Catholic High School

Catholic High School (公教中學) (also known as CAH) is an all-boys Catholic school in Singapore offering a six-year primary, a four-year GCE 'O' Level education and a six-year GCE 'A' Level education starting from 2013. The primary school offers the Gifted Education Program (GEP) in addition to the standard PSLE curriculum. The school was founded in 1935 by the Rev. Fr. Edward Becheras, a French missionary, on the philosophy of producing scholars who are fluent in both English and Chinese.

The school has produced 20 President's Scholars and numerous recipients of other scholarships. Many of its alumni are leaders in the public and private sectors. Catholic High is recognized as one of the top schools in Singapore, having been ranked in the Band 1 tables of the Ministry of Education school academic rankings. In 2008 it was awarded the School Distinction Award under the MOE Master Plan of Awards, which recognizes high-achieving schools with exemplary processes and practices.

The principal of the school is Lee Hak Boon, with three vice-principals: primary section - Koh Kwang Hoon; secondary section - Tay Chen Lai; and administration - Daniel Teo Guan Teck. The supervisor is Father Henry Siew, parish priest of the Church of the Nativity BVM.

Catholic High School is affiliated to Catholic Junior College.

The school is notable for being the school selected by Lee Kuan Yew for his children, including current Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.

History
Catholic High School was founded in 1935 by the Reverend Father Edward Becheras, a French missionary. Although it is a Catholic school, it also accepts non-Catholic students. The school started within the Church of St. Peter and Paul. Becheras envisaged the school as a bilingual institution. He stated: "The way of Catholic High School is a way made of two rails — Chinese and English — free from any entanglement, straight to its end. Happy are those who follow. They shall obtain the scope of a sound education."

The school was classified under the Special Assistance Plan in 1979. This enables it to offer students in the top 10% of the cohort both English and Chinese as their first languages. In the same year, pre-primary classes were started to prepare students for primary school Chinese study. Catholic High expanded its campus to accommodate its pre-primary and lower-primary classes on Gentle Road and its upper-primary classes at Norfolk Road. Both the primary and secondary sections of the school moved to their current, permanent campus along Bishan Street 22 in 1992, to cope with increased enrollment.

On 15 August 2008 the former campus of Catholic High School on Queen Street was reopened as 8Q SAM, an extension of the Singapore Art Museum featuring contemporary art.

School crest
Catholic High School has used the same crest since its founding. The blue colour symbolises the infinite and boundless universe in which man is free to think and choose how best to spend his time to develop his character as an individual. The cross represents Jesus Christ, who, Christians believe, suffered and died for the salvation of all mankind. The light signifies that Jesus Christ is the light of the universe.

Dress code
Uniforms are compulsory for students. Catholic High is one of only a handful of Singapore secondary schools that require boys of all ages to wear short trousers throughout their time at the school. Long trousers are worn only on special formal occasions. Surveys at the school have shown that CHS boys support this rule. One has written "Shorts give us more room to move about, and are certainly more convenient when we sit, and especially when running ... Long pants are stuffy and inconvenient".

Houses
The house system is used during school sporting events. The four houses — Edward, Noel, Philippe and Joseph — are named after former principals and supervisors of the school, and are represented by the colours blue, green, red and yellow respectively.
 * Reverend Fr. Edward Becheras was the founder and first supervisor of the school.
 * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Noel Goh was the school's third, fifth and seventh supervisor.
 * Rev. Joseph Chang was principal from 1960-1974.
 * Rev. Philippe Wu was principal from 1950-1956..

Houses are allocated to teachers and students. There are leadership positions in each house, such as captain, secretary, treasurer and level coordinator. Sports events such as the annual cross-country and sports night help earn points for the houses. At the end of the year, points are totalled up and the house with the highest points wins the Challenge Shield.

Campus
The seven-hectare Catholic High campus consists of two blocks, primary and secondary. A common area is shared between these two blocks, where the secondary plaza and two halls are located. Beneath the plaza is the secondary canteen and gallery, where works of art done by the students are showcased, one of which is a 1:1 replica of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. A lecture theatrette and recording studio are also there. The two air-conditioned, multi-purpose halls serve as venues for assembly, large-scale talks, performing arts events, and indoor sporting activities. The Catholic High Sports and Recreational Centre, also known as the Indoor Sports Hall, was completed in December 2008. It enables the hosting of indoor sporting events. The auditorium, beneath the secondary block, is used for smaller-scale performing arts events. Classrooms on level 5 (graduating classes) are air-conditioned.

