friday Flyer will know, our Prefect Team are incredibly active.
This weekend will see Epsom host a Mandarin Debate Competition, sponsored by UNESCO against Gardens International School
Well done to Cebelle for making this happen and we will update you later on the event itself!
Salut from the Social Prefects!
In the academic year 2021 to 2022, Kaith and Jayden were chosen to be our newly approved Key Stage 4 Social Prefects. Meanwhile, In Key Stage 5, we have Elizabeth, Khai Yue and Derick.
As Social Prefects, we are assigned many exciting tasks as we are in charge of holding quite a number of social events for the whole school throughout the academic year. We keep a close eye on festivals and big days so we can organise fun and relaxing activities in advance for different key stage students.
Many of us have our own personal projects and we are planning to launch these ideas before the academic year 2022 ends. Both Key Stage 4 & 5 Social Prefects are working hard alongside the staff members to create a wonderful offering for students.
One might say that the backbone of all the fun events at Epsom College in Malaysia is the hard work of our Social Prefects.
After being appointed as prefects in term 3 last year, we kicked off by helping host the Ramadan and Stargazing socials. We saw students from Years 7 to 13 engaging in traditional games, such as Congkak, Bola Takraw and Sepak Bulu Ayam, which are widely played in Malaysia to celebrate the festival of Hari Raya. It was great to see the cultural exchange between local and international students. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions, the stargazing social was postponed. However, students were still satisfied as their stomachs were filled with food from the oden stall “T9° Bar” set up by Derick and Kai from Granville and the Malaysian themed food provided by our catering staff.
To close off the 2021–2022 academic year, we held an Epsom’s Got Talent event on the night of the end-of-year dinner. Similar to the well-known ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, we too, had 4 fantastic judges who were Jing Xean, Sutri, Bryan, and Aidan, with their grand red carpet entrances. The night was filled with a wide range of different talents like the voice impression of 20 different movie characters, including Green Goblin, Loki, Pennywise, and Thanos, just to name a few, which were performed by Nicholas! A magic show that absolutely bamboozled the audience, performed by our beloved Uncle Hiro, the song “Fever” danced by Jing Yan and Sora, Dokyun Lee danced to 2 songs: Mr Chu and Obliviate, and Dokyun’s sister herself who sang Good Day! Dokyun’s sister’s performance was added at the very last minute but proved to be worthwhile as it was one of the crowd’s favourites!
All performances were judged based on the following criteria: the overall appearance, how well the performer knew their material, their stage presence, and their audience engagement. The audience were encouraged to vote for the winner of Epsom’s Got Talent, through a website. Unsurprisingly upon voting through the website, a few technical difficulties arose. This caused the MCs of the show to perform some improvised stand-up comedy to fill the time!
E.g. “How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it” – Jayden
(Apparently a lot of people know this joke)
Eventually, when the comedy was over, Nicholas was announced as the final winner for his impressive voice impressions.
As the year unfolds for a new start, we teamed up with various staff, such as Mr. Devan and Mr. Loganathan, as well as the Business and Economics Society, who have agreed to sell their wares during the Deepavali social. Some activities we have lined up for the night are : the Bollywood Song Challenge (where we will play covers of popular songs that are all sung in Hindi and people have to guess what song it is), Cup Pong , Karaoke, and (yes…you guessed it…) snacks. We hope that the Key Stage 5 students will enjoy what we have prepared for them.
As the spooky season is approaching, it’s time for the Social Prefects to shine again! After students come back from their restful half term break, we have devised a spooky and memorable night for Epsomians. What is Halloween without some dressing up? Everyone is encouraged to dress up for that night as exciting prizes await the winners. These include the Best Costume Award title. Did someone say Haunted House? Students with an adventurous spirit are dared to enter our Haunted House: ensure that you bring a partner along — trust me, you do NOT want to go ALONE. We hope to see everyone there, Happy Trick n’ Treating!
Bye for now:)
The Social Prefects.