1969 to Assist Needy Boys and Girls
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UP ANDON 1 9 6 9 Singapore Sesquicentennial Issue S T . A N D R l~ W ' S SCHOOL MA(iAZINJ~ ------------------------··-· ··-- EDITORIAL BOARD Advisers: Mr. Vivian Quek Mrs. Catherine Lim Mrs. Tan Tai Wei (P.M.) Editor: Chan Wing Hon Co-Editors: Shih Liang Chye Basil Chan Sub-Editors: Kwan Weng Kin Khong Cho Oon Sunny Yap Sim Seng Chye Miss Tan Chung Mui Robert Shen James Sidwell (P.M.) Photographers: Hock Thai Sailee Miss Chung Shui Ken - 3- SAINTS (JUNIOR SCHOOL) COMMEMORATE SINGAPORE'S 150TH ANNIVERSARY • • • • Raffles about to sign a document• • • • • the founding of Singapore by Raffles in 1819. Joget, the traditional Malay dance• • • • • signifying trade was. and still is, Singapore's main lifeblood, 5 WARDEN'S REPORT FOR 1968/9. St. Andrew's is not quite an ordinary school. We have been running for 107 years and we like to do things in our own way. This sometimes seems to worry outside authorities a little, but the results of the 1968 Cambridge exams must have reassured them. Kwan Weng Kin was top of all Singapore in School Certificate, with Distinction I in all 8 subjects. Koh Boon Hwee was top of all Singapore in HSC, with Distinction in all subjects and more than that, with Dis tinction I in eleven subject papers and Distinction II in the twelfth. A number of other students also had excellent results. Both Weng Kin and Boon Hwee had their whole education in the School from Primary One upwards. We can be proud of them, and their teachers, both Primary and Secondary, who have done so much to raise high the name of St. Andrew's. The aim of education is not to pass exams, but to prepare for full and useful adult life. A school which gives that training will also get good exam results. The generosity of Mr. Leong Jee has enabled St. Andrew's to establish a new kind of Award, for which students are assessed in interview for breadth of mind and ability to apply knowledge intelligently. The Selection Committee this year was Professor K' ang Ai Kim, Professor D. J. Enright and Colonel Bond. Their unanimous decision was to give the Leong Jee Award to Koh Boon Hwee, whose performance in adult life will show the value of this Award. Boon Hwee was also interviewed for a President's Scholarship, but the Public Service Com mission did not select him for this, which suggests that I am right in saying that there is a difference between the official outlook and the St. Andrew's way of doing things. Variety is the spice of life, and we provide a little spice for life in Singapore. At the end of 2nd Term we launched our Phase I Appeal for costs of $77,000 for equip ping and furnishing our Technical Workshops. So far we have received cash, promises and gifts in kind totalling $39,500 leaving just under $38,000 still to be raised. This total includes some very generous donations, one of $4,000 and another of two secondhand lathes for the 40-seat Technical Drawing room at about $1,200. There should be no difficulty in finding the balance of the money, as a large number of our Primary and Secondary One parents have not yet donated, or have given very small sums. Collections vary widely from class to class; e.g. in one class 36 parents have already donated a total of $1,484, whilst in another only 11 parents have donated the small total of $112. I feel sure that when these parents come to understand the need, they will give their full support. If we do not have the money, we cannot have the Workshops. If we do not have the Workshops, one-third of our boys will have to leave at the end of Secondary Two to go for training in Government Workshops. It is as simple as that. If parents want their sons to be able to stay at St. Andrew's, they will support this appeal. If they do not care, that is their business. We shall anyhow do our best for all students, but we cannot do what we have no finance for. When I said that St. Andrew's is not quite an ordinary school, I meant particularly that we think ahead and pioneer in ways that only get general acceptance by others later. This was so in Technical education, which was St. Andrrw's policy sixteen years ago. We built our Workshops in 1962, and it is only now that Government policy has caught up with us and we can . start to use them. We are getting no Government grants of any kind for these costs of equipment and furniture. Another pioneering project here is our share of the Schools Counselling Service of the Anglican Welfare Council. This employs professional Social