The right school environment nurtures your child academically, mentally and emotionally. Choosing the right school in Singapore can be tricky, though. Should you send your children to a public or international school? We know the importance of selecting a high-quality school, and that’s why we’ve compiled this list of seven skills your children gain at international schools in Singapore.
International schools equip your children for success in their future careers and everyday life.
1. Access International Curriculum
To achieve their full potential and land a fulfilling job, your children need a good education. The school will provide the academic foundation and teach social-emotional learning. With these skills, your child is prepared for future success.
Singapore public schools are known for their rigorous academic excellence. Students complete a standardised curriculum with set core subjects and electives. Local schools also emphasise science, technology, engineering, arts and Maths (STEAM) as they prepare children to compete on an international level for university admission and jobs.
International schools provide a rigorous academic experience to students, too. Your children receive instruction from an internationally recognised curriculum, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB), the International GCSEs (IGCSEs), the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), or the English National Curriculum.
The curriculum also includes a wide range of subjects that include STEAM, arts and humanities, such as music, literature and drama. Your children gain a well-rounded education that allows them to expand their knowledge base, practise their interests and discover new skills.
Taught in English, the international curriculum gives your children a world-class education and access to schooling around the world. If you’re transferred to a job in another country, your children can quickly jump right into classes in a new school. Their exam scores are also valid in schools and universities around the world.
2. Develop Global Citizenship
Our world is increasingly connected. You want your children to stay connected, too. That’s why they benefit from developing a mindset that appreciates racial and cultural diversity and cares about causes that affect people worldwide.
International schools in Singapore provide your children with daily opportunities to develop global citizenship skills. As your children interact with a diverse student body and staff, they discover traditions, cultures and religions from around the world and virtually travel the globe. They also develop empathy and are able to understand the challenges that affect their fellow global citizens.
By exposing your children to diversity, you open doors to understanding. Your children become global citizens who appreciate others and are prepared to interact and connect with people and cultures worldwide.
3. Discover Creativity
Children aren’t born with creativity, but they can learn this skill as they play, study and socialise. Creativity helps your children become flexible, adjust to change and solve problems. With this skill, your children may access new opportunities and thrive in all areas of life.
You can cultivate creativity in your children when you provide:
- Space to explore, try and experiment
- Unstructured, imaginative and child-directed play
- Encouragement to make mistakes and fail
- Opportunities to brainstorm and generate new ideas
- Freedom and autonomy to choose activities
- Ability to express divergent thoughts
Many international schools in Singapore can offer your children the opportunities they need to foster creativity. Small class sizes, updated facilities, a hands-on educational approach and a wide variety of activities allow your children to grow and develop the creativity they need to become well-rounded adults who are capable of managing life.
4. STEAM Exposure and Training
A significant factor in life success is thinking outside of the box. When children are able to think deeply and widely, they can face problems, solve challenges and invent solutions. Our children can literally change the world with the abilities they develop through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) exposure and training.
STEAM inspires students to look beyond the project and consider the possibilities as they learn by doing. From classroom assignments to free play, adding STEAM to your child’s school day schedule increases your child’s ability to manage real-world problems.
A majority of international schools in Singapore offer advanced STEAM opportunities. Your child can develop curiosity, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and creativity as they take an active role in their learning. Your children won’t merely memorise facts. They’ll immerse themselves in the story as they develop, learn and grow.
5. Prepare for the 21st Century
Children need academic skills that are primarily knowledge-based because they must perform well on exams and prepare for university. But applied or soft skills are equally important in today’s world. Your children benefit from knowing how to be flexible and adaptable as they collaborate, interact and work with others.
Here are the 12 necessary 21st-century skills your children should know.
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Creativity
- Critical thinking
- Flexibility
- Information literacy
- Initiative
- Leadership
- Media literacy
- Productivity
- Social skills
- Technology literacy
International schools give children multiple opportunities daily to develop these 21st-century skills. Your child will practise and master learning and innovation, career and life, and digital literacy skills in the classroom, during co-curricular and extracurricular activities. With these skills, your children gain confidence as they look forward to the future.
6. Appreciation for Multiculturalism
You can expose your children to a wide array of people, food and activities in Singapore. There’s no other place on earth like this unique country! An appreciation for diversity occurs in the classroom, too. When a diverse student body and staff surround your children, they learn to value differences, respect opinions and work well with others.
By nature, international schools in Singapore attract a multicultural student body and staff from around the world. While each person on campus works toward a common goal of learning academic lessons, your children also gain a global perspective. A multicultural international school campus fosters open-mindedness, empathy and respect among students.
Your children benefit from a multicultural teaching staff also. Teachers and school staff from around the world move to Singapore to teach classes, mentor students and supervise co-curricular and extracurricular activities. Many classrooms in international schools also feature small teacher-student ratios. Your children receive personalised attention and mentorships as they interact with their global-minded teachers.
7. Forge Lifelong Connections
You already know that your children and their primary and secondary school friends influence each other. These same friends can become influential later in your children’s lives, too. That’s why it’s a good idea to give your children opportunities to meet a variety of friends and develop lifelong connections at international schools in Singapore.
Friends can prompt your children to succeed in all areas of life. Your children learn about themselves and develop their identity through interactions with peers. Friendship can also help your children become socially competent with the ability to collaborate and cooperate. Consider the value of calling on friends for job leads or during times of stress, too.
The friends your children make in school lay a solid social foundation for the rest of their lives. Consider if a school nurtures and promotes friendship as you choose the right school for your children.
Do you want to prepare your children for success in school and life? International schools in Singapore encourage your children to gain seven essential skills that equip your children for their future. We invite you to discover the difference OWIS can make for your children.
