St Andrew's Secondary School
圣安德烈中学
Address
15 Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359342

Singapore
Coordinates1°19′50″N 103°51′49″E / 1.3305°N 103.8635°E / 1.3305; 103.8635
Information
TypeGovernment-aided
MottoUp and On
DenominationAnglican
Established1862 (1862)
Sister schoolSaint Margaret's Secondary School
SessionSingle session
School code7015
PrincipalLee Han Hwa
GenderMale
Enrolment1188
Colour(s) Navy Blue   White 
AffiliationsSaint Andrew's Junior School
Saint Andrew's Junior College
Website

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. The school tie is to be worn on Mondays and at special events.[23]

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[24] policy of corporal punishment in the form of caning on the palm of the hand or on the buttocks over clothing. Students who accumulate three or four demerit points in a term may be punished with Corrective Work Action (CWO) or caning on the hand. Students who have five or more demerit points in a term would be caned on the buttocks.[23] Students who are late to school four times in a term will be caned on the hand, and will be caned again on each subsequent lateness for that term. Students caught smoking or in possession of tobacco products are referred to the Health Sciences Authority to be fined and counselled, as well as being caned on the buttocks. For very serious offences such as drug abuse, or a second or subsequent offence of fighting, causing hurt to others or gang-related behaviour, the student may be caned on the buttocks in front of his class or in front of the entire school population during assembly. A public caning is mandatory in cases where the Police are involved. For recalcitrant cases of serious offences, the student may be publicly caned and then either suspended or expelled.[23]

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.[25] 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.[26]

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."[27]

Notable alumni

Affiliated schools

References

  1. St Andrew's School History page. Archived 12 July 2008 at archive.today
  2. "St. Andrew's Champions at Inter-school Boxing". Malayan Saturday Post. Singapore. 12 September 1931. p. 8.
  3. "Model School for Singapore". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. 5 November 1936. p. 9.
  4. "New St. Andrew's School". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. 12 July 1940. p. 7.
  5. "Changes at other families of schools". The Straits Times. Singapore. 10 February 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011.
  6. Hong, Lynda (24 August 2007). "Old St. Andrew's School gets Honourable Mention at UNESCO Heritage Awards". Channel NewsAsia.
  7. Singh, Patwant (11 January 2008). "Singapore's first artificial rugby pitch opens at St Andrew's School". Channel NewsAsia. Singapore.
  8. Mohandas, Vimita (25 October 2007). "8 schools to offer 3 new applied subjects at 'O' levels". Channel NewsAsia. Singapore.
  9. "School Achievement Table for Special/Express Course" (PDF). Ministry of Education. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  10. "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. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012.
  11. Hoe Yeen Nie (23 September 2010). "MOE to extend music and art electives from 2011". Channel NewsAsia. Singapore.
  12. "Recognising Best Practices of Schools in Delivering Holistic Education" (Press release). Ministry of Education. 18 September 2011. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012.
  13. "Not your typical rugby schools". The Straits Times. Singapore. 13 April 2010.
  14. Goh Chin Lian. "Rugby School Champions". Singapore: Red Sports.
  15. "Kiwi Cup 2011". The Village Online. 1 February 2011. Archived from the original on 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" (Press release). Ministry of Education. 1 April 2009. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011.
  17. "Hockey School Champions". Singapore: Red Sports.
  18. "Past school champions: Cricket". Singapore: Red Sports.
  19. "Interests came first in choice of schools". The Sunday Times. Singapore. 23 August 2009.
  20. "Students' Corner". Saint Andrew's School. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012.
  21. "Student leadership". St Andrew's School.
  22. 1 2 "Sec 3 students forced to wear shorts to school". AsiaOne. Singapore. 30 January 2010.
  23. 1 2 3 "SaintsCode of Conduct" (PDF). St Andrew's School. 2017.
  24. Hwang, T.F. (21 September 1974). "T.F. Hwang takes you down memory lane". The Straits Times. Singapore. p. 14.
  25. Nadarajan, Ben (13 October 2003). "Mostly 'thoughtless pranks': St Andrew's". The Straits Times. Singapore.
  26. "Boys taking porn to school - in handphones?". The New Paper. Singapore. 8 June 2009.
  27. "Pupil development programme - Discipline". St Andrew's School. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008.
  28. "'Look beyond metros'". tabla!. Singapore. 15 October 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011.
  29. Kennedy, Alex (30 September 2008). "Singapore opposition head Jeyaretnam dies". The Jakarta Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012.
  30. "Anne King Markey, Lawyer, to Wed". The New York Times. 10 February 1985.
  31. "Special Programmes: Marshall Plan". St Andrew's Secondary School. 2009. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.
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