Pei Hwa Secondary School gives Sengkang families an applied-learning theme that is easy to recognise: robotics and programming. Its official programme page connects technology and thinking skills with innovation and empathy.
The school describes a tiered approach that considers pupils’ interests and readiness. It lists experiences including Streamnovation Week and an interest group called Maker Monday, alongside opportunities to explore making and share skills.
This guide explains the learning theme through an original paper-grid activity. Your teenager can plan a route, write commands and test them with another person, practising some of the reasoning that makes a programmed sequence useful.
Choose your reading route
Understand the school’s theme: read about the programme. Try an activity: begin a family investigation. Explore your school choice: read the parent questions.
Contents
Open the six-part guide
Pei Hwa’s published ALP page describes Robotics and Programming as a way to develop technological and thinking skills. It also explains how its lower-secondary programme connects applied learning with other subjects and leadership learning.
Parents can ask how a student moves between designing, testing and explaining. Robotics attracts attention because something acts in the physical world. The learning becomes clearer when the teenager can describe the instructions and diagnose why a result differed from the plan.
Draw a grid on paper and mark a starting square, a destination and two blocked squares. Use a counter with a visible arrow to show its direction. Agree on commands such as move forward one square, turn left and turn right.
Let your teenager plan the route before testing it. The counter is a simple model for this independent family exercise, so it needs no equipment beyond paper and something to move around the grid.
Ask your teenager to write the sequence while a family member follows it exactly. Define which way the counter faces at the start. A missing direction can make otherwise reasonable instructions produce an unexpected result.
When the counter reaches the wrong square, trace the commands one by one. Locate the first point where the outcome diverges from the plan. This makes correction more precise than rewriting every instruction at once.
Once the sequence works, find a different route to the same destination. Compare the number of moves and turns. Decide which route better meets your chosen goal, such as fewer commands or easier checking.
The shortest sequence may not always be the clearest one to a beginner. Ask the teenager to explain the trade-off. Making the goal explicit helps them understand why different solutions can be sensible in different circumstances.
Move a blocked square or change the starting direction. Ask which parts of the existing sequence still work and which need revising. Test the updated route and record the change.
Extend the communication by asking the teenager to coach a younger sibling through one step. A useful explanation gives the learner enough help to think, then checks understanding. This can make technical reasoning and patient communication part of the same activity.
Read Pei Hwa Secondary School’s current Robotics and Programming ALP page. Its tiered structure makes it useful to ask which experiences are school-wide and which depend on interest or readiness. Clarify current arrangements with the school.
Bring the everyday Fernvale and wider Sengkang routine into the decision: travelling, CCA time, homework and rest. An interest in making can grow through small tasks at home. Notice whether your teenager enjoys debugging, explaining or improving a design, and use those observations to guide further questions.
Sources and further reading
School programme information checked on 11 October 2026. This is an independent eduKateSengkang parent guide. The family activities are our suggestions; consult the school’s current information for its programme details.
Pei Hwa Secondary School: Robotics and Programming ALP
Continue exploring: Secondary schools in Sengkang · The Secondary 1 transition · Sengkang neighbourhood guide.
