Cedar Girls Secondary School
-
As a pupil in a Secondary Two class, I can tell you that even though I’m not in IP, the amount of stress here is no joke.
Honestly, after reading the junior’s post about the things they do, I’m shocked. But after I think about it, I’m not.
This opinion is going to be for the express stream.
Even though we learn things meant for secondary school education, it is not going to be easy. The maths and science we learn, sometimes it overwhelms me. We have integrated syllabus. At sec one, we buy sec one and sec two books. At sec two, we buy sec three and sec four books, and use sec two books.
For science, our performance task was on digestion. We were given a problem situation, and told to diagnose the patient’s illness. However, not all information was given, so the diagnosis can be anything. There is more than one diagnosis.
It may sound okay. But honestly, we weren’t taught the topic beforehand. We were left like this, and we had to finish this performance task that was for maths and science. The math part had to do with quadratic equations, which at that time we were taught the term before. It was all very messy and stressful for us. Even my tuition teacher says time to time that my school is crazy.
Throughout this year, my class have had many complains. Complains that we brought up to the teacher, to the principal even. Like how our timetable was ridiculously long. Tuesdays and Fridays we end at 3.15 pm. On Fridays, most have CCAs until 6. Yes we have the weekend, but I would really love to let myself rest during the weekends. But I can’t, the amount of homework, catching up on revision etc . It’s crazy.
My maths teacher is a really good teacher, but he’s really fast. Too fast. Things like graphs, i never understood clearly until i cleared it up with my tuition thing. My science teacher is so unbelievably soft, sit further than the second row, you have to strain your ears to listen. We told him that he was too soft, but nothing really changed. I guessed it didn’t really matter after a while, we all developed sensitive hearing to hear him.
In Cedar, textbooks are sometimes just there for show. We have no textbooks for English, and our textbooks for maths is used only for the questions in them. We have our own notes. For history, the workbook isn’t even touched. For Science, we do touch our textbook, but we are very much more dependent on the notes they give, because the textbook is insufficient. Work like EMS (Electromagnetic Spectrum) and Light and Lenses, we depend on notes, worksheets and our own research and understanding.
I guess, for Cedar, the only thing that I really, really love is my CCA. The friends I make in my CCA are real and true, they don’t pretend and I really love them alot. They pulled me up when I fell, helped me through everything and supported me when I’m at my lowest. In Cedar, my friends and I all joked that with the amount of pressure we face now, and the way that we are so used to it we no longer care that much even if we stay up pass midnight to finish everything, we will have no problem managing life later on. Cedar taught us to be self-sufficient, not be dependent on others to spoonfeed us with answers.Cedar taught us how to cope with negative stress, positive stress, and shaped us into determined,strong,open-minded characters that are successful at study and play at the same time.
I guess, it’s a love-hate relationship for me with Cedar. I don’t like the system, but at the same time, I acknowledge that this system is what makes me have an opinion, stand up for myself, know what I want, how to cope with different people, different things, how to face stress, and more importantly, how to study hard, play hard and appreciate the things we’ve been given.
This system at Cedar gives one an enormous amount of stress, yet I feel that it is this stress that we learn to cope, accept and get used to that allowed Cedarians to be so successful in everything we put our hearts to doing. When I look at my seniors, my classmates, I feel that the amount of resilience we have is commendable, to be able to live with the pressure of excellence coming from our school, teachers and parents, and from ourselves.
To all potential sec ones, yes this school may seem very scary, very stressful. I once doubted my choice of school, wanted to transfer out, even doubting if I’ll be able to survive, to love this school as my school. When I came into this school, i was looking for an all-rounded education. And after a turbulent year and a half, i can’t exactly love this school, but this school has definitely gave me an all-rounded education.
