Getting Schooled:
On one (usually quiet) Saturday morning in November, droves of excited parents and students descended on the auditorium of the Overseas Family School (OFS) with a single-minded purpose: to get valuable face time with Joseph Schooling.
OFS collaborates with Joseph Schooling
The Olympic gold medallist swimmer didn’t disappoint. Despite a gruelling training schedule for December’s SEA Games, Joseph came to celebrate a new sporting collaboration between the school and his own swim academy, Swim Schooling. He took the time to meet fans and autograph personal items, and he also paid a visit to OFS’s Olympic-sized swimming pool to test the water temperature (which he declared to be “perfect”!).
When he spoke, Joseph urged everyone to just focus on becoming the best version of themselves – and it was obvious that he was walking the talk, demonstrating through his gentlemanly conduct with fans that even out of the pool he’s a champion.
Swim Schooling will now oversee the development of OFS’s swim programmes on campus. The collaboration will offer students at every level of proficiency and interest the opportunity to benefit from experienced coaches and structured programmes, whether they’re just learning to swim, swimming recreationally, or hoping to compete internationally.
It’s all part of an overall expansion of high-performance coaching offerings soon to be available at OFS. Swim Schooling will provide top-level coaching for swimmers from January 2020 onwards, while competitive coaching in other key sports such as gymnastics, football and basketball will be available from August 2020 for those willing to commit to intensive training. Students will then be eligible to enter high-level inter-school and national-level competitions.
Opportunities for all
Alongside the competitive teams, there’ll be opportunities for everyone to take part and keep fit and well. The school strives to foster an inclusive culture; this means that all students are allowed to realise their potential and are encouraged to contribute to the life of the school. So, anyone who’s interested to improve their fitness and enjoyment of sport, can do so. It’s no surprise that over the past three years, OFS has seen a huge rise in student participation in sports; in Semester 2 of 2019, well over 1,700 students from Grades 3 to 12 participated weekly in one or more After School Sports Program (ASSP) sessions.
The culture of inclusiveness extends beyond the playing field too. For one thing, OFS doesn’t preselect students for admission into IB classes and exams – instead, they can work with their parents to select the courses best suited to them.
The school’s hope is that this inclusive approach, together with new initiatives such as the collaboration with Singapore’s famous swimming champion, will provide support for every phase of students’ physical and social development, from interested beginners to keenly focused competitors.
Overseas Family School is at 81 Pasir Ris Heights. 6738 0211 | ofs.edu.sg