RESHAPING THE WHOLE SCHOOL DAY

There are two key areas which cut across the whole school which I think are useful to highlight here:

The beginning of the day has moved later, by 15 minutes in Infants and Juniors and 30 minutes in Seniors. We have also asked the bus company to arrive 25 minutes later in the morning, and to condense all bus arrivals into a 20-minute window (instead of the 25 they currently operate). Although these are fine margins, I hope they give more room in the morning and require fewer staff and children to be up and out of their houses in the dark. The end of the day in Years 1 and 2 has been extended to 3pm, meaning there is a unified finishing time across Years 1 to 6. Nursery remain with their bespoke start and end time and Reception have two days of a later finish. In Seniors, the 30 minute later start is mirrored with a 60 minute later finish. Finally, the need for period 6 has been removed with all academic lessons now fitting within the timetable.

What have been the main considerations when you looked to reshape the school day?

The primary aim of the exercise has been to attempt to provide the structure for an even more educationally beneficial experience to students. In lengthening the day for Infants and Seniors, alongside further embedding the already longer day in Juniors we feel we have been able to give an outcome which supports working parents as well as providing even greater opportunities to students. We also recognise some of the difficulties associated with bringing children to school and collecting them again which is one of the reasons we have invested in the Co-working space on Level 7 of the Centenary Building.

Many families have children in different schools. I would like the schools to have the same start times for my children.

All children, from Reception to Year 13, can be dropped off at the same time. Whilst Infant and Junior children will immediately go to their classroom, those in Seniors will have time to go to their locker to prepare for the day, do some work in the library, or purchase breakfast in the canteen. In this model there is currently the same amount of time for Seniors between drop-off/bus arrival and form time.

Will a later start and end time allow children to have more sleep? Is it not the case that a longer commute time will need to be factored in due to the peak hour traffic situations in Singapore? This could be an issue and so a middle ground has been sought to allow for a better start to the day, which factors in increased traffic, with the benefits of a later start. Although this will be marginal for some, we feel it will yield enough benefit to most to be worth pursuing.

There seems to be a focus on creating time for CCAs. What is the added value in this?

We firmly believe in a rounded and holistic learning environment, with Co-Curricular opportunities playing a key role in this. CCAs is also a rather broad term and doesn’t shed clear enough light on the types of activity on offer. Through Infants to Seniors these activities will be crafted to ensure maximal educational benefit, appropriate to the age of the children.

When will bus routes, timetables and cost be published?

KAL will send out information regarding next year’s bus service as normal in April, this will include prices. As in the past the routes will be built to meet the demand, so these will not be confirmed until later in the year.