Did you know that CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) is Singapore’s oldest Catholic girls’ secondary school — and that in 2026 its students can move from weekly lower-secondary Drama to a four-year Art Elective Programme, robotics and AI, sustainability through Farm-to-Table, financial literacy, global immersion, leadership and student-initiated community service?
That is what makes CHIJ Secondary so interesting.
The school traces its Singapore mission to 1854 and describes its purpose in 2026 as forming Women of Distinction who are confident in who they are, rooted in faith and ready to serve with courage, compassion and hope. Its motto is Simple in Virtue, Steadfast in Duty. Source: Principal’s Message 2026.
Its present curriculum is broad: academic subjects, Art, Drama, Humanities, Life Skills, Mathematics, Mother Tongue, Music, Science, PE, student leadership, Values in Action, global learning, robotics, media and entrepreneurship. Source: CHIJ Secondary curriculum and departments.
So what is so awesome about CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh)? It is the way learning, living and leading are repeatedly connected.
Independent eduKateSG profile checked on 4 October 2026. This is not a school ranking or school-endorsed publication. Programme details can change; families should verify current cohort-specific information directly with the school.
The Quick Answer: What Makes CHIJ Secondary Stand Out?
- A school identity reaching back to 1854.
- Art is a major strength. CHIJ Secondary has offered the four-year Art Elective Programme since 1985.
- Every lower-secondary student encounters Drama. Weekly performance-making develops communication, collaboration and critical thinking.
- Humanities uses authentic inquiry. Students investigate heritage, sustainability, neighbourhoods and contemporary social issues.
- Life Skills are unusually broad. Food, design, business and accounting are connected to real decisions and industry exposure.
- Farm-to-Table and FinLit@IJ bring sustainability and financial literacy into practical contexts.
- Leadership is servant leadership. Every IJ girl is treated as a leader of self and a leader for others.
- Values in Action becomes progressively more student-initiated.
- Clubs span art, robotics, media, environmental action, debating and service.
Did You Know? CHIJ Secondary Has Been Educating Girls Since 1854
The school’s 2026 principal’s message describes CHIJ Secondary as the oldest Catholic girls’ school in Singapore. Source: Principal’s Message.
That history matters because the school’s modern curriculum still carries the founding mission of faith, learning and service.
The language has changed.
The tools have changed.
The opportunities have changed.
But the school still asks the same deep question:
How should an educated young woman use her gifts?
Art Elective Programme: Four Years of Serious Art Study
CHIJ Secondary has offered the Art Elective Programme since 1985 and is one of Singapore’s established AEP schools. Source: CHIJ Secondary Art.
The programme develops students through what the school calls the 3Ls@IJ:
- Learning — acquiring artistic knowledge and skills.
- Living — applying learning through art-making.
- Leading — extending art through partnerships and contribution.
Students work across media including ceramics, digital art, painting, photography and printmaking.
That breadth matters because Art is not one technique.
Each medium has different constraints.
Ceramics asks about form and material.
Photography asks about framing and timing.
Digital art asks about tools and visual systems.
Painting asks about colour, texture and interpretation.
The student learns that ideas change when the medium changes.
Art as Leadership: Creativity Can Be Shared
The AEP does not stop at individual studio work. Current programme information includes museum visits, artist talks, regional learning and a twinning programme with schools and museums in Japan. It also documents AEP students working with CHIJ Primary Art Club in Values in Action. Source: Art programme.
This is a strong form of arts education.
The student does not only create.
She learns to discuss, interpret, collaborate and eventually help another person experience art.
Talent becomes contribution.
Drama: Every Lower-Secondary Student Gets a Stage
CHIJ Secondary’s lower-secondary Drama programme uses weekly activity-based collaborative learning and ends lessons with short performances. Source: Drama Programme.
This is useful because performance makes thinking visible.
A student may understand an issue privately.
Drama asks her to represent that understanding through voice, movement, timing and interpretation.
She also needs to respond to other performers.
That makes Drama a communication and collaboration laboratory.
Humanities: The City Becomes Evidence
The 2026 Humanities curriculum uses inquiry-based and technology-enabled learning. Students investigate Singapore’s heritage, neighbourhood development, mangrove environments and contemporary social issues. Source: Humanities.
Current examples include Historical Investigation at CHIJMES and geographical investigations at places such as Sungei Buloh, Dawson and Toa Payoh.
This is important because Humanities becomes stronger when students encounter evidence in place.
A building can become a historical source.
A neighbourhood can become a planning question.
A mangrove can become a human-environment systems problem.
The city becomes a classroom.
Social Studies: Civic Questions Need More Than One Perspective
The school’s Humanities department also describes research and civic-engagement work around issues such as ageing, discrimination, globalisation and sustainable development. Source: Humanities.
These are exactly the kinds of problems that resist one simple answer.
Students need to compare perspectives.
Identify trade-offs.
Use evidence.
Communicate a position clearly.
That is citizenship as reasoning.
Life Skills: School Knowledge Meets Everyday Decisions
CHIJ Secondary’s Life Skills curriculum includes Food & Consumer Education, Design & Technology, Elements of Business Skills and Principles of Accounts. Source: Life Skills.
This cluster is unusually practical.
Food education connects nutrition, science, budgeting and everyday health.
Design & Technology turns needs into prototypes.
Business Skills examines customers, marketing and service.
Accounting turns business activity into information that can support decisions.
These are different subjects.
They share one important idea:
good decisions require information.
