What do you do when confronted by setbacks, failure and disagreements? For students at Crest Secondary School, Deyi Secondary School and St Anthony’s Canossian Primary School, these challenges aren’t seen as obstacles – they are opportunities to grow stronger, more resilient or become a better friend.
Schoolbag chats with teachers and students to learn how Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) lessons help students level up their social-emotional skills and tackle life’s ups and downs.
Seeing the value and beauty in failing at Crest Secondary School
Failure is often seen as something to be avoided, but for a group of 14-year-old students at Crest Secondary School, a Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) lesson inspired by Kintsugi has reshaped the way they view and respond to failure.
Kintsugi is a traditional art form originating from Japan, where broken pottery is repaired with lacquer dusted with gold. To simulate this process in class, the students were tasked with creating art out of torn pieces of paper. Mr Ooi Heng, who led the CCE lesson with his form class, explains that the goal was to show students how broken things can become something even more valuable and beautiful.
Mr Ooi and his students with their kintsugi artwork.
“Just as pottery becomes stronger and more beautiful with its gold-filled cracks, failure is an opportunity for the students to grow into more resilient individuals,” says Mr Ooi, who is also the Subject Head for Science and Environmental Education.
Finding strength in failure
The lesson resonated deeply with students, sparking conversations about their personal struggles. Mr Ooi recalls the time when a student, who struggled with self-esteem issues, was particularly frustrated by the activity and extremely dissatisfied with his “ugly” artwork.
Handing the student a golden paint marker, Mr Ooi encouraged him to spend more time and effort outlining the cracks. As the student focused on his task, his smile grew.
“When I shared his artwork with the class, his classmates reaffirmed his efforts and his smile broadened – clearly, this wasn’t just about art. It was a chance for him to realise failure can strengthen, not define him,” Mr Ooi shares.
This shift in mindset left an impression on other students as well. One student Valerie Tan says that she was initially puzzled and sceptical about Kintsugi. What’s the point of mending something that’s broken?
But like many of her classmates, she realised that it was possible to “turn something broken into an interesting piece of art”. The activity changed her perspective on how to handle setbacks in life. “It made me think differently about failure,” she says.
Valerie (left) and Eshal showing off the pieces they created.
Nur Eshal Khairiya Binte Mohamad Shahferi shares her own struggles over being labelled a “failure” by her primary school classmates. “I used to feel very sad and very heartbroken about it, like my heart was torn into pieces,” she says. “But I’ve learnt that it is okay to make mistakes. What matters is what you do after that.”
Through the hands-on activity, Mr Ooi hopes that his students will normalise failure as part of learning, and focus on what is within their control. “The Kintsugi metaphor helps students see that setbacks aren’t the end; they are moments for reflection and rebuilding. This lesson inspires hope that they can face future challenges, knowing they have the internal strength to emerge stronger,” he says.
Learning to bounce back and grow more confident at Deyi Secondary School
Over at Deyi Secondary School, CCE lessons on growth mindset are more than just a break from the academics; it is a time set aside for them to build skills required to handle life’s challenges.
As part of CCE lessons at Deyi Secondary, students go through growth mindset
lessons to build mental resilience.
For Secondary 3 student Summer Chang, it changed the way she viewed setbacks and failure. Self-doubt used to loom over Summer whenever she compared herself to some of her basketball CCA teammates whom she saw as being skilful in the sport. The self-criticism and comparison took a toll on her self-esteem and confidence.
After attending CCE lessons on growth mindset, something clicked. “It made me realise that it’s okay to fail sometimes. I’m now more willing to take advice and learn from my mistakes, becoming a better version of myself,” she says.
Her CCA teacher and coach noticed her positive change, both in her mindset and attitude. “During the National School Games, I gave it my all. My CCA teacher said he liked seeing my fighting spirit,” she adds.
Broadening perspectives on success
Building on the current CCE curriculum provided by the Ministry of Education, Ms Geetha Salgunan, Head of Department for CCE at Deyi Secondary shares that the school developed its own growth mindset curriculum tailored to the students’ needs. For instance, lessons are intentionally timed around key moments, such as the exam season, so that the content is more relevant to the students’ concerns – like the anxiety of not meeting their specific academic targets.
“We felt that our students have a very narrow idea about what constitutes success and failure, so we want to broaden their perspective and help them build their mental resilience,” Ms Geetha explains.
A team of teachers expanded the growth mindset lessons across all grades from Sec 1 to 5 and prepared their teachers to deliver the lessons. The team also gathered feedback from students through focus group discussions to understand their experiences and adjusted the lessons to be more student-centric and interactive.
