Reflections 2024

2024 Reflections

TANGLIN MISSION

Tanglin Trust School in Singapore has a long tradition of providing British-based learning with an international perspective.

At Tanglin we strive to make every individual feel valued, happy and successful. Responsibility, enthusiasm and participation are actively encouraged, and integrity is prized. Working together in a safe, caring yet stimulating environment, we set high expectations whilst offering strong support, resulting in a community of lifelong learners who can contribute with confidence to our world.

TANGLIN VISION STATEMENT

We aspire to be the best school in the world with a dynamic learning community which nurtures and inspires every individual to be the best they can be.

Foreword Craig Considine,

CEO

2024 has been a successful year on many different levels. There have been several key achievements that have made a significant difference to the operation of the school and in the long term, the outcomes for our students.

These achievements may look like standalone projects but are part of creating the integrated holistic educational experience that Tanglin offers. Some of these happen at a whole school macro level, while others occur within individual schools or units within the school.

Importantly, our strategic plan continues to shape our work. The schools have developed their school improvement plans based upon the strategic plan and the Head of School reports reflect this. Similarly, the key whole school committees have achieved continued success through the year and the Directors and members of these teams can be immensely proud of their progress.

HIGHLANDS PROGRAMME

From time to time, Tanglin makes significant decisions regarding elements of our offer. One of those was the introduction of a Senior School in 1996. This was followed by the addition of A Levels and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), establishing Tanglin as a dual-track Sixth Form. The introduction of the Highlands Programme is another moment where Tanglin has identified a programme that supports our mission. Implementing a holistic education underpinned by an experiential residential experience for all provides a strong pillar for Middle School students to build on as they progress to the Upper School.

The Tanglin Gippsland campus will draw together many key elements of Middle schooling and early adolescent education, and offer a

wonderful space to instil some of the wonder and awe that is part of each person's development. This initiative is part of our broader focus on general wellbeing, which includes monitoring mental health and managing the ubiquity of technology, as well as addressing climate change challenges, and promoting sustainable practices. The Highlands Programme will reinforce the key themes within the Middle School: curiosity, confidence, and community.

To establish the Highlands Programme in Gippsland, we created Tanglin Australia Pty Ltd, an Australian-based holding company responsible for the fiduciary aspects of setting up a site in Australia. This process involved negotiations with the Singapore Charities Commission, the Department for Education, and the Committee for Private Education. I am grateful to Mr Ling Guan Heng, Ms Lena Chan and Ms Lynn Yip for their support and guidance.

Finally, we are immensely indebted to the Chair of the Board of Governors, Mr Nixon and those Governors who have been members of the Tanglin Gippsland Committee. This has required extensive input, and we have benefitted from their wisdom and experience.

SHAPE OF THE DAY

Two years ago, we began an exercise to consider the shape of the school day. This began as a way of considering our Co-Curricular offerings and how we could better integrate the House system across the whole school. This initiative has been successful, although there

are still aspects of the changes that continue to be ‘tweaked’. The changes have allowed the Senior School to significantly reshape its offerings, resulting in additional teaching hours and a repositioned Co-Curriculum. We are thrilled to see increased opportunities across the school, with 180 Co-Curricular activities (CCAs) in the Junior School and 42 in the Infant School. These offerings are a mix of teacher-led and third-party provider sessions, all monitored with the same rigour as regular lessons.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology continues to provide amazing tools both for organisational management and student learning. One element that has neared completion is the creation of student dashboards that provide faculty with data that summarises students' progress across a broad range of areas. Data dashboards provide the information to allow homeroom or classroom tutors to monitor, support and challenge students at the appropriate level. We have also worked with external partners to review our approach to cybersecurity, procurement, performance management and regulatory compliance. These are reported on within this document by Mr Ling Guan Heng and several other colleagues.

FUTURE READY

Schools have always aimed to prepare students to take their next steps, typically focusing on life beyond school. We have emphasised this in our strategic plan to ensure a clear focus on future readiness for all students, regardless of their age. The next step will be different for Infants, Juniors, and Seniors, but we are committed to preparing each student appropriately for what lies ahead. Our programmes, such as Careers and University Counselling, entrepreneurship opportunities,

financial literacy courses, and ‘leaving well’ workshops, are designed to support students in transitioning smoothly at the appropriate time.

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

The events to celebrate the Centenary are outlined by Shakila Samuel, our Head of Community Relations. We are thrilled to have curated such a wonderful range of events to celebrate this important milestone and look forward to the community supporting and enjoying this wonderful celebration.

TANGLIN TRUST SCHOOL FOUNDATION

The school continues to be well supported by our community through the Tanglin Trust School Foundation. The Development Team has worked brilliantly to identify opportunities to partner with individuals and families who believe in the school's vision. The Foundation has supported various initiatives, including the Institute, the Centenary Music Scholarships, the Centennial Arts Trail, and the commissioning of a piece of music to celebrate the Centenary.

THANK YOUS

We are pleased with Tanglin’s development over the last 12 months and my colleagues have reported on key achievements in some detail in this report. I would like to thank all those who lead, support, and create amazing learning opportunities for our students. This includes the faculty, Heads of School, CFO/COO, business teams, and senior colleagues who have led key elements of the strategic plan. They have gone the extra mile to ensure our students and their families are embraced enthusiastically in all elements of the educational process. Finally, I want to recognise the Governors for their dedication and time in helping Tanglin Trust School fulfil its Mission and Vision.

The Business Team

Ling Guan Heng, COO/CFO

The Business Team at Tanglin Trust School comprises Finance, Human Resources, Operations, Central Procurement, Corporate Legal, Technology, Transport, and Food Services. This provides an efficient and effective business infrastructure to support each section of the school (Infant, Junior, and Senior) in delivering a world-class education for our students.

The Gippsland project was the standout achievement of the year for the business team. The team undertook (a) the legal and tax due diligence for the Gippsland project, (b) the acquisition of the property in Rawson Village, Victoria, in Australia, (c) the incorporation of Tanglin Australia Pty Ltd and (d) following the acquisition, set up the business support operations.

On the sustainability front, the "follow-me print" system was progressively rolled out across the organisation. This system not only ensures confidential printing for users but also reduces paper consumption and waste by preventing uncollected documents from being left at the printer.

Financial performance was bolstered by near-capacity student enrolment, higher interest income from fixed deposits, and strict adherence to budgetary controls to manage costs. The year-end surplus is likely to be $2.5M above budget. This will put us in good stead to continuously invest and enhance our educational offerings.

A summary of highlights from each department is provided below.

FINANCE

• KPMG issued an unmodified audit report for the statutory audit for FY2022/23 with no audit points in January 2024.

• Secured Finance and Risk Committee and Board of Governors’ approval for Budget FY2024/25, which included a detailed review of Operating and Capital expenditure requirements, benchmarking analysis of school fees as well as three-year financial analysis of cost structure and cash flow projection to Year 2038.

• Completed tax due diligence for Extended Residential Programme leading to the acquisition of the property in Rawson Village, Victoria, in Australia.

• Successfully incorporated Tanglin Australia Pty Ltd, the legal entity to hold the assets in Australia and operationalised the back-end processes comprising delegation of authority, procurement & payment, book-keeping, accounting & tax reporting among others.

• Other projects completed include:

• Transition of GST rate increase from 8% to 9% in January 2024.

• Formalise 3-year internal audit plan for Billings & Receivables, Procurement & Payables and Payroll & HR processes.

HUMAN RESOURCES

• During the 2023-2024 academic year, the performance management framework was being further established for Faculty staff. The system promotes collaborative goal-setting and ongoing coaching and feedback. It empowers staff to consistently review and enhance their professional practices.

• For faculty recruitment, we continued to partner with a recruitment agency in the UK for employer branding, targeted recruitment, a

seamless process, and robust background checks. 32 new teachers were appointed for AY2024-2025. Other key appointments recruited during the year include Procurement Director and Head of Campus for Tanglin Australia.

• HR Internal Audit was conducted by Ernst & Young in March 2024 as part of the three-year internal audit cycle. There were no material findings, and the reports were reviewed and accepted by the Talent Committee and Finance & Risk Committee during the termly meetings in April 2024.

• Other notable projects undertaken included: salary benchmarking review, the launch of HR & CPD microsites and hosting a conference for HR staff across international schools in Singapore.

OPERATIONS

• With the expiry of the Centenary Building’s defects liability period in October 2023, maintenance contracts for all areas such as lift maintenance, fire protection maintenance, air-con maintenance, landscaping, etc were put in place to ensure the efficient running of the building.

• Through a rigorous selection process, Perkins Eastman – an international architectural and urban planning firm – has been appointed as the master-planner of our long-term campus development plan. The first series of workshops has already taken place, involving a broad base of stakeholders. Two more series of workshops will be organised over the next four months as we look forward to future-proofing our campus for the long term.

• Our school continues to invest in new and upgrading of existing facilities to provide the best learning environment for our students. Notable projects completed during the year included:

• Structured shelter over the existing 25m swimming pool ($1.17M).

• Replacement of aged lift at the Senior School ($0.36M).

• Refurbishment to Levels 2, 3 and 4 of Senior School Building ($0.75M).

• Upgrading of toilets at Levels 4 and 5 of Junior School Building ($0.4M).

• The tender for the construction of Junior Arts Centre ($6.9M) within Junior Tower Block was completed in Mar 2024. Construction began during the Easter break and will complete by May 2025. It will provide the state-of-the-art spaces for Junior students in the areas of arts and drama, music, and library.

TECHNOLOGY

• Cybersecurity continues to be a key focus for Technology. Together with consultants from Ernst & Young, the school has committed to build a “Zero Trust Architecture” cybersecurity model that would effectively adapt to the complexity of the modern environment, embrace the hybrid workplace and classrooms, and protect the Tanglin community, devices, apps, and data wherever they are located.

• During the year, the Technology team has also completed several cybersecurity and digital transformation initiatives:

• Conducted regular training sessions and phishing simulations to equip and familiarise staff with the knowledge to defend against cyber threats and phishing attacks. This proactive approach helps raise awareness and reduce the risk of successful attacks.

• Migrated the Clinic system to a cloud-based system.

• Migrated the School Management System to Microsoft Azure.

• Implemented Medical, Class List, and Devices modules for the Parent portal.

• Another $1 million was committed to build a digital ecosystem for Tanglin to equip staff and students with MacBooks, iPads, Microsoft Tablets, and software.

• New applications such as the Monitoring App to monitor, track, and enhance teaching pedagogy across the school, and Data Dashboard in Infant School to facilitate Parent and Teacher consultation sessions were launched.

CORPORATE LEGAL

• Completed due diligence and key legal aspects of the Gippsland Project including:

• Purchase of the site and facilities in Gippsland, Victoria, in Australia.

• Incorporation of the company in Australia.

• Completion of required tax and other registrations with Australian authorities.

• Drafting and review of operational and staff contracts.

• Provided legal and advisory support for the Centenary projects, including the Centennial Arts Trail and the commissioned music for the school to premiere.

CORPORATE PROCUREMENT

• A 6-week Procurement Capability Assessment project was conducted by Ernst & Young between April to June 2024 to assess

the current state of Tanglin’s procurement capabilities and recommend improvements in processes, governance, and technology.

• A total of 1,374 purchase orders and 56 tenders valued at $12 million were processed and through adherence to our procurement policy and tender process, we managed to achieve cost savings of about $1.56 million. Major tenders included:

• Construction of Junior Arts Centre.

• Refurbishment of Senior School Level 2, 3 and 4.

• Renovation of toilets at Junior School Level 4 and 5.

• Maintenance at Nixon Building (air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation).

