I’m a student from CHIJ SJC and graduated in the 2014 batch. I entered with an extremely low PSLE score of 197 and still got into express at that time because of affiliation from CHIJ OLGC.


The school does have a reputation for girls who tend to misbehave and get in trouble with the police (but seriously this tends to only be apparent amongst the NT/NA students) The express students, though very much playful, do know when to work hard and when to play hard. We spent our time criticising the school throughout our 4 years for dirty toilets, long study camps, etc. but all those are what makes the SJC experience.

The school did give us teachers that weren’t the best in our lower secondary years but once you got to secondary 4, they made sure you had the best. I had mostly HOD’s assigned to teaching my class (we were supposed to be the worst class of the level) and the teachers treated us like their daughters. When we really needed help at some point and our teacher was on leave because her husband had an operation, she even arranged for us to come in small groups to her house and attend short classes.

Our class was really lucky and had 2 particular HOD teachers that never gave up on us. They loved us so much and believed in us (even though we disappointed them so much some times) They often spent their own money to buy us fruits because we ate unhealthily and even got us brands essence of chicken on 2 occasions! Now, 2 years later, our class often goes back and returns the favour by buying them drinks!

When we changed principals to Ms Ho, the school became very focused on performing well academically. At one point, the sec 4’s weren’t performing as expected and our principal sat us down in the gym and made us wake up our ideas. That day she actually really hurt my class’ morale by telling us that the way we were performing that we were going to end up no where. All of us were pretty angry and wanted to prove her wrong. Also, because we really loved our previous principal, her presence really annoyed us that year HAHA

Although SJC does not do well in their own semestral and mid year examinations, trust me, it is because they set papers that are ridiculously hard. If you could pass an SJC paper, you’d definitely pass your O levels. I remember being able to do a Raffles girls E-math paper but never being able to do SJC’s paper… In secondary 4, my mid-year results were horrid, i thought i was going to end up in ITE. I was getting an L1R5 of close to 30.

Nearing to O’s, the school opened its gates to us at night for night study. Each day, there would be a different group of teachers around specialising in 1 subject. So there was humanities day, english day, math day, etc. Our teachers stayed back late with us and took care of us into the night so that we would understand the subject. That was really one of the most helpful things because they had the time to really sit down and make sure you understood.

Our cohort was thought to ruin the school’s standard set by the previous year but for O levels, we raised the bar. From an L1R4/5 of close to 30, i graduated with an L1R5 of 9 (-1 for cca) I could easily enter a JC and chose almost any Poly course i wanted. You’d never imagine the girl with a PSLE score of below 200 to jump this far. My name was on the screen in the hall, i was on the list for the top 10 value added students. My class was supposedly the worst class, but so many of us did so well and we’re out making our mark in our various schools now.

I chose the poly route despite my score and am now ending off my 2nd year at NYP.

Being an IJ girl is an experience no one can imagine unless you experience it for yourself. It’s a school that spends years building up your character and teaches you values until they stick. I’m really a true blue IJ girl at heart and as the saying goes, IJ friends are friends for life. My 10 years spent in IJ has really made the person i am today, no matter what, i would still choose SJC. What’s really important is how your daughters choose their friends as well, because your friends are your greatest influence there (i would know because i spent 1 year with a group of friends that loved to be late for class, skip cca and i ended up doing the same. Obviously, that, i regret. But i found the greatest family in my secondary 4 class and teachers.