Cedar Girls Secondary School

[Aberc]

Hi, I don't have all the answers to your questions but I'll try to answer the best I can - cedarians or experienced forummers, pls correct me if I'm wrong.

phtthp:

for IP (Integrated program) curriculum -

(study 6 years from Sec 1, leading to A level at Victoria Junior College)

a) is Higher Chinese (HCL) compulsory, instead of Normal Chinese ?
if Yes, need to study up to which year can drop HCL, assuming can clear / pass HCL ?

All the girls in dd's IP class are taking HCL - not sure if it was compulsory, though. They will sit for O level HCL at the end of sec 4. The general rule is if a minimum of D7 is obtained, no need to do MT from J1 onwards. Not sure if cedar or vjc has their own benchmark cos I understand some IP schools require their students to obtain at least a B4

b) does school allow pupils to take 3 Science subjects combination, or only allow at most 2, in the IP curriculum ?
(because noted that some IP Secondary schools allow at most 2 Science subjects only, not 3, Chemistry, Biology, Physics ?

does the IP curriculum prepare Pupils here well, to take up 3 Science subjects later on to prepare for A level, in VJC (in year 5 and 6) ?

I'm not sure if Cedar offers triple science but I know that most JCs don't have triple science combi anymore becos one contrasting humanities subject, such as econs, history, geog etc.must be offered and maths is compulsory - leaving only 2 slots left for phy, bio or chem.

c) if wish to learn third language, what are the requirements to fulfill first ?

example

must pupil score certain range of marks first for (English & Chinese) every Term each year : to prove pupil able to cope with 2 core main languages first, before allowed to take up demand of learning from a third language ?

Or pupils who scored above 260 (Psle t score), then can learn third language ?

are French, Spanish or Japanese offered here ?

In the S1 option form, it will be indicated whether your child is eligible for foreign lang - Jap/ German/ French/ Spanish. It is offered to the top 10% of the cohort which is usually 250 and above. Additional requirement for jap is HCL or CL offered during PSLE. These lessons are taught in moe language centres at bishan or Newton. For more info, go to http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/seconda ... rogrammes/ cos it covers regional studies prog, Malay and Chinese special prog which are taught within the cedar itself.

[phtthp]

Thanks very much, Aberc, for kind info

[ilovelaksa]

abachee:

whitecarrotcake:

Hi


Can cedar ip jie jie tell us if they are enjoying school at cedar girls? My dd is deciding if she should accept cedar confirmed offer.

Well, I dunno how to explained to you. But from what I observed from my daughter and had a few talks with her about her school life, she is enjoying every monents of it. The camaradarie and close knit relations they have built in school was a touching sight for us as parents to see when we are there as supporter or participating parents.

Below are some of the girls reviews about the school life in Cedar.
Enjoy reading!!

http://www.thesmartlocal.com/sg/seconda ... ary-school

What can I say, my daughter simply loves Cedar.
Her classmates help each other to collect+copy notes in their absence. They are all concerned for their grades but they know how to support each other on this. This is really very unlike some horror stories I hv heard about other schools. It is the yr-end and her snrs hv offered to give away their notes instead of selling them.
The teachers are always avail for consultations. My daughter is doing pretty well on her own as I think they are really helpful.

[ilovelaksa]

Hi, wld like to add-on to Aberc post.

a) All VCA IP take HCL. According to teachers, pointless to take CL as it is only use for JC appln. Since IP is a 6-yr prep programme for uni-bound students, they actually hv several chances to clear HCL at yr4 (during HCL O lvl) and yr 5/6 (doing H1 Chinese A level exam). For HCL, Cedar/Victoria only req a 1.5 gpa in yr1+2 and 1.0 gpa in yr3+4 for promotion. Gpa 2.0 is a 50%. So there are students happily failing HCL all the way to JC. My ds has frens in both sch just mtg 1.0 in every exam and they are still in IP : )
Hvg said this, it is worthwhile to clear at yr4 as JC curricula is very heavy. Doing Chinese in JC takes up alot of time. But fear not, H1 Chinese is actually much easier to pass than O lvl HCL. The schs that req min B4 in HCL are NYGH HCI Nan Hua the last I checked. These are SAP schs and it has something to do with their SAP status.
b) I believe you are talking about NYGH, they don’t allow triple science. But you must know their MSG is based on ALL subjs taken, very different from VCA IP. VCA allows any combo of 8/9/10 subjects in yr3+4 as long as you meet the overall promo criteria of 2.5 for 5 subj and 1.0 for the rest. For VCA, LA or Eng/HMT/Geog/Hist/IntegMaths/Phy/Chem r compulsory. All are pure subjs. My son has frens doing 10 pure subj including Lit and Bio too. He has Cedarians frens doing all the compulsory subjs plus Bio and/Lit. I think this is a great system as it gives exposure to many subj but they can still opt for their best 5 where it matters. However, these are all pure subj and some of them incorporate the A lvl syllabus at yr4. It is actually quite challengg to even meet the 1.0 gpa. I would say VCA prepares them very very well for JC bcos some JC topics are already covered. Their LA/Eng is rather like GP. Once in VJ, they hv to choose 2 Sci as VJ does not hv the 3 Sci option due to the contrastg subj reqm. My son is a terrible dilemma now as he is equally strong in all 3 Sci.