• Campus maintenance (air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation).

• Supported the development of the buildings and facilities for the Gippsland project, including the tender and appointment of key consultants and contractors.

TRANSPORT

• Successfully facilitated the implemented new bus arrival and dismissal timings for academic year 2023/24 with KAL Transport.

• Hosted the annual child safeguarding update for KAL Transport bus drivers and attendants at Tanglin Trust School to ensure a high standard of child safeguarding among bus drivers and attendants.

• The safety of our bus bay was further enhanced by installing barriers to the rear of the bus bay to prevent students crossing the bus bay without checking for moving buses.

FOOD SERVICES

• Improved the dining experience for Junior students by making available the Nixon Canteen for their lunch, thus giving them the opportunity to socialise with friends from other classes.

• The service level of The Banyan Café has been enhanced with new Saturday opening hours, providing refreshments for parents who are on-site for their children's Co-Curricular activities.

• Reduced queuing time for Senior students by allowing them to use the Junior canteen during lunch hours, thus ensuring that these students have sufficient time for a proper lunch.

Team Tanglin

Tom Evans, Director of Marcomms, Admissions & Community Relations

Two years ago, before the start of the academic year, we established our Team Tanglin objective to reconnect in person with the Tanglin community. We put on more and bigger events than the school had ever had before. The response was overwhelmingly supportive. I suppose then it shouldn’t be surprising that when we started this past school year, the request from the community was ‘let’s please have more of the same’. Continue with all the events, activities and efforts of the previous year, scale them up and try to improve them even further. So, we rolled up our collective sleeves and got stuck in. The result was another incredible year for Team Tanglin. Some new and notable highlights:

EVENTS/FRIENDS OF TANGLIN (FOT)

• The team continued to celebrate the diversity of the Tanglin community through the popular Festival Celebrations in the Bus Bay. This year, we held celebrations for Deepavali and Hari Raya, and added a Bus Bay celebration for Lunar New Year. Over 30 parents volunteered to create a magical morning for the students consisting of music, snacks, crafts, and cultural tables.

• This year, for the first time ever, parents volunteered as class reps for every single class at Tanglin, from Nursery through 6th Form. That’s 128 classes. More than 160 class reps volunteered (some classes had more than one). It is wonderful to have that level of support and commitment from the parent community.

• To thank and recognise the parents, we once again held the CEO Garden Party at the British Club for class reps, Foundation advocates, and other key volunteers. Chair of the Board of Governors, Dominic Nixon, also wanted to show the Governors’ appreciation, so an additional Board of Governors Cocktail reception was held for the first time.

• One can’t throw great events without inviting people to them. To help do so, the event team started using Eventbrite, an event booking platform. Booking tickets for school events has never been easier. More than 11,500 tickets have been issued since launch.

• All of the popular annual FoT events continued. Thousands attended the Summer Fete, Christmas Fair, Movie Nights, Golf & Tennis Days, and the school’s largest Quiz Night to date.

• Special interest groups continued to expand. The Tanglin Book club, Coffee Explorer and Yoga Club all grew their membership.

ALUMNI

The Alumni Team also wanted to enhance engagement at scale. We introduced a new, improved Alumni portal, which provides extra utility. The frequency of social media posts was doubled to increase communication with the school and the Alumni newsletter was also refreshed. Alumni responded.

• Tanglin Alumni who attended the annual event in London grew to over 500 people, our biggest alumni event ever. At the event, 13 former staff were welcomed into the Tanglin 15 Club (for staff who have served for 15 years or longer at the school).

• More Alumni returned to visit the school than ever before, including the single largest group of Alumni to visit at the same time (13 Alumni & their partners were in town for a 30th birthday bash). 20 Alumni visitors also gave presentations/talks to current students while they were on campus.

• The number of Alumni grants/awards and internships increased by 50%.

• The Alumni database continued to grow (now more than 22,000) as did followers of our Alumni social media profiles.

ADMISSIONS

The strength and appeal of the Tanglin community was demonstrated by our Admissions metrics. Last year was a recording breaking year for the school. This year was even more remarkable.

• Second year in a row of record-breaking number of applications – more than 1250.

• Once again coupled with record low withdrawals.

• Ultimately this resulted in what will be historic enrolment for the start of the 2024-25 Academic year – more than 2850 students.

• It was also the inaugural year to become Tanglin Centenary Music Scholars. 12 Scholarships were offered across the Senior School.

MARCOMMS

All of these efforts and results were underpinned by Tanglin’s marketing and communications efforts. It’s wonderful to see the everincreasing engagement with the school across our different channels.

• Readership of our weekly In Touch newsletter has increased dramatically in the past few years. The average open rate for each issue now reaches 75%.

• The School’s social media metrics continue to grow. We have 8,000 followers on Facebook, 5,700 on Instagram and over 10,000 on LinkedIn. Engagement on each platform has also improved considerably. The Senior School launched an IG account for Tanglin Gippsland with the first photos of the Gippsland campus generating the second highest level of engagement ever on the platform. We’re pleased that the all-time record was broken later in the year with 759 reactions received for the Year 13 Graduation post!

• Traffic to the school’s website also reached a new high with more than 230,000 visitors in the past year.

Overall, it is an understatement to say that there is a lot of interest in the school. Once again, Team Tanglin pulled together, resulting in another incredible year. As we look forward, there is only one thing to do – celebrate! That will be the focus of our Centenary Year. There will be many opportunities for Team Tanglin to celebrate in 2024-25.

Digital First

Chin Peng Lee, Director of Technology

The academic year 2023-2024 marks a fruitful period of significant progress across various digital fronts, including Generative AI, Data Analytics, School Systems and Cyber Security. This progress lays the groundwork for a robust and secure digital framework that more effectively adapts to the complexities of the modern learning environment. It supports our goals of developing “Future Ready” individuals and “Inspired Learners”. Additionally, improvements in our school systems have streamlined administrative processes and enhanced communication between students, teachers, and parents.

GENERATIVE AI

Our approach to integrating generative AI into our curriculum is based on a comprehensive evaluation of its benefits, limitations, and potential risks. We believe that thoughtful and informed implementation is essential for maximising the positive impact of this technology on teaching and learning. To this end, we have developed a clear set of policies governing the use of generative AI by both staff and students. These policies not only outline best practices but also ensure ethical usage and compliance with relevant guidelines. By providing a structured framework, we aim to facilitate the responsible and effective adoption of rapidly evolving AI systems and tools.

DATA ANALYTICS

Data analytics plays a crucial role in the generation and interpretation of student reports by providing valuable insights and supporting data-driven decision-making processes. It enables personalised feedback, identifies areas for improvement, and helps implement early interventions. This ensures that teachers can make informed decisions to enhance student learning outcomes, engage parents effectively, and allocate resources more efficiently. We have rolled out the data dashboard for the Infant School and will be extending it to the Junior School and Senior School in the next academic year.

SCHOOL SYSTEMS

The school has implemented the “Great Teaching Toolkit” framework, a comprehensive resource designed to help teachers enhance their practices and improve student learning outcomes. This framework emphasises evidence-based strategies and offers actionable insights for educators to refine their methods. To facilitate evidence collection and ensure effective implementation of the framework, we have introduced the Monitoring App. This application enables observers to provide feedback to teachers, highlighting their strengths and areas for improvement.

CYBERSECURITY AND DATA PROTECTION

Keeping everyone safe in cyberspace and fortifying cybersecurity continues to be a key focus for Technology. During the year, we embarked on a "Zero Trust" journey, a new security model that adapts to the complexity of the modern environment, embraces the hybrid workplace and classrooms, and protects people, devices, apps, and data wherever they are located.

ZERO TRUST ARCHITECTURE

COMMUNITY

We have listened to our community and introduced new features in the Parent Portal, including updated class lists, student medical records, and remote access information. Given the sensitivity of this data, we strongly encourage parents to enable two-factor authentication for added security.

SOCIAL MEDIA

We monitor digital engagement across social media platforms. This helps us communicate elements of school life and measure how well they are amplified on various platforms.

7967 followers 5752 followers

10,039 followers

Sustainability

Carla Randall, Assistant Head of Year 13

Tanglin has made significant strides forward this year in demonstrating its commitment to sustainability and is taking its role in environmental responsibility more seriously than ever. Through impactful and wide-ranging initiative and events, students and staff alike have been working hard to drive meaningful change in our school community.

These include:

• The successful hosting of Singapore’s first student-led Sustainability Schools Conference, welcoming six other local and international schools in an effort to emphasise the importance of collective action. The event was a platform for sharing ideas, strategies, and best practices and our Keynote Speaker, Mel Reid, founder and CEO of Sandbar, spoke about the impacts of ocean plastic and inspired us with her innovative approach to tackling the issue.

• In the hope of better reflecting our school’s environmental commitment, the Tanglin sustainability website has been redesigned. The updated site now features detailed information about our sustainability initiatives, goals, and achievements, making it easier for the community to stay informed and get involved.

• In May, students organised an e-waste drive that successfully collected over 205kg of electronic waste. This initiative not only helped in proper disposal and recycling of e-waste but also raised awareness about the importance of responsible consumption and disposal of electronic devices.

• Becoming Singapore’s first member of The Alliance for Sustainable Schools, a network for sharing resources and collaborating on projects. The Sustainable School’s Charter, signed by Mr Craig Considine in the presence of over 30 students, heralds a new chapter in our efforts to make a positive environmental impact.

METANOIA

One of our key priorities in our sustainability journey has been to gather baseline data and measure the school’s environmental impact. To this end, we engaged sustainability consultants, Metanoia, to conduct a full carbon audit of our operations, and the results are in! With support from our student eco-groups in the Infant, Junior and Senior Schools, along with colleagues from our business, facilities and operations teams, we have gathered data which allows us to quantity

our emissions and create targeted action plans. Metanoia’s final report includes a 'reduction roadmap' and a host of recommendations to reduce our annual carbon footprint from 2023's total figure of 9,573 tons of carbon. 32% of our carbon emissions are due to our electricity consumption and 40% of our electricity use is outside of school hours (defined as between 7am and 5pm) which makes these issues our priority targets for reduction.

Other highlights of the report include:

• The significant untapped potential for solar energy on campus which could provide 20% of the school’s electricity needs.

• The school travelled a total of 8.3 million km on school trips in 2023 with just eight of our 120 trips in total accounting for 53% of emissions.

• Good news with the data showing that 75% of the community use environmentally-friendly options to commute to school.

• Each student on average produces 16kg of food waste and 28kg of general waste a year with a total of 407kg of waste produced on campus every day.

• Beef and dairy products account for 40% of Tanglin’s food carbon footprint.

• 37 tonnes and 24 tonnes of carbon emissions per year comes from the production of uniform and sport items respectively, although the textile waste generated is the main environmental issue here.

As Peter Drucker famously said, "you can’t manage what you don’t measure" and this data opens up numerous opportunities to enact meaningful and positive change, so we’re very excited to get started. Members from across the community are invested in making us more sustainable; business and operations teams are offering their full support for new initiatives; passionate and innovative students are geared up for changes and dedicated teachers are ready for the challenge. Now, with the signing of the Sustainable School's Charter, we also have clear commitment from the Leadership Team to put sustainability at the heart of what we do here at Tanglin.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Josephine Allen, Head of English Faculty

This year, Tanglin’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion has continued through a combination of training, celebration, and student initiatives.

FESTIVAL OBSERVANCE

Events took place in the bus bay to mark a range of religious and cultural celebrations observed by communities in the school. These have continued to be well attended and successful. Students, staff and parents gathered to mark Deepavali, Lunar New Year, Hari Raya, and Christmas as celebrations were held across the school. Many thanks to Friends of Tanglin and the staff and parents who helped to organise these events and supported them on the day.

