Learning for Life Programme(LLP)

Community Youth Leadership

In Clementi Town Secondary School, we believe that every student can be developed as a leader and that leadership skills can be developed over time. Our school's Life-long Learning Programme focuses on Community Youth Leadership, which harnesses the potential of our youths in effecting positive changes to the community and environment.

Our student leadership anchors Clementeens in our school values and we design authentic learning experiences to develop their life skills, while supporting them in discovering their strengths, interests and talents.

Clementeens who have shown the desire and aptitude to serve the school community will be given opportunities to develop their student leadership skills organised around four key strands of school life (CARE, EXPERIENCE, OUTREACH, VOICE), each with a 'heart to serve' orientation within and beyond the school.

As quoted by Aristotle, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." To this end, we provide opportunities to challenge students from the leadership groups to synergise with each other when they organise large scale events such as the Secondary One Orientation, National Day Celebrations, Teachers’ Day Celebrations and Farewell Ceremony. These platforms provide rich learning opportunities for the student leaders as they are equipped with competencies such as creativity, project planning, decision-making, teamwork, flexibility, communication skills, resilience and are developing an enterprising spirit that will enable them to stay relevant for the future.

Values-in-Action (VIA)

The CTSS VIA programme seeks to nurture our Clementeens to be socially responsible individuals through the provision of opportunities to perform meaningful community service. It is carried out across their four years in CTSS and is embedded in the Learn for Life programme. Guided by the modified Design Thinking approach (Feel – Imagine – Do – Share), students design and implement projects to serve the needs of beneficiary communities. Through involving their hands, heart and head in the learning process, we seek to imbue in Clementeens the confidence to lead and the humility to serve as they explore and act on real community needs.

At Secondary 1, students are introduced to service learning and are provided experiential learning to develop an awareness about the contributions and challenges faced by the Unsung Heroes in the school community. As a class, students engage their chosen group of Unsung Heroes and learn to perceive from their perspectives to understand their challenges, struggles and joys through empathy walks, observations and interviews. Under the guidance of the teachers, students embark on an appreciation project to express their gratitude for groups of staff who work behind the scenes to ensure a safe and smooth learning environment. Some projects catered to the school administrative staff, cleaners, operational support officers, security guards, librarian and ICT executives.

Students showing their appreciation for canteen vendors through designing of menu posters as well as provision of goodie bag packs.

Students carrying out interviews with our school operational support officers to find out their needs and stories.

Our Secondary 2 students engage in service learning that focuses on caring for the elderly in our community. Through group research and class discussions, the students learn to empathise with the elderly and understand the challenges and needs of the elderly in our community. They also get to engage the elderly at St. Luke’s Eldercare through intergenerational activities and support their active ageing efforts.

A photo collage curated as a form of documentation of the learning and takeaways from the VIA project.

Sec 2 students presenting on their research findings on their topic of interest on environmental issues.

At Upper Secondary levels, students work within their CCAs to initiate their VIA projects with facilitation by their CCA Parents. Using the design thinking approach, the students learnt to empathise with their users and distil the real needs of the community they are serving before ideating possible ways to render their service. The lesson activities focus on empathy and active experimentation to sensitise students to understanding the key issues in the community and reinforce the use of collaborative skills as they work in teams to carry out their proposed service learning projects. Some examples include advocacy for people with autism, outreach to the elderly for Covid-19 vaccination and interacting with students from children beneficiaries.

Student Leadership

The different talents and interests of Clementeens are recognised and developed through various leadership opportunities and training sessions. In our approach to student leadership development, we seek to equip our students with values, attitudes, leadership skills and knowledge, and provide them with opportunities for application, reflection and mentoring so that they are active practitioners of leadership. Through our student leadership curriculum, we aspire to nurture student leaders with the confidence to unite and inspire others for the greater good, and to play an active role in promoting inclusivity and harmony within the community.

In our school, student leaders from the leadership groups are made up of Clementeens across all streams.

CARE

Focus on building a caring school culture through these specialised areas: cyber wellness, mental health and well-being and family education.
Facilitate peer bonding, peer helping and peer influencing so that they can be effective peer supports among students.

EXPERIENCE

Focus on building a vibrant school community and school culture through ad-hoc activities throughout the year.
Plan and support key school events such as festive celebrations and Teachers' Day celebrations.

OUTREACH

Focus on advocacy and outreach work, such as National Education messages and environmental efforts.
Work with community partners to plan VIA projects for student leaders.

VOICE

Focus on being the eyes, ears and mouth of the students by seeking student feedback (FGDs, dialogue sessions), communicating with school management, and contributing to school improvement efforts.
Be CTSS Ambassadors for primary school marketing talks, Speech Day and Open House.

CCA LEADERS

Elected CCA leaders are dedicated to serving and leading their CCAs to maximise the potential of their individual CCAs. Through leading CCA sessions, the student leaders nurture a sense of commitment and dedication to their crafts. CCA leaders are recognised school wide as good role models, not just within their CCAs, but to their peers as well.
CCA leaders demonstrate their leadership in their experise in the skills required for their CCAs and their constant drive to steer their CCA to greater heights.

Members across various strands coming together to prepare for Teacher's Day Celebrations

Student Union members from the Care Strand facilitating small group interactions during Peer Support Programme for Sec 1s.

Peer Support Leaders sharing what they know about autism with staff members through sales of items from The Animal Project, and raising awareness on special needs.

“The Student Union (SU) is not just a workgroup to me. The union has given me opportunities such as public speaking that helped me step out of my comfort zone. It has also built many bonds and created a family of like-minded individuals whom I can lean on for support.”

YEOW YING XUAN, Sec 3 (2023)

“When I started as a Peer support leader (PSL), I wanted to be someone my peers, senior and juniors could easily approach. When we transitioned into Student Union, we did more things as compared to when we were in PSL. I had to work with people whom I did not know. However, as I’m leading Student Union and the Care strand, I still aspire to be someone who is able to be there for others and continue to grow as a student leader.”

NERY JILLIAN ASHLEY TANBUA, Sec 3 (2023)

"Being in the CT Student Union has not only further developed my leadership capabilities, but has also thought me lessons and values that I will hold lifelong. The meaningful friendships and experiences I have gained through my time in here has definitely made CTSU such a memorable and meaningful journey."