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The Hwa Chong Sabbaticals
Old Traditions, New Aspirations
by: Mr Yap Meen Sheng, Humanities Teacher and Director, Corporate Services, Hwa Chong Institution,

The Curriculum
The Hwa Chong IP offers a unique brand of education that will help students to develop their academic interests. Applying the strategy “Understanding by Design”, the curriculum has been developed by our teachers where the learning journey is organised in three stages, each of two years’ duration, covering the exploration of interest, development of passion, and mastery of knowledge. In the final year, the students will sit for the GCE ‘A’ Level Examinations.

Initiating a Learning Odyssey – The Hwa Chong Sabbaticals
A hallmark of the Hwa Chong IP will be a special opportunity given to students to undertake an extraordinary learning journey for a week in each term freed up from preparing for the GCE ‘O’ Level Examinations.

Called The Hwa Chong Sabbaticals, these will allow students to venture beyond the confines of their classrooms and textbooks. Such opportunities will be made available to students who want to initiate a learning odyssey in an area that holds special interest for them.

The programmes for the Sabbaticals are designed by a panel of external advisers, faculty members, and senior students. The desired outcomes are recreation (helping students to discover the joy of learning), reflection (encouraging students to reflect on what they have learnt) and response (getting students to apply their learning).


“Without the shackles of textbooks and exams, the Sabbaticals draw out a different spirit from the students. Instead of the beaten path where the students are sure-footed, they are pushed into areas where the terrain is foreign and obstacles could be their friends. No one connects the dots for them. There are no model answers.

Thus, even though the Sabbaticals are only a week long, but because it is time dedicated to the pursuit of the unexplored, they are able to provide the opportunity for students to show their best in areas they themselves may not know they have strengths in.

The Hwa Chong Sabbaticals have provided such a wonderful platform to stretch the students’ potential. Indeed, it is one of the best ways to meet tomorrow’s leaders today.”

Kathleen Yao, CEO, The Little Entrepreneur Pte Ltd
and Adviser to Hwa Chong Institution’s Entrepreneurship Centre

Article from MOE Publication: Contact (Issue 2-Jan 2005)


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