Stylo:hey, i know my reply is a little late but i didn't think this post was well followed through. i was a cedarian that graduated in 2013.We have been thinking about choice of secondary schools and are considering Cedar.
We want a good school that places an emphasis on values like kindness and compassion, and an environment that develops excellence but also cares for weaker students. Overall, a school that cares and nurtures rather than one which is super stressful and competitive.
Dear parents, current and former students, please share the following info. Thank you so much.
1. Academics
Is the academic work load manageable?
Do the teachers pile on a lot of homework or is most academic work done in school?
Is the school a place where weaker students are given the help and the time to cope with the material?
Do stronger students help weaker students? Is there a strong sense of community and togetherness?
Does the school insist that students drop their weaker subjects?
2. Time and schedule
In a typical week, what time do the girls finish school?
Are there extra programmes or projects that require students to stay back in school after classes end?
3. CCA
How many CCAs do students have to take?
Do you pick a CCA based on interest or do you have to be selected?
Is the CCA work load manageable?
How many days a week do you have to commit?
4. Programmes
What programmes are there for character development and spiritual growth?
What about for student exchanges, internationalisation, global awareness, etc?
5. Culture and environment
Are the girls disciplined and well-behaved?
Does the school emphasise good values like kindness, compassion, generosity,
helping others, etc?
Does the school have a competitive or cooperative culture?
Does the school have a caring and nurturing environment?
Is the emphasis on high achievement or making sure that no child gets left behind?
Is there a good balance between academics, CCA, time with friends and family?
In general, did/do you feel mostly feel stress and pressure, or feel a sense of balance and well-being?
6. Any other comments?
Thank you so much for your time.
1. The academic workload was rather manageable in my opinion. Perhaps the calibre of the students was already high enough, but i didn't really have classmates that struggled heavily in the day to day until upper secondary. The teachers wouldn't 'pile' on homework but rather, gave pretty manageable homework load or simply gave a long enough homework extension (depending on the teacher). My classmates would simply 'bargain' with the teacher when they thought they were too time pressed.
I wasn't in one of the higher calibre classes in upper secondary and my class math average was a fail till sec 4. The school was incredibly effective in their allocation of teachers and know how to allocate more patient teachers to the slower classes. There are also programmes that help the slower students catch up. The curriculum is paced really well so we weren't rushing for time to complete the syllabus.
Compared to JC, my secondary school classmates were extremely generous with their time and very willing to help out. No worries about a cut neck competitive environment (may be a little stressful if you were in the top few classes but my friends in there also enjoyed their time tremendously). No one looked down on the weaker students, everyone just did their best. Everyone is also incredibly self-motivated (i kid you not) so it is inevitable that you will jump onto the bandwagon to get your homework done and study for tests haha. Like I mentioned before, my class wasn't in a good place academically but we still managed to make it out of school with a 9.0 L1R5 class average solely based on an encouraging and motivating environment.
The school doesn't insist but simply heavily encourage the weaker students to drop these subjects.
2. Unless it changed, my days ended at 1+/3+ on alternate days respectively without CCA. Depending on your daughter's CCA, she may end at 5+/6+. There are supplementary classes etc. Not so much in lower sec but these classes tend to be focused on the weaker students. So I guess in a nutshell, there aren't really as much additional classes unless your daughter really needs it. Other than that, we end quite regularly.
3. Your daughter will choose 1 CCA and its a combination of whether she's interested (to attend the interview and trials) and if she has the calibre for it (especially for sports CCA etc). If she is in one of the high flyer CCAs (think track&field, choir), it is going to be quite tough (especially during competition period). But trust that she has the discipline and the support to pull through (as with my friends). Likewise, the commitment level depends on the CCA. For example, track&field has training 3 days a week in non-competition period but it can be upped to nearly everyday when NATs draws near. For other CCAs like library or photography, there will be more space to catch a breather.
4. Cedar is a secular school so on the aspect of religious studies, maybe not so much. Otherwise, we have weekly blocks for social emotional learning (think civics and moral education). There's quite a number of exchange program through CCA or academic programs. I went on a UK lit trip in sec 3. There's a lot of opportunities to grow in terms of global awareness, internationalisation through MUN etc.
5. Cedarians are really well-behaved and disciplined imo haha. Aside the chatters at assembly etc, it's all good. While the school encourages good behaviour, there isn't usually a need to outright state it considering everyone is really that nice haha. The school is both cooperative and competitive. Competitive enough to keep you on your toes, cooperative enough to help you get back on your feet when you fall. I'm not sure whether it was simply my cohort or the teachers I got, but they were marvellous. Really encouraging and the teachers knew how to treat us like mature ladies rather than nag us all the time (although there are the occasional instances ...). But in general, the student-teacher relationship is pretty close given the students know how to respect the teachers. Some classes can be really fun haha. Imo, i didn't really feel the pressure to score really well but i just wanted to do my best. However, i did have a lot of friends who felt immense pressure (especially the academically weaker ones). It can be quite demoralising bc the others students really do quite well. But otherwise, even despite the stress, it was really manageable because I mean I don't think there's another place that really pushes you this much to want to do as best as you can. Personally, I had quite a good balance and a lot of my friends forged really close friendships with their CCA friends (and they study together and motivate each other etc). We still do have plenty of time on weekends to spend with our family. But i think managing a good balance is very much a personal issue (in a sense - knowing how to prioritise well, having the self-discipline).
In a way, I may be biased because I had good teachers, studied in a good cohort and did relatively well enough to not bear the extreme brunt of stress. I enjoyed Cedar a lot in a way that it was very reassuring and you know that you will build a strong enough foundation to do well. Although maybe it was just my class but the girls tend to be more reticent (i suppose this comes with being well behaved) and i had a slight culture shock when i went into JC because everyone was so sociable haha. But I also think because of their increasingly reserved nature, the cedar spirit wasn't as strong as compared to when i was in lower sec with the older batches. But you make a lot of genuine, good friendship that lasts a long time.
