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Yishun Town Secondary School
毅道中学 (yì dào zhōng xúe)
Sekolah Menengah Yishun Town

Motto	We Will Excel
Established	1986
Type	Government, Single
Principal	Tan Yee Kan
School code	3045
Colours	Blue and yellow
Locale	Sembawang, Singapore
Enrollment	approx. 1,200
Website	[1]
Republic of Singapore

Yishun Town Secondary School (YTSS) is currently one of the leading neighbourhood schools in Singapore. Their students are referred to as YTzens.

Contents 1 General information 1.1 Motto and philosophy 1.2 School's logo 1.3 School's vision 1.4 School values 1.5 School principals 2 Getting there 2.1 To the existing campus 2.2 To the holding campus 2.3 PRIME 3 School songs 3.1 The school anthem 3.2 The school rally 4 Notable achievements 4.1 2005 4.2 2006 4.3 2007 5 Co-curricular activity (CCA) groups 6 Student leadership 6.1 Student council 6.2 Honorary council 6.3 List of council heads 7 Culture & Distinctives 7.1 Outdoor Education 7.2 Values inculcation program (VIP) 7.3 Innovation and Enterprise (I&E) 7.4 Creative Skills Inquiry (CSI) 7.5 Houses 8 Notable alumni 9 Sister schools 10 References

The school motto is 'We Will Excel'. The school believes that every child has the potential to learn, achieve, and excel, which forms the raison d'être of the school.

The school logo incorporates the letter Y. It stands for the town Yishun and for its youthfulness, with a zeal to forge forward to face the challenges of the new millennium. The 4 arrows represent the development of the Heart, Body, Mind and Soul. The circle symbolises the ultimate goal of a well-rounded pupil. The blue background represents a peaceful and harmonious school atmosphere. Yellow arrows and circle represent the vibrancy of our endeavours.

The school's vision is shown on the right side of the screen. 'Yishun 21' is the school's operational framework through in which the school implements its vision [2]. They are:

• Enlarge the Heart
• Strengthen the Body
• Stretch the Mind
• Nourish the Soul

The school aims to instil their school values to the students through their own programmes. In 2004, the school went through a small tweak on its school values. This is to enable the students remember their school values much easier [3].

• Integrity
• Responsiblity and Respect
• Excellence
• Active Learning
• Care and Concern
• Healthy Lifestyle & Gracious Living

Principal	Year
Lim Yam Meng	1986 - 1995
Ooi Cheng Hock	1995 - 1999
Tan Teck Hock	1999 - 2005
Tan Yee Kan	2005 -

The existing campus is located at Yishun Street 21. Alight at Yishun MRT Station and follow the directions as stated in the map directory there. You may also alight at any of the buses that approaches Yishun Interchange or passes by Yishun MRT Station, namely routes number: 39, 85, 171, 800, 804, 806, 811, 812, 851-859, 965 and 969. It will be a short 5 minute walk to the school.

The existing campus is currently under renovation. As such, no visitors without special permission from the contractor or the school is allowed to the premises as yet.

The following bus services are located at different bus-stops, but are within 400m radius of the holding school. The nearest being Route 962.

Service	Between	And/Loop	Distance from School
SMRT Buses Trunk Services
856	Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange	Yishun Bus Interchange	400 meters
859	Yishun Bus Interchange	Sembawang Bus Interchange	200 meters
962	Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange	Sembawang Drive	10 meters

YTSS has been relocated to their holding premises in Sembawang due to PRIME (Programme for Rebuilding and IMproving Existing schools). Its existing location, on 6, Yishun Street 21, will be upgraded. By 2008, YTSS will move back to its existing premises.

The school anthem was composed by J.J. de Souza in 1986. Coincidentally, he is also the song composer for Yishun Junior College's school anthem as well. It was remixed in October 2004. Usually it is sung before assemblies and before school events begin.

=First Stanza=
Together in work and in play
In all our endeavours
Forward we shall go

=Second Stanza=
With a zeal to learn
And eagerness to serve
And a tenacity of purpose
Show our love and loyalty
To country and school

=Lead-up=
Let's aspire to greater heights
In all we do

=Chorus=
Onward, onward we shall go
Yishun Town will excel
Onward, onward we shall go
Yishun Town will excel

=Repeat Chorus=

The school rally is composed by Tang Weng Yee, a music teacher, in 2001. The song is sung after assemblies and school events, as well as victories in school events.

