CHIJ St Joseph's Convent
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zac's mum:
Thanks for your advice! Just too bad that's the only girl schools that's near me and she probably can't meet the COP.
The cut-off-point for non-affiliates to get into the Express stream is around 231, so if she really gets 210-218, she cannot take Express stream in SJC. I don’t know if she will be channeled into N(A) stream automatically. Yes it is a bit wasted for the excess marks.I wanna know:
Dear all,
I wish to enroll my child in this school as its the only Girls school near my place but based on my Girl's prelim score (EL:75, CL: 80, Math: 63, Sci: 58.5), I figured she should get around 210-218(max) for her psle, won't be eligible for Express Stream. If I choose this school, she will auto be channel to NA stream? A bit wasted for the excess marks. Hence was hoping to get some opinion and advice. Thanks a lot!
You should allow her to enter Express course at another school. Have a look at the list of schools here that have cut-off-point 218 and below. These are the ones you can consider. Shortlist a few near your house & try to attend their Open House if possible, so that she can get a feel of whether the school culture is ok for her. Unfortunately none are all-girls schools.
https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=91634 -
lil_jade:
Agree. Your daughter may not be able to choose NA if she doesn't qualify for it. Maybe other informed forumners can help with this?
The cut-off-point for non-affiliates to get into the Express stream is around 231, so if she really gets 210-218, she cannot take Express stream in SJC. I don’t know if she will be channeled into N(A) stream automatically. Yes it is a bit wasted for the excess marks.zac's mum:
[quote=\"I wanna know\"]Dear all,
I wish to enroll my child in this school as its the only Girls school near my place but based on my Girl's prelim score (EL:75, CL: 80, Math: 63, Sci: 58.5), I figured she should get around 210-218(max) for her psle, won't be eligible for Express Stream. If I choose this school, she will auto be channel to NA stream? A bit wasted for the excess marks. Hence was hoping to get some opinion and advice. Thanks a lot!
You should allow her to enter Express course at another school. Have a look at the list of schools here that have cut-off-point 218 and below. These are the ones you can consider. Shortlist a few near your house & try to attend their Open House if possible, so that she can get a feel of whether the school culture is ok for her. Unfortunately none are all-girls schools.
https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=91634
I think the closest all girls school with COP nearest to your estimate for your daughter will be St Anthony's Canossian in Bedok and Katong Convent in East Coast area. Their COP is just a bit more than your estimate, so you can use this to encourage your daughter to work a bit more. I'm sure she can do it!
[/quote]Hi, thanks for your advice! You mean she can't even opt to go for NA ? I know there's an option for students scoring around 185-199 to choose NA or Express. If over 200 will auto be Express stream but can we still choose to go to a school where their cop is high for NA? Kindly enlighten.
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Not too sure but I was told all the 6 choices must be of same stream and cannot mix. Maybe parents can clarify?
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I wanna know:
I know there's an option for students scoring around 185-199 to choose NA or Express. If over 200 will auto be Express stream but can we still choose to go to a school where their cop is high for NA? Kindly enlighten.
Hi, I went to take a look at the choosing your secondary school booklet 2018 (link provided by zac's mum in the previous post).
It contains information on aggregate range of 2016 PSLE students posted to 2017 Sec 1 students.
The max score of students posted to NA course is 199 and this applies to all schools listed in the booklet.
Seems like you can only go for the course as stated in the PSLE results slip, so if t-score is 200 and above - think can only choose express course.
Post PSLE, maybe can bring your child to the open houses of some schools to have a look? All the best for her PSLE! -
Thanks so much for your effort and help! Appreciate that. So I guess she’s stuck in between.
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Hi all, I would just like to take some time to give every concerned parent here an insight to this school by sharing my personal experience as it seems to me that there is very little to know about SJC when it comes to finding information online. Before I entered SJC as one of my choices, my parents searched the web for more information about SJC, hoping to get a good idea of how life might be like here, but unfortunately, there was not much to find out. Therefore, I am hoping that through this post, I am able to address some of your concerns and inquiries about the school which you may find helpful when choosing schools with your daughter.
I am currently a Secondary 4 student (Class of 2018) who is taking my O levels and will be graduating this year and I think this is a suitable time for me to share my views, as I believed I have gained more than enough experiences to provide a good overview of the school in general. In this post, I will also be sharing my thoughts and feelings as I feel that they are key to understanding life in SJC as a student.
