Wednesday 3 June 2009 marked a special occasion at Tenby Schools Setia Eco Park, as the school had its official opening ceremony, officiated by Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Raja Muda Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah. The guests who attended the opening ceremony was treated to two special performances by the school choir and a speech by one of the students in addition to a special welcome address by Director of Education, Tenby Schools, Mr Robert Lloyd, followed by a speech by Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Raja Muda Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah addressing the essence of education, highlighting the importance of an all-round education to prepare the students for the future.
At the entrance to the Auditorium, where the official opening was held, the guests received a hardcover book in colours about Tenby Schools, a complimentary souvenir from the school. The book had beautiful pictures of the children and their school activities and messages from everyone involved at the management and governance level with photos, which made a personal and trustworthy impression of the people involved in the school. The book also included information about Tenby’s history that dates back to 1960, which is a nice way to tell the story of a unique school’s accomplishments and aims and is a way to unite the Tenby community around its past, present and future. A truly special gift.
Following the opening ceremony the guests went on a tour around the school to visit the many facilities offered to the students at the school campus. Being especially interested in the performing arts I was in particular pleased to see the well-equipped music rooms, not just one, but a large main music room and 3 other rooms for practicing. In addition to the many music rooms, there were also 2 large rooms for drama and 2 large rooms for arts and crafts, fully equipped with art supplies. And in front of the rooms, outside, is a amphitheater where the students can do small performances like sketches and experimental theater.
After viewing the 25 meters swimming pool, covered basketball courts, tennis courts and football field, we went on to look inside the large indoor gymnasium and I was so excited to note the big stage for the performing arts with entrances on both sides of the stage. I look forward already to see the Tenby children’s future performances there.
Along the tour guests were welcomed and greeted by the students who stood side and side on both sides of the pathway looking happy and excited with their heads bowed slightly and hands on their heads in a formal gesture to show respect for the royal guests.
Next we visited the library and even though I was already very happy and excited about what I had seen so far, my heart jumped of joy at the sight of the huge library with lots of space for the children to walk around to find books and sit around reading. The sight of the library brought my thoughts back to my native Denmark and I was overjoyed that my children would be blessed with the same fortune as I had been many years ago to have access to a proper and professional run library full of new books. I even managed to talk briefly with the full-time librarian, who told me about her role as a librarian at Tenby and I was so pleased that I will write about the library in another weblog posting.
Finally I ventured over to the DT building and was again very pleased to note a huge building full of large labs for science, computer and design technology fully equipped with all the necessary equipment and supplies.
The official opening of Tenby Schools Setia Eco Park ended with refreshments e.g. delicious sandwiches, curry puffs and an assortment of different cakes both pastries and local delicacies and a refreshing drink all sponsored by the school.
A true celebration of a school which has the children’s best interests and education at heart. I am thrilled to have found a school that lives up to my expectations and is affordable at the same time and I sincerely thank Tenby Schools Setia Eco Park for making it possible for me to give my children a good well-rounded education. And thank you for this truly special and wonderful event. I wish Tenby Schools the best of good luck and success!
Please let me emphasise that what I write in this posting is my independent opinion and I just want to express my true and positive feelings when I am happy about something and this is what I feel from the bottom of my heart.
Hi. I am a tenby parent and came upon your blog by chance. I would to a large extend agree with you on many things that I am happy about TIS. However I felt that I have to also state my two cents worth about the opening ceremony. We had 2 MCs for the day, the one who drew alot of interest was the V-Principal who is an Englishman but a BM specialist. He even had H.R.H. the Prince compliment him on his pronunciation and grammar. Well Done Mr. Crombie.
It was really great that the Royal Couple were taken to the expressive Arts and the Sports Facilities to view what Tenby has to offer. In fact H.R.H. the Prince and Princess on their own accord came to the canteen to see what kind of food the children were being served and then went to see the Library. I know this because my friends and I were sitting in the canteen with a girlfriend who happens to be a cousin of the Princess hence they came up to us and had a quick chat.
The only thing that I was saddened about was the fact that the children from the EYD ( Early Years) were not included in any activity. The children were informed by their class teachers that a real life Prince and Princess are coming to the school and they were really looking forward to at least catching a glance at them. The royal couple were not taken to see the EYD and the 3 – 7 year olds in that block were completely shun from the whole event. I know this because my daughter in Y1 was very upset when the teacher told the class that the Prince and Princess had left.
