June 2021
EXPLORING
INNOVATING
IN EDUCATION
page 6
UWCSEA:
50 YEARS
UNITED
page 4
CLASS OF 2021
CELEBRATES
GRADUATION
page 16
The power of your being able to write your story is the power of
being human. And that’s what a good education helps you do; to
chart your pathway forward, not to prescribe it, but to help you
get there.”
Jeff Bradley, Director of the NEASC Commission on
International Education in his closing remarks at the fourth
Kishore Mahbubani Speaker Series event, ‘Human-centred
curriculum: redefining measures of success’ on 22 April 2021.
02
LEARNING TO
SHAPE THE
FUTURE
Carma Elliot CMG OBE,
College President
04
50 YEARS UNITED
Reflecting on
the moments that
made us
06
INNOVATION IN
EDUCATION
Moving slowly to
build things
08
PEACE BEGINS
WITH ME
DEI learning in early
childhood
10
SENI BUDAYA
Arts Showcase
11
SPOTLIGHT ON …
Dover Green Heart
12
LANGUAGE
MATTERS
Embracing
multilingual learning
14
FOCUSED ON
THE FUTURE
An interview with
High School Principal
Damian Bacchoo
15
A WELCOME
LIKE NO OTHER
Reflecting on a first
year in Dover Boarding
16
GRADUATION
Celebrating the
Class of 2021
18
A SCHOLARS
JOURNEY
Phuza ’21 shares his
UWCSEA story
20
BUILDING AN
ECOSYSTEM OF
INNOVATION
Showcasing the
Smart City
Programme and
Challenge and
UWCSEA East
Innovation
22
FIRST ROBOTICS
COMPETITION
A year-long quest
23
CONNECTING
WITH
SINGAPORE
IPS Perspectives
conference
24
BUILDING BACK
GREEN
A Singapore context for
UWC Climate Compact
26
WORDS TO
LIVE BY
Putting UWCSEA
values into action
28
KEEPING
CONNECTIONS
ALIVE
Finding solutions in
online service
30
WHAT’S YOUR
UWCSEA
STORY?
Building our digital
anthology
32
AGAINST THE
GALE
Rob Storey reflects on
the challenging year in
Tampines House
COVER IMAGES
Front: East Campus
Graduation Day
Back: Grade 8
abseiling in last week
of school
June 2021
Dunia is published two times a year by UWC South East Asia. Reproduction in any manner in
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dunia@uwcsea.edu.sg.
Editors: Sarah Begum, Sinéad Collins, Tara Diong, Molly Fassbender, Shaiful Rashid, Lucie Snape
and Kate Woodford
Photography: Sabrina Lone, Janrius Rogers, Joseph Tan and members of the UWCSEA community
Design: Nandita Gupta
UWCSEA Dover is registered by the Committee for Private Education (CPE), part of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG)
CPE Registration No. 197000825H | CPE Registration Period 18 July 2017–17 July 2023 | Charity Registration No. 00142
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Visit the newsroom of UWCSEA:
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Our community has achieved
extraordinary things over the last 50
years. Together, we have built one
of the world’s largest not for profit
international schools and graduated
more than 20,000 alumni who live the
UWC mission and values in countless
global communities, contributing in
multiple ways to shaping a better
world. We have grown and developed
alongside our host country Singapore,
building partnerships and learning
together, becoming embedded in the
life of Singapore as a key partner for
the present and the future. Our growth
as a school has in many ways mirrored
Singapore’s own growth as a nation, and
we are proud to have been shaped by
this country that is our home.
Over the years, we have also had the
privilege of working with remarkable
students who have turned their
talent, their commitment and their
energy to bringing our mission to life.
We have developed a truly mission-
aligned curriculum, learning from
and partnering with others. Today we
continue to benefit from a world-class
community of teachers and educational
leaders. Our community thrives on
our strength and depth of community
spirit: from our administrative and
support staff, volunteers, and a parent
community that continually requires
us to do our very best for the young
people in our care.
Reading the draft of the UWCSEA 50th
anniversary book (to be published in
December 2021), we find stories of
adventure, of risk, of courage, of success
and failure, but above all, an unswerving
commitment to the vision of Kurt Hahn
and a mission that has guided us for 50
years. Indeed, the stories in the book
bring to mind Kurt Hahn’s remark,
which resonates now as much as it did
50 years ago, particularly in light of our
whole community’s response to the
pandemic,“I regard it as the foremost
task of education to ensure the survival of
these qualities: an enterprising curiosity;
OPINION
There is more in us
50 years of the UWC spirit in Singapore
By Carma Elliot CMG OBE, College President
Anniversaries are at their heart reminders, dates in our calendars when we pause
and reflect on events and milestones which matter to us. Events to mark the
College’s 50th anniversary, which we will kick off in August 2021 and which will
resonate throughout the school year, are an ideal opportunity for us to remember
and honour how far we have come since our founding in December 1971. But for
communities like ours, anniversaries are more than just celebrations of the past:
they provide an opportunity to think together about what our mission might look
like in a vision for our next 50 years, and to recommit to our mission with a renewed
sense of purpose.
2 | Dunia June 2021
an undefeatable spirit; tenacity in pursuit;
readiness for sensible self-denial—and
above all, compassion.”
Nevertheless, and acknowledging our
success, for our anniversary celebrations
we chose as our theme another of
Hahn’s well-known sayings Plus est en
vous or There is more in us. Our theme
is a call to action for all of us: indeed
this is the phrase I chose to decorate
my office when I arrived at the College
two years ago. It reminds me every
day of the mission which shapes our
work,“There is more in us than we know.
If we can be made to see it, perhaps for
the rest of our lives we will be unwilling
to settle for less.”
