Character and Citizenship Education

Guiding Idea

North Spring Primary School hopes to build a dynamic CCE curriculum that focuses on inculcating values, building character, developing life skills and a sense of belonging in our students. This is achieved through CCE Form Teacher Guidance Period lessons, CCE Mother Tongue lessons, Social Studies lessons, school based initiatives (e.g. Gracious Movement, CAN!) as well as reinforced through key student development experiences comprising Programme for Active Learning (PAL), Co-curricular (CCA), NE Commemorative Days, Values in Action, Outdoor Adventure Learning (OAL) Cohort Camps, Student Leadership Development Programmes and Cohort Learning Journeys.

With the refreshed CCE 2021 curriculum, we aim to develop students who:
(a) are resilient with a sound moral compass
(b) have a good balance of social-emotional well-being
(c) are active citizens that are ready for the future

National Education-Social Studies (NE-SS) Curriculum

The NE-SS curriculum aims to develop students to be concerned citizens and active contributors of our nation. Through our SS curriculum and commemorative events, students will learn to appreciate our past, adapt to our present and anticipate our future. To further enhance their experience and deepen their knowledge, students will:

• utilise mobile devices to learn the subject in an interactive way.
• travel out of school to places of interest and learn about multicultural Singapore and its heritages.
• dive deep into the past and find out more about Singapore’s history through historical trails.

These will help them understand the interconnectedness in Singapore and the world they live in. By doing so, we will help students foster a national identity where they stay rooted with a global outlook.

Experiences at the CCE Corner
To complement the SS curriculum, students use technology and interact with artefacts at the CCE corner to deepen their learning experiences.

Learning Journey and NE Commemorative Event Experiences
Experiential learning for citizenship education:

International Friendship Day:

Total Defence Day:

CCE Curriculum

CCE (FTGP) lessons focus on explicit teaching of social-emotional competencies, as well as the development of citizenship dispositions. Sexuality Education (Sed) lessons are taught as part of Growing Years series at Primary 5 and 6. Please click on the link for further information on MOE’s Sexuality Education.

As part of a school-based initiative for CCE (MTL) lessons, North Spring Primary sets aside time every term for students to reflect and show their appreciation to different groups of people (e.g. school staff, NS Men, parents).

Values-in-Action (VIA)

Values must be learnt through actions and demonstrated continually for students to understand their social obligations. Therefore, VIA in North Spring Primary continues to create opportunities for our students to practice personal and social responsibility. For example, we have, as a school, encouraged students to keep the canteen clean and speak graciously to one another all the time. We are also involved in community work and donation drives too. Prior to COVID, they include:

• donating pre-loved textbooks, pocket money and items suitable for recycling.
• visiting Eldercare centres and non-profit health organizations.
• participating in community clean-up work.

Student Leadership (SL)

Student Leadership is an integral part of our education system. North Spring Primary School aims to implement an effective Student Leadership programme that is aligned to our school and national educational objectives. The aims of our Student Leadership Programme are to equip our student leaders with the necessary skills to develop their leadership potential, provide opportunities for them to practice their leadership skills and be developed in fulfilling their fullest potential.

They are then empowered to serve their peers and others in service learning in various areas and at various levels after going through a progressive student leadership programme. We hope all students will grow up being equipped with the right values and useful competencies to contribute to Singapore and the world beyond.

Students need to acquire the necessary skills to help them discern, decide and display behaviours that are inspirational and morally acceptable. These will prepare them for the future.

Peer Support Relationships

BOND Programme

Termly activities to promote peer bonding and foster friendship between North Springers.

Exchange of Friendship Butterfly:

Exchange of Friendship Bands during Kindness Week:

Schoolwide Programme and Campaigns

To nurture positive character in North Springers and instill good habits in them, we design programmes to empower them to do so. Routines are put in place for North Springers to inculcate healthy behaviours that subsequently translate to habits for life.

CAN! Initiative
Clean and Neat (CAN!) routine, North Springers learn to be self-motivated and take pride in keeping their classrooms neat and tidy through the day. Monitors are empowered to perform daily checks on their classrooms’ cleanliness at the end of the day.

Gracious Movement
As part of the Gracious Movement campaign, North Springers are taught how to be gracious through being appreciative, being considerate and being courteous. These are infused through several initiatives, such as the following:

• Through the “Grateful Monday” programme, North Springers are encouraged to build positive relationships with people around them by using positive language to affirm one another to cultivate gratitude.

Weekly grateful reflections:* During the Kindness Week, the concept of empathy was introduced through a “Hat Maker Penguin” story, with recess activities and scenario based videos and Q&A to reinforce the concept.