FOCUS ON TRAINING

A focus on training has continued with the launch of the DEI section on the staff portal, sharing curated resources on topics including race, gender equality and neurodiversity to empower all staff to develop their knowledge and understanding in these areas. Staff from across the three schools attended a range of events run by the Singapore Diversity Collaborative including a talk on creating inclusive learning environments by Hon. Dr Stuart Lawrence, whom we hope will be visiting Tanglin later in the year. Other training opportunities attended by staff members included a teach-up Saturday workshop at Chatsworth House School and

Hari Raya Celebration at the Bus Bay

CPD on "Culturally Responsive Practices: Nurturing Belonging in Multicultural, Multilingual Learning Spaces in International Schools" by Ceci Gomez-Galvez. Members of the DEI committee have also taken the opportunity to lead on DEI training opportunities. Our Head of Junior Library presented an online talk for 50 teachers in Singapore called "Representing Children through Books", and the Junior School offered parents of Junior School children the opportunity to attend information sessions about DEI with award winning social enterprise, Cyberlite. The Head of University Counselling represented the DEI committee during the IB five-year review, meeting with Inspectors to discuss our progress.

STUDENT INITIATIVES

In terms of student initiatives, the Junior School have been reaccredited as a Rights Respecting School at sustaining Gold level which is valued for the next two years. The Junior School has continued to expand its DEI week which has now moved into Term 1. Year 3 focuses on being anti racist, Year 4 discusses disability, Year 5 learns about neurodiversity and this year we have included sessions in Year 6 on "You, Me and Them" which uses child safe language to explore the diversity within communities across all the protected characteristics. In Senior School, the Lean in Girls curriculum was launched on

International Women’s Day in March. Based on Sheryl Sandberg’s successful programme for women in leadership, Lean In, this new curriculum encourages young women to embrace and develop their own leadership skills and grow in confidence. Two cohorts of students, in Year 7-8 and Year 9-10, have successfully completed the curriculum and this will be open for sign-ups for new students in the CCA programme this year.

The Infant School researched and completed the Infant School Guidance for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to guide teachers outlining our commitment to fostering "an inclusive environment both within the classroom and in the school broadly". Along with this, the Infant School DEI Committee developed a shared, age-appropriate understanding of the many aspects of diversity, particularly as they are represented in picture books. Furthermore, the Infant School Lifeskills department continued its country of month initiative to highlight the cultural and geographic diversity of our Infant School families. As part of our inclusive practice, the year groups celebrated the various religious and cultural holidays within their units and classrooms. The Infant Library expanded beyond offering craft and maker-activities celebrating a wide range of religious and cultural events. During Mental Health Awareness Week, there was a particular focus in the Infant classrooms on neurodiversity.

Lean In Girls Curriculum

Lunar new year celebrations

The Institute@Tanglin

Sohini Brandon-King, Director of Scholarship, Inquiry and Partnerships

As The Institute at Tanglin Trust School completes its second year, we continue to offer opportunities to engage with leading minds across various fields. These interactions not only challenge our students to think expansively beyond their curriculum but also equip them with the tools and insights from external experts to navigate and shape the future

The Institute is also a forum for students to present some outstanding student projects and research work at the Student Research Forum and it is wonderful to see more students and members of our community, including Alumni, wanting to collaborate with us. We have had the privilege of hosting several global experts and leaders in their field. Here are the highlights from main events and programmes.

FASHION, MUSIC, ART AND CULTURAL EXPLORATIONS:

Vogue Singapore and Disruption in Fashion: At the Institute’s most glamorous and futuristic event to date, our speakers gave us insights on the potential for the fashion industry to merge, science, technology, AI, and creativity to drive changes in the industry. Petra Sekhar, Programme Director of the Vogue Foundation, and Natasha Damodaran, Managing Director of Vogue Singapore, gave us a fantastic introduction to the challenging and innovative world of fashion.

Ian Murphy and Ella Emmanuelle: Ian Murphy hosted his second workshop in collaboration with the Institute, which allowed parents and staff to explore sketching techniques and take away their own piece of art. Ella Emmanuelle talked about pushing the boundaries of traditional and digital art and encouraged our workshop participants to explore new mediums and perspectives.

Indian Classical Music with Professor Rajeev Patke: This event explored the rich traditions of Indian classical music, demonstrating its complex melodic structures and historical depth. Professor Patke's session provided excerpts from some of the best performers in India to explain the different elements of the music and the background of key historical figures in Indian Classical music. Professor Patke is Head of Humanities (Literature) at Yale-NUS College.

Sculpting the Ephemeral: Edmund Chan, Technical Art and Design Executive at Tanglin, and world-acclaimed Singaporean ice sculptor, shared his experience of carving two unique bedrooms at the worldfamous Icehotel in Sweden. His session showcased the creativity and technical skill involved in his sculptures.

INNOVATIVE LEARNING AND INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: Entrepreneurship Programme: For the past two years, the 16-week Innovation Programme run by the Institute in collaboration with SC Ventures (SCV), Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, is an example of one of the Institute’s key aims of offering Tanglin students real-world learning opportunities. The students’ final pitches were hosted at the PayPal offices. This year’s final pitch panel included business leaders from PayPal, SCV, Microsoft, and Argor Capital.

NXplorers is a global initiative aimed at bringing about positive change to food, water and energy resources by introducing young students to complex and creative thinking to address global sustainability issues. This programme is now run as a Co-Curricular activity in Tanglin that uses the programme's ‘NXthinking’ concepts which include critical and creative thinking through scenario planning and stakeholder mapping.

Aviation Industry Insights: Rolls Royce with BOC Aviation introduced students to the aviation ecosystem in Singapore, and globally. Discussions centred on the aircraft leasing business, and the engineering challenges and innovations like Rolls Royce’s air blade technology that has revolutionised aviation engineering.

SUSTAINABLE FINANCE, DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION:

Sustainable Finance and the Ocean Economy: We were fortunate to host Dr McBain twice this past year. She is the CEO of Outsourced CSO, a world-recognised expert, speaker and author, the first Chief Sustainability Officer at MAS, and is recognised by the United Nations as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Pioneer. She explained how the Blue Economy is inextricably linked to the Green Economy. Yet, the financial investment in this goal is the lowest out of all the UN SDGs, due to lack of enough information and data on the impact of the ocean on climate change. The event was part of a larger Finance Conference organised by students in the Tanglin Trust Finance Society.

DEI & ESG: As an Executive Director at INSEAD Africa Initiative and Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, Asia, as well as being a veteran of the Corporate World, Dr Vinika Rao seamlessly explained the complex and multi-layered subject of DEI and ESG and why sustainability and diversity initiatives need to go hand in with inclusion.

NXplorers: Designed by Shell, and delivered by the Science Centre,

Sustainable Finance Panel: This session was a compelling discussion moderated by Alistair Thompson Chairman of the Manan Trust and an authority in all aspects of investment management, with expert panellists Dr Darian McBain, and Kelvin Tan, Head of ASEAN Sustainable Finance and Investments at HSBC. The discussion delved into the intricate landscape of sustainable finance, offering insights from the regulatory, investment, and industry perspectives.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES AND HISTORICAL INSIGHTS:

Geopolitical Discussions: Insights from James Crabtree provided students with a deeper understanding of US-China relations, and the impact of global de-coupling on climate change and economic security. James Crabtree is an author and geopolitical expert who was, until recently, the Executive Director of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS) in Asia. James was formerly Mumbai Bureau Chief for the FT and worked in the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.

Diplomacy: His Excellency Antony Phillipson, former British High Commissioner to Singapore, current British High Commissioner to South Africa, and former Tanglin parent, spoke about his career as a diplomat, and perspectives on current economic and political challenges. The audience was fascinated to hear about the inner workings of the Foreign Office, the challenges of being a diplomat, his extensive experience in international trade, and passion for working in public policy roles.

From Port City to Nation State, Cycles of Singapore’s History: Professor Tan Tai Yong’s lecture on Singapore’s development offered fresh perspective with his energy and passion for the subject. As one of Singapore’s foremost historians, he fluidly explained the many twists and turns of Singapore’s history and addressed two key questions: what were the dominant themes in Singapore’s historical development, and will the factors that shaped

Singapore’s past be relevant in its future? Prof Tan is the President of the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), former President of Yale-NUS College, and was a Nominated Member of Parliament.

SCIENCE, HEALTH, LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY: Global Health Diplomacy: Dr Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation (WHO), discussed the intersection of health policy and global diplomacy, highlighting her experiences with the WHO during the COVID pandemic, her work with underprivileged communities, and the importance of medicinal research to create transnational outcomes which benefit all members of society. Dr Swaminathan now heads up the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.

The Science of Learning at the Faculty Research Forum: Associate Professor Christopher L. Asplund, Head of Studies (Psychology) at Yale-NUS College, explored findings from recent research on cognitive neuroscience and how such research can be adapted and applied in different contexts, the necessary craft of teaching and education. Several Tanglin faculty members across all sections of the school presented their research in breakout groups to share their findings and best practices with peers.

Ekso Bionics: Janette Tartabini, Clinical Manager for Ekso Bionics and physiotherapist, introduced students and parents to EKSO NR, a robotic exoskeleton that aids in neuro-rehabilitation. Students enjoyed the ‘hands-on’ experience to understand how the technology worked and how developing a robot like Ekso requires interdisciplinary skillsets.

Looking ahead, The Institute will be hosting a 'Future Of' series as part of Tanglin’s Centenary Celebrations. This series will focus on futuristic trends, challenges, and innovations across various disciplines and industries. We look forward to seeing you there.

100 Years Of Excellence

Shakila Samuel, Head of Community Relations

Over the last academic year, the teams at school have brainstormed and contributed ideas on how best to mark this special year ahead of us. We are fortunate to have many in our community who have been part Tanglin’s long and illustrious journey.

OUR HISTORY

In 2023 we commissioned the Singapore History Consultants, a premiere heritage consultancy with nearly three decades of experience in original and groundbreaking research to help us uncover lost information and confirm many of the milestones that have brought us to where we are. They researched newspaper and national archives (Malaysia, Singapore and in the UK), spending hours poring over existing documents and interviewed several members of our community including:

• Current Chair of the Board of Governors, Dominic Nixon, who has been involved in the Board of Tanglin Trust School for over 25 years.

• Veronica Goodban, Headmistress of Weyhill Preparatory School, Head of Tanglin Infant and Tanglin Junior School (1971 – 1994). She met Miss Griff in the 70s.

• Ronald Stones, Head of School & CEO of Tanglin (1995 – 2006).

• Carol Kimber, Miss Griff’s grandniece who donated many of Miss Griff’s possessions relating to the school after she passed.

• Rosie Montefiore, her father Dr Charlie Wilson was one of the first five students who attended Tanglin when it was set up at Tanglin Club in 1925. Rosie and her three brothers attended Tanglin as well. Today in 2024, four of Charlie’s great grandchildren (fourth generation) attend Tanglin.

MISS GRIFF - ACTIVIST AT HEART AND FOOTBALLER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Whilst the story of how Ms Griff, our founder, started the school back in 1925 is well-known to most, this research report clearly documents details of her life, what gave her the impetus to come to Singapore and set up a British school even as she had just experienced World War I back in Wales.

• Born in 1890, she was the youngest of 11 children of a distinguished family in Pembrokeshire, Wales. By her late teens and early 20s, she was beginning to carve out her own path and was an activist promoting women’s rights becoming Swansea’s local secretary for the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. When the World War I broke out, she became a welfare officer and looked after the women who worked in dangerous working conditions as munitions workers. In 1919 and at age 29, she was recognised and awarded the MBE. It was among the first time that women were given official recognition for public service.

