Service Learning

Purple Community Fund and its sister charity, Upskills+ Foundation, are organisations founded by Jane Walker in support of the Tondo community in Manila, Philippines. PCF and Upskills+ strive to break the cycle of poverty by acquiring new skills, education, welfare and livelihood programs. We engage with our partner through Ring pull collection, marketing and selling of ring pull products, acting as brand ambassadors, organising special events to raise funds, and sponsoring scholars through non-uniform days.

Touch Home Care is an organisation that aims to provide a better quality of life for the elderly and vulnerable across Singapore. We engage with our partners by packing and delivering meals to needy people through the Meals-on-Wheels program, ensuring that dinners and other additional foods are delivered on time for clients to enjoy.

Likhang Puso (Made by the Heart) is a foundation established in 2019 that strives to empower the indigenous youth in the Philippines, particularly the Hanunuo Mangyan, by enhancing the quality of education they receive. We engage with our partner by building awareness of the importance of indigenous knowledge systems and the need to preserve them, organising educational and fundraising events such as webinars, online concerts, thrift clothes sales and social media campaigns.

Grade 7 students begin their service-learning experience with direct work on water sanitation projects. The learning is integrated into the Geography curriculum for the academic year.

Grade 8 students continue their service-learning experience with grassroots initiatives to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Underpinned by Geography curriculum content which focuses on the relationship between human activity and the environment, all students critically evaluate the school's recycling impact by researching what is recyclable and how the recycling process currently works within the school. Students look to identify improvements in stakeholder recycling understandings and misconceptions, plus processes to support recycling within the school. Through working with an environmental partner, The Plastic Project, students can apply their Geography curriculum understandings to the school ecosystem. In addition, all students collect recycling materials weekly from all classrooms and deposit these into the appropriate bins. 

Grade 9 students work on achieving their National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) Bronze whilst engaging in service work with local partners every week. These service experiences require active participation, initiative and engagement. These projects range from supporting Touch Homecare to deliver nutritious meals to the homebound elders in Toa Payoh, providing social interaction through playing games with disabled clients at Cheshire Homes, to supporting blind youths with their after-school CCAs at Mountbatten vocational school.  

Grade 10 students work on their Foundation CAS (FCAS) and/or NYAA Silver certification with the same dedication they practiced in their Grade 9 service journey. Students may also start their own project, such as the Conservation Matters initiative, aiming to raise awareness in our student community on the importance of nature, plants and animal conservation.

At the IBDP level, students follow CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service). They must design an individual experiential learning programme with a significant service element, including service experiences and projects.

In grade 11, students participate in the Challenge Week CAS project in teams of 8/10. Working with partner organisations, students learn about grassroots solutions to local and global issues through engaging in direct and indirect service, advocacy and action research.

We have over 20 established challenge week partnerships, including: 

• Baan Dada Home in Northern Thailand,  
• Blue Dragon Foundation, an anti-trafficking organisation based in Hanoi
•  Cahaya Surya Bakti, a learning centre in Johor Bahru that provides education and services to refugees seeking asylum in Malaysia.