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Parent Community
We are fortunate to have an active and engaged parent community, and enjoy an exceptional level of support from parent volunteers. This continued in the 2020/2021 year, and we are grateful to our parent community for their continued support and engagement with the school. Whenever it became possible we were pleased to welcome parents to campus, and at individual moments across the year were able to hold in person parent-student-teacher conferences, information and welcome meetings and a number of parent workshops. It was a particularly challenging year for creating and maintaining the community connections which are so much a part of the UWCSEA experience, as opportunities to visit campus and connect with their child’s learning, and with the wider community remained curtailed as a result of the health and safety requirements of the pandemic management.
Parents’ Associations On both campuses our hard-working Parents’ Associations (PA) are managed by an elected committee of enthusiastic volunteers, who offer their time to serve the school community. In addition, a large number of parent volunteers support the programmes run by the PA throughout the year. By helping parents connect with one another and to other important groups, the PA contributes significantly to one of the College’s most important strategic goals: to build a united, diverse and strong community. This year, many of the events on the annual cycle of activities were interrupted by the continuing restrictions in the face of the pandemic. While this was understandably disappointing for our parent community, our PA volunteers rallied and continued to contribute as class or grade-level and nationality representatives, working hard to facilitate and coordinate information flow, class updates and collate feedback in these unusual times. Importantly, they were also integral in supporting our boarding communities during the trying periods of increased restrictions on gathering, and into the holiday periods, when many boarding students who could not travel home were welcomed into the homes and families of our day student community. Activities this year included buddy programmes to welcome new families joining the school in August 2020 and January 2021 and the annual High School Careers Fair which went virtual as it connected students with community volunteers. Importantly, a number of PA volunteers participated in Unconscious Bias and Values in Action workshops, with PA volunteers in languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean attending so as to help translate the content for parents whose first language is not English. A rare opportunity for an on-campus event was the opening of the newly renovated Parents’ Lounge on the East Campus in Term 1. Attended by a small number of safely distanced representatives from the East Campus Parents’ Association, it was an opportunity for the representatives on the committee to meet College senior leadership, including the new Chair of the UWCSEA Board of Governors.
On the Dover Campus, we were grateful to have the participation of the Parents’ Association in the CIS/WASC reaccreditation process, which began in 2020/2021. Both Parents’ Association are registered as a society in Singapore under the Societies Act. They operate individually and have independent constitutions and Managing Committee structures which are governed by a constitution and bye-laws, with independently audited financial statements available to members each year.
Parents’ Action for Community and Education (PACE) A volunteer, parent-led organisation that falls under the Service umbrella of the College, PACE serves the UWCSEA community across both campuses. With a common mission and through shared values, PACE strives to support the UWCSEA Strategy to create a united community by welcoming all parents, staff and alumni. Their annual schedule of activities provides both a social network and many opportunities to contribute to the Singapore community and beyond. Over the last 21 years, with the support of volunteers, PACE has established two libraries in Myanmar, built 12 schools in South East Asia, provided over 10 years of volunteer services to HCA hospice care in Singapore, donated over 200,000 school lunches to children in need and helped over 300 children graduate from High School and College in the Philippines. The volunteers of PACE continued their efforts in the 2020/2021 school year: over 400 volunteers were involved in supporting HCA, volunteering for Family Service Days or joining the new Community Cooking Initiatives, providing time, energy and culinary skills. The PACE Week of Giving and Getting, a fundraiser to support the ongoing nutrition programme in the Philippines and build a fifth school in Myanmar resulted in over 200 donors across both campuses raising more than S$80,000. And the regular opportunities to engage with other parents through coffee mornings and the varied activities programme continued to connect over 300 parents in the community - from PACE Cycles to PACE Online Talks about Ayurveda and Happiness. Finally, connecting with students and the College, a new PACE Youth Essay Contest called on students in Middle and High School to think creatively about discrimination and refugees. Over 250 entries saw four students awarded prize money to donate to the service organisations in Singapore or globally that inspire them. PACE’s dedication to serving their partners abroad while overcoming the challenges at home, is a great example of the embodiment of the UWC mission made possible through the strength and generosity of the UWCSEA community.
UWCSEA Foundation Parent Ambassadors The UWCSEA Foundation Parent Ambassadors are a group of passionate and committed parents who represent the UWCSEA Foundation within the UWCSEA community. The Ambassadors champion and support activities and events, increasing awareness of the impact of giving to the College and encouraging members of the community to make a contribution to the College of time, treasure or talent.
In a challenging year, where the regular coffee mornings could not take place in person, online meetings and virtual events continued, and the Foundation Ambassadors remained focused on supporting the fundraising activities of the College, and coordinating Class Giving activities to engage families in sustainability programmes such as Solar for East and Solar for Dover and in support of the UWCSEA Scholarship programme. In June 2020, the annual Foundation Parent Ambassador year-end evening included the premiere launch of a short documentary about the UWCSEA Scholarship Programme which describes a schoars journey, the impact they have on the community and their younger peers, as well as the National Committee selection process and the way that the funds raised by the UWCSEA Foundation are used to enrich the experience of scholars while here at the College.
NATHAN HUNT, Former UWCSEA teacher and Director of Sustainability
BUSINESS REPORT