Come my brothers and sisters of Yishun Town
With one voice, oh let us sing
To keep our flag and colours flying high
We pledge to make this our destiny

Through the stroms and trials of life may come
As we strive towards our goals
See the light of our spirit shine through
We'll excel in heart, body, mind and soul

Yishun Town, let this be our gift to you
As we stand tall to face the challenge
Let all around us hear our cry as we shout
We will excel
We will excel

It has been noted in the media that Yishun Town Secondary School had achieved the following awards from the Ministry of Education in the following.

Sustained Achievement Award

• Academic Value-Added (Normal Stream)
• Uniformed Groups

Achievement Award

• Gold Award for Academic Value-addedness in Normal Stream
• Gold Award for Trim and Fitness Programme

Besides receiving these awards, YTSS is also the national champions in the following competitions.

• 46th National Interschool Chess Competition (Secondary Girls Category) ^[1]
• 1st National Interschool Blogging Championship (Most Popular Blog) ^[2]

The twentieth anniversary for Yishun Town kicked off in style in January when the Information Technology Club was placed second in the National Mobile Robot Competition. This was the first ever national award that the club had received since its inception in 1998. This was a risk well taken from the past leaders and the teachers-in-charge to transform a CCA from a Service-Oriented to another that is geared towards competition. However, this proved to be a swansong for the 9-year old IT Club, for it was merged with 2 other CCAs to form the Infocomm Society the following year.

The Boy's Volleyball team made it to the regional finals in both age groups (Divisions B and C). Unfortunately, they lost out to eventual regional winners Xinmin Secondary School in both matches, both by one set to two. ^[3]. However, in the North Zone Basketball Girls 'C' Division championships, Yishun Town were the eventual champions.

The School had sent 610 members to enter The New Paper's Big Walk 2006, a famous annual walkathon event in Singapore, the biggest ever contingent sent by a school in Singapore. ^[4]

There also have been successes in the Air Rifle as well as the Chess teams. The 'B' and 'C' Division Air Rifle Girls got into National 2nd and 3rd places respectively, while the Air Rifle Boys and Air Pistol teams also received national rankings, most of which in the top 10, lying neck-to-neck against other well established schools. The Girls team in Chess also received National 2nd, with their top-scoring individuals earning National 7th and 8th places. The school had also impressed in the National inter-school Atheltes championships, even if the school did not have any official CCA that is related to Atheltes. The school has garnered one bronze medal in the Shot Put 'C' Boys category, as well as respectable finishes in the sprinting and swimming competitions.

To cap off a soild 2006, the school had received a Sustained Achievement Award in the Academics. The school had maintained in the Top 30 schools in the Express Stream for 4 consecutive years, as well as being in the top-banded school for the Normal Stream for 3 consecutive years. For the recognition their leaders had contributed to the school over the past year, all the uniform groups had maintained their current awards, with SJAB, Girl Guides, NCC and the Boys' Brigade all maintaining their Gold Awards, and the NPCC, Silver. With that, the school had been conferred another Sustained Achievement Award, this time for the Uniform Groups category.

The ex-principal of Yishun Town, Mr. Tan Teck Hock, will become the principal of Serangoon Junior College with effect from 2007. His term there is slated to end in 2011. Once the principal here, he introuduced painful and unpopular measures, such as the toughening of the school discipline, as well as the introduction of the afternoon lessons. However, such risks made by him bore into fruitation. As a result, he had effectively transformed this school from one with a bad reputation, troubled with intense hooliganism and bad academic performance back in the late 1990s, to a premier heartland school that is today.

As of 2007, there are 20 CCAs in YTSS, divided into 4 categories.

Sports and Games	Uniformed Groups	Arts and Culture	Clubs and Societies
Basketball Shooting Soccer Table Tennis Volleyball	Boys' Brigade Girl Guides Singapore National Cadet Corps National Police Cadet Corps St. John Ambulance Brigade	Art Band (Wind Orchestra) Choir Dance (Chinese) Drama (English)	Chess Infocomm Society Library Outdoor Activities Public Announcements

Currently, there are 2 Student Leadership Boards, which means 2 different routes, to reach to the top of the leadership board, the Central Executive Committee (CEC). [4]

Renamed from the Prefectural Board in 1999, the Student Council (abbreviated SC) are the student leaders serving not just the teachers, but for the students. Chosen by the recommendation of teachers at the Secondary 1 level, they are nurtured into Student Leaders come Secondary 3. They help run the school in various functions during the course of the year.

Since July 2006, there is a school-wide presidental election to decide the run-off between 2 suitable council candidates. The elected president will assume its position during the council investiture.

Note: Care to be taken that both Student Council and the Honorary Council are not classified as CCAs, but rather as a student body. The members have their own CCAs as well.

