Student Development Committee

Character & Citizenship Education Department Whitley Secondary School adopts a holistic approach to Character & Citizenship Education (CCE). CCE lessons focus on the explicit teaching of values and social-emotional competencies to address the holistic developmental needs of students, and this is complemented by guided opportunities for reinforcement and application of learning. Our lessons aim to equip students with relevant knowledge and skills to better understand real-world contexts, including understanding mental health issues, navigating cyber spaces responsibly, making appropriate educational and career choices, appreciating family life and understanding Singapore’s racial and religious diversity.

This is done by providing platforms for discussions on contemporary issues to enable our students to grasp current realities in our personal, national, regional, and global contexts, and inspire them to make a positive difference to the people and world around them. Multiple learning platforms are tapped on to help students internalise values, social-emotional competencies, and citizenship dispositions. Beyond weekly CCE lessons, these platforms include key Student Development Experiences (SDEs), which are programmes and activities that contribute towards the holistic development of our students in the physical, aesthetic, intellectual, moral, and social domains. These experiences are delivered through level-wide programmes such as:

Education and Career Guidance (ECG) Experiences;
National Education (NE) Commemorative Days;
Outdoor Adventure Learning (OAL) / Cohort Camps;
Student Leadership Development (SLD) Programmes; and
Values in Action (VIA) / Active Citizenship for Social Change (ACSC) programmes

Aside from the implementation of CCE learning experiences, the CCE and Student Development Teams work hand-in-hand with the rest of the school to ensure that students have a caring environment, where they feel safe and empowered by fostering positive teacher-student and peer relationships. Through all of this, we develop our students to become future-ready and self-directed learners who empathise and demonstrate care for the community.