Learning for Life Programme

Overview

Learning for Life Programme – Student Leadership through Outdoor Adventure & Sports Programme

The proposed LLP aims to nurture leadership attributes and skills through experiences in outdoor adventure and sports (i.e. “Learning by Doing”) and comprises the following components:

Sports Education, where students are given the opportunities to enjoy recreational and competitive experiences that test and develop their physical, social and personal skills (i.e. promote personal mastery leading to self-leadership); and

Outdoor & Adventure Education, where students are offered new and exciting challenges that help them learn about working collaboratively, overcoming challenges as well as assessing and managing risk. It will strengthen leadership qualities such as teamwork, courage, resilience and pro-activeness and hone task planning and execution skills at the same time.

On the whole, the Programme gives depth to the school curriculum and makes an important contribution to students’ development in the physical, social and leadership domains. The transference and application of these skills are likely to exhibit a long-term effect beyond the schooling years and are applicable to other areas such as the academic and work life. In addition, the common experiences and memories would help promote social and racial mixing which contribute towards improved community spirit and racial harmony even after the students have graduated from the school.

Learning for Life Programme

The LLP will be:

• An integrated experience encompassing themes of ‘outdoor’, ‘adventure’ and ‘sports’;

• A purposeful learning process based on direct experience;

• A purposeful learning process based on direct experience;

• An all-round educational element to stimulate personal growth, promote bonding (i.e. increases self and social awareness) and strengthen leadership attributes and skills; and

• An authentic platform to build greater awareness of community and the environment.

The programme design will include the following features.

Active Participation at All Stages – The proposed LLP lends itself to the Kolb model of learning. Students are encouraged to engage in active planning of their activities and take maximum ownership whilst participating. Time spent debriefing or reviewing the activity also ensures that learning outcomes are emphasised, reinforced and applied in the future.

Joint Ownership of Risk Assessment – Although the responsibility for risk management rests primarily with the leaders, instructors or coaches, the students will be actively engaged in the assessment processes at the planning stage, whilst undertaking their activities, and in debriefing and review. Risk assessment is a pertinent ‘life skill’ in its own right and mastering this will be of value to young people both in the work place and in other aspects of their adult life.

Residential Experiences – Opportunities for students to move out temporarily from the comforts of their home and undertake activities in the company of their peers help build leadership qualities such as teamwork, courage and resilience. Through the various adventurous camps and sports camps, the students are given valuable opportunities for personal growth and could also gain a keener awareness of the environment. The many collective memories will also help strengthen the students’ sense of community and belonging.

Differentiation and Progression – Students are engaged as far as possible at a level that matches their profile. Activities and roles are planned with the flexibility for adaptation and differentiation for the different groups according to the readiness levels and ability. This will help build confidence and allow success to be felt for all students. The activities will also be designed to allow students to be sufficiently and continually motivated by new challenges which will inspire them towards a sense of achievement.

Competition and Self-Achievement – Competition is a means of challenging students to develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes and is used to spur all to do their best and derive pride in their personal achievements. This is especially relevant in an all-boys environment where the students exhibit the natural disposition to be competitive and thus respond well to such platforms in general. Recognizing that different students have different abilities and readiness, there are also avenues to facilitate and recognize self-achievements e.g. overcoming personal fears or inhibitions to complete an activity. This sort of challenges would motivate and affirm those who find it difficult to express themselves physically in a competitive ‘head-to-head’ situation.

Agency Partners:

• To equip our students with aural, oral and written skills to express thoughts and ideas and subtleties in communicating proficiently and effectively in Standard English.

• Singapore Mountaineering Federation

• Singapore Canoe Federation

• National Sports Associations (Badminton, Softball, Football, Rugby, etc)