Integrated Programme

Integrated Programme

Victoria-Cedar Alliance (VCA)

The Victoria-Cedar Alliance is made up of three schools, Victoria School, Cedar Girls’ Secondary School (CGSS) and Victoria Junior College (VJC). Since 2012, we have offered the 6-year Integrated Programme (IP) to high-ability boys and girls, where they spend 4 years in their respective secondary schools before moving to VJC for two years before attempting the GCE ‘A’ Levels. Like all brothers and sisters, we are unique and distinctive in our own ways. Bonded by a shared belief to prepare our students for the 21st century, we nurture our students to their full potential and develop every student to be a Social Innovator, Passionate Learner. Today the partnership extends to CCA collaborations, student leadership development and talent development so as to ensure that our students benefit from the alliance.

We warmly welcome you to embark on this exciting 6-year journey with us.

Click here - file exceeds 5MB to view the VCA IP Handbook and find out more about the programmes and the people that make the Victoria-Cedar experience one to remember for a lifetime.

Philosophy of Education

_Social Innovators, Passionate Learners_The VCA IP curriculum is future-oriented and it encourages students to respect ideas, pursue excellence and celebrate discoveries. The VCA IP demands students’ full participation so that individuals may develop their personal voice and identity and stretch their potential.

The VCA IP expects students to take strong ownership of their learning and to seek and create opportunities for their education so that, in the process, students may develop a passion for knowledge and equip themselves with the essential skills and intellectual habits of a lifelong learner.

Education at the VCA IP empowers students to challenge and to lead. The VCA IP requires students to assume responsibility for personal actions and to exercise intellectual and moral courage. The scholarship and collegiality it fosters in its students should lead them, in their later lives, to promote understanding between people and to strive for the betterment of their country and the world.

The 6C Framework

Core Curriculum

The core curriculum develops in VCA IP students the competence in three areas: knowledge and understanding, skills and processes, values and attitudes. Students are purposefully engaged in lessons in order to develop and deepen their understanding of the concept or topic. Rather than seeing a discipline in terms of discrete components of knowledge, the learning approach aims to help students make connections between disciplines and bridge different ideas and issues, as well as the classroom context with the real world.

VCA IP students drive their own learning. They are encouraged to delve deeper into issues and collaborate with other learners in the same way that professionals in the discipline would, for example investigating a problem or situation in the way a scientist or sociologist would see it. This sets the stage for students to discover and create new knowledge, and strive for the betterment of their country and the world.

Helmsman Programme

Complementing the VCA IP’s drive for academic excellence, the Helmsman Programme helps students chart their lives and brings out their full potential as leaders. The programme develops students who are informed and transforms them into mature, well-balanced young people who possess sound judgment amidst ambiguity and have the capacity to face challenges in a complex world. Through strengthening our students’ character from within, students will have a deepened sense of belonging, commitment and responsibility towards self, family, community, nation and the world.

Years 1 & 2: Personal and Team Leadership
Students hone their personal mastery through personality assessment tools and platforms to apply their skills and knowledge. They will exercise responsibilities for personal effectiveness and exercise credibility to align their values with action. In the process, they will learn to experiment, take risk and see challenges as an opportunity to innovate.

Years 3 & 4: Organisational Leadership
Students enhance their understanding of human behaviour and appreciation of social dynamics through authentic learning opportunities. They will be able to facilitate and enlist others to work towards a common goal.

Years 5 & 6: Community Leadership
Students strengthen their personal voice to become advocates and leaders in their chosen fields. They will have the drive and ability to be social innovators, championing the vision and direction for growth to make a difference in the community.

Imagineering Programme

A signature programme of the VCA IP, the Imagineering Programme aims to nurture social innovators. It is the main platform through which students’ innovative capacity is developed and honed to provide them with the vital skills they need to create breakthrough solutions to real problems in a fast-changing world.

Using Design Thinking as the approach, the Imagineering Programme helps students gain a deeper understanding of social issues, and develop empathy and a desire to impact the community positively. It equips them with the skills and knowledge so that they can design innovative solutions to improve the lives of others.

Years 1 & 2
Students develop basic skills and attributes in Design Thinking, and apply them to classroom-based and school-based issues.

Years 3 & 4
Working in partnership with Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and South-East Community Development Council (South-East CDC), students deepen their mastery of Design Thinking tools through engagement with real issues in society. In Year 4, students are encouraged to work on their own Social Innovation project.

Years 5 & 6
Students further hone their Design Thinking skills and knowledge by serving as peer leaders during Project Work lessons. Students are encouraged to initiate Values-in-Action projects to benefit the community around them.

Electives

A key belief that underpins the VCA IP is that students should be given the time and space to pursue knowledge and skills outside the requirements of the formal curriculum. The Electives programme is put in place to create that diverse and broad-based learning element in our students’ learning experiences. The programme is important in supporting the development of the Passionate Learners. Students choose the electives according to their interests. It inspires the students to pursue their own passion by empowering them with choices in their own learning.

Social Studies Education

Social Studies Education in the VCA IP aims to develop students into informed, concerned and participative citizens, competent in decision-making with an impassioned spirit to contribute responsibly to the society and world they live in. This is done through examining authentic issues that are of concern to our society and the world we live in. Students attain knowledge and understanding about these issues, develop critical and reflective thinking skills, and appreciate multiple perspectives. In addition, we seek to develop in our students a deeper understanding of the values that define the Singapore society, nurture dispositions that will inspire them to show concern for the society and the world they live in, and demonstrate empathy in their relationships with others.

Research Education

In the VCA, we tap on the students’ passion for learning by providing them with platforms and opportunities to expand their understanding and thought processes through a rigorous Research Education curriculum. Students are able to explore and experiment as they engage with the demands of research work. This allows them to develop their intellectual traits, knowledge and skills necessary for the workplace of the future.

Apart from deepening students’ interest and passion in learning, research is a viable and beneficial way to challenge and stretch high ability students. It adds an additional dimension in terms of breadth to the IP experience. In addition, research enables students to make connections between disciplines and empowers students to apply their learning on real-life issues.

Joint VCA Activities

The Victoria-Cedar Alliance (VCA) believes strongly in providing opportunities for students from the three schools to come together. These common programmes and activities provide unique opportunities for our students work on projects together and learn from one another while bringing with them different skills, talents and experiences from their respective schools. Through these activities, students from the three schools develop communication skills needed to reach out and impact, learn to relate with others and work effectively in team, and develop a shared sense of VCA community and purpose.

Besides ongoing academic and CCA collaborations, recent joint VCA student activities include the SG50 National Day Celebrations, the Year 1 VCA Orientation, and the Cyberwellness Student Ambassador Programme.