Junior School

By Clair Harrington-Wilcox

The 2019/20 academic year proved to be one of the most challenging I have experienced in my 20 years at Tanglin Trust School. However, through the many and oft-changing challenges of COVID-19, it can be said that the whole school community – staff, children and families – pulled together. While many of us lamented the loss of normal school life, there were many positive outcomes from the disruption.

During the Circuit Breaker period, our children demonstrated great resilience, developing a stronger growth mindset and an even keener sense of independence in their approach to their learning. Upon their return to school in Phase Two, staff were impressed by the technological skills the students had mastered with confidence, and the personal journeys they shared. Their sense of philanthropy in supporting others less fortunate, and appreciating the contributions of frontline workers, is something to be admired. This historic challenge also demonstrated quite clearly that Tanglin has a very special community that is able to face adversity head on, remains undeterred in their desire to work together, and continues to strive for excellence.

In 2019, we achieved outstanding in every aspect of our British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection report, which read: “Since the last BSO inspection in 2016, the school has gone from strength to strength with standards higher than ever.” One of the most

pleasing comments was: “The school’s vision to ‘make every individual feel valued, happy and successful’ is evident across all year groups. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are exemplary; they are confident, self-assured learners.”

However, in true Tanglin style, we are never complacent and always aim for every child to achieve their “personal best”. This was the theme of our Speak Up Competition, and the Year 6 Graduation that was live-streamed to families. Our young people demonstrated in their speeches that they are confident public speakers who are confident to express their own views and who I know will go on to achieve great things in their Secondary education.

While we continue to drive our school improvement strategic headlines, there have also been many successes to share.

Flourishing Individuals

We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded the Gold level of the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award; we are the first school outside of the UK to have done so. The spirit of the award is reflected across our school – in our curriculum, our pastoral care, and the way in which all members of our school communicate and interact with each other. Our Rights Respecting Schools leader and the Library team have also curated an incredible collection of books relating to the different rights, and have developed a dedicated space in the mezzanine for children to access them.

This year, we also introduced wrap-around care to support working families, including a breakfast offering that was beneficial to those involved in early morning sports training and music performance preparation, and was extended to the rest of the community. We look forward to resuming this in 2020/21 once we are able to. In addition, we were able to expand the 5pm bus service for Years 5 and 6 students in response to parental feedback.

Inspired Learners

Quality learning spaces are at the heart of our development plans. We began with the classroom redesign project inspired by a student visit to Google and our next phase will be to develop the collaborative unit areas; a goal we hope to achieve in 2020/21.

The refurbishment of the science laboratory this year resulted in a brighter, more accessible learning environment for all. In addition, the Future Learning Room was converted to the Virtual Reality Portal, with the intention of developing and using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies to expand learning within the Junior School.

As the importance of technology increases exponetially across the globe, and therefore at Tanglin – whether to support remote learning needs, or learning within and beyond the classroom – so too must the children’s skills continue to develop. Experiences such as writing code on an iPad; piloting and controlling drone flight; learning the fundamentals of programming and sequences; and developing student authored e-books with embedded videos and photos; demonstrates their high skill level and expertise.

This year, the Junior School once again achieved the Historical Association Silver Award – we are the only school in South East Asia to have done so. We look forward to going for Gold next; we currently hold the Gold award for Geography.

Helping students to enhance their critical thinking skills and recognise the intersection of art, science, technology, engineering, and maths are the STEAM principles brought into Junior School science curriculum. Science Week had a STEAM theme, and Junior School science continues to hold the Gold award, demonstrating the consistent delivery of a quality curriculum.

We were delighted to have been able to set the English Speaking Board exams for Years 3-5 before COVID-19 affected in-school learning, and the results are absolutely outstanding. The examiners were impressed with how articulate and confident the children were in their presentations, and we look forward to incorporating the essential life skill of public speaking once more into our curriculum when visitors are permitted to visit the Tanglin campus.

