Saint Andrew's Secondary School Explained

St Andrew's Secondary School
圣安德烈中学
Motto:Up and On
Address:15 Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359342
Country:Singapore
Coordinates:1.3305°N 103.8635°W
Type:Government-aided
Session:Single session
Principal:Lee Han Hwa
Gender:Male
School Code:7015
Enrolment:1188
Homepage:http://www.standrewssec.moe.edu.sg/

Saint Andrew's Secondary School is a government-aided Anglican all-boys' secondary school in Potong Pasir, Singapore. Established in the 19th century, it still operates along traditional British lines and offers a four- or five-year programme, leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level or Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examinations.

History

The school was founded in 1862 by Reverend Edward Sherman Venn. In May 1872, after the Colonial Chaplain, Canon J. A. Beccles, applied to the government for financial aid, Saint Andrew's School became a grant-in-aid institution. The growing school moved from Upper Hokkien Street to Victoria Street and then in 1875 to a four-acre site along Stamford Road.[1]

By the 1920s, the school's enrolment had reached 800 boys. In the 1930s, a system of prefects was instituted, and the school became known for its excellence in boxing[2] and rugby in this period.

A new, larger campus was opened in Woodsville in 1940.[3] [4] More buildings were added in the 1950s, housing both the primary school and secondary school sections.

In 1986, the secondary school moved from Woodsville to a site in Potong Pasir across the Kallang River after the Woodsville buildings were deemed inadequate for the running of both the primary and secondary classes. In mid-2003, the school moved temporarily to the old Victoria School building at Kallang Bahru before returning to new buildings opposite Saint Andrew's Junior School in 2005 as part of the Saint Andrew's Village project, which brings together in one complex the Junior, Secondary and Junior College campuses.[5]

Meanwhile, the old school buildings have been conserved and strengthened for re-use as a church, winning an Honourable Mention in the UNESCO Heritage Awards in 2007.[6]

The Saint Andrew's Village has the first artificial rugby pitch in Singapore, shared between the secondary school and the primary school. It opened in January 2008 at a cost of S$1 million and provides an all-weather surface.[7]

Academics

In 2008, Saint Andrew's was one of eight schools in Singapore to begin offering three new subjects at the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level: Creative 3D Animation, Fundamentals of Electronics, and Introduction to Enterprise Development.[8]

In 2009, Saint Andrew's gained an Academic Value-Added Sustained Achievement Award from the Ministry of Education.[9]

In 2010, the school was commended for including the Saint Andrew's River Programme in its science curriculum. Students investigated the impact on the Kallang River ecosystem and water quality of the building of the Marina Barrage and the enclosure of the Marina Basin.[10]

From 2011, Saint Andrew's offers enhanced enrichment courses for upper secondary students taking the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examinations in art.[11]

In 2011, the school won the Special Lee Hsien Loong Award for Innovations in Normal Course.[12]

Sporting achievements

Saint Andrew's is one of the traditional "Big Three" rugby schools in Singapore, along with Raffles Institution and Anglo-Chinese School (Independent).[13] The school has won a total of 157 national school titles for rugby since the late 1960s (based on available records).[14] It has also held the Kiwi Cup from 1945 to 2013 inclusive.[15] It has been awarded niche status in rugby by the Ministry of Education.[16]

The school is also strong in hockey. The B Division Hockey Team emerged champions of the B Division Competitions in 2005, 2008 and 2018, as well as the C Division Hockey Team who emerged champions in 2010, 2012 and a recent win over Raffles Institution gave them another national title in 2014.[17] The B Division Hockey Team also recently emerge as champions in the 2016 B Division Hockey Competitions after edging their opponents, Sengkang Secondary, in the finals with a score of 2-0. In cricket, Saint Andrew's was under-17 champions in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2003.[18]

School culture

Despite being an Anglican school, it is not a requirement for students to be Christian.[19] Saint Andrew's has a house system comprising five houses: Gomes, Hose, Loyfatt, Romanis and Venn.[20] The school regards its system of prefects as an important element in maintaining an ethos of service and high standards of conduct.[21]

School uniform

All students wear white short-sleeved shirts bearing the school badge. Lower secondary boys (Secondary 1 and 2) wear dark blue short trousers with white socks;[22] Bermuda shorts are not permitted. Upper secondary boys (Secondary 3 onwards) wear dark blue long pants, although Secondary 3 students have been allowed to do so only since the 1990s.[22] The prefects in upper secondary wear white long pants.

Discipline

Saint Andrew's maintains strict rules for behaviour inside and outside the school. There is a new system of demerit points, used in combination with the school's long-standing[23] policy of corporal punishment in the form of caning on the palm of the hand or on the buttocks over clothing.

After a series of bullying cases attracted attention in 2003, the school stated that the situation at Saint Andrew's was no worse than at any other school, adding that bullies receive a stern warning; recalcitrant offenders or those who injure others are caned and ultimately expelled.[24] A Saint Andrew's student caught bringing pornography to school would be caned either in public or in class, depending on the seriousness of the case.[25]

For cases where the offence has a victim or where there is conflict to be resolved, a system of Restorative Practices is in place. "In the process of resolving the conflict, the offenders are asked to suggest the appropriate consequences for their action, which may include any form of punishment. However, any students who fail to cooperate with the teacher will be dealt with differently."[26]

Notable alumni

Singapore's second President

Opposition politician. Secretary-general of the Reform Party of Singapore. Son of the late J.B. Jeyaretnam.

Opposition politician. Chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party.