• Ms Griff’s prowess was not only confined to her fight for women’s rights though. By all accounts, she was quite the consummate sportswoman even before she arrived in Singapore! She formed a women’s football team comprising factory workers and organised matches that would help raise money to support the women. She wasn’t just a recreational player though, as

she went on to play for other football clubs such as Swansea’s Baldwins United, Cardiff Ladies and Plymouth Internationals. With Plymouth, she even went on international tours garnering over 5,000 spectators – a very respectable crowd for a women’s match at that time!

• When she arrived later in Singapore, she continued her sporting hobbies playing competitive matches at the Tanglin Club and Singapore Cricket Club. In February 1931, The Straits Times reported how her team, the Miss Griffith-Jones XI beat the Girls’ Sports Club 2-0 at Jalan Besar Stadium!

Her early drive and determination would not only withstand the test of time but would eventually provide for a strong foundation as she set up Tanglin School. Researchers also looked into previously shared memories by Alumni, former staff, and archives of organisations such as the British Association and Tanglin Club, to piece together the stories from the various periods of the school’s history. Living relatives of Miss Griff helped a great deal with their personal stories. Whilst the school gained momentum from the get-go and seemed to be always expanding, there were also periods of disruptions caused by World War II, the Malayan Emergency, Bali Bombing, SARS and even more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. The final research document is a 200-page academic report of the early years of the school, the students and the heroes who worked hard to bring us to where we are today. A copy is available in all our libraries.

100 TANGLIN TALES

A 100-year history could never be captured completely as everyone’s experience and memory is different. However, we did want to try and for this reason, we reached out to former students, parents, staff as well as those who are currently in the community. We arranged an online link for them to not only share their best memory of Tanglin but also drop any photos, documents related to those that we could share in detail. Many of these memories were incorporated into a commemorative Centenary book called 100 Tanglin Tales, a collection

of stories by the Tanglin Community about iconic Tanglin activities, events and people. Once the topics were confirmed, members of the community diligently researched and interviewed Alumni to deliver 100 unique Tanglin stories just before we closed for the summer! We cannot wait to share the published book later in Term 1!

CENTENARY MANAGER

It was obvious that the coming year would give us a wonderful opportunity commemorate, recognise and celebrate our history. It was also apparent that a dedicated resource was needed to pull it all together. At the end of Term 1 last academic year, we advertised for the role of the Centenary Manager. We were delighted when Anna Buset, who is a Tanglin parent and a very experienced event planner, accepted the role to plan our Centenary efforts. With only another six months before the Centenary year would kick off, we knew there was work to be done. She engaged various stakeholders and the leadership teams at school to gather ideas and draw up a master plan. With the approval of the Board of Governors and our CEO, by the end of June 2024, it was time for execution.

THE CENTENARY EXHIBITION

One of the biggest projects that needed to be ready for the new school year was the Exhibition to showcase our school’s history. It was necessary for this to take place over the July-August 2024 summer period when spaces became available. Having visited other schools and organisations on how they showcased their history gallery, we finally picked an experienced company in Singapore specialising in building museums for schools to undertake this project. Having decided on the concept, we then went to work in finding suitable material that we would showcase. This involved many months of

careful and deliberate search through our current archives and reaching out to Alumni (both teachers, parents and students). These needed to be catalogued and then the big decision on what would be used that would respectfully and accurately showcase the history of the school. The final list we hope will showcase the essence of Tanglin and give our current community a chance to know our school’s legacy. By mid-August 2024, we completed the work around the exhibition, and we now have a curated five-part showcase at the Centenary Building Atrium that we hope will pay homage to the past, present, and our exciting future.

We hope you will enjoy the Generations of Excellence at the Centenary Exhibition.

MARKING THE CENTENARY - AUGUST 2024 TO JUNE 2025

It is the intention of the school to share this coming year with all in the Tanglin Community including our students, our parents, and our staff both past and present. Whether attending or performing at an event, visiting school, or snapping up something special from the Centenary Collection, we want everyone to experience and be part this milestone in our history. Over the next three terms, there will be various events, all of which will be publicised in a special Centenary brochure.

The history report documents Miss Griff’s (middle row, fourth player from left) passion for football and how she captained her teams to victory in Wales.

Infant School

Paula Craigie, Head of Infant School

We have had another wonderful and fun-filled year in the Infant School, and I feel privileged to work with such dedicated colleagues and enthusiastic learners. We have embraced every opportunity to develop our school with a series of ‘firsts’ for us along the way, all linked to our strategic aims.

TEAM TANGLIN

House Days and Snack Attacks have now become a regular feature in our Infant calendar. These create a sense of belonging and help children to develop wider friendships and work with lots of different adults. This year we welcomed new colleagues Sally Coop, Emma Deighan, Claudette Parkinson, Iffah Arinah, Valerie Lim, Nurul Adriana Mohd Ismail, Grace Ng, Clarabelle Sim, and Alyssa Yuen. But as always in an international context, we have to say goodbye and huge thanks to Veena Annies, Suzanna Chuang, Martin Foakes, Shirley Hutchin, Bernadette Jones, Valerie Lim, Amy Liu, Madhvi Mehta, Nur Aina Amirah, Rebecca, and Russell Whelan who left Tanglin at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

INSPIRED LEARNERS

We have a talented parent community, such as Artist Sizzle, who worked with our children to create a bespoke map of Singapore with some Tanglin favourites on there too. We have since created greeting cards to complement the large map on the Infant side of the Nixon building. I was fortunate enough to be selected to volunteer at the Singapore Night Festival in August 2023 and so began the blossoming partnership with the recently opened Singapore Children’s Museum. Years 1 and 2 have since spent time at the Museum. We also hosted a visit from the Museum’s Director, Wai Yin, and her colleagues at Tanglin where our Infant children and facilities inspired them. Now we are working with them to develop a collaborative project linked to our Centenary - so watch this space! All these awe-inspiring and wonderful experiences help to inspire our learners and lead to strong academic outcomes. These continue to exceed UK expectations across the board and the milestone structure of the challenging 3-14 curriculum has ensured that more children learn in greater depth, retaining and applying what they have learned more confidently. We have also reflected and revised some subject areas to further extend the expectations as children have risen to the challenge so remarkably. We never want to feel complacent, so we continue to monitor the effectiveness of teaching and learning to ensure the children receive the very best experience and use a bespoke Monitoring Database (designed by our Apps team) to track this. By the end of the school year, there had been 158 lesson drop-ins by the Head and Deputy Heads, and 1580 books scrutinised. That does not include half-termly learning walks and work scrutinies by middle leaders, in addition to discussions with children about their learning, which create a triangulated picture of children's learning in our school.

FLOURISHING INDIVIDUALS

This year, we introduced changes to the shape of the day, largely in response to feedback from our community about the short break times and accessing CCAs if you rely on our bus service. We were able to make

some positive changes, which included incorporating CCA for Reception to Year 2 into our afternoons and increasing the duration of Reception snack times, whilst extending Year 1 and 2 lunchtimes. This was all under the umbrella of flexibility and a few families took advantage of an earlier finish on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We have broadened our Co-Curricular provision to ensure the programme not only offers a range of activities for the children but also reflects their interests. The Co-Curriculum department provided concrete data that enabled the team to offer more activities from popular categories and we are delighted with the high percentage of first-choice options that children are allocated. In Term 2, we unveiled our new Creative Play Area for Years 1 and 2 and we have been known to share it with Beavers after school too!

• "I like the wobbly bridge because it's fun to try and walk on."Kotomi, 1.5

• "I like making cakes in the mud kitchen." – Nayesha, 1.5

• "The obstacle course is really fun. When you fall off other people try to catch you but I'm too quick for them!" – Arjan, 1.5

• "I love the climbing frame because it is a great place to play 'the floor is lava'!" - Gogo, 2.6

• "I like using the loop course because it is really swingy which makes it very tricky." – Antara, 2.3

• "I like the climbing frame as you can swing and climb. The sand pit is also good because you can dig for treasure and pretend to plant trees!" – Tessa, 2.3

Infant staff embraced the restorative practice approach introduced across the whole school this year, which aligns with our belief that we are preparing children for life, not just to behave in lessons. Workshops and open sessions have enabled staff to facilitate consistent conversations and approaches to ensure our children feel confident within school, while still understanding the expectations and boundaries. Feedback has been positive on its impact and the impressive amount of empathy shown by our children. We will, however, reflect upon practice and review the

approach as we provide the children with the best learning opportunities. After a successful trial during Term 3 last year, our Year 2 children have used the Komodo platform so that we can closely monitor their wellbeing and personal experiences within school. Komodo is also used across both the Juniors and Seniors, and we have found it to be another useful tool to allow children the opportunity to share with adults. Coaching is firmly embedded at Tanglin as a tool to develop and support our colleagues. Last year, we piloted a coaching project with Year 10 student coaches supporting some Year 2 children with the transition to Juniors. This project has been expanded across Year 2 this year with positive success. Head of Year 2 Fraser Gerdes-Hansen says, “The Senior student coaching initiative is a great way to have cross-school collaboration in a purposeful way. It is wonderful to have Senior students share their experiences with younger children about change and transitioning to a new part of the school. I got a sense that it helped the infant children to feel emboldened and excited to make the next step on their Tanglin Journey!”.

FUTURE READY

Our Forest School (FS) programme has continued to go from strength to strength as our Head of Forest School, Vanessa McCormack, has extended this into Reception in addition to Nursery. The wonderful area is also part of our CCA provision, and 96 children have participated in The Great Outdoors CCA this year. In November last year, we launched Griff’s Imaginarium with the help of Amara Buyse from Rolls Royce, FOBISIA CEO John Gwyn Jones, and Governor Clare Wijeratne. This cutting-edge STEAM room provides a sanctuary where curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking converge to provide children with unique opportunities to explore, experiment, and engage with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics concepts.

OUR PEOPLE AND SCHOOL SYSTEMS

The professional development we offer our staff is second to none, offering a wide range of opportunities to suit both school and personal professional needs, from individual coaching through to supporting the next steps in Further Education. This year, we introduced the Great Teaching Toolkit across the whole school for all teachers and TLAs. The platform consists of sustained and collaborative professional development courses based on rigorous educational research. This ensures our teams are putting their effort into enhancing the evidencebased approaches that we know maximise impact on the children’s

outcomes. We also introduced a restorative practice approach to enhance our pastoral support and lifeskills learning across the school, involving several training sessions to empower staff. In addition to this, there have been many training sessions offered by our Heads of Curriculum, such as using AI platforms to make our workflow more efficient and expert coaches supporting our class teacher PE in Year 1 and Year 2. We try to lead by example in all that we do and continue to challenge ourselves. In May, Jo Osman presented at the COBIS conference in London (How Leaders Can Realistically Influence the Wellbeing of Colleagues). Jon Pavey completed his Masters in Educational Leadership in July. I have recently qualified as a Peer Accreditor for COBIS and have worked with two schools in SE Asia to achieve COBIS Accreditation. I am also a qualified Executive Coach and coach colleagues who are new to Headship. I am currently coaching Heads in Europe, the Middle East, and Kenya. I also support 43 Heads at 23 IAPS schools across the globe in my Regional Support Representative role for IAPS. We truly embrace the ‘Keep Learning’ aspect of the Five Ways to Wellbeing!