Our anniversary is a moment to
recommit to what should never
change—our mission—but it is also
a time to recognise that, while we
have come a long way, there is much
more to do before we can say that
our education is a model and a means
by which our community will create
more peaceful and sustainable futures
for all. Our mission calls on us to
build a more equitable and inclusive
society, to be innovative and bold and
to ensure that our impact extends
beyond our immediate community.
Our vision for the next 50 years must
push us to honour the past by building
a better future for the generations to
come, in partnership with those with
whom we share common values and
common purpose.
But even as we begin to think about
our vision for the future, there is a
year of celebration and community
connection ahead. As I write, we are
still receiving ideas from students, staff,
alumni and parents for ways to bring
our mission to life through the events
programme. The opportunity to bring
our community together in celebration
and with hope cannot be missed, and
together we are planning events and
markers, big and small, that will help us
to share positive and joyful experiences,
strengthening our connections to one
another. Our campuses will be ‘dressed’
and archival exhibitions will showcase
pictures, documents, publications—and
uniforms!—from the past. It is fitting
then, given their role in shaping the
history we will celebrate throughout
the next year, that we will begin with
our annual Alumni Reunion in August,
launching a Values in Action award
to honour those alumni who make
mission-aligned contributions in their
communities. We will have events for
parents, staff, students and alumni
throughout the year, including a youth
peace forum on UWC Day in September
and a focused series of celebrations
during Founders’ Week in December,
when we will launch our 50th
anniversary book, express our gratitude
to Singapore and honour those who
have made us who we are today. We are
launching a podcast series showcasing
our Singapore service partners, and
recording a song written for the College
by alumni. Our key themes of peace,
sustainability, innovation, inclusion
and partnership will build throughout
the year: all our activities will have a
sprinkling of 50th gold dust as we take
every opportunity to acknowledge this
very special year.
Re-establishing our legacy as true
innovators in education, and in line
with the aspiration of our mission, we
will also be focusing on sharing what
we have learned in key areas of focus
for the College over the last 50 years:
in peace education; in environmental
sustainability amid a growing climate
crisis; in outdoor education; in service
learning; and in how we equip students
with mission-aligned competencies
in readiness for their futures and the
world of work. Our Kishore Mahbubani
Speaker Series will continue to
host important conversations on
topics exploring key themes that
are important as we reimagine what
learning at UWCSEA will look like in the
next 50 years. Our first Speaker Series
event will be with former UWCSEA
Board Chair Kishore Mahbubani himself,
talking through his career as a diplomat,
writer and academic, including his
involvement in establishing the Asian
Peace Programme at the NUS Asia
Research Institute. We look forward to
our community joining these and other
discussions as we bring together the
learning and key achievements of our
past to identify how we can amplify our
future impact.
As a member of a global community
of educators and thinkers and with
our future designed and defined
in partnership with others, we will
continue to work on strengthening
connections with individuals and
organisations to further our shared
purpose. In April 2022, the College
will host a forum on the theme of
Learning to Shape the Future, bringing
our community of students, teachers,
parents and alumni, together with
leading figures in the global education
community, to discuss the future
of education alongside current and
potential partners and the wider
UWC movement.
There is more planned than can be
easily described here. I encourage all of
you to find your part in our celebrations
and conversations. Remembering
the past and our shared memories is
an important part of understanding
who we are. Understanding where
we are now helps us to reflect and
shape where we need to go next, to
plan how we might get there and to
identify those who will travel with us.
The power of our collective energy
and the ripple effect of our efforts can
propel us forward to the next 50 years
of the UWC spirit in Singapore, with
a strong aspiration for a peaceful and
sustainable future.
June 2021 Dunia | 3
By Graham Silverthorne, Author, UWCSEA 50th
anniversary book
More years ago than I care to remember, I sat in a lecture
theatre and listened to a very famous historian addressing the
topic of historiography. As the Fenland flies droned amongst
the ceiling fans, I admit that it was a challenging discourse for
this young man to hold on to.
The distinguished lecturer was named G.R. Elton and on this
particular afternoon he was getting stuck into E.H. Carr’s
seminal work, What is History?. Very little of what he said
stayed with me longer than it took to cross the street and
unlock my bicycle but one thing did. Elton referenced the
work of another luminary, Hugh Trevor-Roper, who had
criticised Carr for dismissing history’s ‘might have beens’ as
an irrelevance. As I cycled home, thinking about ‘might have
beens’ was a pleasantly fulfilling diversion and the habit
embedded itself.
If Lord Mountbatten had got his way, UWCSEA ‘might
have been’ founded at the Royal Airforce base in Changi.
Mountbatten and the founding Head of Atlantic College in
Wales, Desmond Hoare, had set their hearts on replicating
the British sea school experience in an Asian setting. After
establishing the first United World College in Wales in 1962
(a name not actually adopted until 1967 when Mountbatten
became involved with the nascent movement), Hoare resigned
his post in 1969 and set out for South East Asia to establish
new National Committees and scout possible locations for a
second UWC. Discussions were already advancing with Lester
Pearson in Canada; the family was growing.
The push for Changi was met with a firm rebuff by Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who had other plans for
growing the infrastructure needed to support a young
economy. Dover Road and the soon-to-be vacated St. John’s
British Army School was the final destination. As they say, the
rest is history—but what if? What if the UWC pioneers had
been met with a ‘yes’, rather than a ‘firm shake of the head’
from the Prime Minister? A two-year Changi UWC serving
250 scholars? A Singaporean Li Po Chun? No Dover; no East;
no K-12. Where would that have left a history of 50 years
of UWCSEA?
