Secondary school education places students in the Special, Express, Normal (Academic) or Normal (Technical) courses according to how they perform at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) .The best students in each cohort go to Special and Express courses in Edupoll’s Top 10 secondary schools.

The different programs are designed to match the learning abilities and interests of different students. There are 4-year programs, 5-year programs and 6-year programs.

For the 5-year program, students who do well at the “N” level examination at Secondary 4 will proceed to Secondary 5 and sit for the GCE “0” level examination.
Express course students get into a four year program to prepare for the GCE ‘O’ level examination whilst Integrated Program students attend a 6-year through-train program bypassing the ‘O’ level to prepare for the GCE ‘A’ level examination or the International Baccalaureate.

Secondary school education is pivotal because students are streamed accordingly to their academic abilities. The prescribed secondary school pathway will lead them to either the polytechnics or junior colleges for pre-university education.

Of the 161 secondary schools in Singapore, there are some schools which offer the 6-year integrated programs (IP) leading to GCE A levels or the International Baccalaureate or a NUS High School diploma.

These IP schools are:

1. Anglo-Chinese School ( Independent ) – offer the International Baccalaureate instead of GCE ‘A’ levels  ( see www.ibo.org )
2. Dunman High School
3. Nanyang Girls’ High School
4. Raffles Girls’ Secondary  School
5. Raffles Institution
6. Hwa Chong Institution
7. River Valley High School
8. NUS High School of Science and Mathematics   (Note: NUS High offers its own NUS High School Diploma. NUS High is part of National University of Singapore )
9. School of The Arts ( SOTA ) – offers the International Baccalaureate

The independent schools attract the Top 5 % of each PSLE cohort and are targeted at students who are clearly university-bound.

Both Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls’ Secondary School have the highest PSLE cut-off points for admission to their schools.

There are 8 independent secondary schools and 10 SAP schools in Singapore. The independent schools are:

1. Anglo-Chinese School ( Independent)  ( ACSI )
2. Hwa Chong Institution ( HCI )
3. Methodist Girls’ School ( MGS )
4. Nanyang Girls’ High School
5. Raffles Girls’ Secondary School  ( RGS )
6. Raffles Institution ( RI )
7. Singapore Chinese Girls’ School ( SCGS )
8. St. Joseph Institution  ( SJI )

The Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools are:

1. Anglican High School
2. Catholic High School
3. CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ Secondary School
4. Chung Cheng High School ( Main)
5. Dunman High School
6. Hwa Chong Institution
7. Maris Stella High School
8. Nan Hua High School
9. Nanyang Girls’ High School
10. River Valley High School

The above SAP schools put more emphasis on Chinese language and Chinese cultural education and attract more students from China.

The SAP schools normally attract the Top 10% - 20% of each PSLE cohort.
Students who are in the Top 10% of their PSLE cohort will be given an option by the Ministry of Education to study a foreign language (French / German/ Japanese)

Edupoll’s Top 10 secondary schools in Singapore ( by prestige ) are :

1. Raffles Institution     ( PSLE cut-off : 263 )
2. Raffles Girls’ Secondary School     ( PSLE cut-off : 266 )
3. Hwa Chong Institution    ( PSLE cut-off : 260 )
4. Nanyang Girls’ High School     ( PSLE cut-off : 262 )
5. Dunman High School     ( PSLE cut-off :  258 )
6. Singapore Chinese Girls’ School    ( PSLE cut-off : 252 )
7. Methodist Girls’ School    ( PSLE cut-off : 252 )
8. Anglo-Chinese School Independent  ( PSLE cut-off : 254 )
9. River Valley High School  ( PSLE cut-off : 252 )
10. CHI St Nicholas Girls’ School ( PSLE cut-off : 252 )

( above list is in random order and the PSLE cut-off points are indicative only )

Note:  The 2007 GCE O level results were announced in January 2008 and Singapore’s top GCE ‘O “level students were Pearlyn Ler Jia Ning from Singapore Chinese Girls School and Kim Chan Xinhui from Methodist Girls’ School. Both scored nine A1 and one A2.  Pearlyn’s A2 was in Higher Chinese whilst Xinhui’s A2 was Japanese.