Workers to help students and their families in personal and home problems. It also runs a Student Aid scheme, through the generosity of Lee Foundation, which has made grants totalling $20,000 in 1969 to assist needy boys and girls. - 6 - Anglican Welfare is also pioneering work in Health and Moral Education, which includes what is called Sex Education. Miss Priscilla Daniels of our PM Session staff has prepared a draft Syllabus, which is now being revised after being presented at a representative meeting in August. We have started a preliminary programme with PU I boys and girls this term, and their parents have given 100% approval to what we are doing. The conditions of city life in Singapore today make this kind of work very necessary, and we are doing what we can to meet the need. The same need is recognised in Hong Kong where their Teachers Training College recently asked for copies of our draft Syllabus. We are planning another pioneering development in our New Teaching Block. The pro posal is that this should have no classrooms at all. There will be a large Lecture Theatre for large group teaching of 150 or 200 students simultaneously for some kinds of lessons. At the other end, we plan a large Library, with Self-Study area, where students can learn to teach themselves, working independently on assignments and reference work. Between these, we plan Small Group rooms, where a teacher can take 15 - 20 students round a conference table so that all can share in the learning process in a way not possible in the old 40-seat classrooms. We plan also for the New Teaching Block to provide a high-quality Canteen, suitable for social functions by students, former students or staff; and Activities space, which can be used for anything from an Art lesson to modelling aeroplanes or playing electric guitars. In short, we might call the New Teaching Block a design for self-disciplined freedom. In a 40-seat classroom, the teacher has to aim his lesson at the average of the class, so that he goes too slow for the fast students and too fast for the slow. A lot of time is wasted and some students become discouraged and lose interest. There is no educational reason why good teaching should not be given on the Roof Garden, or round coffee cups in the Canteen, or beside the fountain, or in a garden area, where the type of lesson suits such surroundings. There is no single design for a classroom to suit every need. I hope our New Teaching block will make possible selective adjustments. St. Andrew's tries to maintain strict standards of student discipline, but that need not mean using unnecessary repression or sacrificing reason able freedom of choice. This New Teaching Block is the central proposal for our Phase II Appeal, which we hope can follow as soon as the $77,000 Phase I is concluded. Phase II will include also a Games Centre, including a Rifle Range and Drill area for our uniformed units, and we need a good deal of money for improvements of our grounds. We have 16 acres of grounds, and even giving them adequate fencing will be very costly. We have a wonderful site here, and we ought to develop it to make it a real beauty spot in the new Singapore. We also have wonderful students and teachers, and we ought to give them the surroundings they deserve. The theme for this Report is that at St. Andrew's we try to think ahead and pioneer new developments. This is not a matter of chance. We are a Christian school, which daily prays that God's kingdom may come on earth. To Christians, forward planning and a dynamic attitude to change should be the necessary evidence of their living faith. The groundwork of char.ge is a careful attention to accounts, and anxious thought or how to make the best use of limited resources to meet future needs. But beyond the details and the dull daily work we see the heavenly vision, to which we hope we shall not be disobedient. 7 SPEECH DAY -1969 The Guest-of-Honour, Mr. Michael Fam, Mr. Michael Fam, Manoging-Director of Hume inspecting the Guard-of-Honour. Industries, addressing his Alma Mater. Mrs. Michael Fam presenting a gift to lnche Hamid Kutty on his retirement after 30 years' service as tukang kebun. 8 ,vHO'S WHO KOH BO·ON HWEE KWAN WENG KIN Singapore's Top Higher School Certificate Singapore's Top School Certificate Student Student with distinctions in all subjects; 11 with Distinction A 1 in all 8 subjects. Als and 1 AZ. LIM THUAN KHEE Research grants were offered to him in 1966 by four Universities - Universities of Adelaide, New South Wales, Cambridge and Sgt.