Catholic High School

Catholic High School  (also known as CHS or Cat High) is an all-boys Catholic school in Singapore. It has a primary section offering a six-year primary education and a secondary section offering the four-year GCE 'O' Level education. From 2013, the secondary section will also offer the six-year Integrated Programme. The school is a Special Assistance Plan school, as well as a Gifted Education Program centre. Catholic High School is affiliated to Catholic Junior College.

Founded in 1935 by Rev. Fr. Edward Becheras, a French missionary, the school strives to nurture students who are fluent in both English and Chinese. The school has produced 20 President's Scholars and numerous recipients of other scholarships. Many of its alumni are leaders in the public and private sectors. It has also been ranked in the Band 1 tables of the Ministry of Education school academic rankings until such rankings were removed in 2012. In 2008, it was awarded the School Distinction Award under the MOE Master Plan of Awards, which recognizes high-achieving schools with exemplary processes and practices.

Catholic High School is notable for being the school selected by Lee Kuan Yew for his children, including current Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.

History
Catholic High School was founded in 1935 by the Reverend Father Edward Becheras, a French missionary. Although it is a Catholic school, it also accepts non-Catholic students, and is run along the lines of a Sino-English school. The school first started out as an extension of the Church of St. Peter and Paul. Becheras envisaged the school as a bilingual institution from the start, emphasising the instruction of both English and Chinese, a policy that continues till today. In addition to this, Becheras also emphasised the teaching of Science, a practice that was uncommon at that time.

Due to the high demand for places at the school, Catholic High School moved into a new school building located Queens' Street, beside the Church of St. Peter and Paul. However, the school remained so popular that two years after the new school campus was completed, the school reached its maximum capacity. Among the notable features of the old school is the science room in the school, the first such feature in any Catholic school in Malaya (Singapore was part of Malaya at that time). This former campus of Catholic High School at Queens' Street presently houses 8Q SAM, an extension of the Singapore Art Museum that features contemporary art.

In 1950, the Marist Brothers took over responsibility for the administration of Catholic High; a primary section was opened in 1951, and then a boarding house for Catholic students. Under the care of the Brothers the school developed but in 1974 the administration was handed back to the diocese. Maris Stella High School was founded in 1958 by Brother Joche Chanel in response to the overwhelming demand for places in Catholic High School. Hence Maris Stella High School can be said to be the "brother school" of Catholic High School.

The school was classified under the Special Assistance Plan in 1979. This enables it to offer students in the top 10% of the cohort both English and Chinese as their first languages. In the same year, pre-primary classes were started to prepare students for primary school Chinese study. Catholic High expanded its campus to accommodate its pre-primary and lower-primary classes on Gentle Road and its upper-primary classes at Norfolk Road. Both the primary and secondary sections of the school moved to their current, permanent campus along Bishan Street 22 in 1992, to cope with increased enrollment.

On 1 September 2010, the Ministry of Education announced that Catholic High School would become an Integrated Programme school in 2013. It partners CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School and Singapore Chinese Girls' School in the programme, and students from the school will proceed to a currently-unnamed Junior College to be set up in 2017.

Campus
The seven-hectare Catholic High campus consists of two blocks, primary and secondary. A common area is shared between these two blocks, where the secondary plaza and two school halls are located. The two air-conditioned, multi-purpose halls serve as venues for assembly, large-scale talks, performing arts events, and indoor sporting activities. In addition, another smaller auditorium is used for performing arts events. Classrooms on level 5 are air-conditioned.

The school campus also houses a 400m running track and a multipurpose open field. There is a discus cage and javelin-throwing ground, two tennis courts and a basketball court. The Catholic High Sports and Recreational Centre, also known as the Indoor Sports Hall, was completed in December 2008. This sports hall is used for sporting activities in the school. It houses two basketball courts, volleyball courts and badminton courts, in addition to spectator stands. There are two gyms on the secondary campus. Catholic High is one of few schools with a in-campus sports class, where its students go through a rigorous sports and academic course. Sports Class students take Physical Education as an 'O' Level subject, in addition to the standard 'O' Level curriculum. A new high elements rope course was completed in 2010.

The school hall of the Catholic High was a training venue for athletes competing in Gymnastics events of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

Academics
Students at Catholic High School sit for the GCE O-level examination after four years of schooling. After 2006, students are able to choose the subjects that they want to study for the examination; previously, students have to choose from sets of fixed subject combinations that the school offers. Catholic High School also offers the Music Elective Programme since 2011. This four-year programme allows students who have an interest in music to study music at a higher level, eventually leading to a GCE O-level Higher Music certificate.

From 2013, the Catholic High School became an Integrated Programme school. Under this 6-year programme, students skip the GCE O-level examinations and take the GCE A-levels examination instead.

Dress code
Uniforms are compulsory for students. Catholic High is one of only a handful of Singapore secondary schools that require boys of all ages to wear short trousers throughout their time at the school. Surveys at the school have shown that CHS boys support this rule. One student interviewed during the survey stated that "Shorts give us more room to move about, and are certainly more convenient when we sit, and especially when running ... Long pants are stuffy and inconvenient".

Houses
The house system is used during school sporting events. The four houses — Edward, Noel, Philippe and Joseph — are named after former principals and supervisors of the school, and are represented by the colours blue, green, red and yellow respectively.
 * Reverend Fr. Edward Becheras was the founder and first supervisor of the school.
 * Rt. Rev. Mgr. Noel Goh was the school's third, fifth and seventh supervisor.
 * Rev. Joseph Chang was principal from 1960-1974.
 * Rev. Philippe Wu was principal from 1950-1956.

Houses are allocated to teachers and students. There are leadership positions in each house, such as captain, secretary, treasurer and level coordinator. Sports events such as the annual cross-country and sports night help earn points for the houses. At the end of the year, points are totalled up and the house with the highest points wins the Challenge Shield.

Catholic High Music Awards
The Catholic High Music Awards (Abbreviation: CHMA; CH Music Awards for short) is an annual school talent search competition held in Catholic High School (Singapore), which presents the school's musical talents a platform to showcase their abilities. This competition organised by the Catholic High School's iMedia Club, a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA), in collaboration with the school's music department. It is currently is one of the large-scale school concerts in Singapore.

The contest was originally a small-scale event held during one of the weekly school assemblies. It has then evolved over the years into its current form under the guidance of Mr Wang Jiunn, the then-concert producer. In its six-year run, CHMA has been held in the Catholic High school hall every year.

Students compete in various categories, namely, Solo Vocalists, Group Vocals, Rock Bands, Instrumental Bands, Duets and Creative Expressions. After several rounds of auditions, judges would select the best students to be the finalists, who will perform on the finale night concert. External bands are often invited to perform during the finale night concert. Several finalists have gained attention and had enjoyed moderate success in other talent competitions, such as Tan Zhi Yi in One Million Star and Paul Twohill in Singapore Idol.