SOTA students had a fun and engaging start to 2016 as they participated in the Borderless Learning Units (BLU) programme for the first 3 days of school. Through learner-centred and out-of-classroom activities, BLU aims to develop desired character traits and dispositions of a SOTA IB Learner, which includes learners who are inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective.

These cross-curriculum activities provided a foundation for students to start their year with a good learning culture as they bonded with their classmates and developed essential skills.

Below were some of the activities conducted at BLU:

• The Year 1 students were inducted to SOTA through the Orientation Programme that was planned by their Year 3 Seniors. They were also encouraged to be open-minded as they went through a multi-disciplinary session that helped them explore SOTA’s identity and where their products were put up for display during the Open Classroom segment.
• Risk-taking was key for Year 2 students as they went through a kayaking course that required them to push themselves beyond their comfort zone as they completed their kayaking goals.
• BLU provided a platform for Year 3 students to get to know their new classmates better as they completed tasks and games that aimed to develop them as thinkers and communicators and to be principled.​

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• Learning Journeys were planned for Year 4 students to inquire and reflect on various global issues from a Singapore lens, which cumulated in a mini-exhibition of their works including posters and photo-stories.​

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• To help Year 5 students build a strong learning culture and support for each other as they go through their IB years together, activities were designed to cultivate bonds and care for each other, while also developing them to be principled and reflective.
• The Year 6 students spent their time working on their Group 2 and Group 4 Projects and various internal assessments and lessons as they continue towards the completion of the IBDP progamme.

BLU concluded with a mass interaction session between the seniors and juniors within their art forms to foster closer ties and support among the students of the various levels and encourage them to be open and caring towards each other. In additional, through the collaborations between faculty members across disciplines, meaningful and relevant learning experiences were created for students at BLU.
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