Peirce Secondary School (PSS) is a co-educational government secondary school located in Bishan, Singapore. Founded in 1994, Peirce Secondary School is known for its niche in the uniformed groups CCAs.
History
Peirce Secondary School started functioning in 1994 on the premises of Bishan Park Secondary School. Chia Choon Kiat was its first principal. It began with an intake of 356 Secondary 1 pupils. On 17 February 1995, the school moved to its current premises at 10 Sin Ming Walk.
From 2007 to 2008, the school embarked on an upgrading exercise (PRIME Phase 8) of its premises to include an Indoor Sports Hall and other facilities. The school temporary relocated to 2 Ang Mo Kio Street 23 during the upgrading. The project was completed on schedule and the school returned to its home campus in December 2008.
Today, the school have a total of 23 classes distributed among 5 levels - 13 Express and 10 Normal (Academic) classes.
20th Anniversary
Peirce Secondary celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2014, with the anniversary assembly as the flagship event. Themed "Peirce, Our Home", the event saw students, parents and teachers contributing more than 1,400 photos on Instagram with the hashtag #Peirce20anniversaryStudents and #Peirce20anniversaryParents. Photos shared by users were printed out to form a heart shape logo located at the 4th level of the school building.
A commemorative musical production was also staged on 1 August 2014. Entitled "Dreams do come True", the musical is a showcase of students’ talents through an entertaining and inspiring story of how one can fulfil his or her dreams through a spirit of adventure.
Absorption of Bishan Park Secondary School
The Ministry of Education announced on 4 March 2016 that Peirce Secondary School would be merging with Bishan Park Secondary School with effect from January 2018. About 300 students from Bishan Park Secondary School were affected by the merger. The merged school would be located at the current premises of Peirce Secondary School. The merged school will have 2 Distinctive Programmes for Secondary 1 Intake from 2018 onwards, namely "Developing Community Leaders with the Heart to Serve Through Uniformed Groups", as well as "Broadcast Journalism".
Academic information
Being a government secondary school, Peirce Secondary School offers two academic streams, namely the four-year Express course, as well as the Normal Academic Course
GCE O Level Express Course
The Express Course is a nationwide four-year programme that leads up to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examination.
Academic subjects
The examinable academic subjects for Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level offered by Peirce Secondary School for upper secondary level (via. streaming in secondary 2 level), as of 2017, are listed below.
Notes: Subjects indicated with ' * ' are mandatory subjects. All students in Singapore are required to undertake a Mother Tongue Language as an examinable subject, as indicated by ' ^ '. "SPA" in Pure Science subjects refers to the incorporation of School-based Science Practical Assessment, which 20% of the subject result in the national examination are determined by school-based practical examinations, supervised by the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board. The SPA Assessment has been replaced by one Practical Assessment in the 2018 O Levels.
Normal Course
The Normal Course is a nationwide 4-year programme leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examination, which runs either the Normal (Academic) curriculum or Normal (Technical) curriculum, abbreviated as and respectively.
Normal (Academic) Course
In the Normal (Academic) course, students offer 5-8 subjects in the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examination. Compulsory subjects include: English Language Mother Tongue Language Mathematics Combined Humanities A 5th year leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examination is available to students who perform well in their Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examination. Students can move from one course to another based on their performance and the assessment of the school principal and teachers.
Normal (Technical) Course
The Normal (Technical) course prepares students for a technical-vocational education at the Institute of Technical Education. Students will offer 5-7 subjects in the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examination. The curriculum is tailored towards strengthening students’ proficiency in English and Mathematics. Students take English Language, Mathematics, Basic Mother Tongue and Computer Applications as compulsory subjects.