We have continued to develop our Middle and Senior leaders across the school through the DfE National Professional Qualifications. Last year, Richard Pyatt (National Professional Qualification in Leading Teacher Development) and Emily Roberts (National Professional Qualification in Leading Teaching) and this year Delphine Hastwell, Fraser Gerdes-Hansen, and Rebecca Whelan (all National Professional Qualifications in Senior Leadership) all achieved these qualifications.

Internally, we offer colleagues the chance to present at the Faculty Research Forum at The Institute. Thank you to Jo Osman, Russell Whelan and Andy Martin who have presented this year. Tanglin has been training teachers, leaders, and teacher trainers in six schools over the last 18 years in Siem Reap Province. 2024 has seen the exciting expansion of this Teacher Training Programme, using both Cambodian teacher trainers as well as international teacher trainers (from Tanglin) to increase the reach of training to as many government schools as possible. A huge thank you to Katie Sansom who leads this for us in the Infants.

This is all in addition to the day-to-day life at Tanglin of course! We have had Sports Days, concerts, performances, day trips, special days, and learning huge amounts along the way!

Junior School

Clair Harrington-Wilcox, Head of Junior School

What an action-packed year this has been. We are delighted to have seen the children achieve so many outstanding accomplishments: all the while pursuing their current passions and discovering and igniting new ones. Our strategic aims support our relentless pursuit for excellence in all that we do while supporting our young people to model our values of Respect, Responsibility and Purpose.

FUTURE READY

We are thrilled to announce the commencement of a redevelopment project for the Junior School Tower Block. This ambitious initiative will transform it into a modern five-story Junior Arts Centre, enhancing creative learning spaces and providing unparalleled arts and literary opportunities for our students. Envisioned as a dynamic hub for artistic exploration, expression and collaboration, the Junior Arts Centre will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, from a newly fitted Indoor Fitness Area and Central Performance Forum to Dance and Drama Studios, Black Box Theatre, Music and Practice Rooms, and Art Rooms. The newly designed Art Rooms will offer an inspiring environment with ample space, natural light and abundant resources to spark creativity and nurture the exploration of art. The top two floors of the Junior Arts Centre will be dedicated to our wonderful Library, which has been designed in collaboration with our student leaders. This will showcase an increased book collection, larger reading spaces for reflection and relaxation, and panoramic views across the school. The Entrance to the building will also undergo a beautiful makeover. We look forward to the launch of this exciting event as we celebrate our Centenary.

FLOURISHING INDIVIDUALS (PETE O'BRIEN)

Creative Playground

We are so proud to be a Rights Respecting School and it has continued to be an important aspect of Junior School life. The moral framework reflects the school’s core values, sparks interest in global issues and, most importantly, empowers children to exercise their rights to be responsible, active citizens. At the start of this year, we were delighted to launch our RRSA inspired Creative Playground.

Various members of our student leaders were on hand to show Parent Class Reps how they use each piece of equipment. It is a very popular playspace amongst the children.

Restorative Practices

For a child to flourish, we believe that they must be in a safe and predictable environment that values and encourages connection. It is these key principles that underpin much of our work within our pastoral care at Tanglin and is particularly evident within our behaviour culture. We have high expectations of behaviour and our policies, training and pastoral curriculum ensure that all staff are consistent with how we view behaviour, and approach incidents in a calm, consistent and supportive way. This year, a key focus across the whole school has been to develop how we support student conflict when it arises. Working with Margaret Thorsborne, a leading consultant and author in this area, we have embedded restorative practices to help us to respond to any peer conflict and rebuild positive relationships. The following restorative questions are used in guided reflection time to follow up on most incidents and issues and enable those involved to learn what to do differently next time:

• What happened?

• What were you thinking at the time?

• What have you thought since?

• How did this make people feel?

• Who has been affected?

• How have they been affected?

• What should we do to put things right?

• How can we do things differently in the future?

Feedback from the children on the impact of this approach has been positive and staff have been very impressed with how maturely issues have been resolved.

Relationships and Sex Education

Throughout this year, it has been wonderful to engage with so many parents through some of the key pastoral initiatives in the Junior School. Our Relationships and Sex Education curriculum has undergone a large review, and it has been so nice to work with the parent community through working parties, drop-in sessions and workshops on this topic. Using this parental feedback, we have been able to shape what we deliver to the children and develop the support materials we can provide families so that they are purposeful and relevant.

Belonging

The Juniors are doing a great deal of work around what it means to belong. Part of that work has been exploring what a ‘Third Culture Kid’ is and what that means for the children in our community. In Term 3, there was an excellent ParentWise session on this topic delivered by Tanglin School Counsellor, Kevin Dunk. This is part of a wider initiative to raise awareness of the key opportunities and issues that children,who have spent a significant period of their childhood living overseas, can face. As part of this work, we recently completed

a curriculum review for the next academic year that will offer more opportunities to celebrate the individual journeys of the families that make up our community and enable children to express their cultural identity more explicitly. Furthermore, we have implemented transition programmes that support students who leave us, students who are new to joining Tanglin throughout the academic year, and those students who remain at Tanglin and often have to adjust to close friends leaving when they move up into a new year group. More material on this topic will feature in future articles for In Touch and The Voice and will form part of our ParentWise curriculum.

INSPIRED LEARNERS (RACHEL TURPIN)

With our 3-14 Curriculum embedded, the focus has shifted towards the context through which the milestone statements are delivered. Many of the milestone statements across the whole curriculum are delivered through topics. These topics are integral to levels of engagement and motivation for every child and, by choosing topics that pose relevant, thought-provoking questions, the children can develop their inquiry skills of collaboration, creativity and creative thinking alongside the knowledge and understanding that the curriculum provides. It also allows us to weave through the themes of STEAM, sustainability, service, diversity and enterprise so that our curriculum is relevant to the context of today. Integrating technology and AI will continue to be a focus. We aim to equip students with the essential skills so that they can navigate the digital landscape they are in, whilst ensuring a balance with pen and paper. With 1:1 school iPads at the ready, and equipped with education on digital safety and responsibility, our students are using a range of platforms and applications to support their learning in a creative way. A trial with Century, an award-winning teaching and learning AI platform, has allowed us to investigate the use of adapting pathways for students and powerful assessment data for teachers. To ensure that our curriculum and use of technology are impactful, the Junior School has been working with the Infants and Seniors on a monitoring system that supports consistency across the whole of Tanglin Trust School. Alongside this, the Junior School has focused on the internal moderation systems for every subject so that our reporting and assessment is evidence based. This has allowed quality data analysis that then feeds back into our planning. The end result is outstanding teaching practice and outstanding student progress.

PERSONAL BEST (BENJAMIN WALKER)

Ken Robinson once said, “Sometimes getting away from school is the best thing that can happen to a great mind.” In the Junior School, we completely concur with Robinson’s sentiment and that is why we are thrilled to have enjoyed a full and jam-packed outdoor education programme this academic year. There have been overnight experiences for each year group as well as exciting day trips that complement and enrich the curriculum. In addition to the year group programmes, there have been plenty of other experiences to be

had. Whether representing the school at one of many overseas sports and music festivals, or on the service-based Caring for Cambodia trip as part of our JASS group, the power of outdoor education has run through every fibre of school life in the Junior School. We truly value the impact that outdoor education can have on a child's development. It forms an integral part of a holistic education, not only in terms of real-life contextual learning and curriculum links but also in terms of personal growth and development. The Co-Curriculum has continued to grow inordinately this year and we are very proud of the programme we are able to offer. Whether it’s coding and robotics, ceramics, or the new horse-riding opportunities at Singapore Polo Club, we have really aimed to ensure that there is something for everyone. In terms of our before and after school activities programme, we are delighted to have in excess of 200 weekly opportunities for our Junior-aged children.

TEAM TANGLIN

This year has seen an abundance of House events across the Junior School and beyond. Aside from House related sporting events such as House football and cross country, there have also been House singing events for all, as well as a huge number of Junior children taking part in the whole school House Fun Run. There have been a number of major sporting competitions and festivals this year. Not only have we sent teams to overseas competitions such as Harrow Football, SEASAC and FOBISIA events, we have also offered our sport for all approach with many local fixtures, across our extensive CCA sports programme. Music recitals have almost been weekly from orchestral and band concerts to the more informal affairs that have given all our musicians a chance to perform to an audience. In April, we were immensely proud of the Junior representation in the Young Musicians Finals - both intermediate and advanced - and this is a true sign of the musical passion and talent that exists in the Junior School.

OUR PEOPLE

The community at Tanglin Trust School is restless and hungry for professional development. We have five teachers studying for leadership NPQ qualifications and we are looking forward to hosting the FOBISIA JAWS conference for Middle Leaders and for PE, having already hosted the Music conference this academic year. Keen to ensure a common language across the school with our definitions of outstanding teaching and learning, we committed to The Great Teaching Toolkit, a model that draws on the best educational research available to give teachers personalised professional development. In addition, many of our Junior School teachers have had expert advice to develop their own public speaking skills as well as opportunities to develop their coaching skills and culturally responsive practices. For staff moving on, we wish them all the best and know that they will still be a part of the Tanglin family. This has only been achieved by working collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure that we deliver an educational experience that focuses on weaving a magical learning experience for all.

Senior School

Chris Seal, Head of Senior School

With a new day and several new programmes in place, 2023/24 was a year of exploration and embedding. An unchanged SSLT prepared to avoid the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome and set about crafting new melodies and developing new lyrics to support the chorus of voices encouraging us to continue to strive for excellence at Tanglin.

The Class of ’24 have benefitted from those longer days, finding more time to develop deeper thinking and wider knowledge. Not only is this group exceptionally able, but they are also nice. Nice is a word many try to avoid, but in this case, it is absolutely right, and we spent a good deal of this year enjoying the niceness of our interactions with these wonderful students. The Class of ’24 were also outstanding academics. The IB average of 39.1 points is on par with the very best schools across the globe, 33% of all A Levels were A* and their younger colleagues at GCSE produced exceptional results too with 55% of all grades at A* or equivalent.

The inspiration of Alumni and older students has long been a feature of life at Tanglin, and that continues strongly as the school reaches its Centenary. The now regular University Counselling fact finding tour to the US also included plenty of Alumni interaction and the examples of wonderful students at Yale, Brown, and NYU to name just three. In the Class of ’24, we have placements at Cornell, UCLA, Dartmouth, USC, Carnegie Mellon and all across Boston as well as students to Oxford, Cambridge, prestigious universities worldwide and 14 leavers to medicine courses globally.

77% of (I)GCSE grades were A*, A or equivalent (7, 8, 9).

Our IB average stands at

39.1 (compared to a global average of 30.3).

85% of A level grades were in the range of A* to B.

In thinking about those destinations, we have focused more and more on what thriving beyond Tanglin looks like. The sizable Co-Curricular offering was reorganised and refreshed in the new day and became a chance to drive opportunities for students that would benefit them in future years, and we hope light fires within that can sustain or ignite into something more established in later life. The new societies framework offered chances to think in and explore the spaces outside of lessons, and as always there remains the opportunity to excel on the stage, in the recital hall and on the field. Sport, music and drama have not only produced events of high quality through this year but also produced more events than ever before.

The learning that happens in those special places away from the classroom is vital to a rounded education of the highest quality and so we are excited to have confirmed Tanglin Gippsland for 2025. Tanglin students, staff and parents have a rare and rich opportunity to be engaged in a project in the vanguard of educational thinking. Gippsland will be a place where rigorous learning occurs, but in a setting that also allows breadth and depth to be delivered away from the exam specifications. This year has been a year of laying down more new tracks, with Mark and Sharon Cutchie now preparing the studio and stage for our young people to travel in April ’25 and experience a symphony of opportunities that few schools worldwide can consider.

