Excellence Reimagined At Singapore American School

A Strategic Plan

Since 2014, SAS educators have been on a journey of transforming an existing successful school to better serve students and prepare them for a constantly changing world. The R&D process included thousands of hours of research and visitations to over 100 schools globally. More than 100 college admissions officers were also interviewed, renowned educational leaders were consulted, and a strategic plan informed the creation of spaces on campus that could be prototyped for what the new learning environments in the new campus might yield.

These illustrative and investigative prototypes, dubbed pathfinder projects, enabled educators to begin developing the practices and systems within a flexible learning environment to support the school's strategic plan.

Learning From Prototypes

These pathfinders proved to be excellent learning tools and the lessons learned from their implementation informed and guided the design of future spaces at SAS. The prototypes highlighted what works and doesn't work and the impact they have on teacher relationships, student relationships, and student development of future-relevant skills. “Learning walks” became an integral part of community engagement and more than 400 parents toured the pathfinders on these guided tours of the spaces.

The school's design advisory groups have worked towards identifying exciting ways to make SAS more functional by including additional dining options for students, creating new athletics facilities, and incorporating Singaporean flora into the campus among other recommendations.

Six Key Design Themes

Sessions with students, faculty, parents and alumni led to six key design themes that continue to inform the building of the campus. First of all, parents and students can expect something flexible. Student needs will change in 10 or 20 years, and a flexible campus enables the learning approach to evolve over time. It will also be highly functional, increasing learning space by 30 percent and play spaces by 84 percent to open possibilities for new programs. It's scalable, too: SAS Reimagined will creatively and effectively optimize land use with an emphasis on making a big school feel small.

Modular spaces will enable teachers to adjust classrooms on the fly. Sliding glass doors, moveable walls, and lots of flexible seating options will help customize the learning journeys of SAS students. These new learning environments will also be smart, incorporating innovative systems to support learning well into the future, helping promote efficiency and acting as a learning resource for students.

Last but not least, SAS Reimagined will be sustainable. They aim to meet Net Zero energy for all new construction and Singapore's Green Mark Platinum standard and the WELL standard.