“Every Seng Kang Youth is a servant leader.” The school's programmes contribute to the development of the students’ “heart ware” -equipping them with the necessary skills to interact effectively, behave responsibly and translate values into actions.

Seng Kang Secondary School started in January 1999 with seven secondary one classes of  283 students and 14 teachers. Short of manpower and resources at the start, the school collaborated with various community agencies to support the needs of it the students.

The school takes great pride in its collaborative efforts with the community at large, networking with external organisations such as the Community centres (CC) and Residents’ committee (RC). These collaborative activities also allow students to benefit through participation.  For example, the Geylang Senior Citizens’ Day-Care Centre For the Elderly held  the “RIDE FOR HOPE” charity event at our school.  At least 70 of our Seng Kang youths were involved in helping the elderly participants. The school has also collaborated with the Pasir-Ris - Punggol Town Council in the ‘Adopt A Precinct Project’ (the school’s structured CIP Project for all secondary three students) with the intention of creating awareness in environmental-friendly issues. In this project, the gains from the project went to helping the needy students in our school.

Other key partners include SANA, which helps identified youths-at-risk through school camps and befriending programmes.  A community agency, Oikos.Community@Sengkang, helps the school to run projects (such as post-exam activities) as well as counselling and befriending services. It also assists the school in planning and implementing programmes such as orientation camps and guidance programmes.  In April this year, it has been appointed as the school’s service provider for the School Family Education Programme, sponsored by MCYS.

The school’s other community collaborative projects include partnership efforts with SINDA and CDAC. The school is a tuition centre for both SINDA and CDAC. As a result, the school is able to serve the needs of the Seng Kang residents around the neighbourhood.

Benefits gained through the collaboration with the community
As a result of the school’s joint efforts with the community, the students develop a spirit of compassion and volunteerism. Through their active involvement in the community outreach programmes, they have also developed a sense of responsibility and civic-consciousness towards the community. The benefits gained from the joint collaborations are also mutual. Organisations like the Pasir-Ris –Punggol Town Council, Geylang Senior Citizens’ Day-Care Centre For the Elderly, National Kidney Foundation, Society For the Physically Disabled, HougangPrimary and SANA are some of our beneficiaries.

Key learning points
The school recognises the “inexhaustible” opportunities and the available resources that can be tapped by schools needing community support. Organisations such as Oikos.Community@Sengkang, SANA, Pasir-Ris - Punggol Town Council, and Alpha Mastery (our business partner) are excellent partners-in-education in all their various involvement and services to the school. They have indeed established a long-term partnership with the school.

Future plans
It is quite evident that there are both tangible and intangible benefits of the school-community collaboration. Through the many meaningful contributions made by the school’s community partners, the school is indeed willing to take on the future challenges and enhance the school-community link. The community’s invaluable contributions make a marked difference in the lives of the students, parents, teachers and residents of the Seng Kang Estate.

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