The New Shape of the Day 2023-24

THE NEW SHAPE OF THE DAY 2023-24

ACADEMIC YEAR

Infant School • Junior School • Senior School

Tanglin Trust School is a high performing organisation that cares deeply for our students and broader community. This is enshrined within our Vision statement. If ‘we aspire to be the best school in the world with a dynamic learning community which nurtures and inspires every individual to be the best they can be’, then we need to reflect on current practice and understand whether it can be enhanced.

This reflection has led us to consider the Shape of the Day and how well it allows us to fulfil our commitment to all of our students and their families. Thank you for your consideration of the various models that have been presented in recent months. We are pleased to have considered a range of views from staff, parents and students. This will continue into the next term as we refine some elements of the schedule.

The three schools had different requirements in approaching this exercise, and there will continue to be regular review points built into the year for everyone involved, including students, parents and staff.

The amended Shape of the Day provides the opportunity for exceptionally positive outcomes for all of our students. We recognise we do not operate in a bubble and that changes at Tanglin will have some implications for the external commitments that students and their families may have. We are convinced though that with this balanced approach, we are more able to implement the holistic education we champion. We look forward to your support in the days, weeks and months ahead.

This booklet outlines the final timetables. Many thanks to Michael Holiday who has co-ordinated our work on these projects, and to the members of the school leadership team and finally our colleagues at KAL Bus Services who have remained solution-focused in serving our community.

Craig Considine CEO

I am extremely grateful to all of the people who have given up so much time to consider, recraft and redesign elements of the Tanglin school day in Infants, Juniors and Seniors, all of which has come together in this document. There has been a large engagement from staff and parents as we look to strengthen our timetable, ending up with a plan I hope will give space for the ongoing delivery of the excellent curriculum delivered at Tanglin.

You may recall that this process began with a focus on the Co-Curricular life of the school, but very quickly leadership teams and the Shape of the Day Committee broadened the conversation to include best practice around all elements of a successful school day as we looked to enhance the holistic education delivered at Tanglin.

Although the refinement of these models has taken place in each school’s leadership team, I am very grateful to all members of the Shape of the Day Committee who took a lead on this area of school life throughout last year; their diligent research and hard work in looking at other models and ideas has ensured we started this process in the strongest way possible.

I hope you agree that the process has been robust and transparent, and that the outcome provides students even more opportunities to thrive at Tanglin.

Michael Holiday Director of Co-Curriculum

RESHAPING THE WHOLE SCHOOL DAY

There are two key areas which cut across the whole school which I think are useful to highlight here:

The beginning of the day has moved later, by 15 minutes in Infants and Juniors and 30 minutes in Seniors. We have also asked the bus company to arrive 25 minutes later in the morning, and to condense all bus arrivals into a 20-minute window (instead of the 25 they currently operate). Although these are fine margins, I hope they give more room in the morning and require fewer staff and children to be up and out of their houses in the dark. The end of the day in Years 1 and 2 has been extended to 3pm, meaning there is a unified finishing time across Years 1 to 6. Nursery remain with their bespoke start and end time and Reception have two days of a later finish. In Seniors, the 30 minute later start is mirrored with a 60 minute later finish. Finally, the need for period 6 has been removed with all academic lessons now fitting within the timetable.

What have been the main considerations when you looked to reshape the school day?

The primary aim of the exercise has been to attempt to provide the structure for an even more educationally beneficial experience to students. In lengthening the day for Infants and Seniors, alongside further embedding the already longer day in Juniors, we feel we have been able to give an outcome which supports working parents as well as providing even greater opportunities to students. We also recognise some of the difficulties associated with bringing children to school and collecting them again which is one of the reasons we have invested in the Co-working space on Level 7 of the Centenary Building.

Many families have children in different schools. I would like the schools to have the same start times for my children.

All children, from Reception to Year 13, can be dropped off at the same time. Whilst Infant and Junior children will immediately go to their classroom, those in Seniors will have time to go to their locker to prepare for the day, do some work in the library, or purchase breakfast in the canteen. In this model there is currently the same amount of time for Seniors between drop-off/bus arrival and form time.

Will a later start and end time allow children to have more sleep? Is it not the case that a longer commute time will need to be factored in due to the peak hour traffic situations in Singapore? This could be an issue and so a middle ground has been sought to allow for a better start to the day, which factors in increased traffic, with the benefits of a later start. Although this will be marginal for some, we feel it will yield enough benefit to most to be worth pursuing.

There seems to be a focus on creating time for CCAs. What is the added value in this?

We firmly believe in a rounded and holistic learning environment, with Co-Curricular opportunities playing a key role in this. CCAs is also a rather broad term and doesn’t shed clear enough light on the types of activity on offer. Through Infants to Seniors these activities will be crafted to ensure maximal educational benefit, appropriate to the age of the children.

When will bus routes, timetables and cost be published?

KAL will send out information regarding next year’s bus service as normal in April, this will include prices. As in the past the routes will be built to meet the demand, so these will not be confirmed until later in the year.