One answer to that question is that it would have been a
lot less complicated to write! When I was appointed as the
author of the College’s 50th anniversary book, a number of
conflicting emotions passed through me. I was approaching
the end of my time as Head of East Campus and the pain of
imminent separation was growing. UWCSEA is not an easy
place to leave. I was excited and flattered to be considered
for the task of compiling a record of 50 years but those
emotions came and went, to be replaced with an awareness
of the enormity of the task. Seriously, where do you begin
to capture an appropriate, an accurate, a balanced reflection
of everything that has happened since that September day
in 1971 when the gates to the newly renamed Singapore
International School swung open for the first time?
Our story is the story of all of the people who have inspired
us, guided us, at times rescued us, challenged us, supported
us and eventually defined who we are as a College in 2021.
The complexity of capturing that proposition was immense.
50 Years United
OPINION
4 | Dunia June 2021
For each contributor that I spoke to, ‘who we are’ was not the
same thing. People’s lives shaped and in turn were shaped by
the College. As the British Chamber of Commerce desperately
sought a school for their children in the face of the imminent
and rapid British withdrawal, it was people like Robert
Lutton who helped to forge a new future for the Dover Road
campus, his actions indelibly imprinting the lives of his own
family in the process. As our inconveniently urbanised setting
threatened to impact on the Hahnian vision of engagement
with nature, it was people like Brian Green who set off with
the blind optimism of an Indiana Jones to find a site that
became our fabled Beluntu Outdoor Centre across the straits
in Johor, Malaysia. As Singapore grappled with the financial
crisis of 2008 and the College was caught mid-project in
the planning of a second campus, it was people like Charles
Ormiston and Kishore Mahbubani who lent their hands to the
tiller and helped to steer us through the storm.
Our College is what it is because of these people and so
many, many more. All of those changemakers who founded
and developed our College commitment to service, which
has come to characterise us; the Maths teacher who irritated
Anthony Skillicorn into establishing the Initiative for Peace;
‘John the Pirate’ who taught topper sailing off a Tioman
beach; a determined group of cyclists setting off from Dover
Road, heading for Thailand to raise relief funds for the victims
of the tsunami disaster in 2004.
It was daunting to try to do justice to all of the people who
have made us. I have been a part of UWCSEA long enough
to know that the audience is not always forgiving when a
line is crossed. There have been times when I have imagined
the disapproving faces and shaking heads of those who will
see mistakes or wonder why about some glaring omissions.
Times, too, when I have regretted not being able to write the
alternative history of UWCSEA featuring all of the stories that
people told me with the caveat ‘don’t put this in the book, but
…’ So the fascinating tales of our haunted Dover Campus, a
few loveable miscreants and the occasional close miss that we
scraped away from will not be found in our official record of
50 years.
It has been an enormous privilege and pleasure to interview
so many distinguished actors from our story. I have treasured
those connections and been enormously grateful for the
warmth and engagement from every single person I have
spoken to. What links every one of them together is a sense
that UWCSEA is more than a school, more than a job, more
than a chapter in a life story. The College means something to
each of them and I hope that I have been able to capture that
meaning in what I have written.
History written becomes historiography for those who follow.
The ‘what if’ of history might also one day include: what if
someone different had written the 50th book …
Innovation in education
Moving deliberately to build a better future
By Nick Alchin, Head of East Campus
Historian Benot Godin recounts the tale that in 1636, Henry
Burton, a Church of England minister was found guilty of
innovating, against King Edwards VI’s earlier Proclamation
against Those that Doeth Innovate. While Burton had his ears
cut and was sentenced to life imprisonment, innovation is
now a central value of our society—and this small tale shows
how attitudes can utterly transform over time.
It’s not just attitudes, however, that change—most social and
economic norms do, and we are all living the results. One
innovation, for example, has been the move from general
to highly specialised work. As author Matt Ridley writes, we
sometimes forget the vast benefits that this brings us; we
now only need work for a fraction of a second so as to be able
to afford to turn on an electric lamp for an hour, providing
the quantity of light that would have required a whole day’s
work if you had to make it yourself (by collecting and refining
sesame oil or lamb fat to burn in a simple lamp), as much of
humanity did in the not so distant past.
Innovation makes this possible; and the modern world could
not be built without meaningful innovation. The trick is in the
world ‘meaningful’—because of course in any marketplace
of ideas there are some that are not worth following; Adrian
Daub writes one of the internet age’s greatest works of
collective satire may be the 5,875 Amazon reviews for the
Hutzler 571 banana slicer, which make mockery of the mania
for buzzy innovative solutions in search of a problem and
remind us that new is not necessarily better.
I’m always looking at other sectors, because something that
works in manufacturing, finance or tech may also work for
education. Or it may not. The current preoccupation with
‘disruptive innovation’ created by the tech boom seems
to have become the model for how many think about
innovation. Of course, some things about the tech industry
are indeed unprecedented (the technology bit, for instance);
others are business as usual (the industry bit). It seems to
me that while we rejoice in the opportunities provided by
technology, we should also note the downsides, for example
in exacerbating rather than closing existing inequalities, or
being used to empower extremists. Caveat emptor!
So in that light, we can cast Mark Zuckerburg’s famous motto
of move fast and break things as a marketing slogan applying
more to software (or arguably, democracy, sadly!) than to the
physical world of things and people. It may not, for example,
apply to the design of a new elevator, bridge, aeroplane or
surgical procedure. Might it apply to schools?
Sectors as different as education, power generation, finance
and software deal with things as different as children’s
minds, factories, balance sheets and programming languages;
there are natural and appropriate differences. So there are
questions to ask when we are (frequently) contacted by tech
wizards selling innovation and disruption; or by those in
other industries encouraging us to copy what they are doing
because it works in their sector. Sometimes it works (thank
goodness for video conferencing) but often it does not (we
really do not want to track students’ typing rates on laptops).
Rather than moving fast and breaking things, schools take
the approach of building things. Which is usually slower—
and a good deal harder—than breaking them. But that’s
okay because it’s how innovation works over the long haul.
