[3] Under the school cluster system, a group of schools forms a cluster co-ordinated by a Superintendent who, among other responsibilities, facilitates networking and collaboration among the Principals of the schools in the cluster.   It is a way to provide schools with the ability to be more innovative and creative in providing education to their students.

[4] There are currently 9 MOE-seconded teachers in 5 of the SPED schools.  4 of these teachers are teaching the mainstream curriculum.

Annex A

Outstanding SPED Teacher Award

Ms Lee Hsueh Chi Cecilia

Ms Lee Hsueh Chi Cecilia is a Senior Teacher at Towner Gardens School, a school for children with moderate to severe intellectual disability.  She teaches children aged 10 and 11 years in the junior programme in the afternoon session.

The students in Ms Lee’s class look forward to going to school each day because their teacher creates a learning environment that supports active, easily distracted students.   Ms Lee firmly believes in spending quality time with her students in the formation and maintenance of caring relationships.  She is patient with her students and takes good care of their individual special needs.  This allows her students to develop a familiarity and trust in her.  Indeed, spending some one-to-one time with each child every day, even if it is beyond school hours is Ms Lee’s way of demonstrating her passion for teaching children with special needs.

Parents have given very positive feedback on her care, warmth and commitment to their children.  They always approach her for advice and words of encouragement when they have problems at home with their children

As a professional, Ms Lee attends seminars and courses on her own accord to improve and develop herself.  She then shares her learning with her colleagues and when many heads and hands come together, creative juices flow and new ideas for lessons are developed.  A colleague says, “She is always learning and implementing new strategies that she has learnt from the courses she had attended.  Her never-stop learning attitude is really worthy of  teachers to respect and learn from.” 

Ms Lee also goes out of her way to work with other professionals such as therapists to come up with new ways and methods to overcome students’ challenges.

Ms Loy Sheau Mei

Ms Loy Sheau Mei is the Head of Programme in Pathlight School, the only special school that teaches the mainstream curriculum to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

It is demanding work to be a teacher, especially to be a teacher for children with special needs.  Sometimes, Ms Loy comes across students who require her to summon every last ounce of patience and understanding.  But through it all, Ms Lee carefully considers her classroom arrangement, the planned schedules, and ensures effective lesson delivery to reduce disruptions and a high percentage of engagement in her classes.  It is thus not surprising that her ASD students achieve an extremely high rate of academic success. 

Ms Loy makes textbooks come alive by having many out-of-classroom learning experiences and during these lively authentic learning moments, she is able to boost her students’ self-esteem and confidence, resulting in these ASD children becoming more verbal and sociable.

Ms Loy is well-loved and respected by everyone around her. She has been described as dependable, hardworking, energetic, nurturing and willing to accept responsibility for all matters related to her students’ welfare.  She leads by example by going the extra mile to care for her students and other teachers, serving them selflessly.

She actively acquires new skills to devise innovative teaching practices to enhance the curriculum for teaching ASD children, an area where there is no pre-existing model to follow.  She leads the Pathlight School curriculum team and works closely with MOE to ensure the relevance of the school’s curriculum.

Ms Loy is a mentor, a confidante, a trainer and teacher all rolled into one.  She is one who makes caring relationships the cornerstone of her approach to teaching children with special needs.

Mrs Sharifah Masturah Shahab-Yokoyama

Mrs Sharifah Masturah Shahab-Yokoyama is the Head of STEP (Structured Teaching for Exceptional Pupils) at the Rainbow Centre-Balestier School which is a school catering to students with multiple handicaps and autism.

It should be easy to trust, love and respect a teacher like Mrs Yokoyama because of what she represents to her students and her colleagues.  She is a creative and cheerful person who takes on the teaching of autistic children with severe and challenging behaviours with a quiet confidence guided by deep understanding and an even deeper sense of purpose.  In class, she creates pleasant and happy learning environments for her students. She takes the time to understand and sense what is going on in her students’ lives and attends closely to the subtle shifts in the emotional drama of their lives.

As the Head of the STEP programme, a programme for pupils with autism, Mrs Yokoyama strives to continuously motivate and excite teachers under her charge to be committed to excellence for the benefit of the ASD pupils.  Mrs Yokoyama’s colleagues describe her as “a dynamic, energetic and warm person, always encouraging and always genuine”.  She has been an inspiration to others due to her tremendous perseverance and determination to overcome the various challenges in working with children with special needs.  She is also a good team player, always engaging the teachers, therapists and psychologists to work together to help the students in the school improve.

For Mrs Yokoyama, learning is an on-going process.  After completing training in the area of Autism teaching from the University of North Carolina and also attaining a higher Certificate in Autism locally, Mrs Yokoyama is now undergoing training to become a specialist teacher in autism by an overseas trainer.

This year is Mrs Yokoyama’s 20th year at the Rainbow Centre-Balestier School. She is the role model for many other special education teachers, inspiring them to have confidence in human potential and in the predisposition of special needs children to learn and act confidently.

Innovative SPED Teacher Award

Mr Ong Tai Leng Victor

Mr Ong Tai Leng Victor is the Head of IT and Design in Pathlight School, the only special school that teaches the mainstream curriculum to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

A good teacher is one who is ready to know his students’ problems and to go the extra mile to guide them through their difficulties.  Mr Ong is one such teacher.  He has been able to get the best out of students with autism through careful consideration of their unique learning styles and adopting innovative approaches that tapped on their strengths.  He single-handedly pioneered the Pathlight Design Studio, a learning worksite that trains Pathlight students who have higher degrees of autism with an interest in IT and graphic design.  His outstanding contribution to the development of creative design programmes has led to significant success stories in Pathlight’s Track 3 curriculum classes.

Mr Ong who was previously an Art Director from one of Singapore’s leading advertising agencies before making the switch to teaching children with autism, plans the art and craft curriculum for the upper primary students. With Mr Ong’s patience and clear instruction, he is able to focus on the “gifts” of the ASD students to maximize their creative potential.

Mr Ong’s supervisor, Ms. Denise Phua, says that “he is a valuable member of Pathlight School not just because he is intelligent and innovative but because he is easy to work with and extremely willing to share and teach his colleagues the lesson plans he has created. 

Mr Ong is currently formulating a student internship programme and freelance job system to nurture the talents of ASD pupils for greater employment opportunities.  Deep in his heart, he knows that all his actions taken today will enable and empower his students to live in a more self-reliant and successful way in the future.
 

Annex B

Selection Panel

1                               Chairman                Dr Ong Seh Hong