Learning Minds

At SJI, we believe in providing diverse programmes and opportunities for every Josephian to develop his talent or to pursue his passion. Through this, Josephians grow to become self-directed learners who are principled and reflective critical thinkers. Through our programmes, they find joy in learning and become life-long learners.

Cognitive Development of Josephians


The Levels of Learning is the core framework behind the Cognitive Development component of an SJI education. It describes the Josephian's learning from foundational subject-based knowledge, to extended learning by adopting an inquiry-mindset motivated by interest and passion, and to applying this learning in service to the community in authentic settings.

While the Levels of Learning are designed with the IBDP in mind, all SJI students in Years 1 and 2 will be given the opportunity to participate in all 3 Levels of Learning via the various special programmes:

  1. Level 1 Learning : Academic Foundation

  2. Level 2 Learning : Academic Extension

  3. Level 3 Learning : Academic Application

Dual Track Pathway for Secondary Education

Respectful of each boy’s ability and development pace, transfer is possible between the Integrated and O-Level Programmes at the end of Year 2:

Level 1 Learning : Academic Foundation

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP)

SJI offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) for our Integrated Programme (IP) students in their 5th and 6th year, as well as for O-Level graduates who are considering an alternative to the A-Levels for their post-secondary education.

The IBDP cultivates the knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable students to excel in university. Through the SJI IBDP, students gain rigorous and balanced academic preparation, an ability to draw on knowledge and understanding of various cultures and histories, and the experience of learning how to think critically and apply what they have learned in different contexts and across disciplines.

The challenging curriculum educates the whole student aiming to develop their capacity for inquiry, research and problem-solving, as well as essential skills for communication and collaboration. Over the course of the two-year IBDP, students will:

  1. Study 6 subjects chosen from 6 subject groups *

  2. Complete an Extended Essay

  3. Follow a Theory of Knowledge course

  4. Participate in Creativity, Activity, Service

* Subject to staffing resources.

^ Group 2 -

  1. MOE Bilingual Policy requires students taking NTIL or any MTL-in-lieu to do this in addition to the IBDP requirements.

  2. WEF 2019, SJI will replace the O-Level MTL & HMTL (Higher Mother Tongue Language) examinations with school-based examinations for our IP students.

# Tamil B will continue till 2026; pending updates from IBO for 2027 onward.

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Extended Essay (EE)

The EE promotes high-level research and writing skills, intellectual discovery and creativity, and acquaints students with the independent research and writing skills expected at university. The 14-month EE journey culminates in a piece of formally presented and structured writing (3500-4000 words), in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen.

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Theory of Knowledge (TOK)

Part of the IBDP core that encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself and aims to help young people make sense of what they encounter. It focuses on questions such as: What counts as knowledge?; How does it grow?; What are its limits?; Who owns knowledge? For the IB Diploma assessment, students complete a 1,600-word essay over a period of time, and make a presentation on a TOK topic of their choice.

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IBDP students are offered a wide range of co-curricular activities that offer students the opportunity to experience new challenges through sports, the arts and community service. Unlike in an A-Level Junior College, the CAS approach to co-curricular activities participation focuses more on providing students with a breadth of experience rather than just a singular area of activities. They might continue in an area similar to a CCA they had participated in at secondary school.



Nurturing Josephians Through Special Programmes

(Level 2 & 3 Learning: Academic Extension & Application)



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Academic Discovery Module (Year 1 - 2)

The Academic Discovery Module (ADM) allows our young Josephians to inquire about the world or the self through a process guided by teachers. This process will get students to adopt lenses of the discipline in order to answer essential questions. As an example, this will give them opportunities to think and act like a scientist or historian.


Read about our Math Academic Discovery Module on 'Building Your Dream Home'.

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Independent Study Module (Year 1 - 2)

The Independent Study Module (ISM) allows our Josephians to inquire about a topic of great interest through an independent research. Students get to pose any inquiry questions (E.g. What kind of lives do celebrities lead? Why do frogs croak after rain?) which may arise in their daily lives, and go through an independent research process to answer these questions. They will then do an oral presentation in order to communicate their learning.

Innomakers Programme (Year 1 - 2)

The Josephian Innomakers Programme aims to provide students with the opportunities and platforms to learn through play, and through this playful learning, learn to be agents of change by innovating in service to the community. Creative Problem Solving framework and Design Thinking will be integrated into the curriculum to encourage students to Think, Make, Do and Share. Students will be introduced to the 21st-century workplace as they learn skills like coding, building robots, 3D printing, video-making and cardboard modelling. Skills and dispositions aligned with the IBDP Approaches to Learning (AtL) will be developed as the learning experiences challenge students to communicate, collaborate, self-manage, research, and think creatively as well as critically.

