Press Releases
Nurturing More Students with Talent in Art and Music
Students with talent in art and music will have more opportunities to develop their talent in school. Three secondary schools will offer a new Enhanced Art Programme (EAP) or Enhanced Music Programme (EMP) from 2011. These new programmes will complement the existing Art Elective Programme (AEP) and Music Elective Programme (MEP), which will also be extended to two more secondary schools from 2011. Together, these programmes will enhance the secondary education landscape by creating more peaks of excellence in art and music.
(I) New Enhanced Art Programme (EAP) and Enhanced Music Programme (EMP)
The EAP and EMP are two-year programmes that provide an enriched learning environment for Secondary 3 and 4 students who are inclined towards Art and Music respectively. Students in the EAP/EMP will proceed to either take Art/Music or Higher Art/Higher Music at O-level. Students will study a range of topics based on the O-level syllabus for Art/Music or Higher Art/ Higher Music and benefit from enrichment activities.
EAP/EMP schools will receive support from MOE, which includes a start-up fund and one additional art/music teaching personnel. The start-up fund will equip schools with additional music instruments or specialised art equipment, and teaching resources for the EAP/EMP classes.
In selecting schools to run the EAP/EMP, MOE considered the school’s student profile, quality of the school’s existing Art/Music curriculum, arts culture, and the school’s capacity to implement and sustain a strong Art/Music programme. The EAP will be introduced at St. Andrew’s Secondary School and CHIJ Katong Convent, while the EMP will be introduced at Chung Cheng High School (Main).
St. Andrew’s Secondary School has a strong Art and Design culture and is a Centre of Excellence for Design for south zone schools. The school will enhance its current O-level Art programme by complementing traditional approaches of learning Art with experiential learning such as creative digital imaging and computer 3D animation. The main focus of its Enhanced Art Programme is to equip talented students with the necessary aptitude, creativity and technical skills to be future ready.
CHIJ Katong Convent has a strong arts culture and will enhance its current broad-based O-level Art programme through providing modules in digital media such as creative digital imaging. It has developed a holistic framework to provide art exposure, enrich learning and nurture excellence in art under its Enhanced Art Programme. The school will also develop a programme to further nurture its students to express themselves and communicate creatively through both art and drama.
Chung Cheng High School (Main) has a rich tradition and culture for the arts. The school will strengthen its existing O-level Music programme by designing a teaching and learning framework for musical study, performance or composition, and will introduce music projects to develop students’ skills in research and presentation. As part of its Enhanced Music Programme, it will also set up a preparatory programme for talented lower secondary students to strengthen the foundation for learning Music at upper secondary.
Students interested in taking Art or Music as an O-level subject under the EAP or EMP should first be enrolled in the schools offering these programmes.
(II) Two More Schools Offer Art and Music Elective Programmes from 2011
The secondary AEP and MEP are four-year programmes introduced at Secondary 1 to provide students who are doing academically well and are talented in Art/Music with the opportunity for in-depth study of Art/Music, and to develop leadership in the arts. Students in the AEP/MEP proceed to take Higher Art/Music at O-level.
To extend the reach of AEP and MEP, two more schools will offer the programmes from 2011. Bukit Panjang Government High School will offer the AEP and Catholic High School will offer the MEP. This brings the total number of schools offering AEP to 8 and MEP to 11 from 2011. Please refer to Annex A (60kb.pdf) for the list of AEP and MEP schools.
Bukit Panjang Government High School progressively builds students’ interests and achievements in Art by having a broad-based Art programme at the lower secondary level and a more contemporary and digital media programme at the upper secondary level. The school also offers a wide range of enrichment activities that extend the teaching and learning of art beyond the classroom. The school’s achievements in the aesthetics include the Sustained Achievement Award (Aesthetics), good results in the biennial Singapore Youth Festival Art & Crafts Exhibitions and the School Digital and Media Awards.
Catholic High School provides a positive environment that is conducive for the study of Music. The General Music Programme at Catholic High School exposes students to music from various cultures and harnesses the use of Information Technology to prepare students for the media age. The Aesthetics Programme at Catholic High develops students’ appreciation for music and visual aesthetics through various activities, performances and exhibitions. The school’s achievements in the aesthetics include Sustained Achievement Award (Aesthetics) and high accolades in various performing arts in the biennial Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging.
More than 6,000 students have graduated from the AEP and MEP since their inception in 1984 and 1982 respectively. Students interested in the art and music programmes in secondary schools can apply to the respective schools via the secondary school admission for Primary 6 students.