February
Read about Minister of State Ms Sun Xueling's school visit on cyber wellness, and how CVSS equips students to tackle environmental challenges through project work and competitions.
School Visit by Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State (MOE)
Our school hosted a visit by Ms Sun Xueling on 18 Jan 2022 morning as part of MOE’s Political Office Holder School Engagement Programme. The visit focused on the refreshed CCE2021 curriculum and Cyber Wellness in particular. Ms Sun was accompanied by 3 members of COMPASS (COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools). The programme covered a dialogue with selected staff/students, observation of 4E5 CCE lesson on cyber wellness conducted and a doorstop interview of Ms Sun and selected staff and students by media reps. The lesson was conducted by the Form Teacher, Mdm Chitra, also our Cyber Wellness Coordinator and co-facilitated by Mdm Wan, ST/EL and one of our 4 specialised CCE teachers,
The visit was widely reported by various news media including TV channels and radio talk shows. It was reported that Ms Sun noted that students faced a variety of cyber threats and risks such as bullying, gaming addiction, fake news and scams, hence it was important for students to process their emotions, and be aware that a peer support culture was available in schools for students to talk through these situations. Students could also approach a trusted adult for further help such as counselling, or discuss the issues with their parents. Ms Sun posted on her Facebook that she was “heartened to hear students share how they can make constructive comments online, empathise, identify negativity and most importantly, build a peer support culture in school so that they can support one another and recognise when to refer their peers to trusted adults where necessary”.
CCE2021 was implemented in 2021 for lower secondary students and 2022 for upper secondary students. The refreshed CCE experience will prepare our students to navigate the complexities of today’s fast-changing social paradigm – both online and offline – and make learning more authentic, relevant and purposeful. Cyber wellness education is also strengthened and lessons would weave in real-life scenarios to help students recognise and respond to inappropriate and hurtful content. Students will be better equipped with skills to recognise risks in the digital space, identify and discern negative influences and inappropriate websites, and learn to manage excessive use of social media, using authentic scenarios such as interactive video discussions.
Our school adopts a three-pronged approach to Cyber Wellness education -
Cyber Wellness Programme for students – Students at all levels are taught lessons in cyber use, identity, relationships and citizenship as well as ethics. These lessons are linked to student development experiences such as CCA and the Values in Action programme. Lower sec students embark on a Cyber Wellness Quest, where they engage in activities with game elements designed to excite their interest in learning, completing a series of teacher-designed tasks on topics such as positive online etiquette, online dangers, gaming addiction, cyber bullying and online scams. Upper sec students participate in student advocacy for cyber wellness (such as by creating podcasts, videos or digital toolkits to raise awareness about anti-cyberbullying). Students also attend talks about the opportunities and risks in the cyber world.
Professional development for teachers - Teachers attended training to effectively deliver the refreshed curriculum since last year, such as facilitation skills for student discussion on contemporary issues like cyber wellness. They will also develop blended learning modules on the topic of cyber wellness.
Partnership with parents - Parents are encouraged to work in close partnership with the school on cyber wellness education. For example, parents can benefit from resources on cyber wellness. Staff will also work alongside parents to resolve any issues involving their children.
Environment Education in CVSS
In CVSS, the aim of Environment Education is to educate our students on the many environmental challenges in the world and the impact of their actions or non-actions on environment sustainability so as to develop students into concerned citizens of the world. With the appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivation and commitment, we provide platforms for students within and outside the curriculum, to work individually and collectively towards solutions for current environmental problems.
Environment Education through interdisciplinary Project Work
The interdisciplinary Project Work curriculum for all Express and N(A) lower secondary students is anchored on the theme of Sustainable Living, with the focus on waste management in Sec 1 and energy sustainability in Sec 2.
To better understand the waste problems in their community and advocate the importance of waste management, Sec 1 students attend talks by the National Environmental Agency (NEA) and go on learning journeys to understand the environmental problems in an authentic way. Students identify waste management problems at home/school/community, derive solutions and create prototypes to solve the issues, making it a student-led initiative facilitated and guided by PW teachers during PW lessons.
Sec 2 students work on the topic of energy sustainability and build prototypes to reduce energy usage by non-renewable sources or harnessing renewable sources of energy to power a household device. PW teachers design STEM lesson package using the design thinking approach to teach students the importance of energy as a precious resource through perspective-taking and creative problem solving.
Commemoration of Key Environmental Events
To commemorate key environmental events such as the Singapore World Water Day and Earth Day, our school embarked on a series of activities to engage our students during Form Teacher Time, which include Water Wednesdays and the launch of the recycling drive to encourage the recycling of paper, plastic and metals. The Environment Club students led in these efforts by creating videos to encourage their peers to conserve water and recycle right in school.
Environmental Competitions
Our students take part in various competitions such as North East Ginnovation Challenge and the **Crea8 Sustainability Re-Crea8**Competition to put forth their ideas and solutions on tackling environmental issues. To overcome Covid-19 restrictions, students collaborated over digital platforms to prepare for their onlline presetations and achieved commendable results, emerging as the 1st and 2nd Runner-up teams for the G!nnovation Challenge 2021 and as Winners and 2nd Runner-up for the Lower Secondary category for the Crea8 Sustainability Re-Crea8 Competition 2021.
The North East G!nnovation Challenge was co-organised by North East CDC and POSB and supported by NEA, PUB and SIT for students in the North East district to showcase their ideas on environmental issues and to raise awareness on environment topics in the schools and to the wider community. One of our winning team came up with the idea of a website and an app to raise awareness and encourage reduction of food waste, reaching out to CVSS students and school canteen vendors as well as residents and F&B businesses in Sengkang.