In How Innovation Works, Matt Ridley compellingly draws
on examples from agriculture to artificial intelligence in
demonstrating that, in general, we expect too much of an
innovation in the first 10 years—and too little in the first 20.
The reason for this, he suggests, is that until the innovation is
made practical, reliable, and affordable—a process of many
years—its promise remains unfulfilled.
So what does innovation look like in schools?
A lot depends on what level you are thinking about. A school
that travels in a boat from country to country is highly
innovative in one sense—but might have a very traditional
curriculum or very traditional teacher-student relationships.
Similarly, a more traditional looking school (classrooms
and desks) might hide a lot of innovation in these areas. I’d
suggest that this is often the case; that schools have been
OPINION
6 | Dunia June 2021
through a lot of innovation, despite the sometimes similar
physical spaces. If you are over 40, then what you will find in
many schools today is likely to be very different from what
you experienced, the results of many interlocking innovations.
Much of this will be invisible to the casual observer but
together it has formed a quiet revolution. If we are to name
them, these changes include:
• greater freedom for students
• more focus on growth and less on control
• far greater attention to wellbeing and overall health
• more explicit attention to values and ethics
• much less individual work, and much more group work
• more presentations and projects
• discussion of global problems such as sustainability,
inequality and development
• a conceptual focus that seeks to create transferable skills
and understandings
• a desire for student agency and input
• a move from punishment to restorative justice
• a move to develop critical skills
• a rebalancing toward mastery/competence from simply
knowledge acquisition
• a rebalancing toward interdisciplinary learning from pure
subject specialism
• a move towards personalised over standardised education
• less hierarchical student-teacher relationships
There may be no one thing that’s utterly different from the
past—good teachers have often embraced these ideas in
their classrooms—but they are now explicit, embedded, and
very much the topic of conversation and foci for deliberate,
incremental improvement. That’s not to say we have gotten
things completely right; of course there is plenty to do and
improve; but these and other things really do add up to a
radically improved experience and outcomes for our students
over time. And that, as much as anything else, is innovation.
Over this year a series of events involving our students
and global thinkers in education explored some key
ideas and examined some of the ways that UWCSEA
has brought innovation to our educational model:
• Event 1: Navigating Learning in the 21st Century
• Event 2: Digital learning and disruption
• Event 3: If not now, when? From access to equity
• Event 4: Human-centred curriculum: redefining
measures of success
Adapted from original blog post on
3 February 2021—visit Nicks blog
Education, Schools and Culture to
explore more:
Scan the QR code to find out more
and watch our webinars
References
Daub, A,. (2020) What Tech Calls Thinking: An Inquiry into the Intellectual
Bedrock of Silicon Valley FSG Original. | Rogers, E. (2003) Diffusion of
innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press. | Godin, B (2010) ’Meddle
Not With Them That Are Given to Change’: Innovation as Evil Project on
the Intellectual History of Innovation Working Paper No. 6 | Ridley, M
(2020). How Innovation Works and why it Flourishes in Freedom. Harper
Books. | Vinsel, L. and Russell, A. (2020) The Innovation Delusion: How
Our Obsession with the New Has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most.
Currency Books.
June 2021 Dunia | 7
FEATURE
By Andrea Strachan, K1 Head of Grade
and Catherine Malone, K1 Curriculum
Coordinator, Dover Campus
This has been an extraordinary year
for the world due to COVID-19.
Traditionally, each grade level
at UWCSEA has connected with
community-based voluntary welfare
organisations throughout Singapore
as part of our College’s commitment
to place-based learning. Place-based
education aims to connect a student’s
learning to the communities and the
world around them. At UWCSEA, our
programme of immersive place-based
learning means that each year our
students have myriad opportunities to
engage with and experience Singapore’s
rich heritage, diverse cultures and
unique landscapes, and that they use
this real-life knowledge and experience
as a foundation for their study of
subjects across our curriculum. In
previous years, K1 has partnered with
Child@Street 11 in their service learning.
A Singapore community preschool that
serves children from disadvantaged
backgrounds, UWCSEA students from
across the College have been visiting
the centre for almost 20 years.
When reviewing our K1 Unit of Study
focused on Service this year, we began
to realise that this component of our
place-based learning programme, built
around hosting the students of Child@
Street11 for a series of visits to our
school, could not be delivered as it
had been in the past, due to COVID-19
constraints. We realised that a switch
to an online format might not be as
powerful, as the children would not
have the opportunity to engage with
others “in person”, and the teachers at
Child@Street 11 agreed. With challenge,
however, comes opportunity.
The past year has also highlighted
for us the need to be more proactive
in terms of speaking about, teaching
about, learning about, and taking action
regarding issues of Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion (DEI). Educators and parents
have searched for the right things to say
and do as the world has emotionally
processed ongoing acts of systemic
racial injustice. As an internationally-
minded community of learners,
UWCSEA embarked on a journey of
both reflection and action in terms of
how we are addressing these important
issues. An example of how our
reflection has resulted in action was the
introduction of a K1 language survey for
parents to complete prior to the start
of school, so as to provide us with more
nuanced information on the linguistic
profiles of the children coming into our
care and classrooms. As educators, we
used this information to find new ways
of bringing home languages into the
classroom, which included deliberately
creating language buddies within our
classrooms as we created K1 class
groups, to support both a feeling of
belonging and the development of
literacy skills.
The K1 team re-evaluated our Service
Unit of Study, taking the opportunity
to consider other ways in which we
begin to develop an understanding of
“service” that would be meaningful and
relevant to our youngest learners in the
context of our pandemic-prescribed
world. In collaboration with members
of the DEI Pod, we decided to develop
a pilot Unit of Study framed under the
theme of “Peacebuilding”, focusing
on the idea that “Peace Begins With
Me”. The concept of peace-building,
one of the ‘mission competencies’
outlined in our new College guiding
statements, understands that peace
can’t be achieved without knowing how
to appreciate and engage with diversity,
and that without understanding how
to interact and negotiate with others, it
is impossible to engage in meaningful
service.
