The Unique Asia Schools Explorer SINGAPORE December 2015

“The world is a book and those who do not travel
read only one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo
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The Unique Asia Schools Explorer
SINGAPORE
December 2015
The ITS Education Asia schools explorer newsletter brings you up-to-date schooling information
and interesting news on academic life at international schools in Singapore
ACHIEVEMENTS
IB DIPLOMA SCORES
SINGAPORE kept up its good showing for another year as students scored remarkable scores in
their IB Diploma Exams. Singapore continuously produces the most perfect scorers in the AsiaPacific region, which includes the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea.
Currently, 21 schools in Singapore offer the IB diploma program.
Canadian International School (CIS)
Average points: 32.5/45
German European School Singapore (GESS)
Average points: 35/45
Nexus International School
Average points: 32/45
St Joseph's Institution
Average points: 39.4/45
Tanglin Trust School
Average points: 37/45
United World College South East Asia (UWCSEA)
Average points: 36.2/45
Further information on senior schools in Singapore are outlined on The Unique Asia Schools
Guide 2015-2016
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“The world is a book and those who do not travel
read only one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo
NEW DEVELOPMENTS AT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
The Australian International School launches a purpose Built Early Years
Facility and enhanced Curriculum
The Australian International School (AIS) has launched an enhanced Early Years curriculum and inaugurated a
purpose-built campus complete with the widest range of state-of-the-art facilities for students from 18 months to 6
years old. The enhanced Early Years curriculum includes daily Maths and Mandarin, the Accelerated Literacy
Program, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) Speech and Drama Program, structured
Physical Education under SMART Steps, a Perceptual Motor Program, and weekly violin lessons. Students have
been enjoying these new and enhanced programs since January. A specialist early years campus will offer
children access to a 22m swimming pool, large multi-purpose gym, 5 library and learning resource centres, 9 arts
and language specialist classrooms and a dedicated parent café, all in one centrally-located facility. Inaugurated in
a ground breaking ceremony by His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK, MC (Ret'd),
Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia this exciting facility will open in 2017.
Andre Casson, Principal at AIS comments, “Our 22-year history in graduating students sets us in good stead to
take our institution into this next phase. We are exceptional excited about our collaboration with specialist
educators in delivering an enhanced curriculum which will be significantly developed with the launch of our
purpose built Early Years facility in 2017.
Canadian International School (CIS)
Opens Spectacular new Outdoor Discovery Centre
CIS, one of Singapore’s leading international schools with over 3,000 students from 70 countries aged 3 to 18
years, is delighted to announce the opening of a spectacular new Kindergarten Outdoor Discovery Centre for
students at its Lakeside campus. The state-of-the-art, purpose-built area, is designed to allow young children to
engage in sights, sounds, tastes and textures unique to the outdoors.
Key Features of the Outdoor Discovery Centre:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Mud garden. This is a great place for children to make experiments and learn about math concepts such
as pouring, measuring and capacity.
Edible vegetable garden. Children learn about the importance of health and nutrition as well as the role
the environment plays in growing food.
Natural pond. Children learn about water ecosystems and the important environmental functions it
performs.
Art walls. Children collaborate together to produce large art murals using various types of media
including leaves and flowers from the garden. They also develop literacy skills by writing and creating
different shapes on the walls.
Sound garden. Children discover and enjoy wonderful sounds generated by playing with chimes, plastic
buckets and other items attached to the purpose-built walls.
Bicycle track, grassy hills and tunnels. These features are perfect for developing children’s gross
motor skills and playing lots of fun games like ‘king of the hill’ and ‘hide and seek’. Children can also
use the tunnels as a place to withdraw to for peace and reflection.
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“The world is a book and those who do not travel
read only one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo
CIS New Outdoor
Discovery Centre
To arrange a visit to experience
CIS’ Outdoor Discovery Centre,
or to learn more about the school,
simply sign up for one of their
next Open Houses at
www.cis.edu.sg/open house
Dulwich College (Singapore)
Community Service in Cambodia
One of the community projects at Dulwich College (Singapore) has been to build a long term and multilevel relationship with United World Schools and fund a newly opened partner school at Steng Trung
province in a very remote part of rural Cambodia. This project enables students, parents and teachers to be
part of the ongoing education of the students by providing both financial and human resources for the
growing school of 80 students.
So far this term, students
have raised funds to buy
books and learning
resources for the school
from non-uniform Mufti
Days, the Christmas Sale
and bake sale across many
year groups. Senior
School students are
devising the curriculum
and lesson plans and will
be visiting Cambodia to
see the school and meet
the children.
Two of the Senior School teachers Lynn Wilson and Chris Savvides were in Cambodia recently for the
school’s opening and to see the very first day for 80 very happy and enthusiastic children who had never
been to school before. This was the first time the children had access to a school and qualified teachers. It
is likely that the school will expand to accommodate 150 students. The local team from UWS worked
alongside our teachers, sharing ideas with the local Khmer staff. The Dulwich teachers had taken with
them a range of resources to focus on first and early learning skills, reading materials and play equipment.
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“The world is a book and those who do not travel
read only one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo
NEWS BITES
Gems World Academy (Singapore)
Uniting Nations Celebrations
As an international school with a core value of Global
Citizenship, events such as the Uniting Nations Celebration
are a very important part of life for the GWA (Singapore)
community. With a theme of ‘Globally Connected’, this year
our students spent time exploring, remembering and
discovering facets of their nationalities, cultures and family
heritage. For international students, the time spent learning
more about their nationality and culture is a significant part
of strengthening their identity. For around 20% of our
children, they have never lived in the country of their
passport. For most, their ‘home’ country is a place they visit
during the summer break, and somewhere their parents grew
up. The Uniting Nations Celebration allows for a deepening
awareness of these family heritage points.
