Our NE Journey Begins ...

Since its opening in 1999, Sembawang Secondary School has always made it a point to make NE a key programme for the school. This can be seen from its vibrant activities for NE which never fail to enthuse pupils to action.. The highlight of the events was in 2003 when the school organised a 3 in 1 school activity comprising National Day, Speech Day and Racial Harmony Day. Despite the closing of schools due to SARS, the school did not compromise on the need to commemorate Racial Harmony Day or the National Day.

In end 2003, during the MOE Work Plan Seminar, new direction for NE was set by MOE. The Blue Sky document was released by MOE. In the document, a comprehensive plan was discussed under the Racial Integration and Sense of Belonging (RISB) model. Under this model, three guiding principles were set by MOE. They were: NE must be developmental, holistic and balanced. This triggered the school to start working on a NE framework for the school.

Thematic approach based on the 6 NE messages

With a strong support from the N5 cluster, the school embarked on a NE journey. The NE progamme in the school was called the SHINE programme - Sembawang's Highlights In National Education. The NE vision was established by the NE committee and the school principal in December 2004. The first NE framework was developed as early as January 2004 by the NE committee. It was based on adoption of 1 NE message per level at lower secondary level and 2 NE messages per level at upper secondary level. After discussion with the school principal, this framework was refined in February 2004. A spiral approach was adopted along the NE messages. Three NE messages were adopted at lower secondary level. These were:

• Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong. We want to keep our heritage and our way of life.

• We must preserve racial and religious harmony. Though many races, religions, languages and cultures, we pursue one destiny.

• We must ourselves defend Singapore. No one else is responsible for our security and well-being.

At the upper secondary level, another three NE messages were adopted.  These were:

• We must uphold meritocracy and incorruptibility. This means opportunity for all, according to their ability and effort.

• No one owes Singapore a living. We must find our own way to survive and prosper.

• We have confidence in our future. United, determined and well prepared, we shall build a bright future for ourselves.

With the above plans in place, a new chapter began in the school's NE journey. However, there was a pressing concern that this is merely a NE committee driven initiative and there is little buy in among the staff. An envisioning exercise was thus conducted with the staff members in March 2004 to get feedback from the staff on the NE vision and the thematic approach adopted by the school. The staff members generally agreed to the NE vision for the school. They were, however, not quite comfortable about the thematic approach along the NE messages. It was felt that the NE messages would be too explicit and pupils might not be able to relate well to it. The same feedback was given by the cluster schools which felt that pupils would relate better to the themes if the themes are something they are familiar with.

Though the framework was being reviewed, the various departments in the school continued to work on the existing framework based on the NE messages. Each department infused the NE messages for the lower and upper secondary levels into their lessons. The collated work of the departments was placed on the newly developed NE folder in the school's LAN.

Based on the feedback from the staff members and cluster schools, the NE committee began its work on refining the NE framework. This time, the staff members were approached for feedback and suggestions. Some pupils especially the pupil leaders were also asked to give their feedback. Anew framework was developed and shared with the staff members during the contact time on 29 September 2004. The new framework was based on the following themes:

• Sec 1: Traditional Food
• Sec 2: Traditional Games
• Sec 3: Customs & Practices
• Sec 4 & 5: Singapore Heartbeat

The framework was also shared with the cluster schools in October 2004. The cluster schools were  impressed with the approach and proposed that the school apply for the NE Award. As the school is still working on tightening up the framework, it was decided that it is not appropriate to apply for the award.

In the meantime, staff members' feedback was sought. Some of the staff members gave valuable feedback that the themes might be more relevant to the primary schools as many primary schools are adopting these themes in line with the proposed heritage trails for the primary schools. Furthermore, some staff members gave feedback that if the purpose is to impart NE values, then there is no necessity to restrict the framework to the past such as 'traditional' games. Pupils of these generation might learn better through relating to NE values based on the games they play now.