Whether or not you are in IP or express, you WILL face stress. You WILL feel like you’re gonna die, gonna give up on everything. But if you give up, then you WILL fail. But if you don’t give up, persevere on, then you WILL reap the benefits. Do everything with an open mind, with appreciation, gratitude, and you will be able to see for yourself, beneath that entire strive for excellence facade, is a huge valuable store for you to open, explore and benefit.
Goodluck.
*No offence meant to the school, to anyone. This is my honest opinion. -
livewith_vanilla:
As a pupil in a Secondary Two class, I can tell you that even though I'm not in IP, the amount of stress here is no joke.
Honestly, after reading the junior's post about the things they do, I'm shocked. But after I think about it, I'm not.
This opinion is going to be for the express stream.
Even though we learn things meant for secondary school education, it is not going to be easy. The maths and science we learn, sometimes it overwhelms me. We have integrated syllabus. At sec one, we buy sec one and sec two books. At sec two, we buy sec three and sec four books, and use sec two books.
For science, our performance task was on digestion. We were given a problem situation, and told to diagnose the patient's illness. However, not all information was given, so the diagnosis can be anything. There is more than one diagnosis.
It may sound okay. But honestly, we weren't taught the topic beforehand. We were left like this, and we had to finish this performance task that was for maths and science. The math part had to do with quadratic equations, which at that time we were taught the term before. It was all very messy and stressful for us. Even my tuition teacher says time to time that my school is crazy.
Throughout this year, my class have had many complains. Complains that we brought up to the teacher, to the principal even. Like how our timetable was ridiculously long. Tuesdays and Fridays we end at 3.15 pm. On Fridays, most have CCAs until 6. Yes we have the weekend, but I would really love to let myself rest during the weekends. But I can't, the amount of homework, catching up on revision etc . It's crazy.
My maths teacher is a really good teacher, but he's really fast. Too fast. Things like graphs, i never understood clearly until i cleared it up with my tuition thing. My science teacher is so unbelievably soft, sit further than the second row, you have to strain your ears to listen. We told him that he was too soft, but nothing really changed. I guessed it didn't really matter after a while, we all developed sensitive hearing to hear him.
In Cedar, textbooks are sometimes just there for show. We have no textbooks for English, and our textbooks for maths is used only for the questions in them. We have our own notes. For history, the workbook isn't even touched. For Science, we do touch our textbook, but we are very much more dependent on the notes they give, because the textbook is insufficient. Work like EMS (Electromagnetic Spectrum) and Light and Lenses, we depend on notes, worksheets and our own research and understanding.
I guess, for Cedar, the only thing that I really, really love is my CCA. The friends I make in my CCA are real and true, they don't pretend and I really love them alot. They pulled me up when I fell, helped me through everything and supported me when I'm at my lowest. In Cedar, my friends and I all joked that with the amount of pressure we face now, and the way that we are so used to it we no longer care that much even if we stay up pass midnight to finish everything, we will have no problem managing life later on. Cedar taught us to be self-sufficient, not be dependent on others to spoonfeed us with answers.Cedar taught us how to cope with negative stress, positive stress, and shaped us into determined,strong,open-minded characters that are successful at study and play at the same time.
I guess, it's a love-hate relationship for me with Cedar. I don't like the system, but at the same time, I acknowledge that this system is what makes me have an opinion, stand up for myself, know what I want, how to cope with different people, different things, how to face stress, and more importantly, how to study hard, play hard and appreciate the things we've been given.
This system at Cedar gives one an enormous amount of stress, yet I feel that it is this stress that we learn to cope, accept and get used to that allowed Cedarians to be so successful in everything we put our hearts to doing. When I look at my seniors, my classmates, I feel that the amount of resilience we have is commendable, to be able to live with the pressure of excellence coming from our school, teachers and parents, and from ourselves.
To all potential sec ones, yes this school may seem very scary, very stressful. I once doubted my choice of school, wanted to transfer out, even doubting if I'll be able to survive, to love this school as my school. When I came into this school, i was looking for an all-rounded education. And after a turbulent year and a half, i can't exactly love this school, but this school has definitely gave me an all-rounded education.
