The Buddy Programme, started at the 2015 Primary 6 Camp, aims to help our young boarders assimilate quickly into the new environment through a support system of care and guidance from their seniors.

It is inevitable that freshmen joining the Singapore Sports School at 12 or 13 years of age experience homesickness while boarding. They also have to adapt to the secondary school requirement of studying eight subjects instead of four at primary school. Student-athletes find themselves coping with increased training intensity and frequency in addition to being away from home for an extended period each week.

To facilitate a seamless transition of the young student-athletes into the Sports School family, Phase Two of the Buddy Programme is introduced at the Singapore Sports School Orientation Camp in January of the following year when student-athletes are in Secondary 1. The duration of the formal Programme is six months, ample time to establish new routines of training, studying and boarding.

At the start of the Programme, each new student-athlete is paired with a senior who will provide encouragement and support. Time is also set aside specially for purposeful interaction during which seniors, guided by a list of questions, get to know their juniors. Where there are potential concerns, our senior student-athlete buddies will raise them to Boarding Staff for timely intervention. Aside from the growth and development of the younger boarders, the seniors are given an avenue to meaningfully engage and guide the student-athletes and learn how to care for others.

Buddy Programme