Ms Geetha observes that the lessons have given students a language to express themselves and support their peers when times get tough. “That day, I heard one of my students telling another boy how he noticed he had a fixed mindset about a certain subject,” she elaborates.
One Secondary 3 student Phua Jing Juan shares that she became more mindful of others’ feelings after the CCE lessons. She cites, as example, a particular lesson where she and her classmates were asked to select an emotion from an image of a rollercoaster that would reflect how they felt in different scenarios. “It was interesting to see how people can feel so differently about the same situation.”
For instance, during exam periods, some people feel really stressed, while others are not as affected,” she says. “I discovered that some of my friends are more sensitive about certain things, and actually mind sharing their grades, so I’ve learnt to be more understanding.”
Jing Juan, who is a member of the Young Journalists’ Club in school, is also now more willing to “step out of her comfort zone and try new things”. Despite being more familiar with videography and less confident about photography, she tried her hand at the latter instead after learning about the “power of yet”.
Ms Geetha explains that students learn to re-frame challenges by saying “I can’t do this yet”, instead of “I can’t do this”, which helps them approach setbacks with a more positive mindset.
For 15-year-old Nichole Kung, 2024 had been tough with new subjects and CCA commitments, but she leaned on what she learnt. “I faced a lot of difficulties with the new subjects but I remind myself not to give up. I stopped telling myself I’m not good enough; instead, I tell myself I can always go to my teachers and friends if I need help.”
Understanding the value of connection, communication and empathy at St. Anthony’s Canossian Primary School
Navigating the ups and downs of friendships, and resolving conflicts and managing disagreements can be tough for primary schoolers. At St Anthony’s Canossian Primary School (SACPS), a focus on team bonding and effective communication helps students develop stronger relationships, build empathy and resolve conflicts.
These skills are nurtured during CCE lessons and the school’s unique Canossian Connect sessions, which run as an additional period on the timetable. While CCE lessons follow a structured curriculum aimed at developing resilience and social-emotional skills, Canossian Connect sessions offer a more fluid and flexible approach.
In these sessions, Peer Support Leaders plan and lead activities that build collaboration, trust and social skills. For example, a simple game of Duck Duck Goose, where students take turns chasing and tagging one another, encourage teamwork while Broken Telephone, where messages are whispered down a line, highlights the importance of clear communication.
The goal is to build a stronger sense of community, trust and belonging, explains Mrs Corinna Foo, Lead Teacher in CCE. Students also learn the importance of positive peer influence and looking out for one another.
Primary 1 students at SACPS playing teambuilding games during their Canossian Connect sessions.
“In this day and age, many people often isolate themselves behind their phone screens. They think they can find help and support on the Internet, but that’s not entirely true,” says Mrs Foo. “Knowing how to relate with people and communicate how you feel is key to building mental resilience – and that’s a key lesson we want to impart to our students.”
During Canossian Connect sessions, students also participate in Circle Time, where they may break into smaller groups to share their thoughts and feelings in a cosier setting.
Mdm Shannen Goh, Head of Department of Student Leadership and Management, says, “Depending on the issue, Circle Time can be held as an activity with the entire class or in smaller groups if a few girls are facing a similar issue. The more intimate setting allows them to speak more freely because some may not be comfortable speaking up in front of a large group.”
Having a positive impact on students
“We’ve received good feedback from the girls about Canossian Connect because it’s a time for them to be more relaxed, without the stress of completing a task-based activity,” Mdm Goh shares of the interactive sessions.
Through Canossian Connect sessions, students learn to better communicate with one another, and build friendships and trust in the process.
Delisha Noorjahan Shahul Hameed, who graduated from SACPS in 2024 and is a self-professed introvert, shares how Canossian Connect sessions helped her come out of her shell and bond with her classmates. “I got a better understanding of my classmates’ feelings, and it became easier for me to express my own,” she says.
Grace Chong, who also graduated in 2024, recalls how a lesson on expressing negative emotions healthily helped her work through a rough patch with a friend. “Instead of getting angry, I communicated my feelings, and we were able to resolve the situation. I feel like these lessons have helped me communicate with my friends in a better way,” she says.
The students also learn techniques, such as breathing exercises, to manage difficult emotions and approach setbacks more calmly. This has been helpful for 12-year-old Sophie Goh-Kim, who shares that she used to get frustrated easily. “I feel a lot calmer now. One of the helpful things I learnt was how actions speak louder than words, and to think through before I act.”
Photos courtesy of: Crest Secondary School, Deyi Secondary School and St Anthony’s Canossian Primary School
