A rich variety of co-curricular activities contribute to the overall development of the child, while at the same time, making school life an enjoyable experience.
The school offers a well-balanced and graded programme of physical education, which develops a sense of team spirit and healthy competition among the pupils.
Children are encouraged to express themselves as we foster their creativity. They learn to appreciate the various art forms and in the process, have fun.
PERFORMING ARTS
Expression in Song
Expression in Song is a musical project where children are taught and sing songs based on suitable themes. This helps build confidence and gives the children exposure on stage.
The school makes performances during school functions and parade days. This is to encourage and develop confidence and artistic talent in the children.
VISUAL ARTS
Expression in Colour
Besides the performing arts, children have ample opportunity to nurture their skills and talent in drawing, painting, and handicrafts.
An art exhibition is held at every class throughout the academic year and the classes come alive with vibrant colours bringing out the best in art and craft.
SPORTS
At St. Joan’s we believe that work without play makes Jack a dull boy
Growing in every way means training the body as well as the mind. Physical Education is, therefore a vital part of learning. Participation of children in physical education, therefore, plays a big role in their holistic development and this is seen in their motor skills development and performance as well as their educational potential
Through various sports and games, including the play park, the institution also strives to instill a healthy sense of competition, discipline and sportsmanship.
As the children participate in the aforementioned activities, they learn about important values such as:
· Taking turns
· Respecting themselves and others
· Adhering to rules and regulations
· Honesty
· Observing safety
· Keeping fit and healthy
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Being able to offer our children a wide range of diverse extra-curricular activities is very important as it encourages them to become independent, confident and successful members of the community.
These clubs are run by specialized teachers and take place during school hours.
The list of clubs is ever-changing but generally includes:-
• Arts – Drama, Dance, Art, Music
• Sports – Ball games, Swimming, board games
• Languages – French, Mandarin
SWIMMING
Swimming is a life skill since it helps build competence and confidence in an individual. Apart from being a life skill, it is an excellent form of physical exercise as it is a non-impact activity and caters for a wide variety of skill levels. It is a skill that opens the doors to several other sports and may one day save your life.
At St. Joan’s, swimming is taught as a lesson during the school term as long as the weather is favourable. Swimming classes starts from Pre-Primary 1 through to Class 8 and it is taught by professionally trained lifeguards and instructors.
It is a great achievement for us to see pupils from Pre-Primary who are initially scared to get into the water at the beginning of lessons, progress through to confident and able swimmers by the time they leave school.
MUSIC
Music helps us to make sense of the world. We all agree that without music in our day-to-day activities, we will be leaving in a ‘dead world’.
At St. Joan’s Academy, Music plays a big part in our time. The children have weekly music lessons, with our specialist music teacher, from Grade 1 to Grade 6. We believe that every child can be a musician and should have the opportunity to discover their musical potential.
Music has the power to bring people together through shared expression and enjoyment and we have designed our curriculum to equip the children with the skills and self-belief they need to participate in a rich and varied musical life. We work to cultivate a culture of performance in our school and our children love to perform and listen to the performances of other children.
Kids can play music during their free time to keep them busy, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop!
The following instruments are offered at school:-
• Piano lessons
• Guitar lessons
• Drum lessons
• Voice Lessons
• Theory of music lessons
FRENCH AND MANDARIN
At St. Joan’s, Foreign Languages are taught in weekly lessons by specialist teachers to children from Grade 1 to Grade 6.
We aim to immerse the children into the language and culture at an early age when their language learning skills are at their best. We engage them with a fun and challenging scheme of work developed to build up their level of a language gradually while promoting their curiosity about how language works.
We want learning languages to be exciting and we stress the links between French and Mandarin with other areas of the curriculum. We aim to celebrate this during our end-of-year closing days.