Perhaps a bit of prior information about myself would prove to be useful in allowing my points to achieve a stronger impact. I came from a prestigious primary school, Nan Hua Primary School. I was more than disappointed with my PSLE result as I was afterall, not a bad performer in my academics during my time in NH and I simply could not believe that I had attained a PSLE score of 231(+2 with a Merit for Higher Chinese). My aim was the prestigious Nanyang Girls' High School, not a neighborhood school. Yes, maybe by this point I might strike some of you as arrogant. (But please do hear me out. I am actually really nice and polite and humble haha ) I never thought I was arrogant until I came to understand the life and culture of 'not-being-part-of-a-branded-school'. Needless to say I was devastated and lost. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected myself to get, based on my personal standards, a PSLE score of less than 240. 240 was the bare minimum and considered a bad dream for me. 231 was an absolute nightmare. It was torture to see so many of my schoolmates get accepted into branded schools such as Hwa Chong, Raffles and so on. There really is just so many, goodness. I was convinced this was the end of my life and future job prospects.
I can honestly tell you, despite living a mere 4 (now 5 because they added a new bus stop) bus stops away from SJC, I have never once heard of CHIJ St Joseph's Convent. I was ignorant to the IJ culture because I just never believed I would end up becoming part of the family. IJ girls were in my opinion at that time, loud, obnoxious, a bit nuts and for some peculiar reason, the IJ girls that I have encountered always seemed to laugh really loudly and almost anytime. This was a stark contrast from the general behaviour of students in NH where we were taught chinese values. Chinese teachings definitely do not promote such loud behaviour. Well I guess you could say that my family is also very traditional and I have been brought up will strong chinese values as well. Therefore, the IJ culture seemed most intimidating. In the end, I put SJC as my 4th choice. I prayed so hard to not get in and alas, my prayers weren't answered because well... I got in. I so badly wanted to get accepted into a chinese school because after 6 years of chinese-school education, I have grown accustomed to it and was not willing to suddenly be thrown into an environment with a, presumably, completely different culture and I was not Catholic. I also love sprinting and SJC did not offer Track & Field as one of the CCA options. By now I was thoroughly convinced I would suffer in secondary school. There was simply nothing to love about SJC. SJC being a girls school was the only consolation I had.
But looking back, I would never have chosen another school. (I mean unless I turn back the clock, work like there's no tomorrow and find myself with better PSLE grades then no perhaps I would not have chosen SJC, because I mean I suppose, naturally, the most pragmatic decision is to choose a school with a higher cut-off point.) But this is where I daresay that if your child, who is not from the affiliated primary schools has a COP of around 230, I would really highly recommend for you to place your trust and faith in SJC to nuture your daughter well. And this is coming from someone who originally hated the school for the first year, so this must, hopefully, say something. The following are summarised reasons as to why I personally feel that you can place your trust in SJC and not worry about the school being too unsuitable.
1. It's a girls' school.
Let's be realistic, this is a time where all teenagers start having raging hormones where we might get a bit jittery and fluttery when we see a member of the opposite gender. At least for those who are biologically attracted to males, that is. Enrolling your daughter in a girls' school is a great way to, at least try, and keep one huge distraction away: Boys that may turn into boyfriends if we are not careful. This may sound a bit extreme, but I assure you this is a very relevant concern. We want to be safe rather than sorry. I am not saying that by seeking secondary education in a girls' school is a sure guarantee that your daughter will not have a crush that may be a potential future boyfriend. But I can at least assure you that it will not be as distracting in class. There will not be any young hunks to stare at and drool all over the table and miss a whole lesson's worth of lesson. Unless of course, the girl has great imagination and tends to daydream in class or is not interested in males then this point is quite unable to help with that predicament. But of course, I am quite convinced that a girls' school is able to help boost your daughter's confidence as she will be in an environment where we are all going through the same situation- bitchy friends or gossips that get blown out of proportion, because literally everyone can relate to it. There's no need to feel shy or awkward about anything. We are quite open about certain things that may be considered a taboo in mix-gendered schools such as periods. I mean most, not all. But it creates a friendly and comfortable environment for teachers to be able to relate certain ideas, teachings or pretty much anything without having to think twice about boys feeling awkward with the topics, especially during MOE's sexuality education class.
