Singapore Youth Festival 2007

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1. The Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) this year is set for its biggest ever indoor Opening Ceremony. With the theme “Kaleidoscope”, this year’s SYF, with performances stretching through July, promises to be a feast for the senses with its music and colours.

2. The celebrations will kick off with the Opening Ceremony at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 29 June 2007 where Minister for Education & Second Minister for Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, will be the Guest-of-Honour. More than 1,800 students will perform in the Opening Ceremony this year, with more than 8,000 people expected to catch the performance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

3. This year’s SYF also includes an inaugural national competition for the Uniformed Groups (UGs), the Hillary Challenge (Singapore). For the first time, UGs in schools come together in a physically and mentally challenging event comprising varied activities in different domains, aimed at showcasing the diverse talents and dynamic vibrancy of our youth.

4. Tickets for the various SYF Presentations are available to the public at $5 each from 25 June 2007, at all Sistic Outlets. 200 free tickets for the Opening Ceremony will also be made available to the public, on a first-come first-served basis[1].

5. SYF 2007 continues to bring the sights and sounds of the celebration to the heartlands with performances at four shopping malls[2], bringing our students’ talents to a wider audience. Members of the public will be able to enjoy performances by students from primary school to junior college levels, as well as students from various special education (SPED) schools. This year’s SYF also features participation by the SPED schools in the heartlands, with their involvement in areas such as art and craft, music, dance and even circus arts. Besides the malls in the heartlands, SYF also reaches out to the public at Ngee Ann City and the Botanic Gardens.

6. SYF also features participation from the biggest number of foreign groups this year. This includes St. John’s High School from Malaysia, Suksanaree School and Ground Scatter Crew from Thailand, Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School from Chennai, Good Hope School from Hong Kong, as well as Doan Thi Diem and Thanh Quan Lower Secondary Schools from Vietnam. Through this, our students will be able to build bonds with students of different backgrounds from various countries in the region.

7. The SYF Opening Ceremony this year will feature, for the first time, a Festival Drums item performed by a 200-strong combined schools team. The item, titled “A Thunderous Dream”, is a dynamic display of vigour, vibrancy and passion. Reflecting the cross-cultural appeal of the item, Festival Drums features 20 non-Chinese performers in the team.

8. Other highlights include an inaugural performance by the 400 strong combined primary schools choir, and the biggest ever combined primary schools band display comprising 450 members from various primary schools.

9. The pre-show segment will build up the atmosphere with high energy performances such as beatboxing, rock band, hip hop/modern dance and interactive fusion. There will also be breakdancing by Ground Scatter Crew from Thailand and cheerleading displays as three secondary school teams vie for the top spot in the “Cheerobics 2007 Secondary School Finals” organised by Team Singapore.

10. The Hillary Challenge (Singapore) is the Asian Chapter of the Genesis Energy Sir Edmund Hillary Challenge in New Zealand. The winning team of the Hillary Challenge (Singapore) will represent Singapore and compete with the best high school teams from New Zealand in the highly competitive and much coveted Genesis Energy Sir Edmund Hillary Challenge to be held in Tongariro, New Zealand. This is the first time a foreign team will participate in the Challenge in New Zealand, and it will allow our best team to pit their skills against others in terrains which are vastly different from ours.

11. The SYF is organized annually to showcase the diverse talents of our students in the performing arts, sports and uniformed groups. Since its inception in 1966, the SYF has played an important role in providing platforms for students to hone their different skills. Through participation in the various SYF activities, students also develop social skills and build bonds with team mates of different social and ethnic backgrounds.

12. The SYF takes place over two periods: April-May and July. April and May is the Central Judging period where various performing arts groups in schools (band, Chinese orchestra, choir, dance, drama and instrumental ensembles) are awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze awards based on their performance. Items are then selected for the July festival to showcase the diversity of items put up by the schools.

[1]From 22 Jun 07 onwards, the tickets can be obtained from the Co-Curricular Activities Branch reception counter at Evans Road or the MOE Customer Service Centre at MOE HQ, Buona Vista.