Sports and outdoor education exposes students to many challenges that build esprit de corps, resilience, leadership and responsibility. Not only will it facilitate active and experiential learning, it offers a palpable sense of joy, fun and adventure.
“Once, during a a Floorball match, my team mate fell. We quickly moved forward to ask if he was alright and helped him up,” said Ahmad Qadri Huzafi Bin Ahmad Telimizi, a Primary Four student who recounted his experience being in the Modular-Circuit Co-Curricular Activities (MCCA) at Stamford Primary School. The diverse modules in MCCA harness sports and outdoor education as key platforms for character and team building, and leadership development for students.
Every week, Primary Three and Primary Four students engage in 90-minutes session of either Floorball, Wushu, Adventure Education, Introduction to Games, Athletics and Environment Education. These sports and outdoor programmes are taught by specialised instructors and facilitated by teachers.
Nurturing leadership qualities & communication skills
The varied programmes within MCCA have helped to instil leadership qualities in students by enabling them to lead in activities that they love.
Just like most of his peers, Quadri enjoys being in the Floorball team. Reflecting on his experience, he said, “I’m proud of my team. Although I am the team’s captain, we are all the same and have one common goal, to win matches. It is important for me to remember to lead and keep my team tight together.” His favourite part of the sport is the intense “face-off” during the start of a Floorball match, which gives him the adrenaline rush every time.
Communication is an integral part of MCCA. Students reap immense rewards out of their participation- deepening their 21st Century Competencies skills specifically in critical thinking, communication and collaboration.
Uttering her love for Adventure Education, Noemie Igarashi, a Primary Three student had this to say, “We get to discuss a lot among the group members.” Noemie enjoys group discussion and making new friends through the various outdoor activities. During a “camouflage” activity, Noemi expressed her delight when she made a masquerade mask out of leaves and wore it for the entire day. “My mom laughed when I refused to take it off” she said with a smile.
According to Mr Calvin Chia, teacher-in-charge of MCCA, his students really look forward to learning and playing with their friends through sports and outdoors. MCCA creates invaluable opportunities for students to become leaders and cooperative teammates while embracing diversity.
“The modules within MCCA offers value-added platforms for students to get into a social
setting especially during games and group activities where they learn to communicate with friends of different background, mix around and just play with anyone. On the other hand, outdoor education fosters a sense of ruggedness and resilience, hone their life skills and broaden their knowledge on environmental conservation,” said Mr Chia.
