Your child’s education is not limited to the four walls of the classroom. Young children have plenty of new things to learn and discover by meeting new people, engaging in different physical and mental exercises, and indulging their curiosity about various subjects and topics. In many places, these extracurricular interests are treated as nothing but add-ons to an elementary school student’s education. That is, they are nice-to-have features but not exactly deal-breakers if they’re not part of the school’s program.
Singapore is considered to have one of the best-performing education systems in the world, and here, co-curricular activities (CCAs) are an integral aspect of a student’s holistic education. If you’ve just moved with your family to the country, you’ll be surprised at the number of CCAs that your child can join in their international elementary school in Singapore. It’s not compulsory for elementary school students to join CCAs, but the Ministry of Education strongly encourages their participation. This is because CCAs provide students of all ages with an environment where they can develop character, emotional competencies, and values that will help in their overall development.
Finding the Best-matched CCA for Your Elementary School Student
In general, CCAs in Singapore can be grouped into 4 categories. These are clubs and societies, uniformed groups, physical sports, and visual and performing arts. Given that there are a lot of options to choose from, it can be a challenge to find a CCA that is best suited to your child’s interests. The good news is that there are tips that you can follow to make this task much easier and faster. Here are some of them:
Consider Your Child’s Interests and Aptitude
To find the CCA that best matches your child, you need to consider what it is that interests them. Do they like reading books, conducting science experiments, or working on art projects? Perhaps they’d be interested in joining a club devoted to those activities and subjects. Do they have a lot of energy and are they keen on playing a particular sport? Then they might enjoy being a part of a sports club. If your child likes interacting with other people and taking part in community activities, then they might further explore this interest by joining uniformed groups that provide leadership training and opportunities to engage in volunteer work. What interests your child and the activities they excel in should be your primary considerations when choosing the best-matched CCAs for them.
Determine How Much Time Your Child Can Devote to CCAs
The CCA options available to your child during their elementary school years are not particularly time-consuming. Nevertheless, it’s still important to look into how much free time your child’s preferred CCA will need and the schedule of CCA-related meetings and activities. If your child is planning to take part in a sports-related CCA and their team is expected to compete in the near future, will your child be able to attend their practice and games? If you and your child can only commit to freeing up a few hours at the end of every school day, then it’s best to find a CCA that matches your schedule. This way, your child can make the most of their membership to their chosen club and they won’t feel like they’re missing out on important group activities.
Imagine What the Big Picture Looks Like
Let’s say your child is torn between joining a sports club and the literary club, but they’re also expecting to manage a significant academic load for the coming semester. In this scenario, it’s a good idea to think about the level of commitment that each option will demand from your child. If your child is expecting their school work to take up a lot of their time and energy, then it might be a good idea to go for the less demanding CCA option. However, if your child finds that physical activity offers some form of stress relief, then they might benefit more from joining a sports team. Sit down with your child and consider these options to help them come up with the best decision.
Did You Make the Right Decision for Your Child’s CCA?
One of the easiest ways to determine whether or not your child is having a meaningful experience in their CCA is to ask them how their day went at the end of each school day. If your child had a great time in their CCA, then it’s highly likely that they’ll tell you about it if you give them the opening to do so. Perhaps they’ve made a new friend, or the educator overseeing their CCA brought up an exciting activity or project that they can’t wait to start working on.
If your child doesn’t like the CCA that they initially chose or has expressed outright displeasure about the activity, don’t worry too much as it’s perfectly fine to switch to another club. Remember that one of the reasons why CCAs exist is to enable students to explore their interests, and it just so happened that your child’s first choice didn’t deliver the experience both of you might have expected. Simply try again until you and your child find something that sticks.
Mine are almost out of Elementary already. I do think it’s important for the parents to take an active role!
All my kids joined sports clubs when they were in elementary. My daughter also joined the dance club, aside from being a member of their school’s sports club too. I agree that we should know what the child’s interests are and involve them in deciding which CCA they’d want to be a part of.
These are excellent tips for parents who have children just coming into the age where extracurriculars are offered. It can be daunting when you’re a first-time parent.
All 4 of my kids are so very different. Sports was a great outlet for 3 of them and dance/singing was an outlet for my daughter (as well as art).
Yes, the classroom is only the beginning, really. Kids have so much more to learn and explore.
Your section on “imagine the big picture” was perfect. You’re right it’s a good idea to think about the level of commitment that each option will demand from your child. Sitting down and practicing good communication skills at this young age is so important.
My son will be inKindergarten in the fall so this is actually super helpful!
Such a helpful and informative post. I always talk to my son about his day.
Thanks so much for these tips! My son will be at that age soon, and this is going to be a big help.
I don’t like forcing things on my kids cause I know it does not do well with them. I always consider their interests.
These are really good for parents to help kids who study. Thank you for sharing!
Yes! You didn’t miss on any of these points or ways. A child happy with their CCA will always be so eager to share.
Ang galing naman nyag CCA ng Singapore i hope one day our country can come up with that kind of currilar activities for us (parents) to know th e real interest of our children leading them to success.
The school system there sounds amazing. I feel like here in America we aren’t doing a very good job with the school system overall.
It is good to make sure that kids are doing things outside of school to help support their well being. These are all great tips. We always supplemented school activities.
I have a friend who is going to Singapore and I guess it will be for good. This is one of the things she brought up to me about why they want to live there. Reading this makes me really amazed about the education system.
Thanks for the tips