Westwood Primary School
Tracy Tan
Tracy spent eight years at Coral Secondary School, first as a teacher then as a Head of Department. During her time at Coral, she received the Outstanding Youth in Education Award (OYEA 2006). Subsequently, Tracy joined MOE’s Curriculum Planning and Development Division before completing her Masters of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 2012, she was appointed Senior Head at the English Language Institute of Singapore (ELIS). In that year, she was also awarded the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Tracy joined Westwood Primary in 2014, and was instrumental in developing its THRIVE Framework.
Da Qiao Primary School
Safidah Samsudin
Safidah has been teaching at Da Qiao Primary School for nineteen years. During her time at Da Qiao Primary she received the Arif Budiman Award in 2012 and the President’s Award for Teachers in 2015. She has taken on multiple roles from being the Head of Department in Mother Tongue Languages to currently the Year Head for the school. She started PosEd together with her colleague in 2012 and since then Da Qiao has been the referenced school for its great work in staff and student wellbeing.
Da Qiao Primary School
Reiza Rahumathullah
Rezia Rahumathullah has been at Da Qiao Primary School for 16 years. During her time at Da Qiao Primary, she has been awarded the MOE English Language Award (2010), President’s Award for Teachers (2014) and the Nanyang Outstanding Alumni Award (2017). She initiated the idea of using PosEd in the school and together with her colleagues and school leaders transform Da Qiao Primary into one with happy and confident staff and learners.
Title of Session: A Journey of Positive Education @Westwood Primary
Synopsis: What does positive education in a Singapore school look like? How do we balance the requirements of the MOE curriculum with positive education? Learn possible answers to these questions through this presentation by Westwood Primary School, which has had the unique advantage of being established in 2013, with positive education as its founding philosophy. The school has been able to build from grounds-up a culture of positive education, with its school mission explicitly stating ‘To provide positive education that nurtures thriving teachers and flourishing pupils.’ With six years of implementation and continual professional development, Westwood Primary currently has in place a range of school-wide and class-based practices that are tied to our THRIVE framework, which is adapted from Martin Seligman’s PERMA model.
Title of Session: Making PosEd ‘Stick’ @ Da Qiao Primary; A Transformation of a School Culture through a Sustainable Ecosystem
Synopsis: Positive education began to take its form at Da Qiao Primary School in 2012 with the aim of strengthening teacher-student relationship so that enhancement could be made to the school culture. The power and influence of positive education soon transformed not only the way students learn but also the way teachers teach. The concept of wellbeing became clear and its importance brought wellbeing to the core of teaching and learning. From the school leadership, practices for staff and student wellbeing to the involvement of the school community, Da Qiao’s Pos Ed practices brought the school together and created an ecosystem that enabled everyone to flourish. This presentation highlights key factors that have enabled the creation of this ecosystem and helps participants to understand how wellbeing practices in school transcend beyond the goal of strengthening teacher-student relation, leading to the creation of a sustainable system where the school community shares and practises one language of wellbeing.