Punggol Shines in Singapore

Punggol Primary Shines from the front gate to the classroom!
On 26^th February, 2010, our first experience arriving at Punggol Primary School in Singapore set the scene for a great program. As soon as the Sports Challenge van, carrying Jacqui Finnegan, Richard Heptinstall, Margie Thompson and myself (Kate Lynch), pulled through the gates for our briefing session, we were cheerfully greeted by a beaming security guard.
The good feeling continued as we met the administration staff, who were helpful as ever, through to meeting the kindest man of all: the pastoral care teacher, Khamil!  
Khamil gave us a comprehensive tour of the school, showing us the beautiful central gardens with massive fish pond, and included other interesting details of Singapore for our foreign benefit. Aided by the bright colours of the school’s building, we started to feel excited about our 4 day program.
The following week, on Day 1 of our program, we met 50 eager children in a wonderfully air conditioned room and then split into our teams. The children in each group responded well to our team building activities and discussions on team work and aspirations for the future. The beautiful, airy, wooden-floored hall was a great setting to run activities such as ‘The Grid’ and ‘Abacus’, and some of the older students were even challenged in the activity ‘Toxic Waste’ (all experiential ‘hands on’ learning activities). 
We were so impressed with Punggol students’ well mannered behaviour and enthusiasm, and left each day feeling good about the childrens’ progress. On our fourth day, we said our goodbyes with the promise to keep in touch through Epals, on the Sports Challenge website, and the ever supportive Khamil took us out to try the local flavours for a relaxed debriefing session.