SINGAPORE - Every Friday, pupils at Bedok Green Primary gather from 7.15am to hop, skip and jump.
Teachers and even principal Benjamin Yong also join in and some pupils lead the rest of the school from the stage in a dance-style activity which gets the whole school moving.
Dancing along to two or three songs screened by a projector in the school hall, the pupils mimic movements which combine elements of aerobics and taichi for a morning workout in the school's weekly programme known as Jump Jam.
The programme is meant to encourage fitness in a fun and engaging way, said head of department for Physical Education and co-curriculars Alvin Thio.
The quick workout, which happens as pupils arrive for assembly at 7.30am, also doubles as a warm up for the co-curricular activities (CCAs) which happen right after, said Mr Thio.
Bedok Green runs its CCAs for Primary 3 to 6 pupils for about 90 minutes on Fridays from about 7.40am to 9am before lessons, an arrangement which allows for more pupils to participate in them, said Mr Thio.
He said: "If we were to hold all CCA practice after school, fewer pupils would be able to participate as many parents make after-school arrangements for them."
After Jump Jam, pupils stream off to various locations around the school to join their CCA groups to play sports like football and basketball or practise performing arts like anklung ensemble and guzheng.
The angklung is a musical instrument made of bamboo tubes that originated in Indonesia while the guzheng is a string instrument from China.
The school also offers other CCAs like art club, an infocomm and journalism club and various uniform groups.
When The Straits Times visited the school in Bedok on Friday (May 20), the corridors were awash with pupils preparing their new costumes and practising their skills in anticipation of the resumption of the Singapore Youth Festival later this year.
Mr Thio, a former football player and chorister himself, said: "It's been hard for pupils to practise in groups because of Covid-19 but now, everything is coming together very quickly, and everyone is excited and raring to go."
