School of Science and Technology, Singapore

The School of Science and Technology, Singapore (SST) is a specialised independent secondary school in Singapore, established in 2010. It offers a four-year applied-learning curriculum  which leads to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE O Level examination. The school uses Direct School Admissions (DSA) Exercise to obtain its cohorts with the application including a selection camp and several academic tests.

History
SST was set up with assistance from Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP). It is one of the eight schools in the FutureSchools@Singapore project.

In March 2008, SST was announced in Parliament by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam that a new specialised independent school with an emphasis on applied learning will be set up. The inaugural SST Board of Directors meeting was on 3 March 2009 and was followed by the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Nanyang Technological University (NTU), NP and SST.

The second batch of 200 Secondary 1 SST students started school on 4 January 2011. On 25 January 2011, students and teachers from the Ren Da Fu Zhong Xishan School (RDFZ Xishan School) came to SST and signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the two schools. From 4–6 March 2011, a group of students and teachers attended the Apple Education Leadership Summit 2011 at the School of the Arts (SOTA). On 3 January 2012, the first, second and third batches of SST students moved into their new campus.

Recently, its official opening was conducted on 13 April 2013.

Curriculum
Initial admission to the SST is done via the Direct School Admission (DSA) which includes interviews, General Ability Tests (GAT), Verbal Reasoning Tests (VRT) and selection camps. The school admits 200 students in the Secondary 1 cohort and up to 50 students at the Secondary 3 level each year.

Sec 1 and 2 students take the usual subjects, plus Entrepreneurship & Innovation as well as Art, Design, Media & Technology (ADMT). At Sec 3 and 4, students continue the focus on applications with applied subjects such as Fundamentals of Electronics, Media Studies, Design Studies and Biotechnology. All students are required to take Interdisciplinary Research Studies (IRS), which merges with Science in the second semester of Sec 2 to form ISS (Investigative Studies in Science).

Facilities


SST was temporarily housed at 5, Clementi Ave 6, for two years. The site was been retrofitted with design studios, laboratories, places for collaboration and discussion, and a work display area. Certain facilities (e.g. laboratories) at Ngee Ann Polytechnic were also available for students' use. SST moved into its current campus, which is located at 1 Technology Drive, near Dover MRT Station and Singapore Polytechnic in January 2012. SST's new campus comprises four blocks, three of which form the main building on one side of the campus and a Sports Block on the other side of the field. The new campus's facilities include an "Info Hub" (Library), design and media studios as well as many specialized laboratories and classrooms.

Partners
The school works in educational partnerships for attachments, internships, and special programmes with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), DigiPen Institute of Technology, and Apple Inc.. Industrial partnerships include programmes in collaboration with A*STAR - Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Exploit Technologies (ETPL), and the Defence Science Organisation (DSO) National Laboratories. SST is also part of the Strategic Alliance of Global Educators (SAGE) alliance, a professional network for educational institutions from different regions (America, Europe and Asia-Pacific).

Co-curricular activities
SST offers a range of co-curricular programmes and extra-curricular activities such as: Astronomy, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Cross-country, Drama Club, Fencing, Floorball, Soccer, Guitar Ensemble, Media Club, Robotics club, Singapore Youth Flying Club, Show Choir, Taekwondo, and Wushu.