Thomson
Celebrating Small but Consistent Progress
At Heritage Academy, we believe that motivation is one of the most powerful forces behind a child’s learning journey.
Decades of research in educational psychology, most notably Self-Determination Theory, developed by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan point to a simple but important truth: children learn best when they feel a genuine sense of competence, autonomy, and connection in what they’re doing.
When students see that their effort is noticed and their progress matters, they become more engaged, more persistent, and more willing to take on challenges. Motivation isn’t just a nice-to-have in education! It’s often the difference between a child who merely completes their work and one who takes pride in it.
This is why recognition is woven into the fabric of our ACE curriculum through our Merits system. As students work through their PACEs and steadily meet the academic goals they’ve set out to achieve, they earn Merits — a direct, visible acknowledgment of their effort and progress. It’s a system built in line with our academic projections, meaning the recognition students receive is always tied to real, measurable growth in their learning journey, not given arbitrarily.
Recognition of hardwork becomes Tangible
Merits become especially meaningful during our Shopping sessions, where students get to exchange what they’ve earned for tangible rewards. Held across all our campuses — Khatib, Hougang, Thomson, and Bukit Gombak — these sessions are more than just a fun break in the school routine. They’re a celebration of persistence, discipline, and personal achievement, giving children a concrete, memorable moment where hard work is honoured.
Anyone who has witnessed a Shopping session at Heritage Academy knows the feeling well: the beaming smiles of children holding rewards they’ve earned through their own effort. For our teachers and staff, these moments are a powerful reminder of why we do what we do — because when a child feels seen and celebrated for reaching a goal they set for themselves, they carry that confidence into everything they learn next.
For our secondary students, motivation takes on a slightly different shape. As they move deeper into the ACE curriculum as well as our HIS students, the Merits they earn continue to mark real academic milestones, but the reward itself starts to matter less than what it represents: the evidence of their own discipline and growth.
This mirrors what research on adolescent motivation tells us: as children grow older, a sense of autonomy and competence becomes just as important as external reward in sustaining their drive to learn. For our secondary students, watching their hard work translate into visible progress, whether through Merits, showcased projects, or academic milestone. These strategies builds the kind of confidence and ownership they’ll carry with them well beyond their years at Heritage Academy.
How is learning encouraged to a further extend?
Curious how motivation like this fits into the bigger picture? Find out more about our newest
curriculum on our website.