VICTORIA JUNIOR COLLEGE

'Victoria Junior College' (Abbreviation: 'VJC') is a junior college in Singapore. It was established in 1984, and was considered one of the top five 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, VJC also offers programmes in French and Theatre Studies & Drama. Since 2005, a four-year integrated programme has been available.
Victoria Junior College is located in the Marine Parade precinct in the east of the island, about one kilometre from its namesake and affiliated secondary school, Victoria School. ^[2]

Contents

History

Past Principals

College Anthem

Facilities

Academics

Faculties

Curriculum Hours

Class Naming Conventions

Special Programmes

Co-Curricular Activities

Student Leadership

Sports Groups

Performing Arts

Clubs and Societies

Houses

Affiliations

Alumni

References

External links

History

VJC was formed and incorporated in 1984 to provide (2 years) Junior College Pre-University education for graduates from Victoria School (VS), since VS used to have pre-university classes (3 years) but had been discontinued by then. Besides, by late 1970s and early 1980s, many top and better students from Victoria School had chosen to attend 2 year Junior Colleges bearing other names after secondary four instead of VS pre-university section.
The idea of VJC was first mooted in the 1970s by Dr Ong Chit Chung, an old boy of VS and whom later became a Member of Parliament, and a successful proposal submitted to the Ministry of Education with the help of old boys of Victoria School 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 of the Student Councillors (SC) and the annual junior-meet-senior session held at the start of each school year.
The current enrolment as of October 2006 is 1933 students (including 234 IP students) and 151 staff. ^[3]

Past Principals

1984 - 2001: Mrs Lee Phui Mun

2001 - 2006: Mrs Chan Khah Gek

Present: Mr Chan Poh Meng

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 Theaters (LT1 – LT5 along with LT AVA), with LT1 and LT5 being the largest in the school, along with 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 the renovation of the Concourse and the General Office, the completion of the famous Treehouses and the Students' Lounge, called 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

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 'O' levels have the choice of not studying the Mother Tongue at H1 level.
Although not a pre-requisite by the MOE, former principal Lee Phui Mun insisted that students who wish to take Biology at 'A' level should preferably have studied Biology at 'O' level. Moreover, even having A1 grades at O level biology did not guarantee that a student would be allowed to do A level biology.
Lessons 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 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' remains 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' replaces 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' offers 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 are allowed to take Theatre Studies and Drama (TSD) as a contrasting subject, whereas previously, TSD was only exclusively offered to Arts students.

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, 05S44 denotes that the class was formed (or the students entered the school) in 2005, S for the Science stream (A for the arts stream, V for the Integrated Programme), the first 4 for the faculty (S4) and the second 4 denotes that S44 is 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
For 2007:
07A11 - A15, 07S30 - S39, 07S41 - S49, 07S51 - S56, 07S61 - S65, 07V11 - 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. Uniquely, VJC is the only JC to have a Civics Tutorial (CT) Council, a leadership body consisting entirely of all the CT Representatives (or otherwise known as class monitors) from all the classes. The CT Council helps the Students' Council in organising school-wide activities, at the same time also organising activities on their own and proposing initiatives to benefit the student body as well.
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

★ 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 and Field

★ Wushu

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

★ 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 (internally known as iComp)

★ 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 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 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 triumphed and clinched the illustrious Grand Prize as well as Audience Prize, bringing the Grand Prize to Asia for the first time in the history of the competition.
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). In 2006, 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 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.
Besides soccer, VJC has been doing well in hockey for both boys and girls. The girls' team were crowned champions for the 5th consecutive year 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 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.
There are two types of Champion Houses: A champion house that fares the best during VJC's annual Track and Field Meet, where points are awarded to each house depending on how well participating students from each house fare during their athletic events (8 points for 1st place, 7 points for 2nd place and so on and so forth), and an Overall Champion House where the total number of points awarded for inter-house competitions (for example, Inter-House football tournament, air-rifle shooting competition, Scrabble competition, Debating competition etc.) and the total number of points awarded during the annual Track and Field Meet are totaled up. The house with the highest grand total of points wins the La Coupe Etoile (or The Star Cup), a trophy awarded to the Overall Champion House at the Farewell Assembly for the Year 2s at the end of each year.
Past Overall House Champions
2004: Draco
2005: Ursa
2006: Aquila

Affiliations

Victoria Junior College is affiliated to Victoria School, and both campuses are co-housed in East Coast within walking distance of each other. 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

★ Politics and Government

★
★ Chia Ti Lik: Lawyer; Workers' Party candidate, 2006 Elections

★
★ DSP Masagoes Idris: CO, Pasir Ris NPC; Asian Games Representative (Hockey); SPF Scholar

★ Business

★
★ Douglas Foo: Founder of Sakae Sushi; Entrepreneur of the Year, 1992

★
★ Adam Khoo: Entrepreneur, best-selling author and self-made millionaire at age of 26

★ Arts, Culture and Media

★
★ Joe Augustin: Radio presenter and voiceover artist

★
★ Felicia Chin: Actress, Mediacorp; Winner, Star Search, 2003

★
★ Davyd Chong: 1st Prize Winner, Channel NewsAsia's Get Rea! Songwriting Competition, 2004

★
★ Michelle Chong: Compere and actress, Mediacorp

★
★ Dave Chua: Local writer; Winner, Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award, 1996

★
★ Sandra Davie: Journalist, Straits Times

★
★ Cheryl Marie Cordeiro: Winner, Miss Singapore Universe, 1999

★
★ 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

★
★ Joanne Peh: Actress, Mediacorp; Miss Elegant and Miss Personality, Miss Singapore Universe, 2002

★
★ Diana Ser: Celebrity journalist and presenter; Nominated for Best Current Affairs Presenter, Asian TV Awards, 2004

★
★ Jessica Tan: Winner, Miss Singapore Universe, 2007

★
★ Tan Pin Pin: Award-winning filmmaker

★
★ Kelvin Tong: Filmmaker - Eating Air (1999), The Maid (2005), Love Story (2006), Men In White (2007)

★
★ Jasmine Tye: 2nd runner up, Singapore Idol, Season 2, 2006

★
★ Keely Wee: Female champion, Campus SuperStar, Season 2, 2007

★ Sports

★
★ Lim Tze Ting: Gold medalist, Sailing, Asian Games, 2006

★
★ Mah Li Lian: SEA Games gold medalist and national squash champion; Sportsgirl of the Year, 1987; Sportswoman of the Year, 1989 and 1991

★
★ Fabian Tan: National Under-23 (Young Lions) footballer; One of the few Chinese and only NUS undergraduate playing in SLeague

★
★ 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, Asian Games, 2006; Sportsboy of the Year, 2002

References

1. See Policy Digest:Issue 30 April.
2. See Map of Victoria Junior College from Street Directory
3. See VJC webpage

External links

★ Official site of Victoria Junior College

★ Official site of Victoria School

★ Old Victorians' Association

★ Blog

★ VJCosiety