Learning for Life Programme (LLP)

Learning for Life Programme – Leader for Life

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

-John Quincy Adams-

Leader for Life aims to develop our students to become joyful and confident learners who are engaged, self-directed and have the rigour and vigour to pursue their own independent learning. Through this specially tailored 6-year programme that focuses on community service and student leadership, students will be equipped with socio-emotional skills and leadership qualities. Leader for Life seeks to enrich students by teaching them to care for themselves, the community and the environment.

Built upon the school’s curriculum on Environmental Education, Leader for Life provides opportunities for students to put Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Happy Kids into action to become Leaders for Life. It adopts a value-based approach to inculcate virtues such as care, respect and responsibility to create a lasting impact on the students’ own personal and interpersonal growth, as well as encourage them to champion a positive change in the community and environment.

The programme aims to:

provide students with knowledge and a better understanding of the environment, particularly the impact of humans on the environment
raise students’ awareness and sensitivity to environmental challenges and
provide authentic platforms for students to explore environmental issues and take
action to improve the environment around them

Specially crafted programmes that aim to encapsulate the critical learning objectives of Leader for Life include Little Green Ambassadors, Class VIA @ Blooming Garden, Project GAIA, The Green Snapshots (TGS) Nature and Heritage Trails and Community Outreach Programmes.

Click here to read more about BRPS Achievements – SWCDC Sustainable South West Awards 2022

Click here to read more about BRPS Achievements – Green School Awards 2022

Click here to read more about BRPS Achievements – Green School Awards 2023

Little Green Ambassadors

Little Green Ambassadors form part of the class committee. They are key drivers who look into fostering sustainable environmental habits in the school. Little Green Ambassadors are caring, confident and responsible.

Caring - thinks green and helps conserve the environment
Confident - enforces class and school green rules; encourages peers to carry out the 4Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse)
Responsible - is a good role model and supports initiatives of Go Green @ BRPS

They also assist the teachers to collect data to help the school community reduce waste, conserve water as well as be more energy efficient.

Biodiversity Corridor
(comprising the Animals’ Corner, Blooming Garden and Eco-pond)

The Biodiversity Corridor was created to connect and engage our school community for the conservation of Singapore’s natural heritage. It is aligned with the Community in Nature (CIN) initiative and the objectives are to:

Encourage teachers and students to learn, appreciate and support local biodiversity
Encourage student participation in caring for their school grounds and the environment
Promote exchange of information and expertise in enhancing biodiversity in schools

A diverse variety of animals and plants can be found along the Biodiversity Corridor. This creates more opportunities for the school community to find out more about the various species and the complex ecosystems that they live in, leading to greater awareness of Singapore’s rich biodiversity.

Animals’ Corner

The Animals’ Corner is part of the school’s effort to equip students with socio-emotional skills and leadership qualities. We inculcate virtues such as care, respect and responsibility to create a lasting impact on the students’ own personal and interpersonal growth through the school’s Learning for Life Programme (LLP). The opportunity to observe, interact, care and learn about animals not only enriches their learning about nature, ecology and relationships, it also inspires them on their learning and discovery journeys as students will be curious to find out more about the animals.

We collaborated with the EL Department to give the Primary 2 students the experience of rearing butterflies. In alignment with the EL Stellar unit, ‘A Butterfly is Born’, students and teachers had the opportunity to observe the complete metamorphosis of butterflies. The experience also provided students the platform to put the virtues into practice.

Click here to read more about the activity.

Blooming Garden and Eco-pond

With the objectives of providing our students with outdoor experiential learning to complement the teaching and learning of Science as well as to provide our students with an authentic platform for Value-in-Action (VIA) project, classes are each assigned a garden plot to take care of the plants. This provides opportunity for students and teachers to build positive teacher-student relationships as well as imbue in students a sense of responsibility to take care of the environment. Our parents from the Parent Support Group (PSG) also provide valuable knowledge and much of their time in helping to sustain a blooming garden in the school.

Tranquil Garden

The Tranquil Garden is a new addition to our school’s Biodiversity Corridor next to the Primary 1 classrooms. The Tranquil Garden provides a calming and serene space to promote students’ wellness. Within the garden, students will be able to engage in exploration under the canopy of the Auracaria Pine Trees. This garden is designed with seating areas for personal or small group contemplation as it is divided into sections by bamboo lattices and boulders. The tables & seats are customised to blend in with the natural environment. Teacher and student Wellness Ambassadors may utilize the space in the garden by leading and engaging their classes in wellness activities.

Project GAIA

One of our key programmes is Project GAIA (Green Awareness in Action). Project GAIA is a community project to enhance students’ learning beyond the classroom and promote recycling and environmental conservation in the community. Some of the programmes in Project GAIA include organizing recycling drives as well as activities to commemorate Singapore World Water Day and Earth Day.

Commemorating Singapore World Water Day

World Water Day is commemorated on 22 March every year. The theme for 2022, “Be the Change You Want to See in the World” reminds us that reminds us that even the smallest actions can make a big difference in conserving our precious water resources. As climate change gets worse, potable water becomes limited.

