Citizenship Education
Citizenship Education
Citizenship Education in Sembawang Primary aims to develop in students a strong national identity based on:
● A sense of belonging
Having a shared understanding of the values that are important to us as a nation
● A sense of hope
Having the confidence in Singapore’s future and the resilience to face challenges ahead
● A sense of reality
Being awareness of the reality of Singapore’s vulnerabilities and constraints
● A will to act
Having a shared mission towards improving the lives of others and building a future for our nation
Social Studies Curriculum
Through Social Studies lessons, students deepen and broaden their understanding of what it means to be a citizen of a country and the world by learning key concepts and skills drawn from Humanities subjects like Geography, History and Sociology.
There are opportunities for students to be engaged in Field Based Learning which helps them to contextualise learning experience in an authentic real-world setting. This learning engagements motivate and sustain students’ interest in citizenry education.
| Level | Field-based Lessons | Study and Inquiry Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Primary 1 | Neighbourhood Walk | Knowing Myself, Others and My Surroundings: Who am I in relation to the people and places around me? |
| Primary 2 | Community Trail | Coming Together as a Nation: What unites us as people of Singapore? |
| Primary 3 | Botanic Gardens | Understanding Singapore: How do we appreciate the country we live in? |
| Primary 4 | Civic District | Valuing Our Past: How is life in Singapore today shaped by what happened in the past? |
| Primary 5 | Little India | Exploring the customs and traditions of the Indian community in Singapore and appreciating the cultural diversity in Singapore. |
| Primary 6 | Asian Civilisations Museum | Discovering Southeast Asia: How is Southeast Asia important to Singapore? |
Students have the opportunities to engage in project works where they synthesise knowledge from Social Studies lessons, collaborate with their peers and communicate their ideas effectively to their classmates.
National Education
National Education (NE) aims to instill national identity and the spirit of togetherness in our students.
The NE Commemorative Days are linked to important points in Singapore’s history. In Sembawang Primary School, our students experience authentic and hands-on activities during the 4 NE Commemorative Days:
● Total Defence Day
● International Friendship Day
● Racial Harmony Day
● National Day
Since 2020, our students have been participating in “Our Heart for Singapore” where a gallery was put together to celebrate Singapore’s birthday. Students wrote down their stories, well-wishes and pledges to Singapore and created artworks based on what they have learnt.
Heritage Gallery
The Heritage Gallery in the school is an immersive learning space for our students to learn more about Singapore and Sembawang’s history during Social Studies lessons. It also provides a platform to develop our students to be confident speakers; our student-docents guided school visitors through the history of Sembawang through commentary for each section of the gallery.
Stories about life in the kampong (since the 1800s) are woven as a running narrative across the three eras. The gallery features three distinctive eras in Sembawang’s history:
● Plantation era (1800s)
● Pre-war period (early 1900s to 1940s)
● Post-war to modern-day era
Overseas Learning Journeys
The school organises Overseas Learning Journey (OLJ) to provide internationalisation experience for students. The objectives of the OLJ are to:
● Deepen in our students the 21CC of global awareness and cross-cultural skills and sensitivities
● Expose students to Asia with a greater focus on ASEAN countries, India and China, and sensitise them to the place of Singapore in the world
● Strengthen students’ commitment and rootedness to Singapore
Our students have been to various countries to immerse in different environments through classroom learning, and visit places of interest to get a taste of the richness of the history, cultures and traditions of different countries.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, outbound overseas trips were deferred. The school organises virtual overseas learning journey so that students will have the opportunity to interact with students of different countries through virtual platforms and have a deeper understanding of ASEAN countries through authentic learning contexts.
Values in Action
Values in Action (VIA) learning opportunities are designed for students to be engaged in giving, reaching out to the community and advocating for a cause. The learning engagements range from school-wide activities, level-based (age-appropriate) activities and expands into the co-curriculum. Through hands-on involvement, students develop to be socially responsible citizens who actively contribute to the community.
Level-based VIA activities are integrated with other subjects to help students draw connections among subjects and the relevant real-life experiences. Some level VIA activities in the school include:
● Primary 2 - Outdoor Education during PAL lessons provides opportunities for students to draw their learning about plant-potting to reaching out to the elderly in old folks homes. Students potted plants, designed the pots and drew cards to bring cheer and positivity to the elders in the community.
● Primary 4 - Project Work on Gracious Commuting provides opportunities for students to make connections from their learning during English lessons to advocating for a social cause. Students designed slogans and made them into souvenirs that advocate for gracious commuting. These souvenirs are given to their juniors and/or the public to create awareness and make a difference to the community.
School-wide VIA includes:
● Donation Drives
Students learn about the different segments of the community with different needs (children, elderly, disabled) and contributed through donations to make a difference in their lives
● VIA Card
A list of age-appropriate VIA tasks is provided for students, encouraging them to be self-directed learners and empowering them with choices of tasks
● Sembawang Ignite: Gratitude Project
Students learn about the contributions of everyday heroes in Singapore and create artifacts to express appreciation and put our school value, Gratitude, into action. Their expressions of gratitude (notes, letters, artifacts, etc.) were delivered to the everyday heroes who have contributed to improving the lives of others and to the nation
● Clean Up
To maintain a clean and conducive learning environment, students do daily clean-up in their classrooms. In addition, the school structures in time for students to conduct a thorough clean-up for the whole school at the end of every semester.
Last Updated : 24/04/2022