The Multimedia CCA prides itself on completing challenging and technical projects in Autodesk 3D design and Robotics. We use the Autodesk Inventor software to sketch out 2D art, insert dimensions, and extrude it into realistic and meaningful 3D objects. In 2019, we demonstrated our creativity in designing different character heads, such as the Game Token design. We are also proud of our special project, the RECA keychain.

During the pre-assembly programme in November 2019, we had the chance to showcase our robots and share about the process of building robots and coding with the use of Lego WeDo 2.0 software. We had to constantly adjust the numbers and the code blocks to get the robot to do exactly what we want.

Moving forward in 2020, we hope our students will continue to gain exposure in using various software and refine their technical skills.

The Visual Arts CCA (PM session) strives to guide and develop students to be self-disciplined and creative in art-making. The students get to explore various art mediums and techniques such as watercolour, acrylic paint, sand, and crepe paper. They also learn that effort is necessary, and perseverance is required in creating art pieces.

Students in the Visual Arts CCA (AM session) express their thoughts and ideas using clay. They get to develop an understanding of the different stages and processes involved in clay-crafting. As they acquire the skills, students get to apply the various techniques that they have learned to create their own ceramic artwork independently.

The masterpieces from Visual Arts CCA were exhibited during the school’s year-end Parent-Teacher Conference in 2019. Students journeying with us in 2020 can look forward to many fun and interesting opportunities in art-making.

The 98th Boys’ Brigade (BB) Company in Grace Orchard School is a uniformed CCA for boys aged 13 to 18 years old. The objective of the Boys’ Brigade is the instilment of habits of obedience, discipline, self-respect, reverence, and ‘all that tends towards a true Christian manliness.’ Besides leading the school’s annual National Day Observance Parade, the BB Boys also participate in activities such as drills, camaraderie-building group work, individual badge work, outdoor cooking, and camps.

An exciting adventure awaits in 2020! We welcome recruits to join our Boys’ Brigade brotherhood, and look forward to a wonderful year of fun and learning opportunities.

The girls in Girls’ Brigade (GB) are exposed to many learning opportunities through their participation in various events throughout the year. In 2019, the students participated in the Low Guat Tin Challenge. Following the theme of Code to Serve, the students built a robot named Molly using Amazon Alexis to engage students with autism in the school. They also participated in the GB Friendship Day, whereby they helped to run games and food booths catered to the needs of elderlies at the event. To facilitate bonding amongst the students, the girls went for a 2-days 1-night camp at the GB Head Quarters, where they took part in activities like archery and craftwork.

We hope that in 2020, our girls continue to gain numerous opportunities to acquire new skills and forge new friendships.

Bambajam is a fun and engaging way for students to improve their listening skills while encouraging collaboration among peers. Bambajam is a musical instrument that is made of bamboo and eco-friendly. Students use mallets to strike cylindrical and hollowed out bamboo sections to produce notes and chords. When these are combined, a melodious piece of music is created. In the area of music education, the students also acquire knowledge about music notation, keeping beats, and performance etiquette. Every student has a part to play in creating musical pieces and will grow in confidence with weekly practices.

Bambajam was a new CCA in 2019, and we look forward to a year filled with fun learning experiences and exciting performances in 2020.

Grace Orchard School Choir aims to nurture each student by inspiring them to find their strengths and talents through music. The students acquire singing skills such as vocal toning and rhythm while building their confidence. Every year, students get to participate in school and external performances.

In 2019, the students performed a choral masterpiece in conjunction with Jurong Secondary School at the Extra•Ordinary Celebration. The event featured more than 900 performers from 23 inclusive teams from Hong Kong, and the Philippines was aired live on China TV. The students also performed in the school’s annual event, the Prize Giving Day ceremony 2019.

Moving forward, Grace Orchard School Choir will continue to develop and unleash the potential of every student as we believe that everyone has a unique set of skills to bring to the society.

The Dance CCA (AM session) offers a place for students to express themselves while emphasising on character development. Students are provided with opportunities to develop self-confidence and teamwork and to showcase their learning through various performances. On 20th July 2019, the CCA performed before 1200 attendees at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)’s annual Proms @ the Park 2019 at Gardens by the Bay. The students also performed at the Jurong Spring Community Centre’s National Day Celebration on 2nd August 2019.

The Dance CCA (PM session) is made up of students ranging from 10 to 12 years old. We mold our students into good dancers by exposing them to various basic dancing techniques as well as core strengthening exercises. With practices after practices, the dancers made their way through 1 internal performance and 2 external performances in 2019. Some of the dancers also had the opportunity to practice and dance alongside students from Rulang Primary School. This collaboration has given the students from both schools the platform for interaction and learning from one another.

In 2020, the Dance CCA is looking forward to an exciting year with numerous opportunities to perform.

In the Handchimes CCA, students learn to play both the handchimes and handbells. They practice weekly under a conductor and learn to ring the instruments together in unison. With some students ringing up to 12 bells each, they are encouraged to manage their own choreography and operate the bells as accurately as they can. Every year, our students go for several internal and external performances. On 8th November 2019, the students performed at the National University Cultural Centre as part of the Extra•Ordinary Celebrations Concert 2019.

We look forward to having more performing opportunities in 2020.

Students in the Music Ensemble CCA learn to play the Ukulele and sing along to numerous songs. “Just the way you are,” “Roar,” “Counting Stars,” and “I’m Yours” are some of the English pop songs our students have learned. They have performed the songs “Home” and “Singapore Town” during the school’s National Day celebration in 2019 and were invited to perform during one of the school’s assembly at the end of the year.

Moving forward, students can anticipate a year filled with fun learning experiences and exciting performances.