Whether or not you are in IP or express, you WILL face stress. You WILL feel like you're gonna die, gonna give up on everything. But if you give up, then you WILL fail. But if you don't give up, persevere on, then you WILL reap the benefits. Do everything with an open mind, with appreciation, gratitude, and you will be able to see for yourself, beneath that entire strive for excellence facade, is a huge valuable store for you to open, explore and benefit.
Goodluck.
*No offence meant to the school, to anyone. This is my honest opinion.
Sorry but I beg to differ with your statement. I am a secondary 4 student in Cedar and I felt that the stress can still be managed! However, since you're working hard to enter the IP stream, I cannot make a fair judgement. I was in the science class in sec 1 and I was given many opportunities to explore science-related topics (and many many performance task!) I found the PTs really interesting
It's so different from any other projects in other secondary schools (from what I've heard from my friends)
This year, I'll be taking my O levels
The school has been extremely encouraging to my cohort and they're always motivating us to do our best. I'm sooooo glad I'm in Cedar!
Now, about the academics in Cedar. After hearing so many 'honest' talks given by my principal, I can say that I know which subjects my school does best in and what not but here's the general overview...
For the past 3 years, Cedar have been #1 in our mean L1R5. 2009- 9.0 (best in Cedar history) 2010 and 2010 9.x but still the best! It's a pity every year when the media doesn't publicise these amazing achievements...
For combined humanities, we've come in joint first with a few other schools for the past few years. Cedar does well in Sciences and Pure humanities with many subjects coming in national #1,#2. Hardly any not in top 3. (proud cedarian here!)
I know many seniors who scored 2x for prelim 1 and high 1x(16~19) for prelim 2 and still get into top 5 jcs (some of them did chiong haha) Also, a few seniors got p1- 16, p2-10 and o level-6. As for myself, I did quite well for my Prelim 2 (even though I'm quite slack) and was above the cohort mean L1R5. Last year, 30 odd girls went to HC and RJ each. That makes 60 odd to 70 and the representatives of these schools have told us (during JC talks held earlier this year) that Cedar makes the largest non-IP portion of their cohort last year.
PSLE had just ended. I hope all parents will be able to make the best choice for your children and do extensive research before choosing sec school!!! Haha.. Above all, please remember to listen to your children's opinion. Don't force anything on them. After all, they are the ones who will be spending the next 4/5 years in secondary school and it is their happiness that matters. Open houses would be the best way the judge which school would be the best for your child -
Oh yeah I would like to talk about the arts scene in Cedar!
For Sec 4s, we are required to watch a performance outside of school and are given 5 choices to choose from. The performances were all held at the Esplanade. For me, I went for Gamarjobat which was an eye-opener for me as I've never watched slapstick comedy before! It is part of the arts enrichment so that Cedarians will learn to appreciate Arts more.
Also, the annual Arts Fest aims to fulfill the plan of arts appreciation in Cedar and is a platform for performing arts CCA to showcase their perf and hardwork.
The standard of Cedar's performing arts is increasing and I'm not surprised if Cedar starts accepting arts for DSA (although highly unlikely).
Cedar Choir is a choral excellence choir. Gold with Honours for a few years straight. Been to many overseas competition such as Musica Religiosa in Czech 2010 and won GOLD award. They are going to Korea this year for LJ and are visiting major K-pop companies such as JYP and SM entertainment.
Dance has attained gold with honours for a few years and is one of the best performing arts cca in terms of achievements. Excellent CCA.
Handbell is the only secondary school who attained Gold w Honours in the SYF 2011. The CCA almost disbanded but rose to great heights
So proud of them. Very persevering CCA.
Guzheng attained Gold in 2011 SYF. Although they did not do as well as their counterparts in the perf arts CCA, they are still no less better than them.