The importance of learning a language is evident throughout our Chinese programme, and the introduction of a third-morning enrichment session to cater for the growing number of nearly-native Chinese students from the Infant School, and those continuing with Mother Tongue in the Secondary school, demonstrated its success. We are continuing to review our age 3-18 curriculum to ensure our academic pathways from school to school remain as strong as possible, and that learning opportunities are maximised.

One thing that’s certain about education in the current climate is that it needs to prepare our young people for anything. Today, children need to be equipped with the ability to adapt, be flexible in their thinking, have the willingness to tackle problems and find new solutions, and above all to develop inner resilience. These life skills must be woven through the fabric of our curriculum if we are really to prepare them to succeed in later life.

Personal Best

Our vision is for every child to strive for their own “personal best”. With this in mind, we have been restructuring our Physical Education and sporting pathways, and creating additional Arts performance opportunities. This will remain a priority for the coming year.

Some of the sporting changes have included a House rugby tournament featuring contact and touch matches for Years 5 and 6. Contact rugby was also offered to Years 5 and 6 girls, along with new orienteering technology in lessons. With new Heads of Sport in place to help develop an Age 3-18 Pathway, we are thrilled that we have been able to increase after-school sporting opportunities. We look forward to enabling greater student participation and offering additional chances to represent Tanglin. provide a breadth of experience so that children can develop their own passions. The introduction of the viola to the Year 4 Strings Programme will further enhance Tanglin’s orchestras and ensembles. We are delighted to offer the Harp Ensemble to help cater for the growing number of students learning this beautiful instrument. Charles Tighe, an Orff-Schulwerk practitioner from the US, led outstanding workshops for students from across the Junior School, further developing this music pedagogy in the classroom. Masterclasses were held for students in preparation for recitals, and solo concerts were given by visiting professional musicians.

The Arts continue to grow in strength, and a visit earlier in the year by EPIC Arts involved workshops that set up performances on House Day that involved all Junior School students. The development of an EPIC Arts weekend event provided an opportunity for the children to work with the company, and our Senior students were on hand to guide and support their younger peers. In the future, we aim to design exciting new Arts spaces that support innovation and assist in the development of a world-class Arts programme.

Team Tanglin

Ensuring we are an outward-facing school that forms strong bonds with other local and international schools, and the independent sector, remains even more important during a global crisis. We are proud to be members of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS), a membership that has required us to demonstrate an outstanding education. Within Asia, we are also members of the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA); this affords us a variety of sporting, performing and academic competitions across Asia.

Enhancing local community links through our enrichment programme were demonstrated when students from Year 5 hosted a group of returning visitors from Raffles Girls School, Singapore. The visit coincided with a celebration of Tolerance Day, a particularly relevant occasion given the recent challenges in our modern world. Teaching the importance of mutual respect – regardless of differences in culture, faith, language, religion and gender – remains a priority. Our young people rightly respect and appreciate the diversity within our own community and beyond.

The collaboration with Sydney Grammar School began with workshops and ended with a stunning concert performance involving our Year 5 and 6 singers and instrumentalists. Once again this year, the TTS Foundation funded a visit from Aspire More Able - Thinkers in Education to enrich scientific learning and challenge students’ perceptions. A collaboration with the Infant School that saw 60 students undertake the LEGO Robotics Challenge was a wonderful example of inter-school teamwork, while the wonderful Illustrator Chris Riddell visited to work with our Art ambassadors.

Other People

I could not be more proud of the Junior School staff for creating a bespoke summer programme that catered for the vast numbers of students enrolled. Willingness to give up their summer leave and working tirelessly to support the community during Phase Two are certainly special qualities to be found in Tanglin staff.

I look forward to welcoming new staff and families in 2020/21. My hope is that we will enter Phase Three sooner rather than later, and emerge stronger together as “one Tanglin”: a bright and positive community that has an even brighter future.