PRESS RELEASE

Ministry of Education

EDUN N25-05-20

9 Sep 05

EMBARGOED UNTIL 12.00 PM, FRIDAY 9 Sep 2005

RIVER VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL TO OFFER THE IN 2006

1. Come Jan 2006, students will have an additional choice of Integrated Programme (IP) in secondary schools. River Valley High School (RVHS) will offer the IP in 2006, joining eight other schools/family of schools currently offering the IP. This was announced by Education Minister, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, during his visit to River Valley High School (RVHS) on 9 Sep 05.

2. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has approved the proposal by RVHS to offer a 6-year IP for its students. The IP will be available to its 2006 cohort of Sec 1 and 2 students from January. RVHS students will take the GCE ‘A’ Level examinations at the end of JC 2. The IP offered by RVHS will add further diversity to the current mix of schools offering the IP.

3. RVHS intends to provide an IP that focuses on both process and content, with the aim of nurturing critical thinking skills and providing opportunities for its students to engage in broader learning experiences. Its IP will also provide a range of programmes to develop talents in niche areas such as the arts and mathematics.

4. RVHS will be relocated to Jalan Boon Lay in a few years’ time, in new premises to be developed. The new premises are necessary to provide for the projected expansion in enrolment and full range of facilities it will need as a 6th form school. RVHS’ current site at West Coast Road is not large enough to accommodate the eventual total enrolment at 6 levels.

5. In the meantime, the school will move to a holding site at the existing St. Andrew’s Junior College1 premises at Malan Road from mid-2006. The move is

1 SAJC will move out of this site in end 2005.

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necessary because the bigger site will give the school greater infrastructural flexibility to organise its IP. A few schools planned to undergo PRIME in the near future have been shortlisted for RVHS’ original site at West Coast Road, which is undergoing upgrading under MOE’s PRIME scheme.

BACKGROUND

6. In Oct 2002, the Junior College/Upper Secondary Education Review Committee, chaired by then Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry & Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, recommended, among other things, the introduction of IP spanning upper secondary and JC education. The IP was part of the broader restructuring of the education landscape to encourage greater diversity and choice, and cater to the varied talents of our students. The IP would cater to students who were clearly university-bound, and could also do well in a less structured environment. It would free up time used to prepare students for the GCE 'O' Level examinations to engage them in broader learning experiences. The Committee's recommendations were endorsed by Parliament in November 2002.

7. Currently, the IP is offered in eight schools/families of schools, viz. the Raffles and Hwa Chong families of schools, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), , , , and NUS High School of Mathematics and Science.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

For further media queries, please contact:

Ms Adeline Leong Head, Publicity Corporate Communications Division Tel: 6879 5881 H/P: 9366 5829 Fax: 6775 0276

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