During the June vacation, Madam Foo and Miss
Lau caught up with Miss Wong Bick Guan, our new Vice-Principal,
and had an interesting chat with her. In her unassuming and
gentle nature, she gave us some insights into her posting
to Fairfield as well as what is in her heart for the School.
| Q: |
I understand that you were
the HOD for English in your former school before you are
promoted as Vice-Principal. Did you apply for the position
as VP in Fairfield so that you can serve your alma mater
or that you were head-hunted by the School Management
Board or the MOE? |
| A: |
It was a MOE posting to Fairfield.
When the school was looking for a VP,  the
School Management Board hoped to have an old girl to fill
the position. I did meet with the Board members prior
to my coming and being accepted by the School. As such,
I was identified by MOE and my name was submitted to the
Board. |
| Q: |
Did you have any special
reasons for coming to Fairfield? |
| A: |
As you had rightly pointed
out, the School is my alma mater and the posting came
about so wonderfully. I am happy and feel privileged to
be posted to my alma mater. I am looking forward to a
very exciting time here. |
| Q: |
Were there apprehensions? |
| A: |
There were. One way to look
at it is that there is a lot of pressure because a larger
part of my circle of friends is from Fairfield, so there
will be a lot of people with a special interest as to
how things are going in the school and I'll probably become
the official spokesman whenever I'm with my friends. My
principal, from my previous school, encouraged me to reframe
the apprehension in that there are so many people I know
who are connected to Fairfield, I would therefore have
a lot of support from them. |
| Q: |
Why did you choose this career
track (i.e. from a teacher to a HOD and then to VP)? |
| A: |
I think for the simple reason
that when you are on the Leadership Track, you have a
wider sphere of influence and more importantly, the ability
to effect a greater change. While it presents one with
a challenge, it can be a source of apprehension as well
as the ability to exert a great impact. |
| Q: |
How do you see yourself playing
the role as VP in an established school, like Fairfield,
which has a history of 116 years? |
| A: |
My role as VP is to assist
and support the Principal to the best of my ability. I
will try in the shortest possible time find my place and
my role in the School so that I can help it grow in the
direction it is leaning towards and to add to what is
already here - a rich tradition, culture and history.
My part is to build on the old - those things that keep
us rooted and to build on values that the School stands
for and our past achievements as we look towards the future. |
| Q: |
MOE is stepping up in its
efforts in sending teachers for local and overseas work
attachments in areas outside education. What are your
views on this? |
| A: |
I think it can only be for
the good of teachers as they will be able to look at the
learning process and to see how other people do things
and more importantly, derive the "essence" and
apply it to education. This is especially important since
we want our students to pick up such skills of transferring
their learning in order to meet the challenges they may
face in the future.
Though the holidays of teachers may be sacrificed as a
result, their willingness to volunteer to participate
in such programmes really reflects very well on them.
|
| Q: |
Could you share with
us some of your fond memories of your school days?
|
| A: |
I appreciated the many
activities organised by the teachers that helped create
many fond memories for us. For example, the many activities
organised by the teachers and the celebrations where
students had to put their heads together and think of
an item to present and the performances the class had
to put up together.
My CCA then, the Girl's Brigade, was a big part of
my life as it provided me many leadership opportunities.
Of special significance to me were the old girls who
would return to serve in the Organisation year after
year and help the CCA to grow. As a student then, I
"caught" values like loyalty and love for
the School via the CCA.
By Secondary 4, I started to look forward to going to
school every day and treasured the days in school as
I realised that such days were numbered as I approached
the end of year. |
| Q: |
What do you think of
teenagers today as compared to your time as a student? |
| A: |
Teenagers have generally
remained the same in the sense that they would always
want less work and more play. However, teenagers today
are a very privileged lot in terms of their access to
resources made available to them in the classrooms. These
resources made available to them seem almost limitless
compared with those in the old days.
I hope they know and feel they are blessed and will make
good use of what they have and not to take the resources
for granted. |
| Q: |
I'm sure the staff and the
students would like to know you better. Could you please
tell us a little more about yourself? |
| A: |
I always enjoy a good book. I also have
a pastime which can be described as "seasonal",
occasionally going for walks outdoors. At times, armed
with a pair of binoculars, I would go bird-watching over
at places like Pulau Ubin and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
When on holiday with friends, I would have my pair
of binoculars as well as a book which tells me about
the kinds of birds the particular country is home to
so that I would be able to observe and identify the
various species.
There is no particular colour that I like. Given a choice,
I would choose green but I am not crazy about that.
|
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We would like to wish
Miss Wong a rich learning experience and a challenging
stint in Fairfield in as much as she contributes to the
well-being and development of the teachers and students. |
