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Victoria Junior College

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Victoria Junior College is a junior college in Singapore. It was established in 1984, and was considered one of the top three junior colleges in Singapore until 2004, when ranking of junior colleges was discontinued. [1]

In addition to the usual programmes of study offered by similar institutions, Victoria also offers programmes in French and Theatre Studies & Drama. Beginning in 2005, a four-year integrated programme is also available.

Victoria Junior College is located in the exclusive Marine Vista neighborhood in the Marine Parade precinct, about one kilometre from its affiliated secondary school, Victoria School. [2]

History

VJC was formed and incorporated in 1984 to provide Pre-University education for graduates from Victoria School (VS), since VS used to have pre-university classes but had been discontinued by then. The idea of VJC was first mooted in the 1970s by Dr Ong Chit Chung, an old boy of VS and Member of Parliament, and a successful proposal submitted to the Ministry of Education with the help of ex-Victorians and the VS Advisory Committee.

The eleventh Junior College to be incorporated, VJC received her first batch of 776 students at the (then) brand new Marine Vista campus with 51 teachers. The pioneers of VJC set the standard and left their legacy, which include the uniform design which still lasts to this very day, and the many traditions such as the elections for the Student Councillors (SC) and the annual junior-meet-senior session held at the start of each school year.

The current enrolment is 1744 students and 151 staff. [3]

College Anthem

Very slightly modified from Victoria School's pre 1987 original anthem

Lyrics by J A Frazer (VS's pre `87 anthem)
Music by W E Meyer (VS's pre `87 anthem)

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 see

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.

Facilities

VJC has remained at its Marine Parade campus ever since its inauguration in 1984, but with major changes and renovations to the campus over these years. There are 6 Lecture Theatres (LT1 - LT5 along with LT AVA), with LT1 and LT5 being the largest in the school, along with the air-conditioned tutorial rooms and computer labs.

The college campus is compact. Notable facilities include a 800+ seater state-of-the-art Performance Theatre and the VJC Archive which were completed in 2001. Recent additions to the school campus include renovation of the Concourse and the General Office, and the completition of the famous Treehouses (affectionately called LT6 ,7 and 8) and the Students' Lounge, called The Igloo.

Students may be found studying at every available corner and at specific areas where study tables have been set up. Many places are available for students to relax and 'hang out', such as the Treehouses, the Canteen, the Scrabble Board, or even tutorial rooms when not in use.

Academics

All students complete courses in English examinations for general knowledge named General Paper, Project Work and Mother Tongue at H1(Higher 1) level. Students who have obtained at least a D7 grade in Higher Chinese at the 'Ordinary' - 'O' levels have the choice of not studying the Mother Tongue at H1 level.

Students who wish to take Biology at 'A' level (Advanced level) should preferably have studied Biology at 'O' level.

Lesssons are conducted in the traditional Lecture-Tutorial style that is prevalent throughout the other JCs and CIs i.e A large group of students will undergo a lecture on a particular topic, then attempt some tutorial questions before meeting their individual subject tutors to go through those questions and clarify any other doubts.

Faculties

In VJC, 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.

  • The Science 1 (S1) faculty takes Mathematics C and three sciences, namely Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Known as the "Triple Science" faculty.
  • For 2004 & 2005, the S2 faculty takes Mathematics C, Biology and Chemistry with either Physics, Literature, History or Economics.
    • Before that, the S2 faculty took Mathematics C, Further Mathematics, Physics, and Economics.
  • The S3 faculty takes Mathematics C, Further Mathematics, Physics and either Chemistry, Computing or Economics (from 2004 onwards).
  • The S4 faculty takes Mathematics C, Physics, Chemistry and Economics. Variation includes substituting Economics with Art or Computing or the Humanities.
  • The Arts 5 (A5) faculty takes 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 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.
  • 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.

However, starting 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
  • The S3 faculty now takes Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, and a choice from either English Literature, History, Geography, Economics, Art, Chinese/Tamil/Malay Language & Literature or General Studies in Chinese
  • The S4 faculty remains as it is (i.e the famous PCME combination). However, taking Computing with Physics and Chemistry is not allowed now.
  • The S5 faculty replaces the previous S6 faculty, and take Mathematics, Physics, Economics, and a choice from either English Literature, History, Geography, Computing, Art, Chinese/Tamil/Malay Language & Literature, Theatre Studies and Drama or General Studies in Chinese.
  • The S6 faculty offers a new subject combination. Students in this faculty take Mathematics, Chemistry, Economics, and a choice from either English Literature, History, Geography, Computing, Art, Chinese/Tamil/Malay Language & Literature, Theatre 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.