Junior Researcher Programme (Year 1 - 2)

The Junior Researcher Programme (JRP) focuses on educating and equipping students with foundational research skills, which will be extended as they progress on to Year 3 & 4 IP and OP with Signum Fidei and Curriculum+ respectively. It is designed to encourage interdisciplinary learning and discovery by infusing research skills as a pedagogical tool in Level 1 & Level 2 learning. The programme also seeks to talent scout and develop IP & OP students, with aptitude in research work, to represent the school and participate in competitions and various research programme at the national level.

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Josephian Arts Programme (Visual Arts)

JAP Visual Arts is a four-year academic programme designed for Josephians in Years 1 – 4 to encourage and enable them to develop specific skills to create art, make purposeful connections between investigation and practice, communicate and express artistic thoughts, respond to and reflect on art to be socially aware and relevant.


JAP is compulsory for DSA Visual Arts students.

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Signum Fidei Programme (Year 3 & 4 IP)

Signum Fidei Programme (SF) aims to achieve the goal of allowing Josephians to integrate and transform their learning into practical solutions. Through the design thinking processes, the students will innovate beyond their existing paradigm and offer a fresh perspective into real-world issues which they are passionate about.

In Year 3, students will learn the theoretical underpinning to design thinking, needs analysis, research methodology, communication, presentation, interdisciplinary approaches etc. This knowledge will be useful when students work in groups to investigate the needs of a local organisation assigned to them and will propose and present meaningful solutions/prototypes to the organisation. If possible, students will be invited to actualise their proposal with the organisation.

From the previous experience and learning, the students will once again be exposed to the needs of the community but will use the lens of innovation and enterprise to apply their learning. There are 2 anchor programmes at Year 4: Innovathon (competition for innovation and creativity) and SFgives (students will use their innovation and enterprising spirit to contribute to a charity).

Curriculum+ : Project Work
(Year 3 & 4 OP)

Curriculum+ challenges our OP Josephians to grow and be better prepared to connect with life beyond the O-Levels. This is done by facilitating the discovery of their strengths and by building enduring skills through purposeful design modules. Through the use of authentic context in Project Work and Entrepreneurship, Year 3 students acquire values and dispositions of collaboration, self-directedness, risk taking and service orientation. As part of the Education and Career Guidance module, the Year 4s are exposed to traditional and non-traditional occupations through direct interactions with practitioners.

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Curriculum+ : Project Work

Gregory, Ping Yuan and 2 other group members investigated the social well-being of the visually impaired under the topic of Health. Through their primary and secondary investigations, they discovered that the visually impaired often felt socially excluded due to the limited social platforms available to them. They created a board game that could be played by both the visually impaired and those who are sighted.

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Curriculum+ : Education and Career Guidance (ECG)

Ayman and his group mates worked with a film production practitioner during the Year 4 ECG programme. They created and edited a video from scratch to share at the end of the programme.



Learning Beyond The Classrooms

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English Language & Literature

English Language & Literature goes beyond the books...

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OMG! Champion

Through the various programmes in SJI, Year 3 Josephian Owenn Phua has honed his public speaking skills through SJI's 'One-Minute Gem' (OMG) Challenge and discovered his passion for creative writing and his love for the English language. Read about his story in SJI's Lumen.

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Mathematics Alive!

Mathematics is more than just algebra & formulas!

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Humanities

Learning about our space & our past

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Science Showcase

From conception to prototype building

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Learning from Science Competitions

Nguyen Thanh Tin and Joshi Mihir (Year 4) share their experiences from the Singapore Young Physicist Tournament (SYPT), the International Elementz Fair (IEF) and the Singapore Science and Engineering Festival (SSEF).

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Bilingual Youth Model United Nation

SJI fielded a team of 5 Josephians to take part in the second edition of the Bilingual Youth Model United Nations (BYMUN) conference organised by Nanyang Girls’ High School in January 2021. The theme of the 2021 Bilingual Youth Model United Nations conference was “Transforming the world: Voices of Youth”.

Kavan Goh Kai Jun bagged the Best Delegate award for the Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) Council. Huang Yao Ting won a Commendation prize.

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Chinese Language

Choo Yi Ming (Year 3 IP) talks about his growing passion towards learning Chinese since joining SJI.

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Malay Language

The Malay language lessons in SJI had made Farhan Zachary Ewell (Year 3 OP) to be a more confident bilingual student.

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Tamil Language

As a Higher Tamil Language student, Sactiram Naidu (Year 4 OP) had many opportunities to represent SJI in interschool competitions.