Victoria Junior College

Infobox Singapore School
latitude = 1.30656
longitude = 103.92061
name = Victoria Junior College
維多利亞初級學院
Maktab Rendah Victoria


motto = Nil Sine Labore
(Nothing Without Labour)
established = 1984
type = Government
session = Single-session
principal = Chan Poh Meng (wef 28 Dec 2006)
city/town = Marine Vista
school code = 0706
enrollment = 1744 (for 2006)
colours = Red, Yellow, Beige
homepage = [http://www.vjc.moe.edu.sg www.vjc.moe.edu.sg]
border_color = red
uniform_color = #FFFFCC

Victoria Junior College (Abbreviation: VJC) is a prestigious institution of higher learning, established by Singapore's Ministry of Education in 1984 to be the affiliated Junior College of Victoria School. Victoria Junior College is also situated close to the beach, separated by a busy expressway.

History & Origin

VJC was established in 1984 by Singapore's Ministry of Education to give graduates of Victoria School (VS) an option to join a 2 year Junior College course in a Junior College named after and affiliated to Victoria School. Victoria School boys that chose to enter Victoria Junior College after secondary 4 can have 2 bonus points on their 'O' level aggregate score.

Besides Victoria School, students come from Anglican High School, Catholic High School, Cedar Girls' Secondary School, CHIJ Katong Convent, CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls' School, Dunman High School, Methodist Girls' School, River Valley High School, Singapore Chinese Girls' School, Tanjong Katong Girls' School, Tanjong Katong Secondary School and various others.

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.

The school enrollment as of October 2006 is 1933 students (including 234 IP students) and 151 staff members. [ [http://www.vjc.moe.edu.sg/01_aboutVJC.shtml See VJC webpage] ]

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 in 2006. Since 2005, a four-year integrated programme.

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.

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.

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. [See [http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel.php?travel_id=9603&travel_site=67694 Map of Victoria Junior College from Street Directory] ]

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 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 inherited from Victoria School's original pre-1987 School Song, after very slight modifications were made in the lyrics so that VS and VJC can share a common Victorian Anthem. ["School" was dropped after "Victoria" in the first 2 paragraphs shown below in 1987 by Victoria School]

Lyrics by J A Frazer (pre-87' version)
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 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.

Past academic luminaries and celebrity tutors

*Keith Penrose Mallinson (Oxon.) Lecturer and Humanities Tutor in British, Russian and American History.
*David Beckham Visiting coach for soccer
*Catherine Beylard (Aix-en-Provence, PhD.) Lecturer in French Language and Literature.
*Reynold Buono (Columbia) Director, Singapore Repertory Theatre. Theatre Studies & Drama. Performance Studies. Shakespeare and Hamlet.

Past Principals

*1984 - 2001: Mrs Lee Phui Mun
*2001 - 2006: Mrs Chan Khah Gek
*2006 - 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, also known as "The Igloo". 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. Lessons are conducted in the Oxbridge Lecture-Tutorial style.

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

Most students 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.

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 minutes, 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.

Faculty System

* The Arts 1 (A1) is the Arts faculty of VJC. However, it is compulsory for all Arts students to take Mathematics as one of their A-level subjects. This is because all students have to take a contrasting subject and Mathematics is a contrasting subject to Arts.

* The S3 faculty has Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry as their 3 basic subjects, and a choice of Arts or Humanities subjects (English Literature, History, Geography, Economics, Art, Chinese/Tamil/Malay Language & Literature, Theater Studies and Drama or General Studies in Chinese) as their H1/H2 content subject.

* The S4 faculty elects Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry as their 3 basic subjects, with a contrasting arts or humanities subject (stated above).

* The S5 faculty elects Mathematics, Physics, Economics as their 3 basic subjects, combined with any Arts or Humanities subject, or Chemistry.

* The S6 faculty elects Mathematics, Chemistry, Economics as their 3 basic subjects, and a choice any Arts or Humanities subject, or Physics.