Not sure about ELDDS (EL drama and debating society) but I know they've won a few awards. Great actresses. However they do not do much of debating but are more inclined towards drama.
Side track a little. As all of you should know, Cedar's sports cca are very strong. The Uniform Groups is a group which should not be overlooked in terms of their achievements. ALL UG have achieved their gold award or something... Best award given to schools who have sustained their excellent achievements in UG. I don't really know about the names of the achievements but what I do know is that the UG girls have a high level of discipline and commitment to their CCA.
The Cedar's Got Talent is a 'talent time' in cedar and is held annually. The finals is usually held during Arts Fest as there are many nights (4/5?) of Arts Fest spread over a period of 2 months usually april~may.
As part of the holistic education Cedar hopes to give to their students, the sec 4s have many many manyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy workshops such as managing stress, etiquette, money management, time management etc. These workshops are held during curriculum time and is part of the 'Beyond Classroom Learning' programme where an entire day is dedicated to such workshops. We've also had the MBTI personality tests to get to know ourselves better. Every sec 4 in my cohort knows their MBTI and usually when making new friends, one would ask \"what's your MBTI?\" it's quite funny and interesting
Personally, I feel that these enrichment programmes actually help to relieve stress! HAHA. and they're extremely fun and helpful for me. These workshops are conducted by professionals so they're not any nonsense time-wasting programmes.
Oh oh!!! The PE curriculum is very fun too We get to do a different sports module every term. I've done Tennis, Vball, Rugby, Tchoukball, Soft ball, Tennis etc. There are also other modules which I haven't had the chance to do like Floorball, Badminton, Soccer etc etc (can't remember off hand). Since sec 4 life is stressful enough, we've stopped all our sports modules and had dance classes (Kpop and hiphop) and also sports injury (prevention) workshop.
Life is so vibrant in cedar
P.S.: My life in lower sec was quite dull because all the awesome programmes weren't implemented then. However, my batch was the one who started to pour in suggestions and what our juniors and us are enjoying now is because our school management is very open to suggestions. Theres a Focus Group Discussion every year to discuss the policies in Cedar. I'm willing to answer any non-IP questions about school life in general. I'm also a student leader. -
Hi yoyoyozxc,
I kn u are busy with the coming O Level, if hv time , pls answer my queries:
-For Sec 1-2( EXPRESS STREAM ), upper sec Sci syllabus are taught to lower sec students right?
Notes given by Sci teachers sufficient or u hv to do yr own indepth learn’g by referring to Upper Sci Textbook by publisher namely Marshall etc ?? Otherwise, can’t solve Sci ques in w/sheet.
-In lower Sec, Tons of Maths revision papers given by teachers , are they gone through thoroughly in class or depend’g on time factor , not all w/sheets gone through ? Answers posted Online for self-check?
-holidays h/wk given, are they mark by teachers at all? I kn in lots of premier sch, holidays h/wk are given but not marked as teachers just want their students to do n that’s all.
-how’s the discipline in Cedar? Is there daily uniform check in morn’g?
Students defying teachers in class?
Pranks play?
Thank you. -
Crester:
Hello! I would be glad to help my school in anyway possible!Hi yoyoyozxc,
I kn u are busy with the coming O Level, if hv time , pls answer my queries:
-For Sec 1-2( EXPRESS STREAM ), upper sec Sci syllabus are taught to lower sec students right?
Notes given by Sci teachers sufficient or u hv to do yr own indepth learn'g by referring to Upper Sci Textbook by publisher namely Marshall etc ?? Otherwise, can't solve Sci ques in w/sheet.
-In lower Sec, Tons of Maths revision papers given by teachers , are they gone through thoroughly in class or depend'g on time factor , not all w/sheets gone through ? Answers posted Online for self-check?
-holidays h/wk given, are they mark by teachers at all? I kn in lots of premier sch, holidays h/wk are given but not marked as teachers just want their students to do n that's all.
