Congratulations to "The Firefighters" (Year 3 students Joanne Teo, Aditi Bharade, Nur Sabrina, and Aum Sebin) on winning Project Aspire! Organised by the Singapore Committee For UN Women, Project Aspire is a social entrepreneurship challenge for all students in Singapore, aged 15 to 18. Through the programme, students learn about gender equality and entrepreneurial skills. Participants brainstorm and develop a social business that addresses gender inequality issues in Singapore, with the opportunity to win prizes and potential seed grants to make their ideas a reality.

Their business idea was to set up an online store to sell gender-neutral toys, to eradicate the stigma of association to gender-specific toys and promote curiosity, freedom to experiment and to learn, regardless of race or gender of the user. Their ingenious project was selected as the most investable idea!

Congratulations to Year 5 IBCP Theatre student, Matthias Teh, on coming in first in the Youth Category of this year’s 24-Hour Playwriting Competition. Year 3 Theatre student Gabriel Chia's impressive submission also secured the third place in the same category.

The 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2016 is presented as part of TheatreWorks Writers’ Laboratory Writing & Community Programme, in partnership with the South East Community Development Council. Held at Gillman Barracks this year, the venue combines art, history and heritage to form an inspiring backdrop for the competition.

Year 1 Music student, Sawa Keishiro, shared the stage with international pianist Tedd Joselson at the Inaugural Concert of the Reuben Meyer Concert Hall on 5 June 2016. Keishiro played two duets with the maestro, and performed solo in the first half. His solo performance included Schubert's Impromptu In E Flat Major (Op. 90 No. 2), Brahms'  Ballade In G Minor (Op. 118 No. 3), and pieces by Chopin.

The concert was reviewed on The Straits Times Life! (D6, 7 June), and Keishiro was praised as "a promising talent who can go far". Read the concert review HERE.

Congratulations to Year 4 Theatre student, Justin Lee, who was placed third in the Just Wright competition this year with his play, LIBRA. He was one of the three Year 4 SOTA students who attended the 12-hour drama script writing workshop and competition.

Just Wright is an annual drama script writing workshop and competition hosted by and held in Raffles Institution. Our students had the opportunity to interact with students from other schools and glean insights from two professional playwrights, Ms Faith Ng and Mr Joel Tan, who were invited as guest speakers to share their experiences in theatre and facilitate the script-writing process.

Read more about our students' experiences and an excerpt from Justin's play HERE.

(Photo credit: iFly Singapore)

Congratulations to our Year 2 Visual Arts student, Kyra Poh, and her partner, who took part in the 2016 Bodyflight World Challenge!

The pair emerged first in the two-way artistic category with their creative routine to the signature James Bond soundtrack, and won second in the two-way speed category.

2016 Bodyflight World Challenge is the world's largest indoor skydiving competition and was held in Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, on 1 and 2 April 2016.

(Photo credit: National Book Development Council of Singapore)

Congratulations to Year 2 Visual Arts student Dorothy Yuan, who emerged as the 3rd Runner-Up in the People's Choice Award in this year's All In! Young Writers Festival 55-word Fiction Competition!

The 55-word Fiction Competition is an online competition, for which participants write a story of 55 words, and post their entries on the All In! Young Writers Festival's Facebook page. Dorothy's entry garnered 25 likes.

Passion is like candles, flame dancing on the wick when just lit, alive and glowing.

However eventually a strong gust of wind blows or the flame evaporates into the atmosphere, a trail of smoke lingering in its wake.

The faint aroma remains, a mirage of the flame’s presence; figment of imagination only unclothed upon sight.

The All In! Young Writers Festival is an annual festival for aspiring writers aged 13 - 25 years old. Participants have the opportunity to meet a variety of writing mentors and professionals from industries such as publishing, broadcasting and blogging.

Check out the other entries HERE.

Year 6 IBCP Visual Arts student Samantha Chua's artwork for the Betwixt Festival was displayed near the entrance of Sunshine Plaza at Bencoolen Street from 26-28 February 2016. The festival is part of an ambitious art movement that aims to bring artistic and academic awareness to digital interactive art and introduce it as a recognised cultural product.

Entitled 'The Conversation', her work consisted of small wooden sculptures with ultrasonic sensors embedded. Upon sensing activity in their surroundings, the kinetic blocks would be activated and tumble around the display space.

Through her artwork, Samantha had hoped to turn a transitory space, which people would simply pass by without much thought, into a place that they could linger and appreciate.

Last Shot – A Documentary on Film is a film by four of our Year 5 IBCP students, Andre Chong (Theatre), Lim Zeharn (Visual Arts), Lim Zeharng (Visual Arts) and Hsueh Kai Ling (Visual Arts), and is supported by Matchbox.

Shot in digital cinematography - the advent of analog photographic film after 200 years of development today, Last Shot – A Documentary on Film aims to preserve the diminishing art of film photography. The film flashes back to a time when you were limited to 36 precious exposures instead of unlimited burst rates today. As we rapidly gravitate towards purely digital photography, the film cries for remembrance of where it all began. With that, hopefully the often overlooked complexity behind an image can flourish again in the eyes of the future generations.

Watch Last Shot at https://youtu.be/1Vm3Ym0AIvQ

Four of our Visual Arts IBCP students recently participated in SCOUT, an exhibition
of 25 emerging artists held at the Gillman Barracks during the Singapore Art Week.

The first of its kind, SCOUT was a pop-up exhibition housed in converted shipping containers and featured emerging practices in Singapore’s contemporary art scene.
Year 6 IBCP student Gillian Rubiyanto Chen En and Nur Aqilah Binte Hassan, Timothy Ng Jinzhi and Yap Soke Kee from the 2015 IBCP graduating class were among the 25 promising Singaporean artists selected and whose works reflect the socio-cultural fabric of present-day Singapore and the accompanying concerns and strategies of contemporary art.

Photo Credit: National Arts Council

Congratulations to Year 4 Music student Ronan Lim on winning the top prize in the Senior Category (Violin) of the 2015 National Piano & Violin Competition! He was also selected by the judges to receive the distinguished Goh Soon Tioe Award, which is awarded to the top performing Singapore violinist at the National Piano and Violin Competition.