It is not always obvious where vision or inspiration comes fromBruce Springsteen’s iconic Born in the USA is often misinterpreted as an homage to the land of the free, but in fact was inspired by the carnage of the Vietnam War. Inspiration in schools is slightly more predictable, and often at Senior level will be evidence based as in our ‘Learning to Learn’ project. However, inspiration also must come from a sense of where organisations wish to travel. Two years ago, SSLT all agreed that the Senior School could be more aspirational to match the capabilities of the young people and the support of the parents. Now, as life continues to offer unpredictable and yet enthralling challenges, we should equip our charges with the resilience they need to navigate the future.

Being ‘future ready’ will require knowledge, confidence and support. We know Tanglin can deliver on all three areas and ensuring that we teach well, encourage new and stimulating opportunities such as Gippsland and continue to work as a community to always provide a balance between risk and reward.

Tanglin is a remarkable school that produces remarkable young people but more than that, it is a remarkable community. It is a community that is not always easy to join, but extremely difficult to leave. The Class of ’24 fought their way into the school at various times and established themselves by seizing the opportunities on offer – they wrote their own tunes but learned to play in concert with others. We hope to hear many more of their songs, knowing that it will inspire the next generation of Tanglin students to play, practise and perform at the highest level.

Careers & University Counselling 2024

by Zoë Williams, Head of Careers & University Counselling

THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE

We have had tremendous success this year with our results and our university placements but perhaps the biggest growth we have seen has been the diversity of countries our students have applied to for further study, with a record number of 23 countries applied to by the class of 2024. The open-mindedness and pioneering spirit of our students are evident in the variety of places and courses they are researching. Whilst matriculation to the UK has always been a high percentage of our students’ final destinations, this year we have witnessed a decline to the UK. Over the last five years, there has been a decrease from 65% of our cohort in 2020 matriculating to the UK to 52% in 2024. This can be attributed to a number of factors, including the echoes of Brexit with the fee increases for European students to the development of international recruitment across an array of European countries. Conversely, our second most popular destination has been the US and that has seen a steady increase from 7% to 13% since 2020. However, the election in November may determine our figures moving forward. Australia, our third highest destination could also be impacted by recent developments, as the country introduces a cap on its international applicants, limiting the number to 270,000 students in 2025. Degree choices are also becoming ever more complex to navigate. There has been a vast increase in the number of courses on offer and it can be bewildering in the initial stages of a student’s research journey. Universities are investing more in computer science related degrees, sustainability and psychology. Courses with a year in industry or a study abroad option are proving popular. There are some tremendous opportunities available such as MIT and Imperials' collaboration or the World Bachelor in Business that is offered jointly by Bocconi, USC and HKUST, enabling students to study in three continents.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

A core component of our role is the travel we undertake to establish and maintain relationships with universities globally and bring that knowledge back to our counselling at Tanglin. Our team took part in three international conferences located in Canada, Ireland and Thailand and our annual regional conference here in Singapore. In May, Chris Seal and I visited the East Coast of the US. Our tour encompassed a range of institutions from Ivy Leagues to specialist Arts colleges and we were excited to meet with our Alumni students in New York and Rhode Island. The International Admissions officers who met with us during our visits give us the opportunity to speak directly about our students and discuss the ‘fit’ which is so crucial in admissions.

WORK EXPERIENCE

In May, our Year 10 students all undertook a week of work experience (WEX) and we are so grateful to the Tanglin community for facilitating work placements for 180 students. The opportunity to explore work environments and gain hands-on experience is vital in supporting our students’ journeys through Senior School. It can help solidify a student’s idea of what they do and equally don’t want to do after Tanglin. Employers’ feedback showed how impressed they were with the attitudes and commitment our students had to their placements, and as we welcomed them to campus for the WEX breakfast later in the month, it was wonderful to see them reconnect with their interns and reflect on the experiences that they shared. WEX will run again this academic year from 19-23 May 2025, and we will start calling for employer placements in January 2025.

UNIVERSITY ACCEPTANCES

Students received offers from 177 different institutions this year, our largest number in the last decade. We saw 23 different countries applied to overall, with steady numbers matriculating to Australia, and an increased number of European countries, including Latvia and Hungry, which can be attributed to the increase in medical degree programmes being offered with reasonable tuition fees and stellar accreditation. As a direct result, 14 students will go to study medicine this year in six different countries which is the highest number we have seen in a decade alongside an additional two students for veterinary medicine. The preparation students undertake to apply for these highly competitive programmes starts early in Year 12. Students are encouraged to attend Med-Soc which is a joint CCA run by the Science Faculty and our team. Students participate in a range of group sessions, enrichment lectures, Alumni visits, prep for UCAT tests if UK bound and read widely around their subjects. A full list of offers for the Class of 2024 can be found on page 28.

SHIFTING

APPEARANCE OF COLLEGE ADMISSIONS - CHANGES IN TESTING AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE AI APPLICATION

During the Covid-19 pandemic, most universities in the US went test optional regarding the SAT/ACT requirements. Now we are beginning to see a return to these test requirements, most recently by John Hopkins University, which will require it for students applying in the autumn of 2025. In the UK we have seen some changes in admissions testing with the introduction by Imperial and Cambridge of the ESAT this year for Engineering and Science. A big topic of conversation for our counselling community continues to be the use of AI and the role it is now playing in college applications. The consensus is that it will form part of a student’s toolkit and our attention needs to focus on mature and responsible usage, but we fully expect to see universities amend their admission tests or college essays in response to this. The University of Chicago has been welcoming video clips from students in lieu of written essays for a while now, but it will be interesting to see if this is adopted by more universities.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2024/25

Our plans for travel this year are focused on attending the EARCOS conference in Thailand followed by a COBIS Conference in Dubai and the GUCC conference in Singapore, concluding with the large International ACAC conference in July 2025 taking place in Boston. These conferences provide a unique opportunity to personally connect with the individual universities and to explore the surrounding areas with various university tours. As the Gippsland Campus is launched, we are hoping to dovetail our expansion in Australia with some university visits in the region in 2025. Closer to home, we are hosting a range of college and university visitors at Tanglin and will continue to attend webinars throughout the year. In September, we will host the annual Lion City Fair. The Lion City Tour is undertaken in collaboration with international schools in Singapore and has become a highly recognised event in the region with over 170 institutions and more than 700 students expected to attend. Students can view the upcoming visitors via our CIALFO platform and on Teams. Please review information on various application systems and timelines on our website at https://sites.google.com/tts.edu.sg/universitycounselling/home. We are also excited to host three University of Oxford interns this year: Amy Seal, Kai Ogden and Seher Chohan. This is an annual programme we run with the university, and we have been recognised as a Gold Internship provider by the University of Oxford Careers Services for the last four years. With increasing student numbers in the Sixth Form, this is a very welcome addition.

Examination Results: (I)GCSE

% of A*/A grades achieved by Tanglin students

2024 (I)GCSE Examination Results (Class of 2026)

(I)GCSE Results Table 55%

(I)GCSE Summary for 2024 (Class of 2026) 186

students took (I)GCSE examinations in 25 subjects.

of all grades achieved were A* or equivalent.

of all grades achieved were A*/A or equivalent.

of all grades achieved were A* to C or equivalent.

Examination Results: A Level

A Level Results Table

A Level Summary for 2024 (Class of 2024)

2024 A Level Examination Results (Class of 2024)

pass rate of A Level students. of grades were at A* or A, while 85% were in the range A* to B.

of students taking the EPQ achieved an A*; we are increasingly finding that the EPQ is being valued by universities.

of students taking the EPQ achieved an A* to A. 100%

Tanglin students

Tanglin students

Tanglin students

Examination Results: IB Diploma

2024 IB Examination Results (Class of 2024)

Chinese

IB Diploma Summary for 2024 (Class of 2024)

100%

pass rate for all our students who completed a regulation IB Diploma.

42

16 students achieved 42 points or more.

45 1 student scored 45 points.

100% scored 29 points or above.

96% scored 30 points or more.

2024 University Offers

Asia

ESSEC Business School (Singapore)

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong SAR)

IMU University (Malaysia)

Keio University (Japan)

Reichman University (Israel)

Seoul National University (Republic of Korea)

Singapore Management University (Singapore)

Tsinghua University (China)

Australia & New Zealand

Charles Sturt University

Deakin University

Federation University Australia

La Trobe University

Macquarie University

The University of Adelaide

The University of Melbourne

The University of Sydney

University of New South Wales

University of Canterbury

Canada

McGill University

Queen’s University

The University of British Columbia

Toronto Metropolitan University

University of Alberta

University of Calgary

University of Ottawa

University of Toronto

University of Victoria

University of Waterloo

Western University

Europe

Amsterdam University College (The Netherlands)

École Polytechnique (France)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands)

ESCP (France)

Institut Polytechnique de Paris (France)

Kühne Logistics University (Germany)

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)

Riga Stradins University (Latvia)

Semmelweis University (Hungary)

Tilburg University (The Netherlands)

Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)

University College Roosevelt (The Netherlands)

University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

University of Navarra (Spain)

University of St Gallen (Switzerland)

Utrecht University (The Netherlands)

UK

Arts University Bournemouth

Bath Spa University

Bishop Grosseteste University

Bournemouth University

Bristol, University of the West of England

Brunel University London

Buckinghamshire New University

Cardiff Metropolitan University

Cardiff University

City, University of London

Durham University

Edinburgh Napier University

Falmouth University

Hartpury University

Hull York Medical School

Imperial College London

King’s College London, University of London

Kingston University

Lancaster University

Leeds Beckett University

Liverpool John Moores University

Loughborough University

LSE, University of London

Manchester Metropolitan University

MetFilm School London

Northumbria University, Newcastle

Norwich University of the Arts

Nottingham Trent University

Oxford Brookes University

Queen Mary, University of London

Queen’s University Belfast

Ravensbourne University London

Regent’s University London

Royal Holloway, University of London

SOAS, University of London

The University of Edinburgh

The University of Manchester

UCL, University of London

University of Bath

University of Birmingham

University of Brighton

University of Bristol

University of Cambridge

University of Chichester

University of Derby

University of East Anglia

University of Essex

University of Exeter

University of Glasgow

University of Hull

University of Kent

University of Leeds

University of Liverpool

University of Nottingham

University of Oxford

University of Plymouth

University of Portsmouth

University of Reading

University of Sheffield

University of Southampton

University of St Andrews

University of Surrey

University of Sussex

University of the Arts, London

University of Warwick

University of Westminster, London

University of Winchester

University of York

York St John University

USA

American University

Bard College

Bates College

Boston University

Brandeis University

Carnegie Mellon University

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

Dickinson College

Drexel University

Emerson College

Fordham University

George Washington University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Hofstra University

Johns Hopkins University

Lewis and Clark College

Loyola Marymount University

New York University

Northeastern University

Northwestern University

Pace University

Parsons School of Design

Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Pratt Institute

Purdue University

Rutgers University

Santa Clara University

Savannah College of Art and Design

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Stony Brook University

Syracuse University

The New School

The University of Chicago

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Davis

University of California, Irvine

University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Merced

University of California, Riverside

University of California, San Diego

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Cruz

University of Colorado Boulder

University of Hawaii at Manoa

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

University of Maryland

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

University of Michigan

University of Oregon

University of Pennsylvania

University of Rochester

University of San Francisco

University of Southern California

University of Virginia

University of Washington, Bothell

University of Washington, Seattle

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Vassar College

Villanova University

Virginia Tech

Washington University in St Louis

Yale University

Lead Students Xiao Leng (left) and Harriet Strand (right) from the Head Team 2023-24 giving a speech during the Graduation Ceremony.

