Monday, November 16, 2015 – The Singapore Sports School will become one of only 12 schools in the world to offer student-athletes more time – up to four years instead of the usual two – to complete the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP).
This will give a selected group of student-athletes who will represent Singapore at major games the flexibility to complete their IB diploma at a different pace from their cohort given their intense training schedules.
This is one of the recommendations announced by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) in a review of the Singapore Sports School.
At the Singapore Sports School’s 10th anniversary in 2014, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong challenged the institution to “become a national sports academy of excellence 10 years from now”. In response, a review committee was set up, co-chaired by Ms Yeoh Chee Yan, the Permanent Secretary of MCCY, and Mr Richard Seow, Chairman of Sport Singapore.
The Sports School will also offer more 6+ year academic programmes as the norm. Currently, apart from the IBDP, the Sports School also offers a 6+ year through-train programme in collaboration with Republic Polytechnic.
Sports School will also work on offering a non-sport related polytechnic diploma, as well as collaborate with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to start a special sports class for student-athletes.
In addition, Sports School will extend its academic programmes to student-athletes from more sports. This will allow high-performing student-athletes to get the benefit of a Sports School education while they continue to receive coaching from their respective National Sports Associations (NSAs).
Currently, student-athletes join Sports School at Secondary 1, but this will change in the future. Sports School will accept student-athletes mid-stream after Secondary 1 to allow late-bloomers a chance to benefit from a flexible education curriculum.
“The Sports School has made significant positive impact to the education and development of young athletes,” said Grace Fu, the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth. “Over the last 10 years, it has accumulated valuable experience and expertise. It is now in a good position to share its expertise more widely to support the sporting aspirations of student-athletes in mainstream schools and make a greater impact in youth sport.”
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