i think parts of the wiki entry on vj are quite hilarious, my personal favourite being:
"VJC also offered the French Language Elective Programme before it was temporarily discontinued by the Ministry of Education in 2006, due to weakening political ties with France."
Victoria Junior College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Victoria Junior College (Abbreviation: VJC) is an institution of higher learning, established in 1984 in Singapore. It has a very selective admission criteria and offers a curriculum that prepares students for admission to Oxbridge and the Ivy League universities. Throughout Asia it is considered to be the best university-preparatory school situated beside a beach[citation needed]. Most alumni are Ivy League or Oxbridge graduates[citation needed].
Description
Victoria was one of the top five junior colleges in Singapore until the ranking of junior colleges was discontinued, and the only junior college to offer the prestigious Humanities Scholar Programme (HEP) and the Theatre Studies and Drama (TSD) Programme. It also offered a university-level French curriculum as part of the Language Elective Programme (LEP) until it was temporarily discontinued.
Unlike the other top-tier university-preparatory schools that have been established since the seventies in Singapore, such as Raffles Junior College, Hwa Chong Junior College, and National Junior College, VJC was established as a relaxed and charming seaside college for the rich youth living in the Katong neighbourhood. It subsequently rose in the national rankings and within 5 years, under the guidance of Principal Lee Phui Mun, also known as the Iron Lady of the Lee Family, was viewed as better than the other schools in the region and had put up a strong challenge with schools in the rest of the country in terms of ranking and admissions to prestigious universities. Currently, VJC, together with Raffles Junior College, Hwa Chong Junior College, National Junior College and Temasek Junior College, forms the Asian league of prepatory schools for Oxbridge and the Ivy League. It is the affiliated Junior College for Victoria School. ((Fact|date=June 2008}}
Unlike other top-ranking schools in Singapore, VJC's alumni cover a diverse range of professions, with alumni as leaders in the military, corporate, finance, media and entertainment sectors, and recognized as possessing high emotional quotient (EQ) levels in addition to intellectual quotient (IQ) levels. VJC is the only top-tier school in Singapore that fosters a culture of social interaction, cohesiveness and mutual support, as opposed to Japanese-style cramming, with one of the lowest rate of suicide amongst top schools in Singapore.[citation needed] This is in part due to its Anglican, Christian tradition.[citation needed] At VJC, students are often invited to home parties by visiting professors, lecturers and tutors.
Victorians in the college are also immersed into a lively and warm college atmosphere. Victoria Junior College is recognised as a unique college with amazing college spirit amongst the students and teachers alike. Other than having 6 Official Mass Dances in the college, the college also has a wide array of Cheers. The College spirit is widely portrayed in the annual Orientation Day at the start of the year for the freshmen, as well as match supports and college events such as Open House.
As a feeder school for the wealthy Katong youth, who predominantly hail from scions of wealthy, established Catholic and Anglican families, it is the only prepatory school in Asia to offer sea sports such as yachting, sailing and water-skiing. Victoria has also produced the most number of Asian celebrities due to its history of Arts education.[citation needed]David Beckham was a visiting coach for the Victoria soccer team.
In addition to the usual programmes of study offered by similar institutions, VJC also offers a special programme in Theatre Studies & Drama. Since 2005, a four-year integrated programme which follows an International Baccalaureate system has been available. Previously, VJC also offered the French Language Elective Programme before it was temporarily discontinued by the Ministry of Education in 2006, due to weakening political ties with France.[citation needed]
Victoria Junior College is located in the Marine Vista precinct along the east coast of Singapore, about one kilometre from its affiliated school, Victoria School.[1]
History
VJC was established in 1984 to nurture graduates from Victoria School (VS) and to provide them with a subsequent institution of higher learning. Besides Victoria School, its traditional feeder schools have been Dunman High School, Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls' School, Anglo-Chinese School, Methodist Girls' School, Singapore Chinese Girls' School, Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, Anglican High School, River Valley High School, Canadian International School and Singapore American School.