In 2023, we commemorated Singapore World Water Day through a series of activities. These included:

An Assembly Talk (led by our student leaders)
Exhibits created by PSG are displayed at the school’s ‘Community Space’ to educate students on the importance of using water wisely and cherishing our water resources
Classroom activities such as colouring activities, drawing comic strips and creating posters via Canva to create awareness on water conservation

World Water Day celebrations were also integrated into our Science lessons:

Primary 3 Science lessons (Life Cycle of Animals) – Learning more about BLOCK techniques and Project Wolbachia to prevent mosquitoes from breeding
- Primary 4 STEM lesson - Engineering-related Learning Activity on Creating Water Filtration System
Primary 5 Science lesson – Learning more about Water and Water Cycle through rain harvesting system for irrigation at the school’s Garden of Hope

Click [here](https://blangahrisepri.moe.edu.sg/2023/05/03/happy-world-water-day/) to read more about how we have also commemorated Singapore World Water Day in 2023.

Commemorating Earth Day

The Garden of Hope

Water is a precious and scarce resource for Singapore, and our water supply remains vulnerable to factors such as climate change. The Garden of Hope is set up as a rain harvesting system, home for ecology and a space for students and staff to engage with nature. It is developed in line with three out of the five key pillars of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 on sustainable development:

City in Nature: to create a green, liveable and sustainable home for Singaporeans
Sustainable Living: to make reducing carbon emissions, keeping our environment clean, and saving resources and energy a way of life in Singapore
Energy Reset: to use cleaner energy and increase our energy efficiency to lower our carbon footprint

Transforming an empty rooftop to a luscious rain garden is an example of active green roof usage. The Garden of Hope is more than just a garden! Capturing rainwater with the PEG Trays System under the plants reduces stress on nearby drains and prevents flooding. The water is then circulated around the garden for plant irrigation. The garden’s irrigation system is automated through a rain sensor that is powered by harnessing solar energy using a solar panel. Through our Green Ambassadors, we hope to educate and remind everyone to practise sustainable living.

Outreach Programmes – Project GAIA

For Project GAIA, we collaborate with Sembwaste (Ezi Recycling) and Clean Up! @ Southwest in our recycling efforts. Recycling drives are usually organized for the school community as well as some of the pre-schools around Telok Blangah neighbourhood. These projects are designed to raise students’ awareness and sensitivity to environmental challenges. It provides an authentic platform for students to explore environmental issues and take action to improve the environment around them.

To educate our students on ‘Recycling Right’, our Parent Support Group (PSG) also created their own posters and charts. With their help, we had our students sow different types of seeds using recycled bottles. The Green Ambassadors in each class help to water and care for the seeds / seedlings. With the help of our PSG, these seedlings are then transplanted into the planters in our Blooming Garden.

Outreach Programmes – Publications: ‘The Green Dragonflies and Their Swampy Friends’ in 2022, ‘Friends of Berlayer Creek’ in 2023 and Photobook ‘A Bowl of Nature’ in 2023

As a strong proponent for the care of the environment we live in, BRPS continued to embark on our special projects to further this cause. ‘Friends of Berlayer Creek’ is an illustrated book written and illustrated by our own teachers and students. This is produced by our team of teachers and with a keen interest in raising environmental awareness, story writing, art, and photography. Leveraging our passion through the story, we hope to raise awareness in the young about how environmental issues have an impact on their lives. The story aims to educate children to make a conscious choice by taking positive actions in caring for the environment. We also hope to instil the ‘7 Habits of Effective People’ for personal and interpersonal effectiveness in our students and readers. These intents are aligned to the aims of our Learning for Life Programme (LLP). Our Art teachers will also provide our students with the opportunity to extend their art and craft skills through creating the props for telling the story at library@harbourfront and during our Green Snapshot Trail (TGS) in July. These storytelling sessions will conducted by our student leaders, giving them the opportunity to hone their leadership skills, and to apply oral communications skills in an authentic manner. In celebration of Biodiversity Week, we have also produced a photobook entitled ‘A Bowl of Nature’. The book is inspired by the significance of nature in Telok Blangah and the green spaces surrounding our school.

Outreach Programmes - The Green Snapshots Trail

The Green Snapshots (TGS) Nature and Heritage Trail is an environment and heritage-themed learning journey crafted by BRPS teachers. The intent of the learning journey is to provide opportunities for both the school and external communities to appreciate the rich and green history of Telok Blangah and the Southern Ridges. The trails are built on the school’s environmental education programme, which weaves nature into the curriculum and provides experiential learning activities for our students. In the guided-trail version, our Primary 4 and Primary 5 student-docents provide an in-depth and personal sharing of the history and flora and fauna of Telok Blangah and Mount Faber. During the 2½-hour long guided tours, they also share about the area’s unique architecture and development over the years.

For our continued advocacy for heritage education and sustained partnership through TGS, Blangah Rise Primary School was awarded the 2019 School Heritage Champion Award (Silver) by the National Heritage Board (NHB).

Click here to find out more about the TGS Nature and Heritage Trail.