The PCME combination may be grouped in the S5 and S6 faculties due to the popularity of the course and the subject similarities to avoid an imbalance of faculty size, as it is a flexible combination which allows entrance into most courses in local universities. [ [http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/apply/prerequisite.htm NUS Course Prerequisites] ] [ [http://www.spms.ntu.edu.sg/PAP/Undergraduate/PAPUndergradEntryRequirements.htm NTU Course Requirements] ]

Class Naming Conventions

VJC has classes named CT (Civics Tutorial) groups 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 2007:07A11 - A15, 07S30 - S39, 07S41 - S49, 07S51 - S56, 07S61 - S65, 07V11 - V14

For 2008:08A11 - A15, 08S30 - S39, 08S41 - S48, 08S51 - S56, 08S61 - S66, 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
* [http://www.vjc.moe.edu.sg/academics/dept/english/tsd/home.php Theatre Studies and Drama Programme]
* [http://www.vjc.moe.edu.sg/vip 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 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 consistently small number of members 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

tudent Leadership

*25th Students' Council
*17th Civics Tutorial Council
*5th House Committee

ports Groups

*Air rifle
*Badminton
*Basketball
*Bowling
*Canoeing
*Cricket
*Cross country
*Fencing
*Floorball
*Frisbee (still an unofficial CCA)
*Golf
*Hockey
*Judo
*Netball
*Rock climbing
*Sailing
*Soccer
*Softball
*Squash
*Swimming
*Table-tennis
*Taekwondo
*Tennis
*Track

Performing Arts

*Chinese Orchestra (Gold - SYF 2007)
*Choir (Gold With Honours - SYF 2007)
*Dance Club (Gold With Honours - SYF 2007)
*Drama Club
*Guitar Ensemble (Gold - SYF 2007)
*Harmonica Band (Gold - SYF 2007)
*Piano Ensemble
*String Ensemble (Gold With Honours - SYF 2007)
*Symphonic Band (Gold With Honours - SYF 2007)

Clubs and Societies

*Animal Welfare Society
*Art Club
*Artery (Arts Society)
*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 [http://www.vjc.moe.edu.sg/02_ccas.shtml 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:
* Aquila (Blue)
* Draco (Red)
* Lynx (Green)
* Pegasus (Purple)
* Phoenix (Orange)
* Ursa (Yellow)

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 do co-organize concerts, overseas trips, OVA events and other events together as affiliated school.

Former Victorians

* Politics and Government
** Chia Ti Lik: Lawyer; Workers' Party candidate, 2006 General Elections

* Corporate and Entrepreneurship
** Douglas Foo: Founder of Sakae Sushi; Entrepreneur of the Year, 1992
** Adam Khoo: Entrepreneur, best-selling author

* Arts, Culture and Media
** Television
*** Felicia Chin: Actress, Mediacorp; Winner, 2003 Star Search
*** Joanne Peh: Actress, Mediacorp; Miss Elegant and Miss Personality, Miss Singapore Universe, 2002
*** Michelle Chong: Actress, Mediacorp
*** Diana Ser: Celebrity journalist and presenter; Nominated for Best Current Affairs Presenter, Asian TV Awards, 2004
** Singing
*** Ho Yeow Sun: Singer; First and only Asian singer to top the US Billboard Dance Chart and the UK MusicWeek Chart; Only singer selected to be music ambassador for 2008 Beijing Olympics
*** Jasmine Tye: 2nd runner up, Singapore Idol, Season 2, 2006
*** Keely Wee: Female champion, Campus SuperStar, Season 2, 2007
** Film-making
*** Kelvin Tong: Local movie director - Eating Air (1999), The Maid (2005), Love Story (2006), Men In White (2007)
*** Tan Pin Pin: Award-winning filmmaker
** Radio
*** Joe Augustin: Radio presenter and voiceover artist
** Miss Singapore Universe
*** Cheryl Marie Cordeiro: Winner, Miss Singapore Universe, 1999
*** Nuraliza Osman: Winner, Miss Singapore Universe, 2002
*** Jessica Tan: Winner, Miss Singapore Universe, 2007
** Literary
*** Davyd Chong: 1st Prize Winner, Channel NewsAsia's Get Rea! Songwriting Competition, 2004
*** Dave Chua: Local writer; Winner, Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award, 1996
*** Sandra Davie: Journalist, Straits Times

* 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

References

External links

* [http://www.vjc.moe.edu.sg/ Official site of Victoria Junior College]
* [http://vs.moe.edu.sg/ Official site of Victoria School]
* [http://www.ova.org.sg/ Old Victorians' Association]
* [http://blog.vjc.sg/ Blog]
* [http://cosiety.vjc.