Jurong Junior College

History of Jurong Junior College (JJ)

Founded in April 1981, JJ was the 9th junior college in Singapore. In the beginning, the campus had to be hurriedly put together and despite the conversions to house a junior college, “the facilities were grossly inadequate”, according to Mr. Koh Beng Thiam, JJ’s first Principal. While the campus was situated in an idyllic setting facing the large expanse of Pandan Reservoir, there were almost no facilities for sports.

Before even finding a new home, JJ began carving a place for itself, taking part in and winning various competitions. More significantly, our pioneering students laid the foundations of the Xinyao movement when they held a concert featuring original songs they composed. In the midst of the college’s teething problems, these achievements were heartening and inspiring, planting the roots for future achievements.

In 1985, staff and students moved to their permanent home at 800 Corporation Road. The patience of staff and students were rewarded as all classrooms were air-conditioned due to the deafening sounds of the RSAF airplanes from the nearby Tengah Airbase.

In 2006, the college was selected as the fourth Centre for the Language Elective Programme (Chinese) and the Centre of Excellence for Character Development in the West Zone. JJ was also the first junior college in Singapore to receive the Outstanding Development Award for Character Development that year. The college was revalidated for this award in 2011.

Over the years, there was ongoing work behind the scenes to create a unique JJ identity that would be enduring as well as create a sense of belonging. Eventually, the core values were distilled into:

Appreciation
Responsibility
Motivation
Discipline

These were reinforced by the college’s Vision and Mission Statements, which were refined by the various principals who helmed JJ.

Vision: College of Choice, Education of Value

Mission: Nurturing confident learners with a global outlook. Developing leaders of character with a heart to serve.

In 2017, with the announcement of the impending school merger, the college held a Homecoming event which coincided with the JJ pioneer batch’s reunion. To mark the cessation of operations at 800 Corporation Road, 2018 culminated with Curtain Call: Our Final Homecoming @ Jurong, which saw some 5000 members of the extended JJ family returning to bid a fond farewell to the college.

Principals:

Mr. Koh Beng Thiam (1981-1986)
Mr. V. Govindarrasu (1987-1993)
Ms Ching Ah Kim (1994-2002)
Mr. Koh Yong Chiah (2003-2009)
Ms Tay Lai Ling (2010-2015)
Dr Hang Kim Hoo (2016-2018)

JJ Heritage Video

Motto

Crest

Much thought went into designing the college crest. The result was a unique silver ‘tear drop’ on green background. The crest was unique and differed significantly from the typical school crests of that era.

During the rebranding exercise in the early 2000s, green became the principle colour for practical purposes. The crest, with concentric arcs depicted the two ‘J’s and the dot completed the letter ‘J’. Together, they formed the shape of a teardrop signifying the ‘effort’ and ‘toil’ of all in the college to attain their desired outcomes. The colour green captured the spirit of youthful enthusiasm, energy and dynamism, essential ingredients for achievement and progress. With achievement and progress being enduring buzz words of the educational landscape, the college’s motto not only reinforced these ideas but encouraged students to keep aiming for the stars and never resting on their laurels—hence the Latin ‘Plus Ultra’ was chosen as JJ’s motto - ‘This Far and Farther’ in English. A perennially relevant motto, the English translation was further refined to a more pithy ‘Further Beyond’.

College Song

The road unwinds before us
And we must venture on
Towards the bright tomorrow
Which faith and hope enthrone
We shall not stay nor linger
We shall not shrink nor fail
But hand in hand together
Strike out along the trail Chorus Head, heart and hand we offer
That none will fail the test
“Plus Ultra” leads us farther
Until we are the best And on our backs the armour
Forged in our College days
And in our eyes the light of truth
This College sets ablaze Repeat Chorus

JJ Spirit Song

JJ Spirit fills the air and lightens up our hearts
There’s a sense of happiness cos we have done our part
The fun and laughter we had together have made our dreams come true
There’s a feeling for me and you
In everything we do Chorus
JJ you made my life complete
And taught us always be at best in what we do,
To strive and never rest
JJ spirit will always be there,
JJ spirit will be there Your wealth and colour of your skin
We don’t really care
Cos with brotherly love we will
We will always share
Disciplined we always must be devoted and loyal be
We take pride in the things we do
Sincere and always true Repeat Chorus