The NE themes were then refined as follows:

• Sec 1: Food
• Sec 2: Games & Music
• Sec 3: Customs & Practices
• Sec 4&5: Singapore Heartbeat

The refined NE framework was shared with the staff in November 2004. Staff feedback was positive as they felt that the new framework  provides greater scope for infusion of NE in various subjects. The action plan for 2005 was then devised based on the revised NE framework.

It took the school one year to finalise the NE themes. SHINE programme which implies NE to be mainly activity based, was replaced with ExCITe @ NE Alive. The new tag line for NE sums up the intention of the school to reach out to the pupils and align the programme strongly to the school's own vision and mission statements.

Once that was done, the next course of action was to develop the necessary resources to support the NE themes. The school studied the possibility of various departments taking charge of various events as early as January 2005. However, as the themes were only recently finalised, the NE committee continued to provide the necessary support for the  school and plan the commemorative events. The 4 NE themes were incorporated in two of the NE commemorative events namely the Total  Defence Day and the Racial Harmony Day. The focus of the Racial Harmony Day was to provide a space to celebrate our differences and understand our ethnic culture. This was balanced with a vibrant National Day celebration which witnessed the pupils coming in national colours. The school allowed the pupils to come with their faces painted and their hair sprayed in national colours. There was a strong sense of pride in nation shown by pupils in celebrating the National Day.  The pupils understood the importance of a common space where we forget our differences and live in harmony as one people - the people of Singapore.

While the NE framework was applied in the commemorative events, the school did not forget the curriculum and non-curriculum aspects as well. The NE themes were incorporated into the lessons of the various subjects. These lesson plans were placed in the school's LAN folder for all to view and use. The importance of racial integration and sense of belonging was emphasised in the CCAs with efforts at cross-CCA collaboration and understanding. Enrichment activities such as Speak Conversational Third language were arranged for staff members as well as pupils. Teachers and pupils from the cluster schools also benefited from such activities.

By end of Term 3, the school was ready to embark on the NE Home Concept. This was initiated after discussion with the Heads of Departments as well as some of the teachers. This concept is discussed in detailed under the sub-topic, 'NE Home' in this website. It was agreed that the  NE Home Concept would be started in 2006.

While the staff members were actively making NE come alive, a major development was taking place in the school. The corridor along the staff room was being converted into a NE gallery. The gallery became yet another platform to elevate NE to another level in the school. The gallery was to be completed over a period of time. This was because, the structures of the gallery were intentionally developed at a slow pace to get feedback from the staff. This allowed the staff members to talk about each part of the gallery in detail and understand the rationale for the various components in the NE gallery.

During the June 2005 Staff Seminar, the staff  members were given a detailed update on the development of  NE in the school. This was followed by a NE cooperative learning activity for the staff at the November 2005 Staff Seminar.

2006 is a memorable year for NE. The school was awarded the NE Development Award for its NE efforts in 2005 and before. However, there were many other  developments which took place this year.

Firstly, the NE Gallery was officially launched during the school's Speech Day in April. Since then, the gallery has become one of the key hallmarks of the school. Secondly, the NE Home Concept was fully implemented this year. With this, all departments were actively involved in the infusion of NE into lessons and CCA programmes based on the NE themes. Thirdly, the school's NE website was launched this year. With this website, NE resources were available for all.

During the June 2006 Staff Seminar, the staff  members were given a detailed update on the development of  NE in the school. This was followed by a NE cooperative learning activity for the staff at the November 2005 Staff Seminar. The NE Gallery, ExCITe @ NE Alive was officially launched on Friday, 07 April 2006. Despite all these development, one aspect of NE remains unchanged - that is the attitude of getting frequent feedback and making necessary changes to the NE programmes to Touch the Hearts and Engage the Minds of the young ones. It is all about THEM.

Despite all these developments, one aspect of NE remains unchanged - that is the attitude of getting frequent feedback and making necessary changes to the NE programmes to Touch the Hearts and Engage the Minds of the young ones. It is all about THEM.

... Our NE Journey Continues...