Shape of the Day - Whole School

RESHAPING THE INFANT DAY

KEY CHANGES:

• 20-minute later start.

• 1 hour later finish every day for Years 1 and 2 (aligned with Juniors) and Reception on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

• Flexibility to finish earlier on certain days as required.

• Co-Curricular within the school day so less challenging in terms of transitions for children.

• Extra snack time for Reception.

• Longer lunch for Years 1 and 2.

• Additional pastoral time.

• Additional story time.

• Additional music time.

• Introducing Forest School for Reception.

• Preserving the flexible day for Nursery children.

Can we align the Nursery start time to be the same as the rest of the Infant School?

A calm transition into the school is important for our Nursery children and so separating the start of the day for them from the rest of the school community is part of this positive start to school life. This delayed start also either allows for the children to travel into school on a Nursey only bus, or for parents to be able to park at school and walk their children into the classrooms.

What does extra Pastoral mean?

This applies to the whole class and will include Circle Time, lifeskills discussions, reading a story, recapping key learning, celebrations of the day and reflection time.

Why is there a varied finishing time for Reception?

This extra hour is to allow access to two more activities than are currently provided. We feel that lengthening the day more than twice a week will have a detrimental effect on the children’s wellbeing and impact their learning. Our Nursery and Reception team will also be supporting the Co-Curricular programme in Years 1 and 2 on other afternoons so that we can offer a broad and balanced curriculum and range of activities to the older children.

Why is there a flexible finish on Tuesday and Thursday for Years 1 and 2?

We have listened to feedback from our parents who feel a 3pm finish everyday may be too much for their child. We have structured 2 afternoons in Years 1 and 2 to enable a flexible finish if required.

Shape of the Day - Sample Infant School Timetable

RESHAPING THE JUNIOR DAY

KEY CHANGES:

• 20-minute later start.

• Aligned start time across the school.

• Alignment with Infant School finish time of 3pm.

• Timetabled pastoral transition time.

• Increased after-school co-curricular activities from 3-5pm (established in 2021-22).

• Expanded offsite Co-Curricular provision to enable new 3-5pm blocks for 2023-24.

The 11:35am to 12pm slot is too short for a proper Co-Curricular activity; can this be reconsidered?

These activities currently happen and are in fact closer to inside recreational activities such as: harp/ukelele/world drumming ensembles and mindful art activities. The main co-curricular programme happens at the end of the day in the 3-4pm & 4-5pm slots.

What will happen to the music ensembles that were taught in the Co-Curriculum in period 5?

We will reclaim this time for academic learning so that we have additional teaching time. Now that we have rebuilt our ensembles post Covid we can add this to our after-school provision.

With the later start will there be morning provision for those arriving earlier?

We currently have supervised early morning play and will continue with morning options. This will include a return to offering breakfast club, Home Learning in the library and key fixed sports and music training and rehearsals. More information to follow.

Has pastoral time been cut with the changes?

We had already built in pastoral time for careful transitions to specialist lessons, and to manage the end of the day arrangements with time for snacks provided for those going onto activities. This applies to the whole class and will include the normal end of the day routine which can include Circle Time, lifeskills discussions, reading a story, recapping key learning, celebrations of the day and reflection time.

Does it mean now that with the new timetable the 5:08pm bus will be door-to-door just like the 3pm and 4:08pm bus?

Unfortunately, the 5:08pm bus will remain as it is, i.e. not door-to-door. This is because we cannot recruit either the drivers or aunties required to staff the route. There is also not sufficient take-up to allow for routes of a reasonable length and duration.

Shape of the Day - Junior School

RESHAPING THE SENIOR DAY

KEY CHANGES:

• 30-minute later start.

• 1 hour later finish

• Additional lesson time – more Maths, English and Science.

• Preserve the long lunch time

• Preserve 1 hour lessons to maintain teaching time in examined classes.

• Additional pastoral time.

• Additional co-curricular time.

How will you ensure that GCSE teaching time is preserved?

Following the consultation process the one-hour-long lesson has been reinstated to ease these concerns.

How can Tanglin support increased demand for Co-Curricular activities, especially the popular ones?

This is something we monitor closely on an ongoing basis. We intend to survey students in Term 3 to gauge their interest in different activities and to enable us to try to allow every student to access their first choice. This will not always be possible due to spaces and staff availability, but it is our aspiration.

The new day looks busy, is there enough downtime?

By reinstating a daily 50 minute lunch break we have attempted to provide more downtime. We will continue to monitor this to ensure balance for all students.

Some students already have out-of-school sporting / musical classes which may be affected by the later finish time of 4pm. How can this be managed?

We acknowledge this will be an issue for some families. We have balanced this against the benefit to many of incorporating elements of the Co-Curriculum into the school day. We will be sharing the finalised programme of activities and societies next term.

Will sport be happening in the Co-Curriculum slots during the school day?

We do not intend to be doing activities which require changing and/or showering in the middle of the day. Competitive sport practices and fixtures will remain where they currently are after school. During the middle of the day we will be focussing on the provision of clubs and societies that allow students to explore new interests and academic enrichment.

Shape of the Day - Senior School