A Revised Student Handbook
I. Welcome
Dear High School Students, Parents, and Guardians: I am overjoyed to welcome you to the new school year at SAS. The high school faculty (most of them, I hope) are looking forward to working with you over the course of the school year. As a graduating senior, I am honored to serve as your mentor for this upcoming year since SAS is truly a… special… place to learn, grow, and serve our global community. In addition to offering an incredible array of learning opportunities, we are also a community that is competitive, spirited, and most of all, a bit intense, a bit cliquey, and a bit entitled.
But, all that aside, we are committed to ensuring that every student feels known (watch out for your name appearing on Instagram gossip pages!), cared for, and supported. And of course, one of our greatest hopes is that being a high school student might even be fun! The cultures of excellence, extraordinary care, and possibilities will ensure that our students are exceptional thinkers prepared for the future—just look at our CIALFO statistics.
This modified student handbook is newly designed to help you understand and navigate our high school—its many expectations, “support” systems, and opportunities. Each year we do a review of our policies and procedures, and I’m lucky enough to be the editor this year. It is essential that all students and families read through all the information contained in this handbook carefully. This handbook will help you navigate not only the official rules and values of SAS, but also the unspoken realities that define the true student experience. Please hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Once again, on behalf of the student population, I would like to welcome you to the new school year.
II. Community Expectations
SAS dedicates itself to instilling the highest sense of integrity.
Responsible students promote extreme pride in their community, be it grade-level hierarchies, GPA comparisons, and good grades thanks to ChatGPT.
Student Rights
The following are the underlying principles governing what students can expect from SAS. These stem from the SAS core values of compassion, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility:
Students have the right to be kept safe from violence, bullying, or any form of bias-based, religious, racial, or sexual harassment. Even if it will take a few weeks for Instagram gossip accounts to be banned—and sneaky bathroom business will not result in expulsion.
Students have the right to expect that consequences be administered fairly and in accordance with the infraction. Consequences will differ student to student; if your parents are on the board, you’ll get off scot-free from any crime. If they aren’t, we wish you good luck.
Students have the right to physical safety and protection of their personal property, including the right to safe and sanitary school buildings and facilities. Due to the unappetizing smell, we advise you to stay away from the third floor bathroom above the cafeteria. While we could put up posters asking people to hold the flush button for three seconds again, we know you are all intelligent enough to.
Students have the right to the free election of their peers in student organizations (BEAUTY PAGEANT!!! IF YOU ARE A PRETTY GIRL OR A TALL BOY (emphasis on BOY), YOU WILL BE ELECTED).
Students have the right to freedom of inquiry concerning school policies and the right to self-expression in a manner that does not invade the rights of others. These feelings can be expressed in a school-sponsored publication or any publication approved by the school, but they may not be addressed immediately.
Students have the right to submit suggestions to any educator and may expect a reply within a reasonable time. Reasonable may sometimes mean never. To ensure student safety and smooth daily operation, teachers and school leaders may discuss with students a variety of issues pertaining to academics, discipline, and social-emotional needs. While students may believe discussing social-emotional issues every day stresses them out more, we will make sure advisory discussions always want to bore you to tears.
Student Responsibilities
Students are expected to know and follow the rules that have been established at SAS, which means you MUST READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT.
All students are asked to do the following:
Treat all SAS community members in accordance with the school’s core values. You may find these values in every classroom (not to be confused with DSLOs).
Attend all classes and required activities unless prevented by illness. Don’t worry if you are not actually ill; as long as you have your parents’ Veracross login, you may skip as much as you want.
Switch phones to “airplane” mode upon arrival to class at the start of block and place the phone in a “device depot” (your teachers will humorously call this “phone jail” (haha.) instead) before class begins. Students will retrieve their phone at the end of class block. And be thankful that it’s just this. We could have done so much worse. Countries have banned phones in schools totally, so be thankful. Be so thankful.
Note that most forms of social media students use on phones are still available to use on laptops during class hours.
Show appropriate levels of affection. Kissing, prolonged embracing, and sitting or reclining in compromising positions are unacceptable public displays of affection. These rules do not apply in music practice rooms, especially the ones in the corners of the S-Wing and blind spots in the Band Room.
Uniform and Dress Code
Our school uniform and dress code are intended to:
Take away individuality
But also reduce stress over what clothes to wear
You may purchase the the full uniform at:
The SAS Eagle Stop.
Via the online store. Do keep in mind that the poor shirt and waistband quality will result in many return trips to Eagle Stop and many more dollars given to SAS on top of our already extensive tuition.
The SAS uniform consists of navy blue bottoms with the embroidered SAS logo and a white SAS polo shirt.
A uniform-approved SAS sweatshirt may be worn.
If you think it’s your lucky day, maybe gamble and take off the polo under your sweatshirt, or even wear college merch before Spring break.
Be careful when we greet you in the morning though. We will catch you when you are lethargically sleepy out the bus, so run as fast as you can.
Underwear must not be visible at any time.
The skirts are unfortunately designed to show what underwear sometimes can’t cover. Please size up in skirt sizes.