Edupoll’s Top 5 Boy Schools in Singapore ( by prestige ) are :

1. Raffles Institution
2. Hwa Chong Institution
3. Anglo-Chinese School Independent
4. Victoria School ( PSLE cut-off : 247)
5. St Joseph Institution  ( PSLE cut-off : 245 )

Edupoll’s Top 5 Girl Schools in Singapore ( by prestige ) are:

1. Raffles Girls’ Secondary School
2. Nanyang Girls’ High School
3. Singapore Chinese Girls’ School
4. Methodist Girls’ School
5. CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School  

In addition to the traditional secondary schools, there are 4 specialised schools which cater to students who have special interests and talents.
These schools are:

1. NUS High School of Mathematics and Science
   Website: www.highsch.nus.edu.sg
2. Singapore Sports School
   Website:  www.sportsschool.edu.sg
3. The School of The Arts
   Website: www.sota.sg
4. School of Science and Technology ( starting in year 2010 in partnership with Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Nanyang Technological University )
   Website : www.moe.edu.sg

The above  specialised schools set their own entry requirements and offers a different learning experience from the normal secondary schools.

NUS High School offers a 6-year program leading to its own diploma while the Singapore Sports School adopts a 4-5 year curriculum leading to the GCE ‘O’ level.

The School of Science and Technology will take a specialised path to prepare students for GCE “O” level.

The School of the Arts adopts a 6-year integrated arts and academic curriculum and offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma as the graduating qualification.

Students audition for a specialisation in music, dance, theatre or the visual arts. However, students in the first two years are exposed to the basics of all four disciplines and continue to adopt a cross-disciplinary approach even as they develop in their chosen discipline.

Notable alumni of selected Singapore’s top schools

Raffles Institution

1. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew
2. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong
3. Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar
4. Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi
5. Cabinet Minister Lim Hng Kiang
6. Cabinet Minister Raymond Lim
7. Cabinet Minister K Shanmugam
8. Former Cabinet Minister Lee Yock Suan
9. Former Cabinet Minister E W Barker
10. Former Cabinet Minister Dr Ahmad Mattar
11. Former Deputy Prime Minister S Rajaratnam
12. Former Cabinet Minister Howe Yoon Chong
13. Former Singapore President  Dr Wee Kim Wee
14. Former Singapore President Yusof Ishak
15. Former Singapore President Dr Benjamin Sheares
16. Singapore’s first elected Chief Minister David Marshall
17. Minister of State Koo Tsai Kee
18. Senior Minister of State Dr Balaji Sadasivan
19. Minister of State Heng Chee How
20. Ko Kheng Hwa, Managing Director, Economic Development Board
21. Heng Swee Keat, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore
22. LG Lim Chuan Poh, former Chief of Defence Force, former Permanent Secretary , current Chairman of A* Star
23. LG Bey Soo Khiang, former Chief of Defence Force, current SEVP, SIA
24. Tee Tua Ba, former Chief Commissioner of Police Force
25. Teo Ming Kian, Permanent Secretary
26. Peter Ong, Permanent Secretary
27. Tan Yong Soon, Permanent Secretary
28. Ravi Menon, Permanent Secretary
29. Dr Tan Chin Nam, Permanent Secretary
30. Peter Chan, Permanent Secretary
31. Koh Cher Siang, Permanent Secretary
32. Dr Tan Kim Siew, Permanent Secretary
33. Professor Lim Pin, former Vice-Chancellor of National University of Singapore
34. Dr Su Guaning , President of Nanyang Technological University
35. Seah Kian Peng, Member of Parliament
36. Zagy Mohamad , Member of Parliament
37. Dr Toh See Kiat , former Member of Parliament
38. Othman Haron Eusoffe, former Member of Parliament
39. Dr Tan Cheng Bock, former Member of Parliament
40. Dr Wan Soon Bee, former Member of Parliament
41. Loh Meng See , Member of Parliament
42. Wee Siew Kim, Member of Parliament
43. Ahmad Khalis, Member of Parliament
44. R. Sinnakaruppan, Member of Parliament
45. Tony Pua, Member of Parliament in Malaysia
46. Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large
47. Former top stockbroker Peter Lim
48. Robert Kuok , founder and chairman of Shangri-La Hotel & Resorts