-how's the discipline in Cedar? Is there daily uniform check in morn'g?
Students defying teachers in class?
Pranks play?
Thank you.
Since the syllabus for the upcoming sec 1s will be different from my cohort's, I am not absolutely sure on what methods of teaching the school will use because they will be using laptop on a daily basis as a learning tool in class.
When I was in lower sec, I learnt very minimal upper sec science. My cohort did not have to buy upp sec tb because our teachers had provided very well-prepared notes that are even better than the textbooks! However, we do use the tbs in upper sec. The upper sec topics taught in lower sec will hardly be revised in upper sec because there's almost no time for that. The topics that are brought down to lower sec would be the easier topics so it'll be easier for the students to understand.
In lower sec and sec 3, every paper would be gone thru one by one! So no worries however in sec 4 it's a different thing altogether. We're doing papers after papers so we don't have the luxury to go thru every single one of them. Since we're sec 4, we're mature enough to seek consultation sessions from our teachers or ask our peers for help so that isn't a problem for us.
The teachers do mark holiday papers. The only holiday paper which my teacher didn't mark is the sec 2 nov dec holiday chem paper because the paper is meant to be a revision and the chem topics learnt in lower sec are only the fundamentals because the core topics will be taught in upper sec. So it didn't have any negative impact on my academics. Only English,chem,math,mt papers are given because the results of the subject combination for the sec 2s wouldn't be out until dec.
There is a daily uniform check done by prefects in charge of every class and there is a booking system where students who have improper attire would have their names taken down. Actions will be taken against them.
Im glad to say There's no defiance in cedar, at least not that I know of! I feel that this is what makes cedar different from other schools. It is the discipline of Cedarians that makes the school a wonderful environment to study and to do our best. It's hard to find any 'typical ahlians' in cedar because they're almost non-existent.
For pranks, it only happens on April fools day!!haha. Cedarians look forward to April fools every year because that is the only time of the year we can play pranks on teacher and not get into any trouble!
I hope these info will be of help to you!
-
Oh and I just had jc talks today and also earlier this year in may. Today, my school invited professionals to talk about their careers. Accountancy, medicine, psychology. Tomorrow there will be architecture, public relations, journalism, deejay, hospitality and tourism, social work, law and a career exhibition in the school hall. Career exhibitions are Open to students from all level every year but the jc and career talks are only available for sec 4s. We had hci, ri, aj, tj, acsi, acjc, nj, saj, nyj, sjc,mj,vj talks.
-
yoyoyozxc:
Oh and I just had jc talks today and also earlier this year in may. Today, my school invited professionals to talk about their careers. Accountancy, medicine, psychology. Tomorrow there will be architecture, public relations, journalism, deejay, hospitality and tourism, social work, law and a career exhibition in the school hall. Career exhibitions are Open to students from all level every year but the jc and career talks are only available for sec 4s. We had hci, ri, aj, tj, acsi, acjc, nj, saj, nyj, sjc,mj,vj talks.
Thanks for yr valuable feedbacks.
May I kn if next wk, Sec 1 having EOY exam for 5 days?
For Sec 1-2 Sci exam, how many papers are there or just 1 single paper?
Tks. -
Crester:
Just curious Crester, you have DD coming to Cedar? Or you are just doing a comparison between SNGS and Cedar?
Thanks for yr valuable feedbacks.
May I kn if next wk, Sec 1 having EOY exam for 5 days?
For Sec 1-2 Sci exam, how many papers are there or just 1 single paper?
Tks. -
Hi, my daughter has just finished her PSLE. Cedar is her dream school. We hope she can make it for the IP. Just curious, do you do Literature for Sec 1? If so, what books do you use for the whole year?
-
My dd said that most of her IP class girls will transfer to RGS in year 3.
The reason not convenient to say in public forum.
I guess being new to IP programme, there are many things to catch compare to sch who had 8 years of proven results.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login