Sporting facilities
A 400m track and field houses a softball diamond and a multipurpose open field. There is a discus cage and javelin-throwing ground, two tennis courts and a basketball court. The Sports and Recreational Centre houses the basketball courts, volleyball courts and badminton courts, in addition to spectator stands. There are two gyms (neither with air-conditioning) on the secondary campus. Catholic High is one of few schools with a in-campus sports class, where its students go through a rigorous sports and academic course. Sports Class students take Physical Education as an 'O' Level subject, in addition to the standard 'O' Level curriculum. There is also an indoor sports hall for any other sports activities.

In 2010, Catholic High was a training venue for athletes competing in Gymnastics for the Youth Olympic Games.

Catholic High Music Awards
Catholic High Music Awards (often abbreviated to CHMA, or CH Music Awards for short) is an annual school talent search competition held in Catholic High School (Singapore), which presents the school's musical talents a platform to showcase their abilities. This competition organised by the Catholic High School's iMedia Club, a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA), in collaboration with the school's music department. It is currently is one of the large-scale school concerts in Singapore.

Originally a small-scale event held during one of the weekly school assemblies, it has evolved over the years into a professional, large-scale talent concert, where lots of effort goes into the sound, lighting, decor, even the promotional materials. The whole planning and execution process are almost entirely planned by members of iMedia Club, with guidance from their teachers-in-charge. There are various categories students can perform in, namely, Solo Vocalists, Group Vocals, Rock Bands, Instrumental Bands, Duets and Creative Expressions.

Creative Expressions, a new category unveiled in 2006, is for students who want to showcase their performing talents in unique ways. This includes beat-boxing, rapping, original composition, hosting etc.

Duet, a new category that was introduced in CHMA 2008, is a category where a student can perform a song with a student from another school, regardless of gender or level of education.

After several rounds of auditions, usually two, the judges would select the best students to be the finalists, who will be performing on finale night itself.

Finalists will be able to get to experience a professional recording session and publicity poster shoot in the CHS iMedia studio. External bands are often invited to perform during the concert, which aims to entertain the audience as well as exposing students to local talents on the professional level.

CHMA is an event where students can not only fully showcase their potential, but most importantly, forge close bonds with their schoolmates through this annual musical fiesta.

As of 2008, tickets for CHMA are sold at SGD$10 each (USD$6.60). Ticket sales are used to fund the rental of the professional equipment for the Final Night.

CHMA 2010
Final Night For CHMA was on 15 May 2010.

Fianlists

Solo Vocals:
 * 1) Jacob Chin
 * 2) Leon Lee
 * 3) Goay Dow
 * 4) Chong Kuan Hoe
 * 5) Li Jianwei

Solo Instruments Merit Award:
 * 1) Shaun Tan Wei Wen

Creative Expressions Merit Award:
 * 1) Aloysius Wong,Sean Wong, Ryan Lim, Mervin Tan

Rock Bands Merit Award:
 * 1) Eugene Tan, Esmond Tan, Marcus Cheong, Daryl Ong, Robby Goh

CHMA 2009
CHMA 2009 was cancelled due to the H1N1 situation.

CHMA 2008
Finalists and Performance Line-Up:


 * Solo Vocals:
 * Qi Hang
 * En Lerk
 * Timothy Koh
 * Timothy Liew (Award Winner)


 * Group Vocals:
 * Wen Xuan and Daniel
 * Qiren and Kaijie
 * Si Jian, Wen Huan, Chaoqun (Award Winner)

Hoe Jun Wei - Flute (Merit Winner, Overall Winner)
 * Instrumentals:

Brown Note (Merit Award Winner)
 * Instrumental Bands:


 * Rock Bands:
 * Victor And The Vicious Vipers
 * Hosereel
 * FLOP!
 * Sine P (Award Winner)


 * Creative Expressions:
 * Ernest Tan - Beatboxing (Award Winner)
 * Recnad (Opening Dance Item)


 * Guest Bands:
 * Fatwee! - BURN/Smoke On The Water
 * Juz-B (A cappella Item)

CHMA 2008 was held on 19 July 2008, and featured rock bands, a dance item, beatboxing and singing. The show venue setup - the Catholic High School Hall - had professional lightings, photography, video equipments and sound system, which formed the atmosphere for CHMA 2008. CHMA 2008 had been held with great overall success, with many in the audience citing that they will return for the next CHMA to be hosted by iMedia in 2009.

CHMA in the past
The initial idea of Catholic High Music Awards was a Talent-time Concert organised by the Student's Council Board, which, due to the major role that iMedia has played in this concert, the project was acquired from the Council in 2003. Since then, it has evolved to become the iMedia club's annual major project, in which preparations usually starts around February.

In 2003, the club realised during one of the Talent-time rehearsals that the school hall at night, combined with appropriate lightings, will be able to generate a superb rock concert experience. In addition, Mr Wang Jiunn, the CCA Teacher-in-Charge and concert producer then, felt that the concert should be attended by those who are genuinely interested, and that students should not be forced to attend it.

