LLP The Good Samaritan Project
LLP - The Good Samaritan Project
Aim
The focus of the school’s Good Samaritan Programme (GSP) is on student leadership and Values-in-Action (VIA).
The aim of GSP is to develop each student to be a HI Good Samaritan who is compassionate and morally upright, through honing their leadership skills, competencies and values; and nurturing in them a sense of compassion and commitment towards meeting the needs of the community.
Student Leadership
The school adopts Treffinger’s (2008) Levels of Service model in our approach to develop HI Good Samaritans. The following table summarises the four Levels of Service and the description of experiences available in HIHS to develop our students into Good Samaritans:
Activities and Programmes planned by the Student Leadership Board
1. Teen Conference
The school empowers student leaders to lead in various projects and at different platforms. This includes the annual Teens Conference in which HIHS invites student participants of other secondary schools to join us in understanding and addressing community issues through activities led and implemented by the student leaders.
The past years’ Teens Conference saw the participation of some community organisations who serve as a resource and wealth of experience for participating students as they identified social causes of community issues they wanted to address before planning their course of action.
Due to COVID-19, HIHS had its first ever virtual Teens Conference in 2021 through the Zoom platform. The theme was Shine: From Darkness to Light, and the aim of the conference was to create awareness of community and social issues, and to develop in youths a sense of empathy that would motivate them to take social action. The sharing session and panel discussion involving speakers from various community organisations.
Picture of invited speakers of Teens Conference 2021: Invited speakers - Mr Richardo Chua (Guest-of-Honour) - Founder & Chairman of Adrenalin; Ms Gillian Peck - Bringing Love to Every Single Soul (BLESS); Ms Seema Punwani - Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2); Ms Sherry Soon - Be Kind SG; Mr Tan Wei Xiang - The Social Kitchen Singapore, together with Principal Mrs Rebecca Chew and HOD (CCE) Mr Martin Lee.
Picture of student leaders and teachers involved in planning of Teens Conference 2021
2. Level Camps
As part of their leadership development, our student leaders plan and organise activities for Secondary 1 to 3 camps, with the help of student camp facilitators. These camps are held at the first few weeks of the year and the student leaders implement activities that encourage their peers to bond with one another as well as strengthen their peers’ identity as part of the HIHS community. These camps provide the student leaders with opportunities to hone their leadership and service-learning skills.
Pictures of camps taken before COVID-19 pandemic:
With the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years, stay-in camps had not been possible and camp activities were organised as day activities with adherence to the Safety Management Measures (SMM).
Values in Action (VIA)
Our Secondary 1 to 5 students are involved in the planning and implementation of VIA projects using the service learning approach. They carry out a level thematic project beginning from their most immediate environment (i.e. family and school) when they are in Secondary 1 to the wider community at large when they are in upper secondary. Students learn about the key elements of service learning and initiate projects that are targeted at addressing the needs and issues of beneficiaries at various levels of our community. During the service learning journey, students are provided with opportunities to develop and strengthen their leadership practices.
Pictures of VIA projects before COVID-19:
Pictures of VIA projects in 2021:
A Sec 2 project that involved engaging primary school students from Good Shepherd Student Centre (Marymount) in understanding more about another culture through origami activity.
A Sec 3 project that involved educating the canteen vendors about ways to reduce food wastage
Overseas VIA
In the spirit of encouraging our students to share with the less fortunate and to broaden their cross cultural experience, our school organised annual overseas VIA trip for selected group of students once a year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Students had the opportunity to serve an overseas community, acquire a better understanding of the overseas culture and learn to appreciate what they have. In the past years, our school has organised trips to Bintan, Batam, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, as well as Chiangmai in Thailand.
Service through Environment Education
Environment education is also an integral part of our school’s GSP and we wish for our students to develop and demonstrate the compassion to serve the environment and the courage to lead their peers in caring for the environment. Our students are encouraged to engage in daily cleaning up of their classrooms. Our students should learn to take ownership of the cleanliness of their surrounding environment and to be advocates of a clean Singapore.
The appointment of an Environment Ambassadors in each class helps to ensure that students are consistently encouraged by their peers to put in effort in cleaning up of their classrooms and to engage in recycling of unwanted paper materials. The EAs are also involved in environment projects in which they will educate their schoolmates on environmental issues and encourage them to engage in positive actions to care for the environment. In 2021, the EAs participated in a green drumming workshop in which they used repurposed items as drumming instruments. Their drumming performance was filmed and showcased to the school during a virtual Earth Day assembly programme to encourage the rest of the school to reduce waste as well as think of creative ways to care for the environment.
Other Programmes
The school adopts the 5 Leadership Challenges of the Kouzes and Posner Model. Both Tier 1 and Tier 2 students have many opportunities to learn and apply their learning. Some of these training platforms include the Enkindle Camp for student leaders and camp facilitators, exposure to local conferences and workshop, training workshops for Service Learning Champions, Peer Support Leaders training, and workshops on environmental advocacy and cyberwellness.
Achievements
Our students receiving the Silver award for Project Accolade Award in 2018
People’s Association (PA) Service-Learning Award
The school’s sustained efforts under the PAYM Loves Red movement were acknowledged when HIHS was awarded the gold and silver awards for Project Accolade and two of our students received the outstanding STAR Award during the Service-Learning Champion Festival organised by PA in 2017. In 2018, HIHS was awarded the silver award for Project Accolade, and in 2019, HIHS was once again awarded both the gold and silver awards for Project Accolade and two students received the outstanding STAR Award for their meaningful contribution to the community in 2019. Our students were also affirmed for their efforts in initiating projects under Project Ignite to benefit residents in the community. You may view our students’ contributions to the community through this Youtube link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApdJxKCBzNA(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApdJxKCBzNA)
Singapore Environment Council (SEC) School Green Award
The whole-school approach towards nurturing and demonstrating care for the environment led to the school achieving the Lotus award for the second year running under the SEC School Green Award in 2017. In 2018, the school attained the Yellow Flame Award and in 2019 and 2021, the school attained the Kopsia Award for its efforts in encouraging students and staff to practice environmental conservation.
Lee Kuan Yew Award
Ms Goh Yng Swan, one of our 2016 cohort tier 2 student leader, also obtained the LKY Award for all-round excellence in 2017. She had excelled in both academic and non-academic spheres, and exemplified positive character development, strong leadership qualities and commitment to service to the community.
The HIHS Good Samaritan Award
Students are recognised for their leadership and service-learning qualities through the HIHS Good Samaritan Award. The annual award recognises Sec 1 to 3 students who demonstrate leadership competencies and contribute meaningful service to the community. These students should display exemplary character and exhibit the Courage to Lead and Compassion to Serve.