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 1215 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, 05S44 denotes that the class was formed (or the students entered the school) in 2005, S for Science, The first 4 for the faculty (S4) and the second 4 denotes the 4th 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

Special Programmes

The following special programmes are available:

  • FastTrack@VJC Teaching and learning with Broadband Programme
  • French Immersion Programme
  • French Language Elective 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 to nurture student talents, social skills and leadership abilities. The VJC Students' Council, being the premier leadership student body, serves as a good example by providing the opportunity for students with leadership potential and aptitude to passionately and professionally serve the college and the student body as a Student Councillor of VJC. 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

  • Students' Council
  • Civics Tutorial Council
  • House Committees

Sports Groups

  • Air Rifle
  • Badminton
  • Basketball
  • Bowling
  • Cricket
  • Cross-country
  • Fencing
  • Frisbee (still an unofficial CCA)
  • Golf
  • Hockey
  • Judo
  • Kayaking
  • Netball
  • Rockclimbing
  • Sailing
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Squash
  • Swimming
  • Table-tennis
  • Taekwondo
  • Tennis
  • Track and Field
  • Volleyball
  • Wushu

Performing Arts

  • Chinese Orchestra
  • Choir
  • Dance Club
  • Drama Club
  • Guitar Ensemble
  • Harmonica Band
  • Piano Ensemble
  • String Ensemble
  • Symphonic Band

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
  • General Paper Society
  • Health and Fitness Club
  • Horticulture Society
  • Infocomm Club (Still known as iComp internally)
  • Indian Cultural Society
  • Interact Club
  • Japanese Club
  • Library Council
  • 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 the 19th of 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 the 9th to 12th of April 2006, held in Riva Del Garda, Italy.The choir participated in the Sacred Music and Mixed Youth Choirs categories and clinched a Gold I and Gold V in the respective categories, and managed to emerge as Category Winners in the Mixed Youth Choirs category.They then proceeded to compete in the Grand Finals, in which they triumped and clinched the illustrious Grand Prize as well as Audience Prize.

The Symphonic Band also ventured overseas in March 2006, participating in the prestigious Pacific Basin Music Festival held in Honolulu, Hawaii. This festival regularly draws world-class faculty and this year, judges included Dr. James M. Bankhead( Chairman of Dept. of Music, CSU) Mr. Felix Hauswirth(Conductor of Baden-Wurttemberg Youth Wind Ensemble of Germany and Zug Wind Orchestra of Switzerland, President of World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles(WASBE) 1997 - 2001) and Dr. Glenn Price( Director of Wind Ensembles and professor of Conducting and percussion at University of Calgary,elected to post of WASBE President for 2007 - 2009). This year, bands from USA, 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 bi-annual Singapore Youth Festival.

As for sports, Victoria Junior College has done well over the past few years. One of its niche areas in the sporting arena is in the sport of Soccer/Football. The guys team, playing in the National A Division Inter-School Soccer Championships has been in the finals for the past 7 years, and were recently crowned champions for the 2006 season after beating Meridian JC 4 - 2 in the final held on 25th June 2006 at the Jalan Besar Stadium. As for the soccer girls, they have emerged champions in their A division National Inter-school Championships beating Temasek JC 2 - 0 in the final held on 24th June 2006 also at the Jalan Besar Stadium. This is a good attempt considering that they were only formed in the 2nd half of 2005.

Other than soccer, Victoria Junior College has been doing well in hockey for both boys and girls. This is the 4th consecutive year that the girls are champions of the National A Division 11-a-side Hockey championships, beating St Andrews JC 1-0 at the 2006 A Division Finals at Delta Sports Complex. For the boys team, reaching the finals is a commendable feat considering there are other stronger schools out there but they lost to the Raffles team and took the silver medal.

Besides Soccer and hockey, the Victoria Junior College Golf has been progressing. Only recently established by Ryan Tan Ziyang in 2004, golf has performed well at the National Inter Schools Competitions. The boys team (Lam Chee Han & Chew Wen Yu Edwin) achieved a commendable 3rd place in the 2005 A Division Boys Team Event at Seletar Country Club. This year, the girl's team comprising of Koh Sock Hwee and Sandra-Jean Lee overcame the likes of ACJC and PJC to clinch 1st prize in the 2006 A Division Girls Team Event at Seletar Country Club. VJC Golf's track record is commendable given that they were formed only in mid 2004 and had to contend with the likes of traditional golfing powerhouses ACJC, CJC and HCI in competitions.

Houses

During competitive intra-school events, the school population is divided into six houses. These houses and their respective colour codes are:

  • Draco (Red)
  • Phoenix (Orange)
  • Ursa (Yellow)
  • Lynx (Green)
  • Aquila (Blue)
  • Pegasus (Purple)

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. VIP-ers (Students in the Victoria Integrated Programme) who are nominated into the House Comm are called "Caplets". House points are earned through 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.

In 2004, Draco was the overall champion house. In 2005, Ursa was the overall champion house.

Affiliations

Victoria Junior College is affiliated to Victoria School, and both campuses are co-housed in East Coast side-by-side. The two schools occasionally conduct joint programmes and activities such as concerts and overseas trips.

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).

Alumni

Notes

  1. ^ See Policy Digest:Issue April 30.
  2. ^ See Online Street Directory
  3. ^ See VJC webpage

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