VJC received her first batch of 776 students at the (then) brand new Marine Vista campus, equipped with 51 tutors. The pioneers batch of VJC set the standard and left their legacy, which includes VJC's cream-colored uniform. Victoria's uniform has been cited as one of the sexiest uniforms and voted one of the major reasons for top-student applications to the school.[citation needed]
The school enrolment as of October 2006 is 1933 students (including 234 IP students) and 151 staff members.[2]
College symbols
It shares the motto, school colours and almost identical Crest with Victoria School (VS) since the former was established to be the latter's affiliate. The meaning, significance and history of these symbols are all inherited legacies from Victoria School.
Crest and heraldry
The school crest and heraldry was based on the Anglican tradition, and modeled after Oxford University's crest.
Colours
Yellow : Signifying dignity and excellence from a colonial legacy. Red : Signifying universal brotherhood and equality.
Motto
"Nil Sine Labore", or "Nothing without Labour" in English. This motto was inherited from Victoria School, and was created in March 1940. It emphasizes the need for Victorians to persevere in order to fulfil their dreams and desires.
College anthem
The college anthem is a hymn inherited from Victoria School, after slight modifications were made in the lyrics.
Victoria School's pre-1987 version
Lyrics by J A Frazer
Music by W E Meyer
Victoria in Singapore
There are other schools we know
Victoria is something more
The school that watch'd us grow
For here we've learnt and striven too
And played the sportsman's game
Victoria we give to you
The honour that you claim
Victoria, thy sons are we
And we will not forget
Victoria, thy triumphs seek
And victories we share yet
For others came before and went
And carried to the world
Victoria's fame and our intent
To keep her flag unfurled.
Past academic luminaries and celebrity tutors
Past Principals
- 1984 - 2001: Mrs LEE Phui Mun
- 2001 - 2006: Mrs CHAN Khah Gek
- Present : Mr CHAN Poh Meng
Facilities
The original institution has remained at its Marine Vista campus ever since its inauguration in 1984, with major changes and renovations made to the campus over the years.
The campus site comprises 6 Lecture Theaters, named LT1 to LT5, and LT AVA where LT1 and LT5 are the largest lecture theatres in the school, along with air-conditioned tutorial rooms and computer laboratories. The college campus is arranged in a compact formation; other notable facilities include the Performance Theatre and the Victoria Archive, which were both completed in 2001. VJC is also the only campus in Asia with a state-of-the-art Performance Theatre, which has a seating capacity of over 800.
Recent additions to the school campus include the renovation of the "Concourse" and the General Office, the completion of Treehouses and the Students' Lounge, the last of which has been nicknamed "The Igloo" due to its freezing temperatures. Facilities in The Igloo include a 7-foot pool table, a PlayStation 2 video game console, as well as a dart board and Foosball table.
Academics
Victoria offers a traditional UK-style A-level curriculum, with Ivy League-style liberal arts offerings. Its excels in a Sino-Japanese-style of academic cramming with a comparatively lower suicide rate. It also offers a variety of sea sports for the beauty-conscious and the aesthetes.
Lessons are conducted in the traditional Oxbridge Lecture-Tutorial style. This system means that a large group of students will initially attend a series of lectures given by a renowned academic or lecturer on a particular subject. Subsequently, they will be re-grouped in cosier seminars in order to attempt tutorial questions. Finally, they will meet with their individual Subject Tutors to go through those questions in detail, and to clarify any further doubts or to follow through another line of enquiry.
Pedagogical technicalities
The standard practice is to pick 4 H2 level subjects or 3 H2 level subjects and 1 contrasting H1 subject to study for and to be examined for the next 2 years. The choice of subject combination is made on the very first day of school, during the orientation programme, in which subject talks will be given, and the students will make their choices. The allocation of classes are based on the subject combination, and done randomly, to ensure an equal ratio of boys and girls in each class, and to ensure the widest spread of diversity.
