(WARNING: Image-heavy post! Best viewed on desktop or with Wi-Fi)
Hey guys!
Long time no update. I was actually working on this blog post about something which has been piquing my interest for some time now. It has got nothing to do with beauty nor lifestyle. It’s about… *drum roll* SCHOOLS!! It took me THREE weeks, but no complaints really, as I enjoyed uncovering the history of these schools. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do!
My School Uniform – the first-ever photography project that documents all the school uniforms in Singapore.
Photo book out in stores now! Read review here
Well, what prompted me to do this 6200-word entry?! It was reported on the news four months ago that six schools here will be merged into three next year and that sparked my curiosity about other schools that fell victim to declining enrolment. Yup, school closure is still happening here despite complaints about not having enough schools. Ironic, isn’t it?
Schools facing low enrolment in the past were usually ordered to close. However Ministry of Education (MOE) had decided since 2002 to merge these schools instead to “form a good size school”. This is good news to pioneer schools as they are still able to preserve their history after the merge unlike those unpopular ones before 2002, whose name and history are now only remembered by their alumni. If you are an alumnus of any of the absorbed schools, your child is still eligible to be registered in the merged school under phase 2A(2). However, if your school has been closed for good, you’d have to join the back of the queue again.
Reports showed that falling enrolment is a result of declining birth rate, but I beg to differ. Although it does play a part in the dwindling registration, it is definitely not the main cause. Schools that receive lower number of applications are usually located in more mature estates with no area for further housing development (new flats) thus lowering the number of new young families in that area. Above all, one can still see popular schools receiving more applications than its number of vacancies every year so low birth rate is certainly not the main culprit.
Unpopular schools are issued with marching orders owing to Singaporeans’ choosy nature (can’t deny that I’d rather send my kids to a well-known school too) and it’s sad to see the place where you spent 6 years of your childhood at gone with the wind. Thus I’d like to pay tribute to these unsung pioneer schools by listing them below. Do note that the list is not exhaustive and I welcome any addition in the comments below 🙂
Psst, you may even find your parents’ schools here! My Dad and Mom were from Outram Primary and Alexandra Estate Primary respectively. Both were closed to make way for new developments.
In no particular order…
Alexandra Estate Primary School (Bukit Merah)
Closed in 1987
Established in 1954, it is known to be located beside Crescent Girls School previously. Female students put on their red pinafore dress with white inner blouse while the boys wore white collared top with red shorts to school. Crescent Girls School currently sits on its site. Some of its notable alumni include our Prime Minister’s wife, Ho Ching, as well as her siblings.
Taken on the final day of AEPS
P6C Class of 1987
A new school named Alexandra Primary School (ALPS) was recently built in the vicinity of where AEPS used to be and it started operations this year. It is highly plausible that its name was derived from there as ALPS is seen sharing the history of AEPS on its Facebook page. However, as ALPS is not a direct amalgamation of AEPS and other schools, parents cannot enroll their children in that school under Phase 2A(2).
Source: [1]
Jervois East Primary School
Jervois West Primary School (Bukit Merah)
Merged in 1986 to form Jervois Primary School
Closed in 1989
After Alexandra Estate Primary closed, their students were given a choice to transfer to the either the newly merged Jervois Primary or Keng Seng Primary in 1987. When Jervois Primary was closed in 1989, most of the students joined Keng Seng Primary.
Apart from knowing that they were all very near to AEPS, I can’t really find much information about these schools but it was mentioned somewhere on the net that the site of Jervois Primary is currently used by a halfway house.
Their Facebook page (to reconnect alumni) aren’t very active either so there’s absolutely no other ways to check.
(Thanks Neko Lim for the added information)
Membina Primary School (Tiong Bahru)
Closed in 1996
Established in 1975, the 113th school built by the government was situated at the junction of Jalan Membina and Jalan Bukit Merah. It was the first school of the contemporary design built under the Education Ministry’s School Building Programme and had 1817 pupils at time of opening.
Membina Primary took in students from Tiong Bahru Primary when the latter closed down. However Membina Primary aged with the estate and lost its appeal.
Other schools scheduled to close in 1996 were Elling, Jubilee, Keppel and MacRitchie Primary. (Will cover these schools in my next history post)
Tiong Bahru Primary School (Tiong Bahru)
Closed in 1990
With its history dated as far back as 1930, this school came a very long way. Previously known as Kaimin Public School and Jiemin Primary School (a merged school between Quan Min Primary and Jie Gu School after the Bukit Ho Swee fire but the latter resurrected in 1985 at Yishun), it was described by Colonel Tan Peng Ann as an L-shaped building, with only a single storey on one side for the administrative office and two storeys on the other for classrooms. As not many people drove then, there wasn’t any major carpark but there was a large school field for recreational purposes.
Edit: a reader (Lee Keng Hua) had argued that the school was in fact shaped like a metal staple with a 2-storey admin block before 1980. The canteen was at the end of the school building, opposite the admin block. Are there any ex-students who can confirm this? Pictures of the school are greatly appreciated!
Its current site is now occupied by a power station.
