Good Stories

Second Minister for Education Visit

This week began with a visit from a very special guest, our Second Minister for Education, Dr. Maliki Osman! Our VIP was warmly welcomed and accompanied by the school leaders on a walkabout, where he first observed the areas of the school affected by the LTA construction of an underground tunnel for the Cross Island Line. He displayed concern for the well-being of staff and students as he inquired about the nature of the construction.

Amici Locus, meaning "a place where friends gather" in Latin, is a room specifically set up to engage students after school and also used for some GEAR-UP (Guiding & Empowering Students for Affiliation & Resilience to Unlock their Potential) programmes. It piqued Dr. Maliki’s interest as he sought to find out more about the school’s collaboration with external organisations. He was also informed about how some of Pathlight School’s students use PSS classrooms and participate in some of the school’s programmes. Dr. Maliki also saw the heritage wall showing the memorable moments of both Peirce Secondary and Bishan Park Secondary before they merged.

The highlights were certainly the dialogues with students and staff. Students from various segments of the student population were set at ease at the start of the dialogue when Dr. Maliki asked them how much they enjoyed studying at PSS. During the session, Dr. Maliki patiently shared his advice, insights, and even his life story on how they can take ownership of their learning and avoid being trapped by societal pressures.

To the staff, Dr. Maliki acknowledged their suggestions and responded to their questions. He affirmed the good work they have put in, assuring them that the MOE would stand by them as long as their actions are in the interest of the students.

It was certainly our honour that Dr. Maliki chose our school to share his Teachers’ Day message with the fraternity! Dr. Maliki ended the visit with a photo with the school leaders against the backdrop of the statue of Yue Fei and his mother, a reminder of the values of loyalty to the nation and filial piety.

Former student clinches Mediacorp Silver Medal and Mediacorp Specialisation Prize

Congratulations to Peirce Alumnus Suen Wai Kit on His Outstanding Achievements!

Peirce Secondary School is proud to congratulate Suen Wai Kit, who has graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Media, Arts & Design. He has also received the Mediacorp Silver Medal and the Mediacorp Specialisation Prize for his outstanding accomplishments.

Wai Kit's journey into content creation began here at Peirce Secondary School, where he discovered his passion for current affairs and filmmaking. He was an active member of the Peirce Wind Symphony, where he not only honed his ear for music and sound production but also began exploring other creative interests. As the band's volunteer photographer, he set up its Facebook page and produced a well-received video for the Handing Over Ceremony. Wai Kit credits the opportunities he had through the Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) and the guidance of Ms. Khai in Social Studies for inspiring his career path, which now blends media, arts, and current affairs.

Wai Kit's accomplishments serve as an inspiration to all our students, reminding us that discovering one's passion is a journey that often begins with small steps. Participating in a variety of school activities can lead to discovering new interests and pave the way for future success.

We are incredibly proud of Wai Kit's achievements and wish him continued success as he embarks on the next steps in his journey. Congratulations, Wai Kit! We look forward to seeing the incredible things you will achieve.

Letter of Commendation from Parent

We were heartened to receive this letter of commendation for Tan Yi Rui, Clara Babe. We are proud of our student leader who demonstrated the spirit of service by going the extra mile.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in D&T lessons in Peirce Secondary School

Please click here for the news link.

Celebration and Reunion

We are thrilled to announce the outstanding achievement of our alumnus, Lee Ming Heng, who has been awarded the Book Prize for the Diploma in Banking and Finance at Singapore Polytechnic's Graduation Ceremony on 3 May 2023. His former teacher, Mr Ashwin Selvarajan, attended the ceremony to honor his success. It was a heartwarming moment of reunion and pride.

Well done, Ming Heng! We wish more successes in your journey ahead.

“Love What You Teach, but Love Who You Teach More”… the rapport between teachers and students is key in nurturing budding learners.

Watch Peirce’s History and Social Studies Teacher and PAT recipient, Ms Khairiah, masquerade as a student using the latest text lingo in a gameshow, highlighting the strong connection teachers and students share nowadays.

Words to Pack for your Journey

Our staff, Ms Khairiah Bte Hairoman, a recipient of the 2021 President's Award for Teachers, is featured in the video series by MOE, Words to Pack for your Journey.

In the video, Ms Khai encourages students who have been disappointed by their grades and, citing examples she has seen, assures them that life will unveil to them their strengths and talents. She also shares her personal journey in finding purpose in life.

Staff Learning Day

This is the third year we are organising our bi-annual Staff Learning Day since its inception in 2019.

The theme for 2023 is “Nurturing Future-Ready Learners”

We believe that to nurture our students to be future-ready, we need to enhance their ability to adjust their own cognition and learning and one of the most effective ways to achieve this will be via the use of the feedback loop.