Student Body
Humanities and the arts
True to its English roots, Victoria is internationally-renowned for its hardcore history in the Arts and Humanities. Most students score above 700 for SAT I and obtain distinctions in Cambridge A-level General Paper. Victoria has a formidable Debating Team, with an established tradition in Oratory and Rhetoric. The Victoria Debating Team has won national and international competitions including the United Nations Debates, the Rotary Championships and the Phillip Jessup Debates.
Theatre Studies is also its forte. Each year, students perform politically and socially controversial plays in a mini-festival and it is open to members of the public. Visiting guest lecturers have included Broadway legend Lea Salonga. Under the guidance of Reynold Buono, Victorian alums in the Arts are international icons. Geraldine Kok, MFA Yale, has performed in New York and Broadway. Ava Lyn Koh has starred in feature film Crime Of Passion. Alex Liang, an actor and model in London, has appeared in numerous UK TV programmes, ads, feature films and music videos including Madonna's Hung Up music video. Arts alums moonlight as daytime corporate attorneys but perform in the night. Other known artistes include local and regional stars such as Michelle Chong and Joanne Peh. Theatre stalwarts, director Natalie Hennedige and playwright-actress Eleanor Tan continue to stir the Asian arts scene. Victorians are also the first Asians to break into Hollywood - Lydia Look in Rush Hour and Lucy Liu (who was on exchange from Stuyvesant High in New York).
20 nationally ranked students are named Humanities Scholars each year in the Humanities Programme.
The Past Faculty System
Victoria has produced leading scientists in stem-cell research, geriatric healthcare specialists and prize-winning Olympiad prize-winning mathematicians. This extremely large student body is further sub-divided. Historically, the scientists and mathematicians, academically brilliant nerds are known affectionately as the "asses" and are good-humoredly categorized by their "asses" in numbers - a homophone for the abbreviation "S." for "Sciences". The following explains the technicalities:
Science 1 (S1) faculty elects Mathematics C and 3 other pure sciences, namely Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Known as the "Triple Science" faculty which denotes a pre-med academic track. Students in this category prepare for the most stressful and competitive Medical School.
For 2004 & 2005, the S2 faculty elects Mathematics C, Biology and Chemistry with either Physics, Literature, History or Economics. This is for those with a soft "S", aiming to pursue dual careers in the Sciences and the Arts, such as Pharmacists with a passion for writing.
-
- Historically, the S2 faculty elected alternative subjects such as Mathematics C, Further Mathematics, Physics, and Economics.
The S3 faculty elects Mathematics C, Further Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Computing or Economics (from 2004 onwards). This is the faculty that has produced the techies and the computer engineers who work for Google.
- The S4 Faculty.
- The S4 faculty elects Mathematics C, Physics, Chemistry and Economics. Variation includes substituting Economics with Art or Computing or the Humanities.
- The Humanities and Arts Faculty.
The Arts 5 (A5) faculty elects English Literature, Economics, and two other subjects, from the choice of History, Geography, Mathematics C, Art and Theatre Studies and Drama (TSD). Taking both History and Geography as the two remaining subjects is considered on a case-by-case basis, while TSD and French / Art as the two remaining subjects is rarely offered, often with the requirement to drop either English Literature or Economics if one wants to pursue this choice.
This is because Humanities and Arts courses are the most intellectually demanding classes. In addition, the Cambridge examinations still exert a strong colonial, Euro-centric bias, disadvantaging students of Asian and Chinese descent. Alums with an IQ of 500 from Gifted programmes or students who have obtained distinction in Cambridge S-papers (equivalent to 2nd year Cambridge university work) have been known to fail or obtain low grades in the final examinations for History and Economics, since a large portion of these essays depend on subjective grading. As such, Victoria's policy has been to advise students against these dangerous permutations. However, most of Victoria's most successful alums have benefited from unusual combinations due to a scarce supply of applicants with unique academic background in the labor market.
- The S6 Faculty.
- The S6 faculty takes Mathematics C, Physics, Economics and either Chemistry, Computing, Geography, History or English Literature. S4 students may also be placed in this faculty to avoid an imbalance in faculty sizes.
