Tammy Murphy, Head of School, XCL World Academy (XWA)

To begin with, could you give us a brief introduction to your organization as of today?

XCL World Academy is a future-oriented international school that offers a holistic education for kids from the age of 2 to 18. This includes our play-based nursery program and the International Baccalaureate diploma curriculum. We also offer multiple pathways in high school, so our kids can take a high school diploma course as well as some advanced placement courses that we’re starting next year.

We aim to allow our students to have academic and personalized pathways that equip them for this ever-changing world. Through the guidance of our amazing, experienced teachers, we feel we’ve developed a world-class curriculum. 

I’m sure every head of school probably says this, but we have the most wonderful international community of students who are just special humans who are very empathetic and worldly citizens.

What would you say have been the keys to the success of XCL?

We are committed to a forward-thinking and student-centered curriculum. We’re always on this path of continuous improvement. We’re always going to keep trying. It’s one of our mottos to shape the next now, and we try to be a beacon of light for our students and for our staff, leveraging innovation to continually adapt to all the changing realities around us and make this world a better place. I think that’s also indicative of the International Baccalaureate program.

I would like to know more about the different pathways for high school diplomas. You mentioned advanced placement and personalized treatment. Will you tell us a little bit more about the curriculum for parents who might be moving to or who are already in Singapore and might be considering you?

We’re all obviously known as an IB-through school, meaning we offer the primary years, middle years, and then culminating with the diploma program. Over time, we’ve found that one path really isn’t right for every learner. As such, if we’re really going to speak about personalized pathways, kids should have options as they head to the end of their secondary school before heading to university. 

Some students may choose to do a full IB program with the diploma. Other students may elect to take some courses but also want to take some of the regular high school courses, so they can kind of mix and match. If I have an affinity for science, I may want to take that higher-level biology class through the IB and focus my time on that.

The other piece we found is that the rigor needed for the IB full diploma program may not be for every child. They want to focus on being a tennis star. They want to be in the theater. We also want to pepper in some advanced placement courses, another course level that’s of a higher level and is recognized internationally. As such, next year, we’ll begin to offer three advanced placement courses, and we see that continue to build over time. 

We look at our learners and ask, “What are you interested in?” What came back to us was that, for example, they wanted to take an advanced placement in world history, so we’re going to offer that. We had a group of students say, “We think we need a different computer science course. I’ve been researching these universities in China that I want to get into, and I’m going to need these courses.” 

I mentioned this because, coming back to something I said earlier, schools have to continue to evolve for the students they serve and always be on this path of continuous improvement. I’d love for our students to have agency and voice and feel comfortable coming and advocating for changes they want in their curriculum, and then obviously, the responsiveness of the administrative team to listen to that and assess it. We can’t always do everything that the learners want, but when a proposal has merit, I love that the kids see that their voice matters and change happens.

You mentioned having many options, such as music, drama, design, technology and sports. Could you tell us a little bit more about all those different options that you have?

We believe that a well-rounded education is critical. Academics are obviously an integral part of their learning experience, but so is developing all sides of their brain. We have an amazing arts program and theater, and kids can get involved in musicals and vocal groups. I went yesterday and watched six student bands that decided to throw a concert to raise money for refugees. 

We love to stimulate any of their interests and give them a form to express themselves. There’s an athletic program where kids can get involved in soccer, basketball and rugby, you name it. The cheerleading squad is also quite popular. 

I think another piece that we would want to spotlight to you and anyone listening is that XCL Education invested again in the physical infrastructure of the World Academy. On February 13th, we opened a 25 million Singapore-dollar innovation hub. This physical space and the opportunities that it presents our students just continue to add to our provision and our offering. 

This innovation hub is five stories. The entire bottom floor is centered around design. There are several design rooms with every type of machine and equipment. You can imagine and kind of go back to something I said before; this allows students to really have some hands-on experience, be creative and take an idea from paper to the actual prototype. The center also has a digital media lab on the third floor, which is filled with AR, VR and MR, and has a green screen studio. Kids can really begin to understand through this innovation hub our thinking of how you prepare kids for the future. 