Singapore's Senior Counsel

Singaporean lawyer, founder of Harry Elias and partners

chairman – Yeo Hup Seng Group, chairman – DBS Group, chairman – Singapore Airlines, director – Temasek Holdings

American internet entrepreneur, Founder of Seeking.com

writer, journalist, author of Brand Singapore, business consultant, deputy chairman of Censorship Review Committee 2009–10.

plastic surgeon, present head of the St Andrew's Alumni Association

Writer, journalist, author of numerous works, such as Book: Singapore : the air-conditioned nation : essays on the politics of comfort and control, 1990-2000 . 2000 . Landmark Books . 981-3065-46-X . Singapore . 45891380. and Book: PAP v PAP : the party's struggle to adapt to a changing Singapore . 2020 . Donald Low . 978-981-14-7658-7 . Singapore . 1196822675. ; Professor of Media Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University

First Singaporean to receive an Academy Award. CEO and co-founder, Egg Story Creative Production Pte Ltd. FX technical director and shot development technical director of The Matrix and its sequels.

Musician. Former guitarist in Air Supply.

Former holder of Singapore's national 100 m sprint record at 10.37s. Singapore's national team.

Faculty

Affiliated schools

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.saintandrewsschool.info/our_school.aspx?menu_id=1&id=11 St Andrew's School History page.
  2. News: St. Andrew's Champions at Inter-school Boxing. . Malayan Saturday Post . 12 September 1931 . Singapore . 8 .
  3. News: Model School for Singapore . The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser . 5 November 1936 . 9.
  4. News: New St. Andrew's School . The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser . 12 July 1940 . 7.
  5. News: Changes at other families of schools . https://web.archive.org/web/20110707175225/http://news.asiaone.com/News/the+Straits+Times/Story/A1Story20100210-197721/2.html . dead . 7 July 2011 . The Straits Times . Singapore . 10 February 2010.
  6. News: Old St. Andrew's School gets Honourable Mention at UNESCO Heritage Awards . Channel NewsAsia . 24 August 2007 . Hong, Lynda .
  7. News: Singapore's first artificial rugby pitch opens at St Andrew's School . Singh, Patwant . Channel NewsAsia . Singapore . 11 January 2008.
  8. News: 8 schools to offer 3 new applied subjects at 'O' levels . Mohandas, Vimita . Channel NewsAsia . Singapore . 25 October 2007 .
  9. Web site: School Achievement Table for Special/Express Course . Ministry of Education . 2009 . 19 March 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101214102021/http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/files/2009/09/moa-2009-annex-e1.pdf . 14 December 2010 . dead .
  10. Web site: Address by Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, at the Opening Ceremony of the 1st Place-based Education Seminar . Ministry of Education . 17 March 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120320064935/http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2010/03/17/place-based-education-seminar.php . 20 March 2012 .
  11. News: MOE to extend music and art electives from 2011 . Hoe Yeen Nie . Channel NewsAsia . Singapore . 23 September 2010 .
  12. Recognising Best Practices of Schools in Delivering Holistic Education . Ministry of Education . 18 September 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120223154228/http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2011/09/recognising-best-practices-of-schools.php . 23 February 2012 .
  13. News: Not your typical rugby schools . The Straits Times . Singapore . 13 April 2010.
  14. Web site: Rugby School Champions . Red Sports . Singapore . Goh Chin Lian .
  15. Web site: Kiwi Cup 2011 . The Village Online . 1 February 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110306064351/http://villageonline.sg/kiwi-cup-2011/ . 6 March 2011 .
  16. From Robotics to Rope-Skipping: More than a Third of Schools now have Niche Areas to Cater to Students' Varied Interests . Ministry of Education . 1 April 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110411034343/http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2009/04/from-robotics-to-rope-skipping.php . 11 April 2011 .
  17. Web site: Hockey School Champions . Red Sports . Singapore .
  18. Web site: Past school champions: Cricket . Red Sports . Singapore.
  19. News: Interests came first in choice of schools . The Sunday Times . Singapore . 23 August 2009 .
  20. Web site: Students' Corner . Saint Andrew's School . dead . https://archive.today/20120912052331/http://www.saintandrewsschool.info/student_corner.aspx?menu_id=12 . 12 September 2012 .
  21. Web site: Student leadership . St Andrew's School .
  22. News: Sec 3 students forced to wear shorts to school . AsiaOne . Singapore . 30 January 2010 .
  23. News: T.F. Hwang takes you down memory lane . The Straits Times . Singapore . 21 September 1974 . 14 . T.F. . Hwang .
  24. News: Mostly 'thoughtless pranks': St Andrew's. The Straits Times . Singapore . 13 October 2003 . Ben . Nadarajan .
  25. News: The New Paper . Singapore . Boys taking porn to school - in handphones? . 8 June 2009 .
  26. Web site: Pupil development programme - Discipline . St Andrew's School . dead . https://archive.today/20080509001801/http://www.saintandrewsschool.info/pupil_dev_prog.aspx?menu_id=14 . 9 May 2008 .
  27. News: Singapore opposition head Jeyaretnam dies . The Jakarta Post . Associated Press . 30 September 2008 . Kennedy, Alex . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121008235043/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/09/30/singapore-opposition-head-jeyaretnam-dies.html . 8 October 2012 .
  28. News: The New York Times . Anne King Markey, Lawyer, to Wed . 10 February 1985.
  29. Web site: Special Programmes: Marshall Plan . St Andrew's Secondary School . 2009 . dead . https://archive.today/20120911144335/http://www.saintandrewsschool.info/special_programmes.aspx?menu_id=18&id=26 . 11 September 2012 .
  30. News: Kraal . David . 25 March 1962 . Skinner - two games for Singapore . . 22.