Parents chattered while teachers pitter-pattered around children dressed in various ethnic garb at Wise Oaks International School’s Harmony Fest 2026 on Aug 16. The festival celebrated global harmony through performances and vendors that covered global cultures from Brazil to Malaysia.
The festival took place in the school’s new East Coast campus and also served as its official inauguration in the presence of several distinguished guests, including the High Commissioner of South Africa to Singapore, Her Excellency Madiepetsane Charlotte Lobe.
School hallways were decorated with displays that gave brief cultural highlights of countries from Iran to Korea. Students from all classes worked together on these displays, learning and researching about their allocated country in order to educate visitors. “One moment that stood out was at the Japan booth, where Grade 3 students confidently explained Japanese culture to visitors even without adult supervision. A true example of authentic learning,” said Ms Anita Narayan, the head of school at the Bukit Timah campus.
Grade 11 student Thomas John Kennedy Brendan John said that the research and learning happened in a collaborative way. “For that time we didn’t feel like our teachers were just our teachers; we felt like they were our friends,” he said.
Another student, Grade 10 Nelacuiti Himanshu, said: “This was most fun we’ve had in school, especially preparing for the performances.”
Behind these displays were classrooms transformed into mini-markets, featuring small business vendors selling items from jewellery to even student counselling programmes.
Head of school at the East Coast campus, Ms Payal Jain, said the school wanted to make sure that stalls would also help the students learn about entrepreneurship.
“We were quite intentional about the stalls. We did not want Harmony Fest to become simply a commercial marketplace. Wherever possible, we selected stalls and experiences that could offer learning, creativity, entrepreneurship, culture or meaningful engagement for children and families,” she said.
These stalls extended outdoors as well, where they were food stalls serving a spread of global cuisines, as well as carnival game booths.
The highlights of the festival were the several student performances, from singing and dancing to skits, across all classes.
“My personal favourite was the performance by the differently abled students from Hearts at Work”, said Ms Rajni Parasher, the school’s principal.
“Their beautiful drum symphony was inspiring, captivating, and uplifting, taking the entire celebration to a different level and reminding us of the incredible talents that exist within every individual,” she added.
The festival concluded with a parade featuring several performances of global cultures and dances, culminating in a final rendition of Michael Jackson’s Heal The World. “It was a fitting conclusion to a festival that celebrated unity in diversity and embodied the values we strive to nurture at Wise Oaks International School,” said Ms Rajni.
