DR DAN’S DIARY
Dear SIS-PIK Families,
Since the last edition of the Community Updates, we have completed our first grand Expo – in Emporium Pluit Mall. It was a wonderful week of educational events, allowing us to showcase many of the great things our students do, and to also put across our SIS-PIK vision. In my opening address, I stated that we are at a vitally important moment in education. After two years of virtual learning, we have a huge opportunity. A chance to discard outdated ways of working and old-fashioned school systems. For too long, schools have prepared children for either the past, or for ‘now’. But children’s futures do not belong now. They will need to thrive in years to come – a time we cannot fully envisage.
This is our opportunity at SIS-PIK. To reimagine what a 21st Century education is, and at the Expo I was delighted to share this with our local community.
A 21st Century education means building transferable skills so that children are adaptable. So they can be resourceful to find the tools they need to solve future problems creatively; to make them resilient, and persevere when faced with new challenges they couldn’t foresee; and so they are able to reflect on past success and failure and become stronger and better each day. These are the vital learning powers we develop at SIS-PIK.
A 21st Century Education means embracing innovative new ways of thinking and working, and using the latest technology to improve our practice. During the Expo, we saw how Virtual and Augmented reality can transform science lessons, and how we are introducing new forms of assessment to better test children’s actual abilities. Our BTEC qualifications allow students to show what they can actually do in real-life business situations. With the increasing abilities of Artificial Intelligence, it is also vital to ensure that our children are able to excel where machines and computers cannot – in creative and critical thinking. I’m proud of the skills shown by SIS-PIK students in debate, performing arts and multimedia.
A 21st Century school doesn’t just teach these things in an abstract way. It gives students the opportunity to experience, to lead, to participate. I was particularly inspired to see one of our students, Glenn, lead a storytelling session with preschoolers during the Expo; reading from his own children’s book about how today’s young people can aspire to be anything they want.
Finally, a 21st Century education acknowledges and celebrates that every child is special. Every child is unique. This means we need curricula, assessments, and CCAs that suit each child. As this week has shown, young people have passions across many diverse subjects – esports gaming, digital drawing, public speaking and music. Whatever your child aspires to be, we can make that happen at SIS-PIK. We will build on their strengths, and we will support them to improve where they struggle; every step of the way. I was delighted to present our new Business School programme at the keynote event on Saturday, alongside tech-illusionist Galih Montana and our own SIS-PIK performing stars, Angklung players from Primary 4 and Hyori, fresh from her success in Anaheim, USA.
Since the Expo, we have also had two other very significant events: our first whole school, face-to-face Independence Day celebrations and our Junior College Graduation ceremony. These were delightfully inspiring and heart-warming occasions, and you can read more about them in this edition of the Community Updates.