Library and Cafeteria Expectations
Please remember that we share our spaces with our wider community, such as the Khoo Teck Puat library, the beautiful new cafeteria, and the Perch, if your legs care to walk that far. As such, while in our common spaces, students are expected to:
Be respectful of other people and the facility. This includes not chucking your food so hard and fast it gives a poor girl just trying to eat her lunch a bruise on the back of her neck.
Keep conversations appropriate for the school setting and at a reasonable volume. Emphasis on reasonable volume. Nobody wants to hear about how you got an A instead of an A+ on your AP Calculus BC test. Do feel free to scream slurs and swears as loud as you can.
Sit only at the seating provided; please do not sit on tables; and please do not sit on your significant other.
Please understand that certain areas of the cafeteria are also reserved for certain friend groups. As an underclassman, do not make the mistake of taking the Birdcage, the couch area near the main door, or the Long Table in the middle of the cafeteria during Monday and Flex lunches.
Clean and tidy up after themselves: do not leave trash or food. Underclassmen may pick up your leftovers and start a food fight, and we will not bother to discipline them.
III. Academics
Assessment Overview
We believe that assessments are USUALLY in service of increasing student understanding, improving teaching effectiveness, and being responsive to who students are as learners.
We do not recognize that assessments are more likely to increase both student stress and increase teacher frustration.
Feedback and Grading
In order to maintain a healthy learning environment where students thrive under a constant state of mild academic panic, we are instating the following.
PowerSchool will begin sending grade update notifications at the start of this school year.
Teachers will upload meaningful feedback using a variety of methods including cryptic new rubrics, multi-paragraph comments probably written by ChatGPT, or sometimes, just not grade at all.
Remember, a B means you are “meeting expectations”, which of course means you will never be good enough at Singapore American School.
Maximum Summative Tests Per Day
Students should not be taking more than two summative tests in a day, as we care extremely about your mental health and test-taking endurance.
Should a third summative test appear on your calendar, you may ask politely, with a side of tears, to move it.
Note that the rule above does not and will not ever apply to projects or presentations. A singular teacher may assign up to five projects to be due on one day, and we highly encourage all teachers to collude and put their deadlines all within the same two days of a given week.
We have told teachers to be willing to give you extensions. Though you will probably desperately need one, do not ask in classes like AP English Language.
Class Rank
SAS does not report class rank. If a student would like to calculate rank in their own time, please refer to the email sent out on December 18th, 2024, or any grade-obsessed individuals who still have access to such media.
Scholars Lunch
In alignment with our commitment to student well-being and our belief that your character is more than just credits, SAS hosts an annual Scholars Lunch to recognize students who meet a specific GPA threshold. This event is designed to celebrate academic achievement, as we gently remind the broader community that who you are in the classroom is, of course, not the most important thing about you.
IV. Student Life
Extracurricular Activities
Clubs and other extracurricular activities are a vital part of the holistic SAS experience. These experiences foster leadership, creativity, and community. Thus:
Club meetings may only occur strictly after school hours, when students are at their most energized and least overwhelmed
Club meetings must meet a productivity threshold. This means someone should pretend to take notes and make a slideshow while everyone else talks about college
Please note, however, that while these clubs are worth joining, they will inevitably be measured against other students’ experiences on college applications. As such, students are:
Encouraged to pursue genuine passion
Retroactively rebrand their club experience to a nonprofit startup with regional impact
Mitigating Toxicity
As students progress through high school, they may encounter increased academic and social pressures. While SAS encourages discussion, collaboration, and connection, it is equally important to recognize when these dynamics become unhealthy.
To support personal well-being and growth, on a real note, students are encouraged to consider the following guidelines:
Maintaining emotional balance: this can be achieved by spending time in quiet reflective spaces, such as the lower floor library, or crying in the bathrooms during class.
Establish boundaries between individuals or groups that contribute to emotional exhaustion, comparison, and toxic dialogue. Start conversations by asking about people's days—for example, “did you get into Harvard this morning?” and not “what did you get on your AP Chemistry test?”
Toxic friends may be removed at the students discretion. These removals do not require administrative removal and may be executed silently over the course of several weeks. Group chat exits and trash talking afterwards are optional, but encouraged for dramatic effect.
Last update / last version (include date):
By (name)
Action(s) taken
August 3, 2024
Chloé Thomas
Document created
November 14, 2024
Nicole Veltzé
Updated references to digital content to reflect photo, video and audio in the following sections:
Table of Contents
Student Responsibilities
Unauthorized, Obscene or Offensive Digital Content
Jan 13, 2025
Nicole Veltzé
Updated with Cell Phone Expectations in the following sections:
Table of Contents
Student Responsibilities
Classroom Cell Phone Expectations
Alignment with the Core Values & Potential Consequences: Category 1
May 20, 2025
Kaitlyn Zhu
Updated with references to student life in the following sections:
Welcome
Community expectations
Students Rights
Uniform and Dress Code
Academics
Assessment Overview
Feedback and Grading
Class Rank
Added New Sections
Scholars Lunch
Extracurricular Activity
Mitigating Toxicity