We started this Unit of Study by
helping students to further explore
the concept of “identity”, focusing on
what makes us the “same” and what
makes us “different”. We worked with
Primary School Librarian Pamela Males
to curate a collection of books that
connected to our DEI topics of diversity,
inclusion, identity and belonging. In
K1, DEI learning often begins with an
appreciation of diversity, celebrating
the different people in the room. This
is followed by a focus on inclusion,
ensuring everyone in the room feels
like they belong. Finally, we explore
equity by examining the structures we
put in place to ensure that diversity and
inclusion happen.
The intention was for this Unit of Study
to lay the framework in which our K1
Peace begins with me
Exploring identity in early childhood
8 | Dunia June 2021
students can begin to better understand
how to be open-minded and inclusive
members of our community, happy and
well within themselves, so that they
are better ready and able to engage in
service to others.
As a K1 Team, we feel that we have only
just started to scratch the surface in
terms of uncovering new teaching and
learning resources connected to issues
of DEI that we had not previously been
familiar with. This year, we held more
deliberate and specific conversations
with students about topics of culture,
language and race that we had not
engaged in before with our youngest
learners. We took the opportunity
to gently explore how we might
engage students in discussion and
celebration of physical differences,
by challenging ourselves as educators
to identify activities which could
introduce concepts for discussion in
age-appropriate ways. For example, we
decided to challenge the oft-quoted
assertion that young children don’t see
colour. As demonstrated in the now
famous ‘doll test’ (first conducted by
researchers in the USA in the 1940’s)
young children do see colour—and are
already internalising messages about
colour, many of which come from the
structures and systems around them.
Applying a UWCSEA context, in one
lesson the K1 children were invited to
dress felt dolls. They were provided
with five different shades of skin tone
dolls from which to choose. All of the
students chose the lightest skin tone
for their doll. To adapt the lesson, we
then removed the lightest skin tones
from the options. Rather than choose
one of the darker tones, some children
asked, “Where are all of the light ones?”
Moreover, we also noticed that children
were not choosing the dolls that most
accurately matched their own skin
tones, in favour of lighter ones.
This provided us with an opportunity
to talk to the children specifically
about skin tone and draw attention
to our physical differences and the
many ways in which we are each
special. We read stories that celebrated
different skin tones and included more
physical diversity in the characters. We
provided the students with pictures
of themselves and their classmates
so that they could make note of their
hair colour, eye colour, skin tone and
ensured appropriate colouring tools
were on hand that would allow them to
represent this in their drawings.
This Unit of Study has excited us as a
teaching and learning community and
we have been awarded a UWCSEA
50th Anniversary Innovation Grant to
support this important work. We are
looking forward to further curating and
developing additional resources focused
on exploring issues of DEI with young
children that can be shared within our
College community, and beyond.
UWCSEA 50th anniversary
innovation grants
These programmes, selected for
their potential to result in significant
gains for our learners, will be piloted
during next school year and shared
at the UWCSEA Forum in April
2022. Our aim is to encourage
development of innovative,
scalable practice aligned with the
UWCSEA Strategy, and to look for
opportunities to extend their reach
via strategic partnerships within and
beyond the College.
2021/2022 projects include:
• facilitate a technology solution
to provide access to music for our
Singapore-based service partners
to improve client wellbeing
• curation of developmentally
appropriate DEI resources for Infant
School classrooms and students
• development of a Dover-East
Virtual Reality portal in the
campus libraries
• Ready Learner One Alumni
Project connecting our alumni
network with existing students
• prototyping innovative learning
spaces that serve introverted and
extroverted learners
• broaden opportunities to
participate in mathematics by
diversifying community activities
and focus beyond competitions
By Rebecca Maynard, Head of Art and Ian Tymms,
Head of English, East Campus Middle School
Seni Budaya is an annual festival celebrating the arts and
culture across the Middle School at East Campus. At least
that’s what it’s meant to be: after a joyous inaugural festival
in 2019, 2020 was lost to the vagaries of COVID-19.
In 2021 there were high hopes for a second live celebration late
in Term 3. A new element was a collaboration between Art
and English to bring Grade 8 poetry into the mix and early in
the school year the curriculum was adapted to have students
exploring connections. This work was particularly inspired by the
work of ceramicist Todd Barricklow in art and by Singaporean
poet Neil Daswani and photographer Anita Thomas.
And then came COVID … again; initially creating limitations
on live performances and then, after reversion to home-
based learning in mid-May, ensuring there was no possibility
of anything live at all. By this time, however, Anita Thomas
had joined us as a visiting artist to run a 10 week Activity
preparing for Seni Budaya.
Seni Budaya
Middle School students bringing culture alive
Explore the exhibition website, which is
organised across the disciplines of Art,
Dance, Drama, Food, Music and Poetry:
The original brief was for Anita to use her skills as a filmmaker
to work with a group of Middle School students creating
a film to open the Seni Budaya event. Somewhere during
this activity, it became clear that we needed more than an
introductory film and the Middle School Seni Budaya website
is the result.
The arts are a celebration of creativity and talent, but they
are also a celebration of the hard work, perseverance and
resilience of those who create. COVID-19 has demanded
levels of resilience many of us didn’t know we had, but it has
also brought out the best of our creativity as we have worked
to find new ways to do things and solutions to the challenges
of a world turned upside down.
The Seni Budaya website, and the work it showcases, is a
testament to the spirit of our Middle School students; to their
resilience, determination and creativity. We are enormously
grateful to Anita Thomas and the many individuals who
contributed to this project.
