Two of our students attended the final of the 11^th National Youth Bingxin Literary Contest held in Beijing in mid-July.  Pui Ching was the only school in Macau S.A.R. that made its way to the final.  Congratulations to our students Ms. Hio Ian Lam and Ms. Ka Man Vong who won the gold and silver awards respectively in the senior secondary section under the guidance of their teacher Ms. Pui Ian Lam.  Ms. Hio Ian Lam also won the silver award for Classical Poetry Recitation. 

The Bingxin Literary Contest is named after famous Chinese writer Bingxin.  Bingxin was one of the most prolific Chinese writers of the 20^th Century.  Many of her works were written for young readers and have inspired countless budding writers in the pursuit of their dreams.  The 11^th National Bingxin Literary Contest gathered almost 1,000 student contestants from all over the country and has served as a great platform for young people to showcase their talents.

The 57^th International Mathematical Olympiad was held in Hong Kong on July 11 and 12. Five out of the six IMO contestants from Macau were our students, including Mr. Hou Tin Chau, Mr. Cho Hou Tang, Ms. Wai Neng Lai, Ms. Ho Ieng Ngai, and Mr. Hoi Cheong Iam.

In particular, Mr. Hou Tin Chau clinched the first gold medal for Macau S.A.R. in 25 years. Being one point shy of the gold medalist score, Mr. Cho Hou Tang won the silver medal. Ms. Wai Neng Lai, Ms. Ho Ieng Ngai, and Mr. Hoi Cheong Iam each received the Merit Award.

Our school held an English training course for our secondary school English teachers from June 13^th to July 8^th.  The 30-hour programme was tailor-made for our school by the Bell Centre of Macau Polytechnic Institute and taught by experienced trainers Mr. David Sansom and Mr. John Wheeler.  The purpose of the course is to improve teaching effectiveness in English reading and writing.

Bell’s in-house training is designed to create an English teaching and learning environment.  It aims to promote student autonomy and interest in second language learning through the teaching of independent reading skills, incorporation of jigsaw reading, game-based learning, process writing, and learner self-editing. 

The alternative teaching approaches have shed new light on the familiar subject of language teaching.  It is hoped that the course will prepare our teachers to meet society’s growing demand for autonomous learners.

Funded by the Macau Foundation, our school’s 42-membered orchestra participated in the 2^nd Greater China Region School Music Festival held in Guangzhou from July 12^th to 14^th.

The Greater China Region School Music Festival was a two-day event featuring two concerts and close to 300 student musicians from Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The event drew an audience of thousands of viewers.

In addition to performing select pieces, student bands from all over the Greater China Region came together in a 100-membered orchestra, bringing alive on stage well-known pieces like Taiwanese composer Che-Yi Lee’s Dancing Strings and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. For the school performance, our orchestra played Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.3, Op.73.