Slew of joint events at merging JCs to ease the transition
In the biggest school consolidation to date, 14 schools will be no more from 2019, including, for the first time, four junior colleges. Serangoon, Jurong, Tampines and Innova JCs will be subsumed, with the last founded only in 2005. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Ahead of next year’s mergers, the eight affected junior colleges are already busy planning joint events to ease the transition for staff and students.
At Anderson JC, an open house for prospective students of the future Anderson Serangoon JC will be held this Saturday evening.
Named Neon – short for “The Next Episode of Our Narrative” – the joint open house with Serangoon JC will feature stalls selling finger food, a drone display, subject booths and end with a dance by students of both JCs, said Serangoon JC principal Manogaran Suppiah, who is also principal-designate of Anderson Serangoon JC.
This is to “let potential students know they are coming to a college that is very vibrant, with a lot of creative ideas”, he said.
He also hopes to combine the “strong elements” of both schools’ mottos for Anderson Serangoon JC.
Serangoon JC has a strong focus on community work and each co-curricular activity adopts a voluntary welfare organisation, while Anderson’s niche is in science, said Mr Suppiah.
At Pioneer and Jurong JCs – which will merge to form Jurong Pioneer JC – nearly 300 students came together as orientation group leaders to plan this year’s orientation for the J1 batch.
It was a “huge affair” and a “good start”, said Pioneer JC principal Tan-Kek Lee Yong, who will retire after this year.
Staff from both schools had a joint staff retreat at Sentosa at the end of last year to get to know each other better, learn about each other’s school culture and bounce off ideas on how to work together, said Mrs Tan-Kek.
The bulk of the merging JCs said the JC1 students this year will be donning “interim” school uniforms – mostly polo tee-shirts which combine the merging schools’ logos.
The t-shirts were either designed by students, or a joint effort by staff from both schools. More time is needed for consultation to come up with the uniform for the merged school in 2019.
The JCs hope to retain their signature programmes after the merger – for instance, Jurong JC’s Chinese Language Elective Programme and Pioneer JC’s Malay Language elective programme.
Yishun JC’s entrepreneurship club has adopted technopreneurship – originally offered by Innova JC – as one of its modules. Innova JC is a Centre of Excellence for New Media and counts digital literacy as one of its strengths, said Innova JC principal Mr Michael de Silva, who is principal-designate of Yishun Innova JC.
A teacher-exchange programme of sorts has been planned for economics and physics teachers of Meridian and Tampines JCs later this year, said Tampines JC principal Pamela Yoong, the principal-designate of Tampines Meridian JC.
Teachers from one school will be guest lecturers at the other, allowing students to “benefit from a combined team of teachers”.
The teachers, in turn, will get a chance to know the J1 students and “be familiar with the working environment”, she said.
J1 students at Meridian JC will also be invited to be part of Tampines JC’s arts events, such as the its Arts Night and annual drama production, Manifestasi, which showcases Malay cultural performances, she added.
“It is not artificial or contrived, but an opportunity to work together. We encourage a lot of interactions, as we already see these J1s as our students…. It takes a village to raise a child and we get two villages, Meridian and Tampines,” said Ms Yoong.
Tampines Meridian JC’s vision and motto should be ready by July, she said.
There is some work cut out for the affected schools, however.
A theatre facility will be built at Meridian JC for the Theatre Studies and Drama Elective Programme students. This year’s J1 batch will have to travel to Tampines JC to use its facility, she said.
During the transition, Pioneer JC’s Mrs Tan said the greater variety of co-curricular activities offered would mean more “teachers being quite stretched” as they have to help out. Some 30 Jurong JC teachers have already been deployed to help with the J1 intake at Pioneer JC.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article reported the wrong venue for the open house Anderson JC and Serangoon JC are jointly organising for prospective students when the schools merge in 2019. The open house will be held at Anderson JC. We are sorry for the error.