COMMUNITY NEWS
10 | Dunia June 2021
SPOTLIGHT
UWCSEA’s teaching, sustainability and facilities teams have spent much time planning how to maximise the rare gift of a large
outdoor space throughout the past year, with a vision to create a vibrant and dynamic learning environment that can be enjoyed
by students in all grades. In addition to supporting both the academic and service learning programmes, the new space for
imaginative play and relaxation will help to grow our students’ appreciation for the outdoors while providing valuable additional
opportunities to connect with nature.
DOVER GREEN HEART
CENTRING SUSTAINABILITY LEARNING
SPOTLIGHT ON …
Respect for diversity lies at the heart
of the UWC mission and linguistic
diversity is an important component
of how we define diversity. A growing
body of research shows that bi- and
multilingualism brings cognitive,
linguistic, socio-cultural and emotional
benefits and that all members of a
community benefit from being in a
multilingual environment because it
provides increased opportunities to
develop intercultural understanding.
As we have come to further understand
the value of promoting multilingualism,
we are working intentionally to ensure
all languages are equally valued by our
community. Annual events, such as
Mother Tongue Language Day, have
become important annual celebrations
that raise awareness of the rich
diversity of culture and language in our
community. The changing make-up
of the expat community in Singapore
and other external factors outside our
control have also prompted some shifts.
At UWCSEA, we strive to develop
both intercultural understanding and
communicative competence in our
students. We also know how important
it is for students to have a strong first
language for learning and wellbeing.
Because English is the lingua franca of
our community and we are an English-
medium international school, our
challenge is to ensure we are proactive
in supporting our bi- and multilingual
learners to build and develop the vital
connection to their culture through their
home language. Particularly as there are
now more families in our community
who speak at least one language other
than English at home than there are
those who speak English only at home.
We also understand that our bi- and
multilingual students are facing the
challenge of a school day in which they
are learning English in tandem with the
challenge of learning the concepts and
content of our learning programme. Not
working in a dominant language can
be both tiring and stressful, and so we
are actively developing our classroom
practice, our available resources, and
our learning environment to support
students to use all their available
languages while learning.
Our focus on better supporting a
students’ first language development
has seen far-reaching long term
programme development, through
initiatives such as the Home Language
Programme (HLP), which supports
learners as young as K1 to maintain
their home language through lessons in
small classes with a qualified teacher.
In the Infant School, we have begun
surveying all incoming families
about their child’s language profile
so that we can, where possible, place
incoming students in the K1 cohort
with a ‘language buddy’ in their class.
Whether the student speaks English
fluently or not, the presence of a peer
who speaks the same home language
can be leveraged by the class teacher
to help our youngest learners to retain
their home language skills—and their
self confidence and identity—by
providing them with opportunities to
use, and reinforce, their learning in their
home language.
We have now extended the language
survey to all families, so that we
can better understand our students
linguistic profile and the aspirations
and goals that parents have for their
child’s linguistic development while at
UWCSEA. This survey data will help
to inform future planning for language
provision and teacher recruitment.
For individual students, it means
class teachers will be able to identify
opportunities to encourage students
to utilise their dominant language to
support their learning when planning
lessons. This ‘translanguaging approach’
is not delivered as a whole class
lesson to all students. Rather, it is an
intentional strategy that teachers
draw on as necessary in personalising
the classroom experience for each
student, helping them play to their
strengths by allowing them to access
and process their learning by using
their home language. This enhances
their conceptual understanding of the
subject, whilst helping them maintain
and develop their academic knowledge
in, and of, their home language.
We have also undertaken some exciting
curriculum development work this
year in the High School. A new first
language course for those Grade 9
and 10 students who are speakers of
Dutch, French, German, Japanese and
Korean, co-created by our first language
teachers, launches this August. The
decision of Cambridge International
Examinations board to discontinue
IGCSE First Language courses in
Japanese, Korean, French and Dutch
provided the initial impetus for us
to create this bespoke first language
course, which has been several years
in careful development. The result is a
course for our first language students
that not only better prepares them for
their IB language courses, but allows
a more academically rigorous and
explicitly mission-aligned course. It is
Language matters
Supporting and celebrating our community of multilingual learners
FEATURE
12 | Dunia June 2021
organised into six core units, which are
common across all languages. The two
skills-based foundational units, covering
linguistic and literary competence,
are integrated with the remaining
four units which are organised around
the themes of identity and language,
culture and contexts, sustainability
and environmental issues, and global
citizenship. All students are working
to attain the same conceptual
understandings and skills, but do
so through learning in their own
first language.
Across our campuses, the first stages
of an extensive linguistic landscaping
project will be installed over the long
break, in readiness for August 2021.
Linguistic landscaping refers to how
public spaces ‘feel’ and includes both
what we see and hear. It is important
both functionally and symbolically;
even what appear to be small changes,
such as installing multilingual signage,
send a significant message that the
linguistic identities of all community
members are important to us all. In
the long term, by paying attention to
our linguistic landscape at UWCSEA
we are challenging prevailing notions
of which languages have high status,
and increasing the likelihood that our
bilingual students will feel proud to
speak their home languages at school.
In turn, increased opportunities to use
their language in authentic contexts will
encourage all of our students to develop
stronger linguistic identities.
Some of the more visible signs of all
this activity will include installation
of multilingual signage, including
functional and mission-aligned
messaging. The translation of the
new signage gathered input from the
student councils and staff. A collective
effort to translate the selected text was
followed by student-teacher discussion
to ensure each translation captured the
meaning in our context. In the coming
year, we hope to provide additional
multilingual materials for families.
And what about monolingual
students? Well, the good news is that
research has shown that there are
immense benefits for all members of
a community who implement positive
approaches to bi- and multilingualism.
