Secondary 1 Learning Festival

As learning is not measured by the narrow focus on grades alone, in 2019 GESS came up with a two-week Learning Festival modular programme targeted at enhancing the Sec 1 students’ joy of learning beyond textbooks.

Through the Learning Festival, we wanted to encourage inclusivity and social mixing. Students are taught to understand and appreciate both the relevance and value of subjects in real life, while being empowered to make their own choices in discovering their personal interests and aptitude.

The objectives of the Learning Festival are:

• To bring about joy of learning by going beyond the syllabi and engaging in real-world, hands-on activities.
• To foster greater camaraderie among the sec 1 students.
• To enrich students’ holistic development by focusing on practical skills such as Coding, Educational and Career Guidance (ECG) as well as an appreciation of cultural elements through dance.

The Learning Festival allows Secondary 1 students to choose 2 subject-based modules out of 8 – with each module lasting 3 days. Students are able to have authentic and meaningful learning based on their interests as they interact, engage and collaborate with one another as one community.

The 8 modules that we offered in 2022 were:

1. Create.Write.Perform (for English Language and Literature)
2. 3-in-1 Cultural Appreciation (for Chinese / Malay / Tamil Language)
3. Virtual Escape Room (for Mathematics)
4. Science Busking (for Science)
5. Wanderlust (for Geography)
6. The Paralympics (for Physical Education)
7. Tinker (Design and Technology)
8. Pies Galore (Nutrition and Food Science)

On average, 85% of the students responded that they enjoyed the modules, the activities were hands-on and collaborative in nature, which enabled them to learn knowledge and skills beyond the textbook. The majority were also happy they could interact across the streams and make new friends.