Press Releases
Yishun Town Secondary School to Become Autonomous School from 2010
The Ministry of Education will accord Yishun Town Secondary School Autonomous School status from January 2010. After a stringent evaluation process, Yishun Town Secondary School has been found to have met the criteria that comprise the following broad areas:
A well-rounded education programme and a good system in place to achieve the Desired Outcomes of Education;
Consistently attained and shows ability to sustain good achievements in academic and co-curricular areas;
Is well regarded and enjoys strong parental and community support and public recognition.
Yishun Town Secondary has shown consistently good performance in both its academic and co-curricular spheres. It is the only school, besides St Margaret’s Secondary, to have achieved sustained value-added performance for both the Express and the Normal Courses for the past two years. Last year, the school bagged its 2nd Sustained Achievement Award for the Express Course and its 4th Sustained Achievement Award for the Normal Course. The school has also attained sustained achievement in Aesthetics, Sports and Physical Fitness, and is a niche school for Uniformed Groups.
The school’s sustained good performance can be attributed to a committed and dedicated staff. It has also implemented a customised and integrated curriculum to develop its students fully, and put in place an affirmative culture which has motivated its students to excel in all domains. Through its outreach and collaborative programmes, the school has garnered strong support from the community. Its efforts in providing holistic education have made it a choice school for parents of Primary 6 pupils.
Mr S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education, announced Yishun Town Secondary’s Autonomous status at a visit to the school on 28 April 2009.
Background
Autonomous Schools were established in 1994 to provide pupils with quality education through being given greater autonomy in school management. Autonomous Schools present parents with more options in the choice of quality schools for their children.
Autonomous Schools are given additional funding and flexibility to develop a holistic education that stretches each pupil to his fullest potential. Pupils from Autonomous Schools thus benefit from innovative curricula as well as a varied range of enrichment programmes. Autonomous Schools also have the flexibility of directly admitting pupils with niche-related talents into Secondary One under the Direct School Admission process. This is subject to a cap of 10% of the school’s Secondary One cohort.
There are currently 27 Autonomous Schools. The list of Autonomous Schools can be found in the Annex.
Annex
List of Autonomous Schools (2009)
| Year School Became Autonomous | School |
|---|---|
| 1994 | Anderson Secondary School Bukit Panjang Government High CHIJ Secondary School (Toa Payoh) Dunman High School River Valley High School Victoria School |
| 1995 | Anglican High School Catholic High CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School Commonwealth Secondary School Tanjong Katong Girls’ School Temasek Secondary School |
| 1996 | Cedar Girls’ Secondary School Chung Cheng High School (Main) Crescent Girls’ School Fairfield Methodist Secondary School Maris Stella High School Zhonghua Secondary School |
| 2001 | Dunman Secondary School Xinmin Secondary School |
| 2002 | Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ Secondary School St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School |
| 2003 | CHIJ Katong Convent |
| 2004 | Ngee Ann Secondary School |
| 2005 | Tanjong Katong Secondary School |
| 2006 | Nan Hua High School |
| 2009 | St Margaret’s Secondary School |