[ilovelaksa]

I forgot to add that for the 3rd Lang, VCA has a gpa of 1.5 to meet at yr 1+2 and 1.0 at yr 3+4. Otherwise cannot promote. Most of my children’s friends drop 3rd Lang at yr1 due to heavy academic work and CCA commitments. Those who carried on hv a deep interest for the 3rd Lang.

[isetan]

ilovelaksa:

Hi, wld like to add-on to Aberc post.

a) All VCA IP take HCL. According to teachers, pointless to take CL as it is only use for JC appln. Since IP is a 6-yr prep programme for uni-bound students, they actually hv several chances to clear HCL at yr4 (during HCL O lvl) and yr 5/6 (doing H1 Chinese A level exam). For HCL, Cedar/Victoria only req a 1.5 gpa in yr1+2 and 1.0 gpa in yr3+4 for promotion. Gpa 2.0 is a 50%. So there are students happily failing HCL all the way to JC. My ds has frens in both sch just mtg 1.0 in every exam and they are still in IP : )
Hvg said this, it is worthwhile to clear at yr4 as JC curricula is very heavy. Doing Chinese in JC takes up alot of time. But fear not, H1 Chinese is actually much easier to pass than O lvl HCL. The schs that req min B4 in HCL are NYGH HCI Nan Hua the last I checked. These are SAP schs and it has something to do with their SAP status.
b) I believe you are talking about NYGH, they don't allow triple science. But you must know their MSG is based on ALL subjs taken, very different from VCA IP. VCA allows any combo of 8/9/10 subjects in yr3+4 as long as you meet the overall promo criteria of 2.5 for 5 subj and 1.0 for the rest. For VCA, LA or Eng/HMT/Geog/Hist/IntegMaths/Phy/Chem r compulsory. All are pure subjs. My son has frens doing 10 pure subj including Lit and Bio too. He has Cedarians frens doing all the compulsory subjs plus Bio and/Lit. I think this is a great system as it gives exposure to many subj but they can still opt for their best 5 where it matters. However, these are all pure subj and some of them incorporate the A lvl syllabus at yr4. It is actually quite challengg to even meet the 1.0 gpa. I would say VCA prepares them very very well for JC bcos some JC topics are already covered. Their LA/Eng is rather like GP. Once in VJ, they hv to choose 2 Sci as VJ does not hv the 3 Sci option due to the contrastg subj reqm. My son is a terrible dilemma now as he is equally strong in all 3 Sci.

Hi ilovelaksa,

For item b, u mentioned above, u mean in nygh can only opt for 2 sciences instead of triple sciences in upper secondary? How abt in cedar upper secondary?
Yes, u have rightly pointed out LA/Eng in cedar is really like GP.

[ilovelaksa]

Hi isetan,

Exact details can verify with nyg thread but the 3 nyg I spoke to before said they were not allowed to take 3 Sciences. One of them is in medicine now.
For Cedar, I spoke to the IP HOD, 3 sciences are allowed rgdless of your grades for yr1+2 sci so long as promo criteria is met. Same for 3 humanities. But he was quite amazed when I told him there are Victorians do 3 pure humanities and 3 pure Sciences on top of Integ Maths HMT and LA.

[isetan]

ilovelaksa,


Thanks for the info. For your son case, it’s better to take a look at NUS website on the course requirement before deciding on the 2 sciences option. But I wat understood is bio is a very tough subject in JC.

[ilovelaksa]

isetan:

ilovelaksa,


Thanks for the info. For your son case, it's better to take a look at NUS website on the course requirement before deciding on the 2 sciences option. But I wat understood is bio is a very tough subject in JC.

Tk u so much. Someone recommended my ds to look at the seab syllabus too. Hopefully he can make an informed decision.
The non-ip girls are endg their term end of this week if I m not wrong. The IP girls will hv programme till 6 Nov if the PTM infor is correct.

[isetan]

ilovelaksa:

isetan:

ilovelaksa,


Thanks for the info. For your son case, it's better to take a look at NUS website on the course requirement before deciding on the 2 sciences option. But I wat understood is bio is a very tough subject in JC.

Tk u so much. Someone recommended my ds to look at the seab syllabus too. Hopefully he can make an informed decision.
The non-ip girls are endg their term end of this week if I m not wrong. The IP girls will hv programme till 6 Nov if the PTM infor is correct.

I think It's 14 Nov for school term ending for IP girls.