Farm-to-Table: Sustainability You Can Eat
The school’s Farm-to-Table initiative connects the school garden with Food & Consumer Education and Nutrition & Food Science. Students grow and harvest produce, use ingredients in dishes, explore food waste and visit sustainable or urban farms. Source: Farm-to-Table programme.
This is an excellent sustainability programme because the system is tangible.
Food has a source.
Ingredients have cost.
Waste has consequences.
Nutrition affects health.
A meal becomes a meeting point for Biology, Chemistry, Economics, culture and personal responsibility.
FinLit@IJ: Money Is a Life Skill
CHIJ Secondary’s three-year Financial Literacy Programme develops money-management concepts progressively from Secondary 1 to 3. Source: FinLit@IJ.
Secondary 1 students examine prices, saving and spending.
Secondary 2 students encounter compound interest, credit cards, debt and inflation.
Secondary 3 students move toward risk management, ratios and introductory investment concepts.
This progression matters because financial literacy should begin before money decisions become large.
The student learns that financial choices involve trade-offs, risk and time.
Applied Learning in Business: Customers Make Theory Real
The school’s Elements of Business Skills programme includes industry exposure, a 20-hour Applied Learning Module and alternative assessments such as the Big Bus Tour. Source: EBS applied learning.
This is useful because business concepts become different when an actual customer exists.
A marketing idea has to fit a target audience.
Customer service has to survive an interaction.
A hospitality procedure has to work consistently.
Applied learning introduces consequence.
Student Leadership: Every Girl a Leader of Self and for Others
CHIJ Secondary’s leadership programme treats every student as a leader in her own right and aims to develop both personal leadership and servant leadership. Source: Student Leadership.
The school uses Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and gives students opportunities through class committees, CCAs, peer support, houses and Student Council.
The most important phrase is leader for others.
Leadership is not merely confidence.
It is confidence directed toward contribution.
Values in Action: Increasing Student Ownership
CHIJ Secondary’s VIA adopts a tiered approach and gives students increasing autonomy over causes and projects. Source: VIA.
The older school handbook describes a progression from experiencing VIA at Secondary 1 toward increasingly class-initiated and self-initiated work in later years.
That progression is educationally sound.
Younger students may first need structured service.
Older students should become more capable of identifying needs and deciding how to respond.
Responsibility grows with maturity.
INNO@IJ and Robotics: Creativity Also Needs Engineering
The current IJ Experience includes INNO@IJ, while the CCA ecosystem includes an Automation & Robotics Club alongside Media Club, Debating, Arts Alive! and iGrow@IJ. Source: IJ Experience. Source: Clubs & Societies.
This matters because creativity has many forms.
An artist solves visual problems.
A debater structures arguments.
A robotics student debugs systems.
A media student frames information for an audience.
Different environments reveal different strengths.
An eduKateSG Example: One Meal, Five Subjects
The following is our example, not a CHIJ assignment.
Imagine students design a simple healthy meal using produce from a school garden.
Nutrition & Food Science asks whether the meal is balanced.
Mathematics asks how much it costs per portion.
Science asks how preparation changes ingredients.
Business Skills asks how the meal might be marketed responsibly.
English asks whether the explanation is clear.
Sustainability asks what happens to waste.
One practical object becomes a meeting point for knowledge.
What Families Can Borrow From CHIJ Secondary’s Learning Design
- Let the arts develop serious thinking.
- Use Drama to make communication visible.
- Let Humanities happen in real places.
- Teach financial literacy before adulthood demands it.
- Connect sustainability to everyday systems such as food.
- Build leadership from self-mastery toward service.
- Increase student ownership of service as students mature.
The eduKateSG Learning Connection
CHIJ Secondary demonstrates how future-readiness becomes stronger when technical and human capabilities are kept together.
Art develops interpretation.
Drama develops expression.
Humanities develops perspective.
Financial literacy develops judgment.
Design develops problem-solving.
Robotics develops systems thinking.
VIA and leadership decide where those capabilities point.
That is whole-person education for a complex century.
How CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) Connects to the eduKateSG Singapore Graph
CHIJ Secondary is at 626 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, Singapore 319764. Source: official contact page.
- History of Singapore | Toa Payoh
- Why Singaporeans Love Toa Payoh
- Fun facts about Singapore | Toa Payoh
- Awesome Schools in Toa Payoh
- What is so Awesome About CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh) | 2026-2027 Edition
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is CHIJ Secondary?
The school traces its Singapore mission to 1854 and identifies itself as Singapore’s oldest Catholic girls’ school. Official Principal’s Message.
Does CHIJ Secondary offer the Art Elective Programme?
Yes. CHIJ Secondary has offered the four-year AEP since 1985. Official Art programme.
Do all lower-secondary students take Drama?
The current school site describes a weekly lower-secondary Drama programme designed to build communication and critical thinking through performance. Official Drama programme.
Where is CHIJ Secondary?
626 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, Singapore 319764. Official contact page.
Official References Checked for the 2026–2027 Edition
- CHIJ Secondary — Principal’s Message
- CHIJ Secondary — Departments and Curriculum
- CHIJ Secondary — Art and AEP
- CHIJ Secondary — Drama Programme
- CHIJ Secondary — Humanities
- CHIJ Secondary — Life Skills
- CHIJ Secondary — Student Leadership
- CHIJ Secondary — Values in Action
- CHIJ Secondary — Clubs and Societies
So, What Is So Awesome About CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh)?
It is the breadth of what counts as serious learning.
Art is serious learning.
Drama is serious learning.
Financial literacy is serious learning.
Food and sustainability are serious learning.
Leadership and service are serious learning.
Did you know that this is how an old school can remain future-ready?
Keep enlarging what students are capable of understanding, making and contributing.