Desirable changes were noticed in the behaviour of the students after a series of kindness activities were held in school under the guidance of the volunteers of Friend of Singa (FOS) in September 2018.

The Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) encourages everyone to start, show and share kindness. By sparing a thought for the people around us, SKM hopes to create a gracious society. GIIS East Coast takes pride to be a part of the Friend of Singa (FOS) movement which initiated in the year 2012. As Mother Teresa rightly said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” This thought was put into action by six GIIS East Coast FOS volunteers of Grades 5 and 6 who actively participated in a workshop held at the beginning of the year and learnt how to inculcate kindness among other students in school.

A series of kindness projects were then implemented by the volunteers that included Helping Hands, Kindness High Fives, Posters, ‘Thank you’ cards for the support staff and Kindness Quilt. In addition, ‘Games Carnival’ was held for Grade 5 students with the aim of teaching them to be empathetic towards the physically disabled. In another activity, the students were made aware of bullying and ways to show kindness towards the person being bullied.

An interactive assembly on Cyberbullying was presented by the Friend of Singa (FOS) team on 4th September. The popular game ‘Mobile Legends’ was enacted on stage and a few students were called on the stage to be a part of the show. The message 'Hurting in Cyberworld hurts in real life ' was conveyed in a fun way. The students learnt the steps to be taken to prevent cyberbullying via the acronym - STAR- Stop, Think, Act and Right.

Through the Kindness projects, students learnt to be sympathetic towards their family, friends and people around them. Thus, creating a society that CARES!