Riverside Secondary School (Singapore)

Riverside Secondary School (Abbreviation: RSS) is a co-educational, single session, government school in the North zone of Singapore. Presently, it has a student population of 1,460 and staff strength of 94. It is currently located at 3 Woodlands Street 81, Singapore 738524. Mrs Sng-Tan Siew Hong is currently the 5th principal of the school.

Riverside Secondary School has consistently been ranked in the top 50 secondary schools in Singapore. Recognised by the Singapore Ministry of Education in April 2008 for its niche programme in dance, the school has been given approval to allocate up to 5% of its next student intake for discretionary admission via the Direct School Admission scheme.

History

Riverside Secondary School began in 1987 at Fuchun Secondary School under caretaker principal Mrs. Ngiam Geak Kim. Under the pioneer principal, Mr. O.J. Balasingam, the school moved to its present premises at Woodlands Street 81 on 21 December, 1987. In 1990, the school presented its first candidates for the O and N level examinations.

The second principal, Mrs. Lu Kheng Lui succeeded Mr. Bala on 16 December, 1996 and in April 1997, Mr. Hoon Tien Ghun was posted in as the school's first Vice Principal.

After the completion of a four-storey extension block, the school went single session on 22 May, 1999. The third principal, Mrs. Stella Tan-Wee Bee Lian, took over the reigns in December 2000 and Mrs. Mohinder Singh was posted in as the second Vice-Principal of the school in December 2000.

History of its uniform

The previous design of the school uniform was "famous" for its look-alike to the graph-paper that Mathematics students use. However, this design was scraped in 2004 to make way for a new one that does not require students to tuck in their uniforms.

School Achievements (2005)

Riverside had a bumper year of achievements in 2005.

Awards

It is note worthy to mention that Riverside Secondary has been awarded the following -

Level Two Award====

SAA (Academic Value-added) (Normal)

SAA (Uniformed Group)

Level One Award

AA (Academic Value-added) (Normal) - Gold

AA (Academic Value-added) (Special/Express) - Bronze

DA (National Education) (2005-2007)

Academic

2005 started with good results for both "N" and "O" level cohorts of 2004, 93.6% qualified for promotion to 5 Normal Academic. Choo Li Chin Lily received the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Outstanding Normal Academic Course for 2004.

The 2004 cohort of Express students with a mean PSLE T-score of 231 performed as expected with 96.8% of GCE "O" Level passes. The 2004 cohort of 5 Normal Academic students with a mean PSLE T_-score of 182.9 had an expected L1B4 of 22.4. They managed to bag an actual L1B4 of 17.3. This has enabled the school to be given the Value-Added Award for Normal Course 2005 and the Sustained Achievement Award (Academic Value-added 2005).

Sports and Games

National Gymnastics (Trampoline) B Boys 4th

North Zone Badminton B Boys 4th

North Zone Soccer B Boys 3rd

North Zone [Basketball] B Boys 1'st

SYF Central Judging

Choir (Silver)

Concert Band (Silver)

Dance - Chinese (Gold)

Dance - Indian (Gold)

Dance - International (Silver)

Dance - Malay (Gold)

Drama (Bronze)

Uniformed Groups

Boys' Brigade (Silver)

NCC (Sea Boys) (Silver)

NPCC (Silver)

St John Ambulance Brigade (Silver)

As such, Riverside Secondary received its Sustained Achievement Award (SAA) for Uniformed Groups (Forth Award - 2004 - 2007).

RS Spotlight History

The online magazine had its beginnings in late 1998 as a concept by two students and Mrs Diana Lim, a teaching staff. The project was then made real and commissioned under the approval of then-principal, Mrs Lu Kheng Lui.

It came into public attention in 2000 when the school participated in the Ministry of Education's (MOE) The Learning Metropolis project held in Suntec City as an online news coverage centre, thus making it known as the first neighbourhood secondary school in Singapore to officially host its own online magazine with a permanent staff of roving student reporters. The RS Spotlight reached its heyday in that year, having generated much hype around the school, as well as having led it into several newer IT initiatives encouraged by MOE, most notably the National Robotics competition.

By 2001, Mrs Diana Lim, having led the team through its major milestones, had transferred to Coral Secondary School, and the original team of students developing the RS Spotlight graduated. Since then, the colossal online magazine project lost much momentum; and beside more recent IT achievements by other schools, has taken a back seat in RSS' history.

External links

• Official site