It was very sad to see little children who have been fed the fantasy of Princes and Princesses on a regular diet not be given to opportunity to even catch a glance of them.
From Ghita: Many thanks for your comments Samantha. I was also very impressed with Mr Crombie’s proficiency in BM, thanks for highlighting it. In regard to the early years, I am so sorry to hear they missed out on the whole event, which of course must have been very disappointing for them. The computer and D&T labs were not included in the Prince’s tour either, so I went there myself to take a look, and was later told that the Prince was mostly interested in the arts, hence didn’t tour the other end of the school. I am sure Tenby had planned to show the EYD, but had to play by ear, but I understand the difficulty of explaining this to small children, who have been waiting and excited to see them. Let’s hope they get a chance to see a Prince and Princess another time!
By: Samantha on June 9, 2009
at 5:37 am
Hi Ghita, for your information the EYD children did ask the Principal during their assembly the next day why were they not even taken to line up so that they can see the Prince and Princess. The Principal had no reply and was clearly stumped when the kids asked her.
It was a decision that was made by the Principal to not include them and I think after the assembly the next day, she probably realised that it was not the right call to make.
Anyway, all said and done, as you said lets hope the 3-7 year olds do get a chance to see a real life Prince and Princess some other time.
From Ghita: Thanks for sharing this information with me. Although I don’t know the reasons why the early years were not included in the event, the Principal doesn’t come across as someone who would deliberately and carelessly exclude someone, and if she did, there must have been a reason. My first thought would be that perhaps it was caused by a communication breakdown somewhere, which can easily happen in the heat of the moment, when everyone is focused on giving the royal guests as pleasant a visit as possible. I don’t write this to underplay what happened, as I do understand the disappointment, it caused the children. I am just trying to see the situation from both sides, as it’s extremely difficult to pull off a perfect event. There will always be glitches, which aren’t intended, but which is inevitable, when it involves so many people. So I feel that when unfortunate things like this happen, we may find it easier to cope with disappointments, if we try to understand and help our children understand the reasons behind the actions taken, although we feel our children are treated unfairly, which is always hurtful for parents. I hope the children received an apology and explanation, which would be the right thing to do in this situation.
By: Samantha on June 10, 2009
at 3:08 am
I have now found out that the reason why the early years pupils were not included was because HRH did not want such little children waiting for him in the heat and it was difficult enough to convince the officials from the palace that even the older children were not standing around too long. Unfortunate that the EYD were misled into thinking they were involved because, as far as I know, they were never included in the plans since that was the palace’s wishes – and the instructions for the day, which I have seen and which all staff could see for themselves, made that clear. Pity that EYD staff did not check that and gave the youngsters the wrong impression.
From Ghita: Thanks for sharing and I think it’s good that you are investigating further in order to find the answers to get the full picture. In my experience when things like this happen it’s often hard to narrow it down to a specific mistake that a particular person or group of people has done, because information can so easily be misunderstood and misinterpreted, and so I can’t help but wonder how the information about the event was passed on to the children, which I think is the last piece of the puzzle missing.
Perhaps the EYD staff never told the children directly that they were or were not involved, but just talked about the event in general and thereby mistakenly gave the children the impression that they were going to see the Prince and Princess without realising the expectations that were building up in the children. And this kind of mistake is hard to pinpoint, because most people don’t mean any harm, but don’t have the heart to tell the children straight out that they won’t be involved, while at the same time don’t feel right about not telling them about the event either, as they would have heard about it anyway from older siblings and parents etc. So it’s a dilemma, where they may not have realised the consequences of not giving all details including the disappointing news that the children weren’t going to see the royal couple. It is very hard to have to tell children something that we know will be disappointing for them, so perhaps they were hoping that it would be easier for the children to accept and forget about it, when the event was over.
If there are any truth in this, in my opinion it would have been better to explain to the children that the Prince was being very considerate of them and didn’t want them to stand outside in the heat and that they (the teachers) know how the children feel and how sorry they feel about it, and then deal with the disappointment there and then, because although hard, in the end of the day, I believe the children will understand and accept it easier as compared to feeling disappointed, overseen and unfairly treated. When it comes to children, the truth always pays (in a way they can handle it), regardless of how much it hurts or disappoints them.
By: saminkl on June 13, 2009
at 1:47 pm