2. Dedicated & passionate teachers
This is really important. 4 years of secondary education is no easy task. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to get through these 4 years. Teachers play a pivotal role in ensuring we learn what we are supposed to learn, not just academically but also morally. SJC's teachers are really passionate. They bring this passion with them to class each time, ensuring that lessons are always fun-filled and entertaining. Their passion also includes their belief that every SJC girl is capable of achieving great results no matter how we fare in class. You can be the most problematic student but I assure you never once have I seen an SJC teacher stop reaching out to the student whenever need be. The teachers NEVER give up on their students and continue to believe that she is capable of doing well. The teacher won't just believe, but she will take action to ensure that this is not just a talk of belief. They always make themselves available for us for consultations and even deliberately stay back just to see to our queries. A teacher's belief is necessary to a student's academic progress and character development. It encourages and boost the student's self-esteem. An acknowledgement or recognition from teachers is really what every student wants. No one wants to be abandoned and seen as burden to the class. Every question asked or raised is like finding gold; teachers encourage and often open the floor for questions in between their talks, making sure that everyone can keep up. If you are too shy to raise any questions during class, the teachers always encourage us to seek them personally after lessons by paging for them outside their staff room or leaving a post-it in their pigeon hole. I cannot ask for a better learning environment with such lovely teachers who genuinely care for their students' well-being.
When your child reaches secondary 4, she will start having to stay back till at least 4.30pm for lessons every school day. She may opt for what we call 'clinics' after the ASP sessions (they start at 2.30pm and end at 3.30pm for sec 1-3s and the first semester of sec 4 but end at 4.30pm for the second semester of sec4) which typically end at 6pm. From then on, the school opens till 9pm for students to do self revision. This is what we call 'Night-Study' which is held from 7pm-9pm. Some clinics (optional) may be conducted during this time. Please do not worry, the security guards do not let anybody in and there are teachers and parents to look after us, with free food too! This can prove to be exceptionally useful to those who may find it distracting or home to be to un-conducive for any thorough studying. Teachers do stay back just to see students for consultations during these times, further emphasising my point on just how passionate SJC's teachers are. We even have intensive and pretty hard-core 'study camps' during June holidays for sec 4s- a time for teachers to start tying up any loose ends of the syllabus teachings, highlighting how your child's academics is not being compromised as the COP of the school might suggest.
As for friends, truth to be told, I cannot assure that there will not be any what I would call 'wannabe-hooligans' in the class that your daughter has been assigned to. Every school will have such students, it is just a matter of how many are present. Your daughter will have to make wise decisions about who she wants as company for the next few years. If she is a motivated student and wants to do well in her studies, it is not definitely advisable to stick to closely with such influences. Of course I can only advice and not insist. Some of these girls also change for the better afterwards. I would not label them as permanent bad influences. Also, it takes great courage on your daughter's part to tune out any possible gossips might involve her, as is present in many schools but perhaps a bit more in girls' school (I'm just guessing).
I sincerely hope that my post has been able to clarify your doubts and have a clearer idea on what kind of school SJC is and decide if this is a suitable choice for your daughter to undertake her secondary education. Do feel free to ask me more if you would like know more about SJC. I would be more than happy to help. Thank you for taking the time to read this and may you have lovely day ahead.
:thankyou: -
Thank u very much for sharing your experience & perspective! You have made some very pertinent points that reflect maturity & wisdom of thought.
One thing that jumped out at me though…u live in Sengkang but travelled all the way to Clementi for 6 years of primary school??! At first I thought u might have been commenting on St Theresa’s Convent in the West instead.
So now at SJC which is just a few bus stops away from home, including all the late study evenings in school, I’m sure you and your parents are appreciating the proximity to home.
There was an article in the press sometime this year…a boy from Nanyang Pri went to Fairfield Secondary…and had a similar experience with the dedicated & caring teachers there, who changed his life thru their encouragement. He was sharing voluntarily from the heart as well.
I always love to hear such stories. Most precious is the heart of appreciation. Thanks again for sharing & all the best for your Os! -
Yep! My dad faithfully sent me all the way to Clementi for these 6 years (additional 2 years for I have a younger brother who is currently sec 2 going to sec 3) ! He was an alumnus and believed Nan Hua is the best choice for me to undertake my primary education.
It is really more convenient because whenever I am forgetful and leave something at school, I can just turn around to go collect my stuff within 20 minutes spent on travelling back and forth maximum, as compared to the minimum 30 minute drive just down to Clementi haha!
I think it is important for students’ to understand the teacher’s heart and acknowledge their hard work. So glad to know that there are more out there who share the same sentiments as well!
Thank you for the well-wishes! -
Hi parents, I’m a former student of SJC and have seen posts about the academic results in the school declining. I’d like to add that it’s not at all true. The school has performed relatively well in 2017 for O’Levels.
90% distinction rate for biology, combined science (chem/bio), averaging around 60%-70% distinction rate for other subjects (excluding arts subjects except literature).
Thus, your daughters would definitely be in safe hands!
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Ard how many % are from the affliated?
Thanks.
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