Student Development Programme

To broaden their understanding of the world beyond Singapore, our Secondary 3 Crestans are sent on an Overseas Learning Journey (OLJ) to ASEAN countries. Over the four to five days spent overseas, Crestans are immersed in the culture and appreciate the history, arts and food of our ASEAN neighbours.

With ASEAN developing, many opportunities for enterprise, innovation and knowledge will open up. It is with this hope that we actively send our Crestans overseas to interact with ASEAN students to learn how to interact with people from different cultural and geographic backgrounds. In the future, they would then be comfortable to engage the global world in their collaboration with people from different countries.


Regions our Crestans have been to include:

Years	Regions
2015	Batam, Indonesia Hanoi, Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Siem Reap, Cambodia
2016	Batam, Indonesia Bintan, Indonesia Hanoi, Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2017	Batam, Indonesia Hanoi, Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Phnom Penh, Cambodia Yangon, Myanmar
2018	Batam, Indonesia Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Malacca, Malaysia Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2019	Batam, Indonesia Hanoi, Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The school leverages on the benefits of positive Peer Support Relationships (PSR) as part of a protective factor for students at risk in order to build a culture of care. Secondary 1 Form Teachers carry out explicit PSR lessons covering social-emotional skills during CCE periods, including help-seeking and help-giving skills.

The school also identifies two Student Peer Supporters per Sec 1 class (whom we call Care Champions) and empowers them to be positive influencers and leaders. Our Care Champions receive extra in-depth training during the CCE periods in areas such as listening skills, using the CHEER Model and also self-care. These training sessions equip our Care Champions with skills on how to befriend isolated, at-risk, SEN and even new students in their class.

Care Champions are also taught ways to identify friends who are in need and they will offer help or a listening ear to these peers. They are also taught how to recognise more serious cases such as those involving self-harm, bullying, abuse or even suicide ideation, and to refer such cases to significant adults in school, e.g. teachers or counsellors.

This year, our Care Champions also led their classmates in a project to show appreciation to our non-teaching staff.

Crest Secondary School runs an after-school engagement programme in order to leverage on positive relationships with significant adults in the school and positive peer groups, so as to strengthen Crestans’ sense of school connectedness and belonging. Through this programme, we hope to enhance our students’ learning motivation and resilience, and develop their character and decision-making skills. Through community service and learning, we also hope to develop their potential to lead themselves and others.

In order to increase engagement in the programme, we plan and design the after-school activities to be aligned with the students’ interests. We offer after-school venues and facilities such as our Student Recreational Hub, sports venues and special learning spaces where Crestans can hang out with peers and positive adult role models. In this way, we keep the students meaningfully engaged and guide them to develop better motivation and character along the way