Grace Orchard School’s Reaching Excellence Through Circus Arts (RECA) was the winner of the inaugural Ministry of Education – National Council of Social Service (MOE-NCSS) Special Education Schools (SPED) Innovation Award in 2007. RECA trains students to perform multiple tricks with the diabolo. It currently has a membership of 20 students, aged 10 to 16 years old. The students have travelled to Japan and Malaysia and performed at many places, including the Istana. Recently, the team travelled to Taiwan for an exciting learning journey and exchange with like-minded diabolo players.

Some of our key performances and participations include:
1. Rulang Primary School Indoor Sports Hall Opening Ceremony (2019)
2. Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS) Sports Day (2019)
3. National Day Celebrations at Jurong Spring Community Centre (2019)
4. Teacher’s Day Performance (2019)
5. Purple Parade at Suntec City (2019)
6. Extra•Ordinary Celebration at NUS Cultural Centre (2019)
7. 6D5N Cultural Exchange Programme to Taiwan (2019)
8. Grace Orchard School Prize Giving Day (2019)

We are thankful for all the opportunities thus far and would continue to create various opportunities for our students to develop and showcase their talents.

Athletes from Grace Orchard School’s Athletics CCA train with perseverance and dedication to become the best that they can ever be, upholding the motto “Train Hard, Run the Race Easy.” We aim to improve our athletes’ fitness, stamina, speed, and agility so that they will be capable of representing Singapore and our school in track and field events. We also focus on developing our athletes’ character, values, and leadership, as they learn to support and inspire one another. In 2020, we will continue to encourage our athletes to serve and contribute to the school and community through sports.

The Badminton CCA (AM and PM sessions) provides students with the opportunity to acquire proper skills such as the strikes (smashes) and footwork. Students are taught to perform the underhand and backhand serve, as well as to strike a shuttlecock using the forehand, backhand, and overhead techniques. Before the start of each lesson, students are required to do essential stretches and jogs to warm up their muscles and increase their endurance. Students also practice proper footwork to improve their balance and agility. Fundamentals of how to play singles and doubles games are also taught. The Badminton CCA hopes that through the mastery of these skills, students will be able to build their character, forge meaningful friendships, and better understand their peers.

Our students were given the chance to take part in the Play Inclusive 2019 Badminton Competition on 24th August 2019. It was an event hosted by ASEAN Para Sports and Special Olympics Singapore to encourage inclusion. Individuals with and without intellectual disabilities could come together to take part in sports. Our students partnered with several mainstream schools, such as Rulang Primary School and Yuan Ching Secondary School, to compete against other teams. We are proud that our students won the 2nd place for Under 15 as well as 16 and above (Division 2). The U15 students also clinched the 4th place for Division 1. Most importantly, we are glad that they were able to forge friendships with students from our partnering mainstream schools.

As we continue to train more students to acquire various badminton skills, we also hope to develop their character and provide opportunities for them to build new friendly relationships.

The Basketball CCA (PM session) comprises of students between 9 to 12 years old. We focus on skills and fitness development through training and guidance by the coaches. Skills such as footwork for defense, shooting, passing, and dribbling the ball are taught. Students also learn to defend as a team when practicing 3 on 3 basketball games. We inculcate values of sportsmanship, teamwork, and care through our training. There is also an emphasis on character development, aligning them to our school values (love, respect, integrity, perseverance, and responsibility).

The Basketball CCA (AM session) comprises of students between 13 to 18 years old. They did the school proud during the Play Inclusive 2019, where the team won the Silver medal in the Men’s Open team competition.  The U15 boys’ team also won a Gold and Bronze medal. It was an intense and exciting competition, especially for the Men’s Open players, who played with 8 other schools, including the Singapore Special Olympics Team. Above all, the entire team showed resilience by not giving up and playing to their best effort. Their hard work earned them the second position, just behind the Singapore Special Olympics Team.

We hope that in 2020, our students get to participate in more competitions, build their characters, and achieve greater success.

Bowling is an interesting and fun leisure sport for our students. The CCA provides students with an opportunity to learn to bowl under the guidance of a professional coach. Our students train during CCA lessons and participate in bowling competitions as well. In 2019, we participated in the National School Games Tenpin Bowling Championship 2019 and Pesta Sukan Para-bowling competition 2019, where the students won several medals and trophies.

In 2020, we would like to see more of our students supporting each other and believing in their abilities no matter whatever challenges come their way. We also hope for them to participate in bowling competitions and fulfill their dreams.

2019 has been a great season for Grace Orchard School Soccer boys. Despite having the lowest average age as compared to teams from other schools in recent years, they have performed well in competitions where they played against opponents who were older and bigger in the physique.

Three teams, in partnership with Yuan Ching Secondary School, competed in the Play Inclusive 2019 competitions where they clinched the 2^nd position for Under 15 and 3^rd position for 16 and above. The soccer boys also had a fun-filled training session with Swiss Cottage School soccer team. It was certainly inspiring to see the boys take up leadership roles and come forward to help their mates during training. This has the boys, teachers, and coaches looking forward to another successful season ahead in 2020.

Grace Orchard School Swimming CCA has developed a good working relationship with Fins Aquatics, who train our swimmers to acquire and hone their skills in the different swimming techniques.  In 2019, the swimmers competed in the Haw Par National Youth Swimming Championships and won 19 gold medals, 4 silver medals, and 5 bronze medals. We also participated in the SPH Foundation National Swimming Inclusive Championships and bagged 12 gold medals, 6 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals. At the Special Olympics Swimming Competition, four GOS swimmers with autism won 6 medals. Besides these achievements, our swimmers also won 3 medals at the 60th National School Swimming Championships.

We hope for 2020 to be a year filled with new learning experiences for our swimmers with opportunities to develop their skills and reach their full potential.