The Present Faculty System
From 2006, the faculty system has been changed. In the new faculty system:
- The Arts 1 (A1) faculty replaces the A5 faculty. However, it is compulsory for all Arts students to take Mathematics as one of their A-level subjects. This is because Mathematics is an easy "A" for most Asian and Chinese students, especially those from Dunman High since the psychotic Dunman High Mathematics syllabus includes A-level work. Some have even studied university-level Further Mathematics at age 14.
- The S3 faculty now elects Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry as their 3 basic subjects, and a choice from either English Literature, History, Geography, Economics, Art, Chinese/Tamil/Malay Language & Literature, Theater Studies and Drama or General Studies in Chinese
- The S4 faculty elects as it is, taking Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry as their 3 basic subjects. However, taking Computing with Physics and Chemistry is not allowed now due to the requirement that students must take a contrasting subject (i.e. a Humanities subject).
- The S5 faculty elects the previous S6 faculty, and take Mathematics, Physics, Economics as their 3 basic subjects, and a choice from either English Literature, History, Geography, Computing, Art, Chinese/Tamil/Malay Language & Literature, Theater Studies and Drama or General Studies in Chinese.
- The S6 faculty elects a new subject combination. Students in this faculty take Mathematics, Chemistry, Economics as their 3 basic subjects, and a choice from either English Literature, History, Geography, Computing, Art, Chinese/Tamil/Malay Language & Literature, Theater Studies and Drama or General Studies in Chinese.
PCME students may be allocated into S5 and S6 classes in order to avoid an imbalance in faculty sizes, since the S4, S5 and S6 subject combinations are quite similar.
Since 2006, Science students have been allowed to offer Theatre Studies and Drama (TSD) as a contrasting subject, whereas previously, this option was exclusively offered to Arts students. This is due to the tremendous financial and staff resources dedicated to Theatre Studies and Drama Department, which should be evenly spread out in the college. However, Science students, especially those offering classes with labs, have been known to fail at Theatre because of the impossible demand of 4 lab courses. It means staying in the college all week and weekend, day and night. Some drop one of their science courses.
Curriculum Hours
Curriculum hours vary widely across each level and differently for different classes. Morning Assembly (and the time after which one is considered late for school) is at 0740, and the first lesson starts at 0800. Each period is 35 mins, and the dismissal times range from as early as 1210 to as late as 1725 for all days. On Wednesday, the day allocated for CCAs however, the latest dismissal time is 1430. There are no specific periods allocated for break time or recess, to prevent overcrowding of the canteen. It is usual for students to have 2 or more consecutive periods of breaks, and this is especially common for students in the Arts Faculty.
For 2006, the last year of Special papers, most year 2s have Special paper lessons on Thursdays and Fridays from 1430 to 1650.
Students are only allowed to leave school from 1245 onwards.
Class Naming Conventions
VJC uses the naming convention that is common across most other JCs. Specifically, each class is called a CT (Civics Tutorial) group with a form teacher called a Civics Tutor. Each class follows this naming system of year of formation, followed by the stream (S for science, A for Arts and V for the Integrated Programme), then the faculty number and then the class number. For example, 08S37 denotes that the class was formed (or the students entered the school) in 2008, S for the Science stream (A for the arts stream, V for the Integrated Programme), the first 3 for the faculty (Science S3) and the second 7 denotes that S37 is the 7th class in that faculty.
This means that there will be only one of each class and the class name remains unique to each class only.
For the Science Faculty, the last digit of the class name usually represents the subject combination that some students of that class may be taking. SX1 students would be taking Geography as their 4th subject. SX2 students would be taking History as their 4th subject. SX3 students would be taking English Literature as their 4th subject. As an example, some students in S51 would be taking Geography in place of Chemistry, since the S5 faculty takes Physics, Maths, Economics as their 3 basic subjects.