Academic Committee Inspired Learners

John Ridley, Director of Learning

The Academic Committee oversees Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment across the school. All three of these areas received high praise from the BSO inspectors in November 2022. This year it was the turn of our IB Diploma provision to come under scrutiny from an external team. The 15-year IB Review process was led by our IB Coordinator, Joe Loader, and culminated in a visit from an IB team in April 2024.

This also resulted in a glowing report, with many strengths highlighted. Commenting on our students, the team noted:

"Tanglin students clearly demonstrated the attributes of the Learner Profile and that of an IB student. Students showed a high level of maturity and insightfulness through critical thinking, thoughtfulness and reflective practice."

With these external validations, we know that our academic programme is strong. However, we also know that the striving for continual improvement is the best way to maintain those standards. The 'Inspired Learners' section of the Strategic Plan directs our work in these areas, with these commitments in particular:

We will:

• Ensure that students are at the centre of teaching and learning, which is informed by developing research as well as recognising and responding to the individual needs of learners at each stage of their journey.

• Continue to review and develop our 3-18 Curriculum and enrichment programmes to ensure that our students are accessing rigorous, relevant and balanced programmes that prepare learners for the future.

• Enhance our approaches to utilising student data to inform responsive teaching and timely interventions.

TEACHING AND LEARNING INFORMED BY RESEARCH

In 2023-24, we adopted a new programme to support teachers' professional development, rooted in high quality pedagogical research. Teaching is an Art. Great teachers are masters of their subject matter; are skilled at building respectful, trusting and productive environments in their classrooms; are superb organisers of tasks and resources; know when to challenge and when to guide their students. These four dimensions of teaching form a model of great teaching described in detail by the Great Teaching Toolkit Evidence Review, published by Evidence Based Education. The Great Teaching Toolkit (GTT) model is built on educational research which has demonstrated the impact of each dimension on student outcomes. In October 2023, all our teachers chose a dimension to work on and were divided into trios and quads to work through relevant training from the GTT together. This provided an opportunity to reflect on an aspect of practice and share experience with colleagues from different departments/ year groups.

RIGOROUS, RELEVANT AND BALANCED

PROGRAMMES

Building on last year's successful implementation of Tanglin's

3-14 Curriculum, our vertical curriculum teams continued to embed the new framework. This involved topic reviews and moderation of assessments to ensure consistency within each year group and between year groups. Heads of Curriculum observed lessons, sampled planning and scrutinised student's work in order to compile 'impact reviews' to present to their school leadership teams. Our Technology and Applications teams have helped us develop an in-house 'app' for leaders to use for learning walks, lesson 'drop-ins' and scrutiny of student work, so that monitoring of our academic provision is collated centrally. The monitoring app, together with a set of key questions for curriculum leaders to use in their impact reviews will also ensure that the approach to monitoring is consistent across the school.

STUDENT DATA AND RESPONSIVE TEACHING

The Applications team also completed work on 'data dashboards' for the Infant and Junior Schools this year, so that class teachers can see key information for each student in one place. This is powerful as it helps teachers to spot patterns and anomalies quickly. The dashboards will also be used as students transition to their new classes in their next year group. For the Senior School, we are working with an external company to have dashboards ready for the start of the 2024-25 school year. Different views will be available for the school leadership and subject teachers. The dashboards are good

for tracking patterns from data over time, which can help teachers in planning for particular groups of students. Online learning platforms using Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to respond in real time to differences in student responses, providing even more personalised learning. This year, the Junior School trialled one such platform - Century Tech. Students complete short activities assigned by their teacher; the system gives instant feedback to the students and then recommends the most appropriate next activity, creating individualised pathways. The trial went well, with good feedback from students and teachers. We will be continuing with Century next year and looking out for other tools that encourage independent learning and improved differentiation.

FUTURE READY

'Future Ready' was added as a separate section of the Strategic Plan this year and the Academic Committee is committed to ensuring that our students are ready for their futures, whatever they might be. The academic team supports the work of the Institute in creating opportunities for our students to engage with thought leaders from a range of industries and extend their thinking beyond the curriculum. The rapid advances in generative AI technology have very much been on our agenda as we have developed guidance for teachers and students to encourage experimentation, whilst guarding against potential pitfalls.

A recurring theme amongst commentators imagining our future with AI is the importance of developing human connections and human character strengths. The new Highlands Programme for Year 9 will become the 'capstone' of our 3-14 Curriculum and will be a great opportunity to focus on these areas. The academic part of the programme will cover content from our 3-14 Curriculum, but the location and residential nature of the programme will allow for fieldwork and project based work that will add an exciting extra dimension to the learning. There will also be a focus on sustainability, making use of the context of the small Gippsland Campus community as a living classroom to explore the topic. The senior school curriculum leaders have been busy planning for the first programme in 2025 and there will be a ripple of positive impact from the Highlands programme backwards into the 3-14 Curriculum and forwards into the Upper School in the years ahead.

Reflecting on the above activities and achievements of the academic team, a theme that emerges is the increasing collaboration between the Academic Committee, the Technology Working Group and the Professional Development team. At the recent Year 13 graduation ceremony, Maia Salti (Tanglin Alumna and keynote speaker) reassured the graduands that Tanglin will have equipped them with the knowledge and skills that they need to flourish in the next stage of their journeys. By continually striving to improve what is already very good, embracing new technology where it can add value and ensuring teachers' knowledge is up to date, we will ensure that this remains true.

Pastoral Committee Flourishing Individuals

Richard Sellers, Director of Pastoral Care

Tanglin Trust School continues to make progress in supporting our students' wellbeing. We are deeply committed to creating a warm and nurturing environment where every child feels valued and cared for. This dedication is reflected in the various programmes and initiatives that develop their social, emotional, and mental wellbeing. We're proud of the strides we're making together to ensure that each student thrives, both in and out of the classroom.

DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS: UNDERSTANDING OUR SCHOOL CLIMATE

The collection and analysis of data have played a crucial role in shaping our pastoral care strategies. We are committed to continuously enhancing our support of students. This year, our focused approach has allowed us to provide meaningful education, valuable resources, and targeted interventions in areas that are particularly challenging for young people, such as sleep, nutrition, and online usage.

To further support our community around Digital Wellbeing, this year we are excited to welcome the Breck Foundation, a UK-based organisation, to Tanglin Trust School. They will work with us to ensure our students, parents, and staff are wellequipped with knowledge and strategies for online safety.

THEMED DAYS AND WEEKS: FOSTERING AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT

Throughout the year, we have held several themed days and weeks that have allowed students to engage with critical topics in a meaningful way. Anti-Bullying Week and Online Safety Day were particularly impactful, raising awareness and equipping students with the tools they need to navigate both the online and offline worlds safely. Mental Health Week provided an essential platform for discussions around emotional wellbeing, encouraging students to prioritise their mental health and seek support from a trusted adult when needed.

SHAPING THE DAY: STRUCTURED SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS

The changes to the school day have led to some changes to our Pastoral structures and we have worked together to ensure that we provide opportunities for our young people to connect with their peers and their class teachers and tutors. In the Senior School, a whole hour of Pastoral time has been introduced on a Wednesday morning. This is invaluable for tutors and students to get to know each other, address any concerns, provide guidance, and foster a sense of community within the school.

PARENTWISE: EMPOWERING THE PARENT COMMUNITY

We held over 30 pastoral and wellbeing workshops for our parent community throughout last academic year including a seminar day during International Mental Health Week. These sessions proved to be great opportunity to equip parents with the knowledge and tools to support their children's emotional, social, and mental health. The ParentWise sessions have created a consistent and supportive environment at both school and home, fostering a sense of security and stability for students. Open dialogue between parents and the pastoral team ensures that as a community, we are aligned in our efforts to promote student welfare. This coming year we intend to host a pastoral seminar day each term in order to provide more opportunities for our community to work with our Pastoral teams.

Mental Health Awareness Week

Supporting Healthy Screentime habits

Understanding Third Culture Kids

Your Teenager's Love Language Flourishing Individuals

for Wellbeing

in the Age of Online Pornography

Our Infant Children’s Emotional Resilience

SERVICE LEARNING: DEVELOPING EMPATHY AND EMPOWERING STUDENTS

This year marked a significant emphasis on Service Learning within our curriculum. By engaging in service projects such as St John's home for the elderly, Touch Home Care HDB meal deliveries, and Infant School Meal Deliveries, students not only enhanced their academic understanding but also developed critical thinking, problem-solving, and leadership skills. These experiences have cultivated empathy, cultural awareness, and a sense of civic responsibility by working with the local community. During the summer holiday, staff from Tanglin Trust School rallied to fulfil our commitment to delivering food to the elderly and infirm, and we look forward to maintaining and growing these service opportunities this academic year.

RESTORATIVE PRACTICES: BUILDING A SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

To further enhance our pastoral care, the school has introduced Restorative Practices across all three schools. Staff members have been trained to deliver these practices, which focus on addressing

conflicts and misconduct through constructive dialogue rather than punitive measures. This approach encourages accountability, healing, and community building, allowing students to understand the impact of their actions, repair harm, and rebuild relationships. While restorative practices are now a key component of our management of behaviour, consequences and sanctions remain integral to our behaviour policy, ensuring that clear boundaries are maintained, and serious infractions are appropriately addressed.

LOOKING AHEAD: CONTINUING OUR COMMITMENT TO STUDENT WELLBEING

As I reflect on the past year, it is clear that the dedication of our Pastoral and Safeguarding teams to student wellbeing and safety remains at the forefront of all that we do at Tanglin. We take pride in the successes we have achieved, and we are committed to addressing the challenges that remain.

A key focus for the upcoming year is the development of our character education programme. We believe that character education is vital in shaping not only the academic but also the personal growth of our students. This programme will be thoughtfully aligned with our core values, ensuring that these values are not just words on a page, but principles that are actively lived and embraced by our entire school community. To achieve this, we will work towards creating a shared language that is understood and practised by all.

In addition to these developments, I am particularly excited about the introduction of Tanglin Highlands Programme for our Middle School students. This new initiative represents a significant expansion of our educational offerings, providing our students with opportunities to develop essential life skills that go beyond the traditional classroom experience. Whether it's through outdoor education, leadership challenges, or team-building exercises, Tanglin Highlands Programme will allow our students to explore new dimensions of personal growth, resilience, and selfdiscovery—skills that are increasingly important in today’s world.

Visiting St John's home

Co-Curricular Committee Personal Best

Michael Holiday, Director of Co-Curriculum

This past year has been a remarkable period of growth and achievement for our school’s Co-Curriculum programme, marked by an explosion of opportunities in the Co-Curriculum across the age range. The sheer number of activities available each week—over 400 clubs, societies, teams, and ensembles—has been staggering, with over 95% of the school community participating in at least one weekly activity, and the vast majority engaging in two or more. This participation has fostered a vibrant and dynamic school environment where students are encouraged to explore their interests and develop new skills.

CLUBS AND SOCIETIES

The expansion of Clubs and Societies, particularly in the Senior School, has been one of the most notable achievements. Through dedicated sessions on Mondays and Thursdays, new activities were introduced, and existing ones were developed further, allowing even more students to participate. This growth has not only provided students with a wider range of options but has also helped to create a more inclusive and engaging school culture. Complementing the regular weekly activities were the many and varied House activities, which spanned both competitive and collaborative events across all age groups. There is a palpable sense of pride and belonging among students when it comes to their Houses. Highlights of the House activities include the Fun Run, the various sport competitions, and the highly anticipated House Singing Events. These activities not only fostered school spirit but also encouraged teamwork and a healthy sense of competition.