The Honorary Council Board (known as Honorary Student Council, HSC) was established in January 2002. CCA Leaders and Lead Monitors are invited to join midway through their third year (it was the start of the forth year during the first two batches of HSC). These students would be members of the HSC for a term lasting 12 months. They will assume membership positions from their seniors on 1st July, every year. However, unlike the Student Council, the selection for the President is not known until late August.

With the creation of the HSC, the CCA Leaders would now be possible to converge and help offer suggestions to help further improve their capability and the capacities of the CCAs. Moreover, they would also support the Student Council to run their events, in the addition of hosting its own school events as well.

Year	Student Council					Honorary Council
	Order	President	CCA	Vice-President/s	CCA	Order	President	CCA	Vice President	CCA
Before Introduction of Honorary Council
2000	1	Ronnie Shu	Boys' Brigade	Quek Wee Boon	NPCC
2001	2	Shi Nee	Basketball	Kenneth Chew	Boys' Brigade
Introduction of Honorary Council
2002	3	Sin Hui Zheng	St. John	Nur Dayana	NCC (Sea)*	1	fill in	fill in	fill in	fill in
2003	4	Lim Mei Esther	Band	Arvinthan Ahwahday	fill in	2	fill in	fill in	fill in	fill in
2004	5	Tan Hseng Ho, Gabriel	Boy's Brigade	Pang Jia Khee	Girl's Guide	3	fill in	fill in	fill in	fill in
2005	6	Ong Eng Wu	NCC (Land)	Noradilah Wasani	Band	4	Tan Yue Kiat	iT Club*	Nur Ashiqin	Choir
2006	7	Nikita Sharda	Basketball	Tong Zhi Hao Jeremy	NCC (Land)	5	Zhang Xinglong	Volleyball	Chan Shu Min	Chinese Dance
				Apoorva	NPCC
2007	8	Kevin Peh	NCC (Land)	Mendoza Ethel Nicol	Basketball	6	Gerard Loh	NCC (Land)	Yi Ling	Basketball
				Pang Zhuang Yi	NPCC

Footnotes:

• NCC (Sea) has been disbanded since 2003.
• iT Club is the predecessor of the Infocomm Society. It was merged, together with Digital Media Club and Photography Club in 2007.

All the students are given opportunities to take part in several outdoor activities. It is required for them, during their stay in the school, to undergo at least an adventure camp, and an outdoor enrichment activity. They can also take part in other activities such as overseas fieldtrips.

For the past few years, many Yishun Town students have benefited from outdoor learning experiences. They have gone to places which included Lijiang (of Yunnan, China), Auckland, Perth, Sabah and Mount Kinabalu (both in east Malaysia). They once also held overseas leadership camps in Peninsular Malaysia.

This program was formed in 2005 as a result of an integration between Pastoral Care (PC) and Civics and Moral Education (CME) [5]. The aim of the VIP is quite similar to both the PC and CME lessons once held before the integration. That is to enable the students to make well and informed choices, as well as to become responsible and moral citizens that could contribute to the society. The VIP Program is compulsory for all students.

The objective of I&E directives is to make I&E an integral part of the school culture. A new initiative (Innovative, Daring, Enterprising and Achievable Suggestions, or IDEAS) allows students to generate, develop and implement new and innovative ideas on school-related issues. Awards are given to recognise students who have come up with innovative ideas that can reap benefits to the school. The I&E program is offered to all students in YTSS. [6]

CSI provides students with the opportunities to develop the spirit of inquiry, to be critical and creative. It requires students to work in teams, see interconnections between the different disciplines, undertake research and to present their findings innovatively and confidently. It develops lifeskills that students will find helpful in their future endeavours. Currently this program is offered to students when they are in the Lower Secondary levels. [7]

The houses of Yishun Town were created in 1999. They are currently operational only for track-and-field competitions. Previously the track-and-field competitions are inter-class in nature. There are 4 houses in Yishun Town, namely Vinson (Green), Bromo (Blue), Everest (Yellow) and Etna (Red). They are names of either mountains (Vinson and Everest) or volcanoes (Bromo and Etna). Vinson has won the school-based track and field competitions 3 years in a row (2002-2004), until Bromo had ended its run in 2005. House Etna won in 2006.

The people listed below had hit the nation by storm in their vocal talents. Yishun Town was supposedly an academically-inclined neighbourhood school in Singapore.

• Khairul Anwar, winner of MediaCorp TV Suria's Anugerah
• Kelly Poon, female winner of MediaCorp TV Channel U's Project SuperStar

• Zhu Hai Experimental High School, Zhu Hai City, Guangdong, China (珠海市实验中学)
• Jinan No.19 Middle School, Jinan, Shandong, China (山东济南市第十九中学)