In this environment, our monolingual
students develop greater cross-
linguistic awareness and intercultural
understanding, which in turn supports
their development as bilingual learners
of a new foreign language.
All of these changes are guided by our
five-year UWCSEA Strategy, which
aims to bring our practice into greater
alignment with our mission. We realise,
as a College, that some practices
no longer support the needs of our
students and that by adjusting aspects
of our programme which were rooted in
monolingual assumptions, the College
will move closer to achieving our
mission: to use education as a force for
peace in the world.
A selection of posters being installed on our campuses as part of a linguistic landscaping project.
June 2021 Dunia | 13
Focused
on the future
Creating conditions for peace
By Fauzan Aryaputra, Grade 11, East Campus
Damian Bacchoo joined UWCSEA East as High School
Principal in February 2021. He was interviewed by students
from the service Capturing East who found his answers were
insightful, his demeanour warm, and his investment in the
wellbeing of the student body incontestable.
Before joining UWCSEA, Damian’s most recent positions had
been leading a project to set up a new international school
in Switzerland and as Global Head of Programme for the
International Baccalaureate (IB). What drew him to UWCSEA
were the overlaps between the work he was doing at the
IB and the UWC mission statement: “[…] the mission for
the International Baccalaureate was almost identical to the
UWC mission.”
For Damian, the draw of UWCSEA was that the College’s
values not only drive learning, but the equal treatment of all
five elements of the learning programme. As a parent whose
children will be attending this school come August 2021 he
hopes that, “they will find meaning, and I want them to be
busy doing stuff that they love.”
One area that Damian is particularly passionate in tackling is
the issue of mental health. He believes that our mental health
is one of the components that build up that idea of one’s best
self, and that actively speaking about mental health is a key
step in moving forward.
Another area which Damian feels is important to address is
the issue of relevance: is what students are learning about in
their classrooms relevant? Will students use this knowledge
in their futures? One’s educational journey is rarely ever
complete without hearing a classmate grumbling about the
impracticality of a topic being taught in class, and as Damian
believes, rightly so, “That question of relevance has always
been in my head—is that relevant? Do I need to know this?
And I always question that [asking] “what are the jobs? Where
is the future of work? What skills will employers need?””
Looking forward, he hopes to move towards more diversity
in the academic opportunities offered in the High School,
allowing students to freely follow their passions and interests.
Damian spent nine years in the British Army, gaining a
perceptive understanding of the need for peace-keeping: “I had
to see what non-peace looks like to understand why it’s worth
fighting for [a peaceful world]. That means we have to create
an environment where people understand each other, respect
each other, and accept each other’s differences.” Damian went
on to emphasise the importance of the UWC mission and
being mission-driven as a school, saying that the best way to
create the conditions for peace is through education.
When asked about what advice he would give to a younger
version of himself, Damian talked about the satisfaction he
receives from doing service and wishes it could have been a
part of his life earlier on. Giving up his time for something
that makes a difference is very rewarding; and while he knows
that his actions alone aren’t going to change the world, it is
the ability to make a small difference in someone else’s life
that he feels is important.
To students, his advice is be to be kind to themselves: “Being
kind, sometimes, to yourself might just be as simple as
focusing on being happy for yourself.” Damian has observed
that students are so often focused on trying to meet
expectations set by external sources that they lose sight of
their own wellbeing. “Until you can respect yourself, it’s very
difficult to find it within yourself to look outwards and be able
to lead with compassion. When you are in balance, you are
then capable of doing what needs to be done.”
Arina Bugrova Grade 11, Karim Idrissov Grade 9 and Jayden Thakrar Grade 6 interviewed Damian as part
of the Capturing East Service Group. Find out more about Damian and other UWCSEA East community
members on the student-published website:
INTERVIEW
“There’s no luck involved in me coming to a school focused on peace.”
14 | Dunia June 2021
A welcome
like no other
Reflecting on my first year
By Nick Allison, Director of Residential Life, Dover Campus
When arriving at Dover Campus in August 2020, I was
overwhelmed by the genuine welcome and support offered by
everyone across the campus. A number of people commented
to me about how tough it must be to start in the role being
both new to the UWCSEA and starting the job during the era
of COVID-19. In retrospect, this COVID-disrupted year has
presented some challenges but since I have never known the
UWCSEA boarding houses other than during COVID-19, this is
my normal.
I know we are all sensitive to how disruptive the pandemic has
been to the planned year which normally takes place for the
boarding community, and to the experience and expectations
of the newer boarders. They have seen many of the key
events and highlights lost due to travel restrictions, the
unavoidable restraints of social distancing and lockdowns in
the wider community. While there have been understandable
moments of disappointment and frustration, there has been
an overarching spirit of finding alternatives, adapting existing
activities or events and a stoical acceptance that some things
are simply beyond our control.
Whilst there may have been some legitimate reasons for
the boarding community to complain about the 2020/2021
school year, there have been some unexpected positives
coming from the three-month-long staggered arrival of
the residential community, and even from the confines of
quarantine and the experiences of remote learning. Many of
our new boarders found their integration into the community
easier as they had been attending online pastoral welfare
group meetings for weeks. The boarding staff team had
used these as a forum to support those who were feeling
trapped at home or in quarantine, and these evolved into
social platforms where new and returning boarders got to
meet each other and their houseparents. As new and existing
students arrived at the boarding house integration progressed
remarkably well.
In a non-COVID-19 year I would have been getting to know
all our boarders at once. As it was, I started with around 50.
This meant that as the remaining boarders arrived over the
course of months (our last Dover boarder arrived on campus
in October 2020!) I was able to get to know everyone by
name. If there was a challenge, it was working with the
community to manage the ever-changing group dynamic, as
we welcomed new arrivals not all at once but individually.