Previously, the concert was held during a Wednesday assembly, in which attendance was mandatory for every Catholic High student. Furthermore, as the club evaluated that the current school sound and lighting systems are inadequate to produce an impressive performance for the audience, it was decided to steer the project into a new direction.

Hence, the show was completely revamped which followed a name change to what is currently known as "Catholic High Music Awards", which was the brainchild of its founder Mr Wang Jiunn, who was a teacher of Catholic High school. The rationale for "Music Awards" is for its more classic and timeless appeal, in contrast to the current and much overused "idol" named shows and competitions.

CHMA has since been a platform for students of Catholic High to explore and showcase their musical talents. Several finalists have since gained attention and enjoyed moderate success in other noticeable talent competitions, such as Tan Zhi Yi (Solo Vocal finalist in 2004 and winner in 2005) in One Million Star 超級星光大道, and Paul Twohill (Vocalist of Rock Band, Ecnerret, winner in 2004 and finalist in 2005) in Singapore Idol Season 2.

In its six-year run, CHMA has been held in the Catholic High school hall every year and hires professional lighting and audio equipment for its finale concert. For its debut public concert, tickets were sold at SGD$4 each, with all proceeds going towards the funding for the production of the finale concert. To date, tickets for the annual finale concert is often, if not close to, sold out, with the highest sale of over 800 tickets in 2005 and 2006.

A logo was also designed for the event in 2004, and it has remained the official logo of CHMA till present. Designed by Mr Wang, the logo consists of three components that make up the 4 letters, "C", "H", "M", "A", when joined together. Although variations of the logo has been designed for each year, the basic structure remains the same. This logo has been universally recognised by students of Catholic High School.

The first open-to-public CH Music Awards in 2004 was a resounding success, with over 600 people turning up for the show. Mark Tan, part of the Catholic High School alumni, was invited to come back to host, where he proved to be so popular with his wacky jokes and lively personality that he was asked to host for subsequent years of CHMA. Feedback generated was very positive and Catholic High Music Awards has been one of the top school events to look forward to since then.

General Background
1st Teacher-in-Charge: Mr Wang Jiunn
 * 1999–2006

Teacher-in-Charge: Mr Chris Teng
 * 2007–present

History
iMedia, founded in 2003 by Mr Wang Jiunn, was previously known as the AVA Club. The club started digital video editing using iMacs in 2000. In 2003, a decision was made to change the name and logo to iMedia, as the CCA is doing more than just Audio-Visual Aid duties and it was expanding its video production activities. The club has since broaden its activities to audio post-production with the construction of the iMedia Recording Studio (completed in March 2005), which is equipped with industry-level recording equipment. Currently, the iMedia Club utilises two Apple Power Mac G5s and Final Cut Studio in iMedia Recording Studio for video editing, as well as audio recording and post-production.

Also, the club is also mainly in-charge in Audio-Video duties around the school as well as video and audio media production for the school.

Alumni
The CHA has funded many local/overseas enrichment programmes for students as well as staff development programmes for teachers. The CHA offers the OBA Founders' Scholarships for outstanding Catholic High students. Members of the CHA also volunteer as guest speakers at assembly talks, mentors for CHA scholars, and advisors for special projects such as the OBA-CH Innovative Problem-Solving Competition using IT and the IT Challenge Programme, etc.

Notable Alumni of the School include:


 * Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore
 * Lim Swee Say, Minister, Prime Minister's Office
 * Chan Soo Sen, Human Resource Director of Keppel Corporation, Former Minister of State, Ministry of Education of Singapore
 * Chao Hick Tin, Judge of Appeal of the Supreme Court
 * Dr. Su Guaning, President of Nanyang Technological University
 * Gan Kim Yong, Minister, Ministry of Manpower of Singapore
 * Baey Yam Keng, Member of Parliament and Managing Director of Hill and Knowlton
 * Chen Show　Mao, Member of the opposition Workers' Party, Member of Parliament for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency
 * Dr. Ow Chin Hock, former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mayor for Tanjong Pagar CDC, Member of Parliament of Leng Kee (1976–2001)
 * Tay Ping Hui, local artist
 * Edmund Chen, local artist
 * Elvin Ng, local artist
 * Dr. Liang Wern Fook, singer/songwriter and Assistant Professor (Adjunct) with the Division of Chinese at NTU
 * Lee Yen Hui Kendrick, Team Singapore badminton player
 * Lee Hsien Yang, Chairman of Fraser and Neave and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)
 * BG Hoo Cher Mou, Chief of Staff (Air Staff), HQ RSAF

Late president of Singapore Society of Pathology