One World International School (Punggol) Review
One World International School describes its latest school venture as a “digitally futuristic campus” – and it is well-located to be just that in Singapore's up-and-coming digital district.
Open from Kindergarten through to Grade 12, OWIS Punggol describes itself as a “new-age school” which will be “guided by kindness driven education programmes that promote compassion and a culture of inclusion”. The school will offer blended learning to give students the choice of in-classroom learning or virtual lessons. It will be a technology-driven school with digital lockers, CCTV and facial recognition systems for student attendance, Smartboards in every classroom, and Smart bus terminals.
This is the latest addition to the growing OWIS family of schools in Singapore, which includes the Nanyang campus in Jurong and the Mountbatten campus in the East Coast. OWIS is owned by the Global Schools Foundation (GSF), which is headquartered in Singapore. GSF manages the all-through GIIS SMART Campus, also located in the Punggol District, which is Singapore's largest SMART school for students aged 3 through to 18 years.
OWIS is no stranger to opening schools in ‘out of town’ locations undergoing major redevelopment – and subsequently attracting a very international community of students. OWIS Nanyang, which opened in January 2018 in the up-and-coming western Jurong district, offers the IB Primary Years Programme, IGCSEs, and the IB Diploma Programme to more than 60 different nationalities. To ensure all nationalities are equally represented across the school, it has a 30% nationality cap policy.
OWIS opened its second Mountbatten campus in eastern Singapore in January 2020, which offers an early years’ education for children aged three to six years of age.
The curriculum
The OWIS Punggol Digital Campus will open in September 2023 in the north-eastern Punggol Digital District (PDD). Teaching will follow the International Baccalaureate programme (subject to authorisation from the International Baccalaureate Organisation), so this school will appeal to anyone looking for the IB Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma Programmes. Typical of many international schools in Singapore, students in Grades 9 – 10 will also study IGCSEs.
Julian Whiteley, GSF’s advisory board member said:
"Our education philosophy believes in the mindful use of technology, underpinned by values of kindness, and aims to provide holistic education to students to encourage them to be open-minded, global learners.
“This model promotes creativity and collaboration among students in a tech-savvy environment that will play a key role in their learning journey.”
Campus and facilities
Teaching facilities at OWIS Punggol will include a black box theatre, movie theatre, 1,000-seater auditorium, virtual reality booth, makerspace, Lego room, STEAM room, music room, visual arts room, and IT labs with 3D printing & software engineering. Sports facilities will include a 200m running track and 100m sprint track, 600-seater Royal Sports stadium, soccer field, cricket field and cricket nets, archery range, multipurpose hall with two basketball courts, climbing walls, outdoor courts, indoor badminton courts, gyms for boys and girls, and adventure sports areas for primary and secondary students. There will also be a Kindness Tree House for outdoor learning, cafeterias, an urban farm for growing vegetables, and vertical gardens for environment projects.
Admission and fees
Construction of the Punggol campus is underway; pre-registration is currently open.
The school has not announced fees yet, but OWIS has a reputation for offering a more affordable education, so we would expect the Punggol campus to have a similar fee structure. As a guide, annual fees at its Nanyang campus are $17,793 for KG to Grade 3; $17,793 for Grades 1 to 6; and $20,457 for Grades 7 to 12. With many international schools charging $24,000 – $47,000, this makes OWIS a much cheaper alternative for an IB education.
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