This again proceeded with remarkable goodwill and humour.
With the end of year holidays fast approaching, we are once
again planning for a much-needed break from the boarding
house for our boarders. With assistance from the wider
College community we have been generously supported
with offers from UWCSEA families to host boarders. We are
mindful that a minority of the boarders have not been home
for a year now and host families are generously offering an
alternative home environment. Whilst staying in Singapore
will be different, it presents an opportunity to build new
relationships and to experience Singapore with their friends
and the wider UWCSEA boarding family.
Overall it has been a very positive and enjoyable experience
more often because of the way that the boarding community
approached the restrictions and limitations of the year.
My positivity has sprung from the reflection that if this is a
difficult year, working with these inspiring young people, then
I am certainly looking forward to a normal year!
COMMUNITY NEWS
“My positivity has sprung from working with these inspiring young people.”
June 2021 Dunia | 15
Now more than ever our choices and actions
matter. I believe we can be symbols of the
openness and commitment to diversity that
is characteristic of the UWC movement. As
the world seeks to divide, you can continue
to unite people, nations and cultures for
peace and a sustainable future. I am hopeful
and optimistic because in front of me are
the people who can redefine success as we
know it.
Rebecca Butterworth
High School Principal, Dover Campus
GRADUAT
DOVER
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is
that bonds of love and friendship don’t need
physical proximity to remain strong. So as
we depart and join the vast alumni network,
remember to look out for one another. Check
in with people that you haven’t spoken to in
a while. Say thank you and goodbye to those
that have made a difference in your life. Be
kind to yourself and others because you
never know the impact it may have.
Elena Chesser ’21 and Erynn Lau ’21
Student speakers
As graduation returned to campus for the first t
students wore their national dress to receive th
for celebration, determination and tireless effo
of 2021 had a ceremony to mark the moment
measures across Singap
#UWCSEA
321
students
25
scholars
52
countries
Class of 2021 I have suggested to you that
if you make room for moments of wonder,
and if you adopt a dignity culture then you
have every chance of creating the sort of life
where you’ll leave things better than you
found them, for you and for those fortunate
enough to know you. Across a lifetime, that’s
a noble goal. We hope we have helped you
start on a good path.
Nick Alchin
Head of East Campus
ION 2021
EAST
time since 2011, many of our 583 graduating
heir UWCSEA High School Diploma. A cause
ort from our community ensured the Class
t, despite the tightening of safe-distancing
pore just days before.
This is the end of the end and the beginning
of the beginning. We should remember
the people that have made us stronger by
making us more vulnerable. There’s just so
many of you that have made this whole
journey worth every bit of the ups and
downs and that goes for all of us. It’s because
of you that we have graduated despite the
odds. There’s something uniquely vibrant
about a moment of pure joy during a period
of hardship. Look around you–this is that
moment. I think it’s fair to say good times
never felt so good.
Phunziro Phuza ’21
Student speaker
AFOREVER
262
students
27
scholars
57
countries
A scholars journey
For a scholar, a UWC education provides a remarkable opportunity to gain qualifications that will set them on a lifelong path
toward success, along the way developing the qualities and skills that will help them to enact the mission in their communities
as their bias for action is enhanced.
Despite the current global challenges, our UWCSEA Scholarship Programme continues to receive tremendous support from our
community. This support means we can continue to welcome this group of exceptional and resilient students to our UWC global
family. In the face of the current pandemic, which has impacted vulnerable communities the most, we are grateful that we can
continue to offer scholarships to students who are drawn from these communities around the world, and to welcome them into
ours. What does this mean for an individuals journey with UWCSEA? And beyond boarding, who else do these students connect
with while here? Our graduating scholar from Malawi, Phuza ’21 shares his journey to, and through, UWCSEA:
You can’t come to UWC and leave as the same person.”
FEATURE
ONE
Becoming a scholar
“The way I found out about the UWC
scholarships was through the Principal at my old
school. He told me about it while I was working
as an assistant teacher in my gap year, having
finished my IGSCEs. I applied, I went to the
interviews, and it was a fun time, something new.
Then there was a period of silence where it was
just guessing whether I got in or not. And then I
got in.
Finding out was overwhelming. When I heard
which school I was going to, I was, like, “Sign me
up. I’m going.” No questions asked. I found out
when I was at work, and instantly, I just asked my
boss, “Can I take a minute break? I want to call
my parents.” Screaming through the phone, they
were so happy.”
Life far from home
“So with boarding, there’s the part of leaving
your family. But what boarding does is that it
gives you another one. It gives you a whole new
support system and in ways that you wouldn’t
get from your family at home.
You learn things about countries you’d never
have known, you learn about cultures you didn’t
know could exist. You also learn to accept them
as well because you see the beauty inside those
cultures, and you learn how to think differently
as well. And it’s so beautiful because you start
questioning yourself, like, “How could I have
never realised that in the beginning?” Your
mind just opens so much. I honestly believe
that you can’t come to UWC and leave as the
same person.”
Connecting on campus
Kim Duffy, Primary School Teamer on East
Campus explains, ‘The buddy program is where
our younger students get to connect with our
boarder buddies and scholars staying in the
boarding house. Phuza is our boarder buddy, and
we’ve been really lucky to be able to connect with
him. He’s shared his culture, a little bit about his
life and his perspective on life in the boarding
house. The children love to get together with him,
whether it is on a Google Meet or it’s a big wave
across the playground when they see him.”
Phuza describes the connection he has built with
his class this year as, “really heartwarming; even
though we can’t meet in a physical classroom
at the moment, doing the dance from afar, and
them showing their support for my exams. It
was so nice just to see that even though we can’t
physically be in the same room. It’s so nice.”
TWO
THREE
18 | Dunia June 2021