Be it self or peer feedback, feedback is one of the most important strategies of Formative Assessment, which emphasizes on giving students more autonomy to reflect on their learning, evaluate and make adjustment to their own learning. Thus, our Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) embarked on this journey to explore how to make use of self and/or peer assessment to strengthen students’ metacognition.

For 2023 Staff Learning Day, each department has selected one Professional Learning Team to present and share their learning during the two concurrent sessions. We are pleased to share the highlights of the concurrent sessions (see below). To affirm and celebrate the learning and efforts by all teams, all PLT synopses including those of the non-presenting teams, will be housed in our Staff Learning Portal. Indeed, this Staff Learning Day is a testimonial of the rich learning of our staff and their efforts in bringing the learning of students to a new level while leveraging on the use of feedback.

For keynote address, we have invited Dr Farhan Ali, Assistant Professor in the Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group, National Institute of Education to share his insights on the topic of Social Emotional Learning (SEL). In his talk, Dr Farhan Ali will highlight emerging research related to the science of social-emotional learning. One of the key highlights presented will be Dr Farhan’s integrated framework which involves emotion experiences, emotion awareness, emotion regulation, and meta-emotion. His presentation will also highlight some applications to the specific educational contexts such as the learning of content-heavy subjects of Mathematics and Science, Character and Citizenship Education, and promotion of self-directed learning. 

We look forward to learn from Dr Farhan how to enhance the use of feedback in our teaching through knowledge of cognitive functions and self-directedness.  

2023 Staff Learning Day promises to be a rich learning experience for us all!

Highlights of Concurrent Sessions:

1. Biology: Using Success Criteria in the Feedback Cycle for Biology Planning Practical Task

Highlight: The Biology teachers designed a Learning Experience (LE) using the extended Feedback model that allow students to consider the relationship between these variables in diverse contexts, before transferring their knowledge to a given scenario in an assessment.

2. Craft and Technology: Strategies to Promote Metacognition through Peer Assessment and Self Assessment

Highlight: Data captured in Padlet and Knowledge Forum were used to analyse C&T students’ thinking, how they learnt when they were involved in peer assessment to determine if peer assessment and scaffold had enhanced students’ metacognition.

3. English Language: Examining Efficacy of Feedback Style for Summary Writing for Secondary 2 Express

Highlight: The inquiry method employed is a variant of confirmation inquiry which seeks to affirm the value of peer feedback as opposed to self- evaluation on refining the summary writing process. Each class is split into two, with one solely pursuing self-evaluation/feedback while the other engages in peer evaluation/feedback in assessing the style of summary writing. It employs a modified checklist based on a simplified version of the SEAB rubrics.

4. History: The Use of Rubrics in the Feedback Cycle for Source-Based Case Study Purpose Skill for Secondary 3 History Students

Highlight: As students need to have clarity of what the SBQ skill entails, the History teachers allowed for peer and teacher feedback to have students to identify their gaps and monitor their understanding of the skill in this project. After which, students will adjust their own learning by using the rubrics and applying the learning from the feedback to check for understanding once more.

5. Chinese Language: Enhance Secondary 1 Students’ Writing Skills through Peer Evaluation

Highlight: In groups, students collaboratively wrote draft 1 based on the writing skills required on Google Doc. After completing draft 1, the teacher got students to highlight sentences which demonstrate the required writing skills taught. The teacher then led the class to understand the checklist on using the required writing skills in the appropriate way (tone, suitability of situation and choice of words). Students then looked at another group’s essay to assess them on the use and suitability of writing skills, based on a simplified rubrics and checklist. Students then completed draft 2 based on peer feedback. This is a very guided process of using peer feedback for a group of very weak students which leads to positive outcome.

6. Mathematics: Using Flowcharts for Self-Assessment to Build Metacognition

Highlight: The intentional use of flowcharts and self and/or peer assessment in the Feed up – Feedback – Feed forward cycle would encourage students to be actively involved in assessment feedback, thus developing their competence in monitoring, evaluating, and improving their own learning and enhancing their capacities for lifelong learning.

7. Pathlight School:Understanding the Learning and Behavioural Needs of Students with ASD Informs Decisions on Classroom Strategies to Improve Their Overall Classroom Engagement

Highlight: The presentation provides actual classroom examples that have been developed with the understanding that Students with ASD have preferences and strengths we can leverage on to improve their engagement in the classroom. It has enabled us to deliver the MOE curriculum in our Mathematics and Science lessons, build our own efficacy to meet the needs of our students and more importantly, improve the students’ self-reflection and self-management. This in turn enables them to achieve their learning and behavioural goals.

8. Physical Education: Using ICT in Physical Education (PE)

Highlight: It was observed that students tend to forget the teaching cue and were not able to execute the correct technical skills during practice. The large space in which PE is being taught poses a challenge for PE teachers to provide feedback to all students within a teaching period. By taping on feedback and Kolb’s Cycle of Experiential Learning, students could become more reflective learners who take ownership of improving their own technical skills.