Principal’s Message

As we welcome 2024, I am pleased to announce that together with the school community, which includes students, staff, parents, SAC, and partners, Bedok South Secondary School (BDS) will embark on a new era of vision and mission from 2024.

Vision: Grateful, Gracious, and Growth-minded BDSians

Mission: As one BDS, we believe in the potential of every BDSians, develop leaders of tomorrow, and serve with conviction.

I am proud and humbled to be leading BDS, a school with a rich history of 42 years and one blessed with a conducive environment and most importantly, caring staff. It was indeed a good year of 2023, one in which I took the opportunity and time to learn the aspirations of the school community, understand the school culture, connect with the school community, and work together with all to renew the school’s vision and mission.

In alignment and unity, we believe in taking a Positive Education approach to learning. It emphasises individual strengths, talents, and personal motivation to promote learning. Fundamentally, we need to believe that every BDSian has potential and can contribute and achieve. Thus, BDS aspires to provide an engaging and motivating environment for our BDSians to enjoy learning, find joy in discovery and develop foundational skills such as self-directedness and ultimately build good character to prepare them for their post-secondary education, and life. Through this process, we also hope to help our BDSians form a strong identity of themselves, and be grateful for their lives as they pursue their passion through their secondary school years.

We aspire that BDSians grow as leaders of tomorrow who will serve with conviction, and cultivate ICARE values (Integrity, Courage, Accountability, Respect, Excellence, Care). Leadership starts from humility and the ability to show grace, care, and respect for others; hence, every student can be a leader in their own way. At BDS, we educate all BDSians to be others-centric. It is about learning to be gracious, serving, and showing acts of kindness to others. To this end, we envision our school to be a community filled with meaningful connections and positive teacher-student, peer-to-peer relationships.

The already complex world of today was further disrupted by COVID-19. The virus has already changed our world and we must be prepared for more changes to come. On top of this, we are also entering a world with tougher economic conditions and complex geopolitical tensions. While we cannot predict what type of world our children will face in the future, we can better prepare them for it. To thrive in the VUCA world, students need to develop a growth mindset and be resilient. We want BDSians to have a growth mindset to not be afraid of failure and to bounce back to succeed with diligence and grit. To do this, students need to have opportunities to apply their learning and be allowed to experiment, for school is the safest place to experience productive failure.

All these cannot be done without our committed and caring staff and teachers. BDS teachers are not just committed to quality learning and character development of BDSians but also to professional learning. At BDS, we are committed to learning together, growing, and improving in our teaching and learning practices and pedagogies to better engage our students. With respectful and teachable BDSians (an endearing term we call our students), I am positive that we can provide an inviting, caring, and supportive school to develop character, ensure student well-being, and have enriched learning experiences in their secondary school life.

Together with our parents and community partners, and as One BDS, we endeavour to make the BDS experience a fulfilling one where we find joy in both work and play, just as our school song so declares.

Here’s to developing every BDSian to be Grateful, Gracious and Growth Minded.

Success through Endeavour.

Warm regards,
Mr Daryl Koh
Bedok South Secondary School