NorthLight School (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: 北烁学校) is a school located along Towner Road, in

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. It was established by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(MOE) for students with difficulties handling the mainstream curriculum in the country. The school started its operations formally in January 2007 to assist students at risk of dropping out of school. Admission to the school is based on at least two failed attempts at the Primary School Leaving Examinations (

PSLE The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) ( Malay: ''Peperiksaan Tamat Sekolah Rendah'', Simplified Chinese: 小学离校考试 x''iǎoxué lí xiào kǎoshì'') is a national examination in Singapore that is administered by the Ministry of ...

). The school also accepts those who have yet to complete secondary education.

History

NorthLight School was established in March 2006 and opened to students the following year. Previously, students who failed the

would enter technical schools, later called Vocational Training Centres (VTCs), for secondary education. However, the attrition was alarmingly high. In 2005, the drop-out rate was 60% and only half of the remaining 40% entered

Institute of Technical Education The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) is a post-secondary education institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. Established by the Ministry of Education, it was formerly known as Vocational ...

(ITE). Because the minimum entry age for VTCs was fourteen, there was two-year lag between the primary and secondary stages. In response to the problem, the

proposed to open a school to meet the needs of these students who would otherwise be forced to leave school. The Geylang Serai Vocation Training Centre was absorbed into NorthLight.

Campus

The current campus is located at 151 Towner Road, in

. Previously, the Balestier branch of the

(ITE) was based at the Kallang campus. Before NorthLight School moved to its current location in Kallang in 2015, it was situated on Dunman Road in

Geylang Geylang is a planning area and township located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore, bordering Hougang and Toa Payoh in the north, Marine Parade in the south, Bedok in the east, and Kallang in the west. Geylang is perha ...

Curriculum

The curriculum draws its inspirations from the Life Learning Academy in San Francisco. The curriculum, primarily vocational, emphasises on developing emotional strength and instilling life-skills in the students. The curriculum includes a wide range of vocational options. In addition, there is a 8-week-long industrial attachment to ensure the relevance of the skills picked up at school to real time employment needs. There is a

Co-Curricular Activity In Singapore, a co-curricular activity (CCA), previously known as an extracurricular activity (ECA), is a non-academic activity that all students must undertake as part of their education. Introduced by the Ministry of Education (MOE), CCAs ar ...

(CCA) programme to cater to the needs of students beyond the academics. The school has full-time, in-house counsellors to assist students troubled by social and emotional challenges.

References

External links

* *{{cite web, title=The Story of Northlight — A School of Opportunities and Possibilitie I, first=Lena, last=Leong, publisher=

Civil Service College Singapore Civil Service College (CSC) Singapore is a college for government employees in Singapore. It is a statutory board under the Public Service Division, Prime Minister's Office, of the Government of Singapore. References External links * 2 ...

, date=August 2009, url=https://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Pages/The-Story-of-Northlight-A-School-of-Opportunities-and-Possibilities.aspx Independent schools in Singapore Special education schools in Singapore Kallang