For 2004: 04S11 – S17, 04S21 – S27, 04S31 – S36, 04S41 – S47, 04A51 – A55, 04S61 – 04S64
For 2005: 05S11 – S19, 05S21 – S28, 05S31 – S34, 05S41 – S47, 05A51 – A55, 05S61 – 05S64, 05V11 – V14
For 2006: 06A11 – A15, 06S30 – S39, 06S40 – S49, 06S51 – S56, 06S61 – S64, 06V11 – V14
For 2007: 07A11 - A15, 07S30 - S39, 07S41 - S49, 07S51 - S56, 07S61 - S65, 07V11 - V14
For 2008: 08A11 - A15, 08S30 - S39, 08S41 - S49, 08S51 - S56, 08S61 - S65, 08V11 - V14
Special Programmes
The following special programmes are available:
- FastTrack@VJC Teaching and learning with Broadband Programme
- Hospital Attachment Programme
- HP Email Mentoring Scheme
- Humanities and Social Science Research Programme
- Humanities Scholarship Programmes
- Mathematics Enrichment Programme
- NUS Education Programme for Gifted Youths (NUS-EPGY)
- Scholarships Programme
- Science Enrichment Programme
- Science Research Programme
- Science and Mathematics Olympiads
- Science Focus
- Taiwan Immersion Programme
- Technology and Engineering Programme
- Theatre Studies and Drama Programme
- Victoria Integrated Programme
Co-Curricular Activities
Victoria offers a wide range of co-curricular activities. The Students' Council and the Civics Tutorial Council works in organising school-wide activities, at the same time also organising college events on their own and proposing initiatives to benefit the student body as well.
The Civics Tutorial Council, also known as the CT Council, is a key student leadership body comprising of a CT Representative from each Civics Tutorial Group (Class). The CT Councillors are efficient and effective in serving as the bridge between the college and the class, promoting the welfare of each and every single Victorian. The CT Councillors also work hand-in-hand with the Student Councillors and the House Committee members in organising, maintaining and planning college events and functions.
The House Committee comprises of the key figures for each of the six Houses, coming together as a united body, organising inter-house activities and assisting the CT Council and Students' Council for various events.
Every year, new activities are proposed by students themselves. 2004 saw the founding of a Fencing Club and Golf Club and in 2005, Rock Climbing was established as a CCA.
Clubs with low membership are merged with other related clubs so as to add to the variety of activities each club does. In 2004, IT Council merged with iComp, and Bridge and Chess Club merged with Defence Science Club to become the Strategic Games Club.
The List of various CCAs in Victoria Junior College
Student Leadership
- 25th Students' Council
- 17th Civics Tutorial Council
- 5th House Committee
Sports Groups
Performing Arts
Clubs and Societies
- Animal Welfare Society
- Art Club
- Astronomy Club
- Bizclub
- Career Development Council
- Chinese Society
- College Magazine
- Community Involvement Council
- Debating and Oratorical Society
- Earth Watch
- FIREfly@VJC
- First Aid Club
- French Club
- Global Affairs Society
- Health and Fitness Club
- Horticulture Society
- Infocomm
- Interact Club
- Japanese Club
- Library Council
- Lighthink (General Paper Society)
- Lion Dance Troupe
- Malay Cultural Society
- Mathematics Society
- Outdoor Activities Club
- PA Crew
- Philosophical Society
- Photography Society
- Robotics Club
- Science Council which consists of:
- Chemistry Society
- Medical Society
- Physics Society
- Science Research Society
- Strategic Games Club
- Subjectif
- VJC Archive
- Writers' Circle
- Singapore Youth Flying Club (external)
A list of the CCAs available in VJC along with links to their websites can be found on the College Website here
Established clubs such as the VJC Choir regularly participate in international competitions. On 19 July 2004 the choir represented Singapore in the Choir Olympics held in Bremen, Germany and participated in 3 categories: Musica Sacra, Contemporary Music and Open Mixed. The choir emerged as the category champion in Open Mixed, and as second in the Musica Sacra and Contemporary Music categories. Gold standard medals were also awarded for each of these categories. Furthermore, the VJC Choir participated in the 9th Concorso Corale Internazionale (International Choir Competition) from 9 April to 12 April 2006, held in Riva Del Garda, Italy. The choir participated in the Sacred to compete in the Grand Finals, in which , Guam, Australia and Japan took part in the Festival. The VJC Symphonic Band achieved a gold award in the adjudicated performance.