The Celebration commenced with a wonderful school assembly on Thursday morning, led by our 3,4
and 5-year old students from the Early Years. The children continued through the morning with a
range of cultural activities, developed in partnership between the wonderful EY teaching team and
the parents of our younger students. In the evening, the food fair and cultural displays in the main
foyer provided all with the opportunity to taste culinary delights from around the world, as well as to
explore the cultural displays for the eight regions represented.
The hard work of the parent representatives in putting together these exquisite areas was greatly
appreciated. The final component for the Celebration was the concert. The G10 student MCs did a
fantastic job in guiding the audience
the performances
andthey
werehave
in awe
of the
audience
Forthrough
around 20%
of our children,
never
lived
in the all
standing to dance to YMCA. I think
the
children
were
a
little
shocked
that
so
many
parents
country of their passport. For most, their ‘home’ country ishad
a the
same dance moves! For many of our
students,
thisduring
was the
time they
performed
in front
place
they visit
thefirst
summer
break,had
andever
somewhere
their
of such a large audience and they parents
were suitably
supported
through
clapping,
cheering
and laughter.
grew up.
The Uniting
Nations
Celebration
allows
for a
BANGKOK
deepening awareness of these family heritage points.
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“The world is a book and those who do not travel
read only one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo
TANGLIN TRUST SCHOOL
Celebrating 90 years in Singapore
This academic year, 2015, has been a fantastic opportunity for Tanglin, as a school and as a community,
to recognise and celebrate 90 incredible years. The school was originally founded in 1925 in the grounds
of the Tanglin Club, with just 5 students. Today, on its campus on Portsdown Road, Tanglin is at the
forefront of British based education, providing a unique learning environment to 2,780 students from
Nursery through to Sixth Form, when students can choose from either A Levels or the International
Baccalaureate.
SHANGHAI
Throughout 2015, Tanglin celebrated its 90th anniversary (T90) with a range of events and activities
which demonstrated the breadth of experiences and enrichment opportunities enjoyed by its students, as
well as the school’s strong community focus. The themes of Inspiration and Community ran through all
activities, both in the curriculum and in the celebrations, as the school aimed to inspire students to make
a difference in the community and also in the world. To bring to life the theme of Inspiration Tanglin
welcomed authors, artists, poets, adventurers, scientists and philosophers from across the world and
locally in Singapore – opening students’ eyes to a world of opportunities.
Highlights of the year have included visits by inspirational speakers such as Robert Swan, a whole
school celebration of “The World’s Largest Lesson” in support of the UN’s Global Goals, a Science
Week looking at ‘FutureScience’ themes over the next 90 years and a behind the scenes look at how
movies are made from leading film companies, Lucas Films and Disney, who are both part of the
burgeoning and dynamic One-North community where Tanglin is located. T90 was a wonderful
opportunity for Tanglin to reflect on its heritage, celebrate its achievements, give back to the community
and inspire its students to make a difference.
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“The world is a book and those who do not travel
read only one page.”
― Augustine of Hippo
UNITED WORLD COLLEGE SOUTH EAST ASIA (
From 2-8 October UWCSEA hosted 656 student and 308 adult delegates from 128 schools worldwide for
the Round Square International Conference 2015, with a theme of ‘Act Today, Change Tomorrow’.
While there was much activity on both campuses, in the homes of host families, at student-led barazas
(workshops), with local organisations on Service Day and throughout Singapore on Discover Singapore
Adventure Day, it was the serious and thorough thinking about sustainability that will have a long-lasting
impact on participants and communities around the world.
The haze in Singapore at the
time of the conference focused
the conversation on
environmental concerns, but
also provided an introduction
to the complexity of the issue.
Chris Edwards, Head of
College at UWCSEA, noted in
his welcome, “We come
together in a literal and
metaphorical haze …
Welcome to a very complex
reality that feeds straight into
the theme of this conference.
We choke because of multi-layered global relationships that weave poverty and extreme wealth; power
and desperation; convenience and challenge; excess and denial; corporates and individuals; clever,
appeasing local rhetoric and heart-breaking global reality.” Keynote speakers included human rights
advocate Kavita Ramdas and two UWCSEA alumni, environmentalist Tim Jarvis and humanitarian
worker Niddhi Kapur, who further expanded the delegates’ understanding of the complexity of
sustainability beyond the environmental.
Over the following five days delegates discussed the complexity and challenge of the UN Sustainable
Development Goals in small group barazas led by UWCSEA students. Samay Bansal, in Grade 12,
described the process as, “thoroughly understanding the nuances of each of the 17 goals, seeing not only
their interdependence, but also how successfully achieving one may be detrimental to the success of
others. A quote from one of the workshops was, ‘Never forget, when you point one finger at the people
you feel are responsible, there are three pointing back at yourself.’ This captured the interdependence and
our own responsibility perfectly.”
The final stage was an action planning session for school groups, where they were asked to apply their
new understanding to their own situation and make a pledge to promote change in their schools. These
pledges were appropriately varied, as they depended on individuals and their context. Elinor Walker, a
Grade 12 student at UWCSEA said on her pledge “I am doing this because I realise that we consume too
much and that at this rate, the world will not be able to sustain all of our lives forever.”
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