Anglo Chinese School

1. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Cabinet Minister
2. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Cabinet Minister
3. Dr Ng Eng Hen, Cabinet Minister
4. RADM Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State
5. Dr Goh Keng Swee , former Deputy Prime Minister
6. Dr Richard Hu, former Finance Minister
7. Lim Kim San , former Cabinet Minister
8. Yeo Cheow Tong, former Cabinet Minister
9. David Lim, former Minister of State
10. LG Desmond Kuek, Chief of Defence Force
11. Khoo Boon Hui, Chief Commissioner of Police Force
12. Winston Choo, Former Chief of Defence Force, current Chairman of Red Cross
13. Sim Kee Boon, former top civil servant
14. Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State
15. Ong Kian Min, Member of Parliament
16. Lam Pin Min, Member of Parliament
17. Sin Boon Ann, Member of Parliament
18. Arthur Fong, Member of Parliament
19. Warren Lee, Member of Parliament
20. Sin Boon Ann, Member of Parliament
21. Dr Michael Lim, Member of Parliament
22. Alvin Yeo, Member of Parliament
23. Tan Soo Khoon, former Speaker of Parliament
24. Chiam See Tong, Member of Parliament
25. Chng Hee Kok, former Member of Parliament
26. Lyn Syn Pau, former Member of Parliament
27. Tan Sri Dato Teh Hong Piow, Founder and Chairman of Public Bank Malaysia   
28. Tan Sri Dr Tan Chin Tuan, former Chairman of OCBC Bank   
29. Ong Beng Seng, founder of Hotel Properties and Singapore F1 Grand Prix                                                                                                                                                                      

St Joseph Institution

1. RADM Teo Chee Hean, Cabinet Minister
2. Mah Bow Tan, Cabinet Minister
3. BG George Yeo, Cabinet Minister ( also attended St Patrick School )
4. Dr Tony Tan, former Deputy Prime Minister and current Chairman of National Research Foundation
5. Philip Yeo, Chairman of SPRING Singapore
6. Leo Yip, Permanent Secretary
7. Tan Tee How, Permanent Secretary
8. Christopher de Souza, Member of Parliament
9. Chay Wai Yuen, Member of Parliament
10. Charles Chong, Member of Parliament
11. Davinder Singh, Member of Parliament
12. Matthias Yao, former Minister of State
13. Bernard Chen, former Minister of State
14. Khoo Teck Puat, formerly Singapore’s top billionaire
15. Lim Chee Onn, Executive Chairman of Keppel Corporation

Hwa Chong Institution

1. Former President Ong Teng Cheong
2. Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Member of Parliament
3. Kenny Yap, CEO of Qian Hu Corporation
4. James Tan, Commissioner of Singapore Civil Defence Force
5. Tan Swie Hian, famous artist
6. Luo Hau Cai, Chief Justice, Supreme People Court, China

Raffles Girls School

1. Justice Judith Prakash , judge
2. Dr Amy Khor , Mayor
3. Denise Phua, Member of Parliament
4. Lim Soo Hoon, Singapore’s first woman Permanent Secretary
5. Jennifer Yeo, lawyer and wife of Cabinet minister George Yeo
6. Claire Chang, wife of Ho Kwon Ping- founder of Banyan Tree Holdings
7. Chua Sock Koong, Group CEO of SingTel
8. Kit Chan , singer
9. Stefanie Sun , singer
10. Corinne May, singer

Singapore Chinese Girls School

1. Ms Jennie Chua , CEO of Raffles Holdings
2. Dr Susan Lim, renowned surgeon
3. Euleen Goh, Chairman of IE Singapore
4. Professor Thio Li-ann, Nominated Member of Parliament

Methodist Girls’ School

1. Mrs Lee Kuan Yew ( Mdm Kwa Geok Choo )

Nanyang Girls’ High School

1. Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State
2. Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Minister of State

Victoria School

1. President S R Nathan
2. Former President Devan Nair
3. S Dhanabalan , former Cabinet Minister
4. Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary
5. Lim Biow Chuan, Member of Parliament
6. Ho Meng Kit, Permanent Secretary ( Pre-University in Raffles Institution)
7. Chang Chie Foo, Permanent Secretary
8. Lam Chuan Leong, former Permanent Secretary
9. Ong Chit Chung , Member of Parliament
10. MG Ng Chee Kern, Chief of Air Force
11. MG Neo Kian Hong, Chief of Army
12. LG Ng Yat Chung, former Chief of Defence Force

Note: In the current Singapore Cabinet , there are appointment holders who are from various other secondary schools ( other than Edupoll’s Top 10 list )

Our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong studied at Catholic High School and National Junior College before going to Cambridge University and Harvard University.

• Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng  ( Outram Secondary School )
• Cabinet Minister Yaacob Ibrahim ( Tanjong Katong Secondary School )
• Cabinet  Minister Lim Swee Say ( Catholic High School )
• Cabinet Minister Gan Kim Yong ( Catholic High School )
• Cabinet Minister Lee Boon Yang ( Monfort Secondary School )
• Cabinet Minister Lim Boon Heng ( Monfort Secondary School )
• Cabinet Minister Khaw Boon Wan studied in a Malaysia secondary school