Many other performing groups also excel regularly in the biannual Singapore Youth Festival.
In 2007, the Choir, Dance, String Ensemble and Symphonic Band achieved the Gold with Honours award at the Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging, while the Chinese Orchestra, Guitar Ensemble and Harmonica Band were awarded the Gold award.
As for sports, VJC has done well over the past few years. One of its niche areas in the sporting arena is in the sport of Soccer. The guys' team, has made it to the finals of the National A Division Inter-School Soccer Championships for the past 7 years, missing the finals in 2007 after being defeated by eventual champions Raffles Junior College on penalties in the semi-finals. The girls' team, formed in late 2005, emerged champions in 2006 and finished runners-up to St. Andrews Junior College in 2007.
The college is also strong in sports such as cross-country, softball and sailing.
Houses
During competitive intra-school events, the school population is divided into six houses. These houses and their respective colour codes are:
The House Committee is in charge of each house, with each house having at least 4 House Comm members: The House Captain, The Vice-Captain, The Treasurer and The Secretary. Integrated Programme students into the House Comm are called "Caplets". House points are earned through inter-house activities.
The house system was introduced in 2004 in order to prepare students for the change in curriculum in 2006, when the current faculties such as S1 and S2 faculties will be eliminated. Before the house system, the school population competed as faculties. Currently, the house system distributes students from different faculties evenly, eliminating the size advantage that the S1 or "triple science" faculty used to have from offering the most popular subject combination.
The house with the highest grand total of points wins the La Coupe Etoile (or The Star Cup), awarded to the Champion House at the Farewell Assembly for the Year 2s at the end of each year.
Past Champion Houses
2004: Draco
2005: Ursa
2006: Aquila
2007: Pegasus
Affiliations
Victoria Junior College is affiliated to Victoria School, Victoria School boys choosing to enter Victoria Junior College can get two bonus points off their 'O' level L1R5 academic aggregate although Victoria Junior College also has a small portion of its total student intake enrolled through VJC's own Integrated Programme (IP) - which non-affiliated students and VS boys has equal opportunity of enrolling.
Both institutions are under the charge of the Victoria Executive and Advisory Committee (VEC/VAC) and share a common alumni association — the Old Victorians' Association (OVA).
Both campuses are as concerts and overseas trips.
Former Victorians
- Sports
- Football
- Fabian Tan: National Under-23 (Young Lions) footballer; One of the few Chinese and only NUS undergrad in SLeague
- Sailing
- Koh Seng Leong: Olympian (Sailing), 2008
- Lo Manyi: Gold medalist, Sailing, SEA Games, 2005; Olympian (Sailing), 2008
- Toh Liying: Gold medalist, Sailing, SEA Games, 2005; Olympian (Sailing), 2008
- Deborah Ong: Olympian (Sailing), 2008
- Lim Tze Ting: Gold medalist, Sailing, Asian Games, 2006
- Sarah Tan: Gold medalist, Sailing, Asian Games, 2006
- Roy Tay: Gold medalist, Sailing, Asian Games, 2006; Flag-bearer, Singapore contingent, Asian Games, 2006; Sportsboy of the Year, 1999;
- Teo Wee Chin: Singapore's first world youth sailing champion, World Youth Sailing Championships, 2005; Gold medalist, Sailing, SEA Games, 2005; Gold medalist, Sailing, Asian Games, 2006; Sportsboy of the Year, 2002
- Squash
- Mah Li Lian: SEA Games gold medalist and national squash champion; Sportsgirl of the Year, 1987; Sportswoman of the Year, 1989 and 1991
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jubilant
