Canossian School

Location

Area: Geylang
Address: 1 Sallim Road, Singapore 387621

Telephone no.

6749 8971

Email

admin@canossian.edu.sg

Website

http://www.canossian.edu.sg

Special needs catered for

Hearing loss

Age range

7 to 14 years old

Curriculum offered

National

School mode

Single session (morning)

Services offered

• School bus transport
• After-school student care

Inclusion Educational Model

Canossian School is a special education primary school with a holistic learning environment for children with hearing loss. It works together with its sister school, Canossa Catholic Primary School, to offer full inclusion of all its students in a mainstream school setting. 

Students are taught in mainstream classes and receive additional learning support from specialist teachers at our school to ensure that they are able to keep pace with their hearing classmates from the mainstream school. 

Students also have access to audiologists and speech therapists in school.

National Curriculum

At the school, students are taught the national curriculum (English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, PE, Art, Music & Values Education) by mainstream teachers from our satellite partner school, supported by teachers from our school.

Character Development Education

Focusing on the Canossian Formation of the Heart, the Canossian values of Charity, Humility, Forgiveness and Faith are taught explicitly through dedicated Values Education lessons.

To help our students build confidence and overcome the challenges posed by their disability, all our students are taught basic audiological knowledge which includes understanding their hearing loss and knowing how to care for the hearing devices they are wearing.

Students are also taught techniques and repair strategies to minimise communication barriers. Communication breakdown occurs when the listener does not understand the speaker, which happens quite often with children with hearing loss. Students are taught how to overcome the breakdown through the use of communication repair strategies. 

Lastly, they are equipped with some self-advocacy skills so that they are empowered to make their needs known, and to gain self-confidence and self-respect.

Parent Guidance Programme

This is a unique programme customised to meet the needs of each family. It aims to equip parents with skills to ensure efficient functioning of the child’s hearing devices and in the development of listening and speech skills of their children.

Audiological Unit

The school has an on-site audiological unit that provides audiological support for our students which includes daily checks of devices, troubleshooting, fitting of new devices, audiological assessments (Pure tone audiometry, play audiometry) and ear mould making.

• English Language 
• Mathematics
• Science
• Art
• Music
• Physical Education
• Social Studies
• Character Development Education

• Percussion Band
• Choir
• Gardening Club
• Art Club

Alex Liew Alumni (Graduated in 2017) Alex Liew is currently studying at Beatty Secondary School. He was born with profound hearing loss caused by a Cytomegalovirus attack during his mother’s labour. He had a cochlear implant at the age two for his right ear. After attending kindergarten, he continued with his primary education at Canossian School. The Principals, teachers and staff were kind, loving and patient. The school prepared him for PSLE by providing him with many extra lessons which provided guidance in preparing for examinations. Besides the academics, Canossian School also taught him acceptance and forgiveness in a safe environment. He moved on to Beatty Secondary where he started in the Normal Technical stream but with great support from the school Principal, teachers and resource teachers he progressed to Normal Academic (NA) stream in Sec 3. Over the years, he was awarded top awards for Mathematics & Science as well as the Education Merit Awards. Last year, he was among the Top 3 students (NT stream 2019) in his school and was awarded the Edusave Scholarship in 2020. He is coping well with his studies in the NA Stream. Alex joined the School Badminton Team. In 2019 he was selected to represent his school at the South Zone national games and won 2 Gold medals for Boy’s Singles (under 18) and Men’s Double Open at the 5th National Deaf Games.

Muhammad Nihal Alumni (Graduated in 2013) Muhammad Nihal is a final year Diploma in Landscape Architecture student at Singapore Polytechnic. He was diagnosed with profound hearing impairment at the age of 9 months and he admits that navigating the world and society has been challenging for him. His music therapist directed him to Canossian School, where although learning was difficult, he recalled many fun learning experiences and was still able to cope well in primary school. His years in Canossian School provided him a strong learning foundation. After graduating from secondary school, Nihal went to Singapore Polytechnic. Although it was initially difficult, he received much help from his classmates alongside lecturers who tailored their lessons to suit his learning style. Today, Nihal is currently doing an additional Certificate in Sustainability and aspires to be a landscape architect who can engineer solutions to inspire people to be proud of their accomplishments and imperfections regardless of the stigmas that society holds.

Vanessa Lorraine Chea Alumni (Graduated in 2009) Vanessa Lorraine Chea is currently in her second year studying Biological Sciences at Nanyang Technological University. At this stage, she does not experience the same challenges she used to face in the past. One reason for this is that she has been taking the initiative to let her peers and teaching staff know about her hearing condition and they have been very helpful and friendly. On challenges, she recounts a request from a teaching staff in her school, when he asked whether it was possible for her not to use the Frequency Modulation (FM) device as it was quite heavy to carry.(The FM device is a wireless assistive device that enables sound to be directed from the speaker or sound source and transmitted to the individual who receives the sound, It provides greater clarity of speech/sound and a reduction in background noise.) Although she was a little apprehensive to accede to his request not to use the FM device, she found that she could still follow his class as he was using another microphone for the general audience and it was loud enough to hear what he was saying. It was helpful to be seated in the front row of the class as well. Now that Vanessa is older and more independent, she finds that she is able to self-advocate and cope better with her disability.