Coral Secondary School

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School History

Coral Secondary School (CSS) was a government co-educational secondary school in Pasir Ris. It opened in January 1999 with six Secondary One classes. Originally sited at the premises of Siglap Secondary School, CSS moved to a new campus in 2001.

The school’s Chinese name was originally ‘珊瑚’, a literal translation of the word ‘coral’. Later, it was changed to ‘Yunhai’ (云海), which means ‘cloud and sea’. It is believed that corals grow well in the sea under a cloudy sky. The Chinese characters emphasise the importance of tradition and culture as well as the beauty of art and music.

The school had a house system represented by five colours and named after sea creatures: Octopus, Snapper, Shark, Piranha and Whale. In 2001, the house system evolved into six houses known as Innovators (Yellow), Challengers (Orange), Entrepreneurs (Red), Discoverers (Turquoise), Adventurers (Green) and Thinkers (Blue).

In 2004, CSS was one of the first schools in Singapore to embark on Action Research (AR) on a major scale. AR helped teachers develop and improve their pedagogical expertise and achieve the standards of professional development required to fulfil the school vision. In alignment with the ‘Teach Less, Learn More’ (TLLM) initiative, AR met the challenges of developing an engaging curriculum and improved the quality of classroom learning. In 2006, a celebration was held to mark the completion of a two-year AR cycle and the successful implementation of the school’s TLLM prototype project, the Student Action Research programme.

The student leadership body, Red Shirts, was formed in 2004. CSS was accorded niche status for the programme, ‘Student Leadership – Growing Leaders’, which subsequently became its Learning for Life Programme in 2013. The programme provided students with diverse opportunities to take on challenges, and, in the process, develop their character.

In 2009, CSS celebrated its 10th anniversary, themed ‘Crescendo’, at the Jubilee Hall in Raffles Hotel. Various performing arts group came together to put up performances for the celebration. A book was also published in commemoration of the milestone.

In 2016, the school was accorded the Applied Learning Programme in design thinking. In the following year, CSS merged with Siglap Secondary School to form Meridian Secondary School.

Principals:
- Mrs Ang Ju Lang (1999–2004)
- Mdm Veronica Ng (2005–2010)
- Mr Arivazhagan Manickam (2011–2016)

Related Schools: Siglap Secondary School | Meridian Secondary School

Key Milestones


1999	Establishment of Coral Secondary School at the premises of Siglap Secondary School.
2001	Relocation to a new school building, with the event commemorated by a school run.
2004	Embarked on Action Research.
2006	Completion of a two-year Action Research cycle and the successful implementation of Student Action Research programme.
2009	Celebration of 10th anniversary.
2013	Gained niche status for the programme ‘Student Leadership – Growing Leaders’, which became its Learning for Life Programme in community and youth leadership.
2016	Accorded Applied Learning Programme in design thinking.
2017	Merger with Siglap Secondary School to become the present Meridian Secondary School.

School Motto

1999–2004: Look Ahead, Learn and Innovate
2005–2016: Learn, Innovate and Build the Future

School Crest

The school crest was designed to be in the shape of a coral with the initials of the school, ‘CSS’. The school prepares students to face challenges, overcome all odds and move with the times, like the key quality of a coral – resilience. The colours of the logo were chosen to represent the school’s aspiration in line with the Ministry of Education’s direction of ‘Thinking Schools, Learning Nation’.

The colour red symbolises the importance of information and communication technology in a learner-centred environment. Blue represents an encouraging environment to cultivate innovative thinking to meet future challenges. Green symbolises the importance of nation-building, appreciation of one’s cultural heritage as well as care and concern for the environment. Silver signifies the ability to discern right from wrong.

School Song

♫ Listen

Just as tiny grains of coral grow to mighty coral reefs,
Let us join with one another to stand up for our beliefs.
Like a wave that’s rolling forward to the distant shining shore,
We prepare to meet our future finding joy in learning more.
We are Coral, yes, we’re Coral.
Coral is our school.
Red for warm and loving hearts and white for purity.
Like the corals in the ocean, we unite in harmony.
With the many schools of Singapore we’ll build a firm foundation
to make this island home of ours a greater, stronger nation.