TOTAL NUMBER OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Juniors

Number of national and international conferences 7

OUTDOOR EDUCATION

Outdoor Education has also seen significant development, continuing to be an integral part of the school experience. New trips were introduced in Middle School, while Year 10 and Year 12 students had a choice of more than nine different trips to choose between, from Service in Cambodia all the way to a trekking expedition up to 4000 meters in Ladakh. Younger students were not left out, with Nursery children enjoying a day trip and Year 6 students returning to Sarawak, with all year groups in between also out of school for trips. These experiences have been invaluable in teaching students future-ready skills, teamwork, and expanding their horizons, seamlessly interwoven into the regular school curriculum.

SPORTS

In the realm of sports, this year has been nothing short of extraordinary. Our students had the opportunity to travel overseas to destinations such as Dubai, the Gold Coast, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and Perth across 19 competitive trips. These opportunities provided our athletes with international exposure and competition, which greatly contributed to their development. We celebrated numerous victories, including SEASAC championships in Women’s Football and Touch Football, and strong performances across other sports, resulting in 23 champion teams both nationally and internationally. A significant highlight has been our new partnership with Albirex Niigata, a youth football academy that offers our students access to professional pathways. This partnership has opened up new opportunities for aspiring footballers, providing them with the resources and training needed to excel. Additionally, the launch of the Tanglin Impact Programme has been a game-changer. This programme is designed to enhance students’ understanding of physiology, the importance of nutrition, and athletic development, providing a comprehensive approach to sports training. The programme is open to all students willing to participate and work hard, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to develop their sporting abilities. Total

TOTAL NUMBER OF PRODUCTIONS

Total number of performers in Senior drama 211

CREATIVE ARTS

Juniors 5 4 Infants Seniors 7

Total number of music performances 80

620

Number of performers in music

621 19 Representative Fixtures

Total number of sports trips

The music and drama departments have also had a stellar year, with performance standards and participation numbers continuing to rise. The year level shows in Infants and Juniors were highlights, showcasing students' singing, dancing, and acting talents in inventive and creative productions. These shows, put together by class teachers and music and drama specialists, were a testament to the hard work and dedication of both students and staff. In the Senior School, there were numerous impressive productions, both student- and teacher-led. The musical Chicago performed by older students was particularly noteworthy, as was the Middle School's production of Moana. Additionally, the student-led Dance Showcase and "Night on Broadway" provided many opportunities for performers to shine. The music department hosted a wide range of concerts, from highly formal events at the Lee Foundation Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall to informal recitals in the new Recital Room. These performances not only highlighted the immense talent and hard work of our students and staff but also showcased the pathways available for students to develop their skills in music and drama.

Overall, this year has been a testament to the power of a well-rounded Co-Curriculum in fostering student growth and development. The expansion of clubs and societies, the further integration of outdoor education, the remarkable achievements in sports, and the continued excellence in music and drama have collectively contributed to a vibrant and dynamic school environment. This has not only enhanced student engagement but also prepared them for future success by developing a wide range of skills and fostering a sense of belonging and pride in their school community. As we reflect on this successful year, it is clear that the opportunities provided through the Co-Curriculum have had a profound impact on our students. They have learned valuable lessons, made lasting memories, and developed skills that will serve them well in the future. The commitment of our staff, the enthusiasm of our students, and the support of the school community have all played a crucial role in making this year such a success. As we look ahead, we are excited to continue building on this strong foundation, providing even more opportunities for our students to thrive and succeed. This year we have all worked hard to recognise the hard work and dedication success in the Co-Curriculum takes. Through the Achievement Awards for Years 7 to 10, specific students in each activity are recognised for their application, excellence and teamwork. In Year 11 and above, we have successfully awarded Colours to those who both perform to a high level in their chosen field, and exhibit role-model and leadership characteristics. These awards have been well-received by the students and will act as a means by which excellence and commitment can be recognised across the school. In conclusion, the past year has been a period of remarkable growth and achievement for our school. The expansion of the Co-Curriculum has provided students with a wealth of opportunities to explore their interests, develop new skills, and foster a sense of community. The successes in sports, the integration of outdoor education, and the excellence in music and drama are all testament to the hard work and dedication of our students and staff. As we move forward, we are committed to continuing this journey of growth and excellence, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Our People

Ayako Sugaya, Director of People

At Tanglin, we believe that people are at the heart of everything we do. Our passionate teachers, dedicated staff, engaged students, and supportive families all contribute to a culture of excellence, collaboration, and mutual respect. By fostering a community where every individual is valued and empowered, we create a dynamic and nurturing space that inspires growth, innovation, and lifelong learning.

FACULTY RECRUITMENT

We have been pleased to appoint 32 outstanding teachers for AY2024-2025. Tanglin continued to partner with a recruitment agency in the UK for employer branding, targeted recruitment, seamless processes, and robust background checks. An HR microsite, filled with valuable information for newly recruited faculty, has been launched to ensure their smooth transition and effective onboarding at Tanglin and in Singapore. It is designed to be a one-stop resource for new faculty, streamlining the onboarding process and helping them feel welcomed and supported from the moment they accept their offer.

GIPPSLAND

The Highlands Programme for Year 9 students will be launched at the new Tanglin Gippsland campus in 2025, situated on a site bordering the Baw Baw National Park in Victoria, Australia. In preparation for the opening of the Tanglin Gippsland campus, Mark Cutchie was appointed as the Head of Campus for Tanglin Australia. The HR team has developed new HR policies and procedures for the newly formed entity. These foundational elements are crucial in creating a smooth operational framework for the new campus. We will be working closely with Mark to recruit talented teachers and other staff members who are passionate about education and excited to join our pioneering team in Gippsland.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND CPD

During the 2023-2024 academic year, a performance management framework is being further established for Faculty staff and Educational Support Staff. The system promotes collaborative goalsetting and ongoing feedback. By incorporating regular reviews and feedback into the system, staff members are encouraged to reflect on their practices and seek out opportunities for development, ensuring that professional development is an ongoing process.

A microsite dedicated to CPD (Continued Professional Development) has been launched, providing all staff with access to the latest professional development opportunities. As part of our ongoing commitment to CPD, Tanglin hosted a conference tailored for HR professionals from international schools across Singapore. This event provided an invaluable platform for participants to exchange professional knowledge, promote networking and mutual support, and share best practices within the education sector.

STAFF ENGAGEMENT AND WELLBEING

We deeply value wellbeing of our staff and have implemented various initiatives to enhance working experience at Tanglin. We are excited about the opening of a brand-new Staff Lounge in the Nixon building. This space is a wonderful addition to the workplace and is designed to provide our staff with a relaxing environment where they can unwind, collaborate and recharge.

OTHER NOTABLE PROJECTS

Tanglin is always looking for ways to improve its processes and the HR team is no different. During AY 2023-24, we took on notable projects that included the following:

• HR internal audit.

• Salary market benchmarking review.

STAFF DIVERSITY BY THE NUMBERS

Our staff come from a wide range of diverse backgrounds, and this has greatly enriched the Tanglin community in more ways than one. You can see this represented in the following figures, recorded as of June 2024.

Tanglin By The Numbers

Faculty Tenure 2023-24

Governance

Mee King Chen, Group Corporate Secretary

Tanglin Trust School Limited (formerly known as Tanglin Trust Limited) was incorporated on 21 August 1961 as a public company limited by guarantee. It was registered under the Charities Act on 29 December 1984.

Unique Entity Number (UEN)

Registered Address

Banker

196100114C

95 Portsdown Road, Singapore 139299

Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

Auditor KPMG LLP

Governing Instrument

Tanglin Trust School Limited Constitution

Governing Board Members of Tanglin Trust School Limited

Dominic Nixon

Governor and Chair of Board of Governors, Chair of Board Real Estate Campus Development and Board Education Policy & Schools Curriculum Committees

(Member since 19 March 2002)

Charles Thomas

Governor

(Member since 25 April 2023)

Colm McCarthy

Governor (Member since 7 March 2013)

Diana Dawson

Governor

(Member since 25 April 2023)

Emma Horstmann1

Governor

(Member since 23 April 2024)

Fang Eu-Lin

Governor and Chair of Board Finance and Risk Committee

(Member since 1 May 2016)

Gina Lee-Wan

Governor

(Member since 19 February 2005)

Mee King Chen

Group Corporate Secretary and Member of Management Team

Neil Tottman

Governor and Chair of Board Development and Alumni Committee

(Member since 13 September 2007)

Rajan Raju

Governor (Member since 2 July 2016)

Rashpal Bhatti

Governor (Member since 25 April 2023)

Richard Routledge

Governor and Chair of Board Talent Committee (Member since 1 September 2020)

Robert Arbuthnott

Governor (Member since 16 February 2012)

Sue McNamara

Governor and Chair of Board Pastoral and Safeguarding Committee (Member since 1 September 2009)

Clare Wijeratne2

Governor and Chair of Board Education Policy and Schools Curriculum Committee

(Member from 1 March 2017 to 23 April 2024)

1 Appointed as Governor on 23 April 2024

2 Resigned as Governor on 23 April 2024

Some Governors have served beyond 10 years. The Board, collectively, wishes to retain these Governors as they have the necessary skills, relevant experience and commitment to serve Tanglin Trust School Limited. Board succession planning includes the appointment of new Governors.

Board membership is voluntary and not remunerated.

There are no paid staff who are close members of the family of the Chief Executive Officer or Board Members for the period 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024.

Committees

The Board appoints separate committees in relation to the following areas of responsibility:

• Development and Alumni

• Education Policy & Schools Curriculum

• Finance and Risk

• Pastoral and Safeguarding

• Real Estate and Campus Development

• Talent

Attendance Record for Board of Governors and Board Committees Meetings

Period: 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024

Dominic Nixon

Charles Thomas

Clare Wijeratne

Colm McCarthy

Diana Dawson

Emma Horstmann*

Fang Eu-Lin

Gina Lee-Wan

Neil Tottman

Rajan Raju

Rashpal Bhatti

Richard Routledge

Robert Arbuthnott

Sue McNamara

# Resigned as Governor on 23 April

Note: Due to business travel, work commitments and/or being in countries with different time zones, a few Governors were unable to attend some of the Board and Board Committee meetings.

Management Team 2023/2024

Craig Considine Chief Executive Officer Appointed August 1, 2018

Ling Guan Heng Chief Operating Officer/ Chief Financial Officer Appointed April 13, 2009

Paula Craigie Head of Infant School Appointed August 1, 2014

Ayako Sugaya Director of People Appointed March 21, 2022

Clair Harrington-Wilcox Head of Junior School Appointed August 1, 2016

Chris Seal Head of Senior School Appointed August 1, 2022

Tom Evans Director of Marcomms, Admisions & Community Relations Appointed June 17, 2019

John Ridley Director of Learning Appointed September 1, 2011

Sohini Brandon-King Director of Scholarship, Inquiry and Partnerships Appointed 17 April, 2022

Chin Peng Lee Director of Technology Appointed August 1, 2022

Michael Holiday Director of Co-Curriculum Appointed January 1, 2020

Lyssa Carneiro Director of Risk & Compliance Appointed October 22, 2019

Brian Teng Director of Operations Appointed January 22, 2007

Richard Sellers Director of Pastoral Care & Deputy Head (Senior School) Appointed August 11, 2021

Mee King Chen Group Corporate Secretary Appointed December 15, 2021

Whistleblowing Policy

Tanglin Trust School has a Whistleblowing Policy. The Policy is posted on the School’s website (tts.edu.sg) and may be used, if needed, by employees, suppliers, business partners and others in the school community.