We’re quite proud that we just signed an agreement with SureStart, an Artificial Intelligence company run by Dr. Taniya Mishra. She’s based in New York. We will be one of the first schools to offer a Grade 6, 15-week course on artificial intelligence. It goes beyond machine learning and generative AI and also focuses on the ethical aspect of AI. It also works with the learners on leadership and a lot of needed professional characteristics and traits, as well as skills in presentation and working with groups. 

What’s really interesting about this partnership is that I think it’s unique. I’m going to take the class next year. I’m going to tell my secretary and everyone I’m not available until 9:30 on Monday. Our learners will be taught by a Harvard fellow, Dr. Leonardo Neves. A major engineer with Snap and also worked for Grammarly, he will teach the kids every Monday. Then, our teachers will consolidate this new learning because some of it is pretty abstract. We have to break it down for a 12-year-old. 

Then, on Wednesday, our students will be paired with a graduate mentor in a 1:6 ratio. Through SureStart, they interviewed over 200 applications from postgraduate students at Cornell, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. The mentors will work with our students on their projects and help them consolidate some of the learning that they’re doing in the AI course.

It culminates with another piece that I think is essential for learners to take these abstract concepts and say, “What does that look like in the real world?” So, every Friday, speakers from all over the world, including CEOs and entrepreneurs, will speak to the students. Whatever concept they’ve been learning that week, on Friday, they’ll get to see what that looks like in the real world when a CEO is talking about how generative AI or whatever the concept is used in their everyday life or in their business. 

We’re really excited about partnering with Taniya. She’s worked with MIT to run this course in the summer for older students, but this will be the first time that we’ve co-constructed her curriculum to make it a 15-week course that all of our sixth graders will take. So, we’re pretty excited about that offering.

I was going to ask you about innovation, but I think we just discussed that.

There you go!

Nothing would be possible without your amazing staff. Could you please tell us a little bit more about your teachers?

Our teaching staff includes over 28 nationalities. They have experience and have spent time in international settings as well as right here in Singapore. I have been doing this work for 38 years, so I think I’ve met a lot of staff. They are so caring about their students. Because our school is what I call just this right size, which is the middle size of a little over a thousand students, kids are really known. 

I love it when I see a teacher say hi to a 10th grader whom she had in fifth grade, really being personalized, and everybody knows your name. Moreover, I see that our teachers are very committed to expanding their instructional repertoire and continuing to advance their craft. We’re really fortunate that they also demonstrate that they are lifelong learners.

Do you have a little message about Singapore as well, and why it is a great city to live in?

I think it’s important to know I’ve spent most of my life in the United States. I was born and raised in Philadelphia but spent a good 12 years in Southern California. Then, I moved to Dubai for six years, where I served as head. My move to Singapore has been one of the easiest transitions in my life. It was harder when I moved from Philadelphia to Southern California. 

This is the most welcoming island. It is small, friendly, beautifully green and environmentally conscious. The people of Singapore embody many real family values, and it’s super safe. We have found this to be an amazing move.

What will be your final message about XCL?

What I would want to say to a prospective family is to come visit us. You can read people’s websites; you can even go to an online seminar, but come visit the school. Sometimes, people may think we might seem far because we’re in the northern part of Singapore. It’s an easy commute to end up in this really amazing school that has so much to offer young people. I know if you come and take a visit, it will be palpable as you walk the hallways that the commitment that this school has to the learners. So my advice is to come and visit us.

Is there anything I haven’t asked you about that you would like to mention?

I think the only thing I would say to prospective parents is that we deeply understand the importance of the partnership between home and school. As a member of XCL World Academy, we want you to be involved in your child’s education and find ways to support the school. We love offering parent workshops. There are at least two happening every month. We continue to learn and grow together and make sure parents are really informed about what’s happening to their child at school.