Psst.. sidetrack a bit, did you know Tiong Bahru means “New Cemetery” (tiong – Chinese for cemetery, bahru – Malay for new) because it was an area dotted with many cemeteries until the 1920s? How many of you actually thought it’s named Tiong Bahru because the area was populated with a lot of Chinese (“Ah Tiong”)? 😛
Bukit Ho Swee Secondary School
Tiong Bahru Secondary School (Tiong Bahru)
Merged in 1991 to form Delta Secondary School
Merged into Bukit Merah Secondary School in 2004
Bukit Ho Swee Secondary was officially opened in 1967 at the corner of Lower Delta Road and Jalan Bukit Ho Swee while Tiong Bahru Secondary, located beside Lower Delta Road (in front of the present Tiong Bahru Plaza) was established in 1966. Both were the most popular secondary schools in the neighbourhood.
Bukit Ho Swee Secondary
Bukit Ho Swee Secondary opening in 1967
Bukit Ho Swee Secondary opening in 1967 – gymnastic performance
Bukit Ho Swee Secondary – before and now. The “structure” of the Bukit Ho Swee Secondary School building can still be seen.
Tiong Bahru Sec Students at “O” Level results collection in 1980
Tiong Bahru Secondary was also where my wilful Mom studied for 2 years before she decided to drop out.
The first merger proved ineffective as enrolment didn’t pick up, probably due to the aging population in the estate and more young families were moving out to new towns. Delta had to merge (again) with Bukit Merah Secondary in 2004.
Delta Secondary School in 2000
The newly merged school is now functioning at the newly built Bukit Merah Secondary School site at Lengkok Bahru. Ex-pupils of Delta Secondary may wish to reconnect with their schoolmates here (restricted access).
Tanglin Technical School (Tanglin Halt/Commonwealth)
Used to be Tanglin Integrated Secondary Technical School until 1969
Renamed to Tanglin Secondary School in 1993
To merge with Clementi Woods Secondary in 2016 (updated 26/7/2014)
Technical studies were very sought after during the 1960s which prompted the government to set up 2 main technical schools then (the other being Queenstown Technical – now Queenstown Secondary). The purpose of such schools was to educate students and prepare them for engineering and technical working sectors (industrialisation).
I’ve chosen to feature Tanglin Tech, even though it still exists today, because it’s one of the pioneer technical schools that molded education in the present future. And most importantly, my Dad had his secondary education there.
The school started out as an all-boys school where medium of instructions was Chinese. Then it started admitting female students to its technical courses after the first renaming exercise. 50 years later, it is no longer at Tanglin Halt, but at West Coast Road.
Unfortunately, I spoke too soon. It was reported in the news on Saturday (26/7/2014) that the school will be merging with Clementi Woods Secondary School due to falling enrolment but it will still be operating on the former’s current site. Ex-students of the 50-year-old school are hoping for the merged school to be Tanglin’s namesake. To join the rally, click here. The newly merged school will be Tanglin’s namesake.
Tanglin Girls’ School
Kay Siang Primary School (Queenstown)
Merged in 1985 to form Xianglin Primary School
Established in 1957, Tanglin Girls’ was a four-storey high building on top of a slope (was it a trend in the past to place schools on higher altitude? Haha) and was also considered as one of the better schools in Singapore. Students wore white blouse and dark blue pinafore.
Ex-students of Kay Siang spoke briefly of the school being formerly known as Tanglin Boys’ School but in actual fact, Kay Siang and Tanglin Boys’ started out as two separate schools. The 3-storey Tanglin Boys’ School probably merged with Kay Siang along the way and became co-ed.
The first batch of students in Tanglin Girls’ and Boys’ were mostly from Bukit Merah South, Bukit Merah North and Redhill Schools. These three schools also have their own history documented below. Other than this, nothing much can be found about Tanglin and Kay Siang.
Class 4C of 1976
Xianglin Primary School (Queenstown)
Merged with Belvedere School in 1987
The amalgamation between Tanglin Girls’ and Kay Siang Primary proved to be ineffective as the merged school still couldn’t sustain past 2 years. Probably due to dipping enrolment, it was subsequently merged with Belvedere School which was just a road away.
Belvedere School (Bukit Merah)
Closed in December 1990
The school had a very unique location, at the top of a hill above Crescent Girls’ School. Singapore Poly started in borrowed premises at three sites, one of which was Belvedere School. The school complex was eventually demolished with all the schools under its wings erased from the national school directory forever.
Notable alumni includes Pritam Singh, a Member of Parliament from the Workers’ Party.
Pearl Park Primary School
Pearl’s Hill School (Outram)
Merged in 1995
Both schools have a history so rich that they have their own article on Singapore Infopedia.
Pearl’s Hill School was established in 1881 and underwent several name change and relocation before settling on its final one in 1914 and 1972 respectively. Initially located at Cross Street, it was among the first batch of government English elementary schools established by the British colonial government. It was affiliated to Outram Road School (later known as Outram Secondary) and students who had finished their Standard One education (PSLE in the olden days) would be posted there. It was finally homed in a 12-storey building on the slopes of Pearl’s Hill at Chin Swee Road, making it the tallest school building ever built in Singapore.
Pearl’s Hill School. I believe it’s the canteen. Oh brings back so much memories about my school too :’)
I don’t know much about Pearl Park unfortunately, but I do know that the principal (Mr Ang Koon Tin) is actually the father of Daniel from danielfooddiary.com. 🙂
The new Pearl’s Hill School ceased operations in December 2001 due to dwindling enrolment. Hotel Re! presently occupies the building.
Outram Primary School (Outram Park)
Closed in 1984
Located near Pearl Hill Terrace, it was closed to make way for the construction of Outram Park MRT station. Students and staff from Outram Primary went to Zhangde Primary School (next to Singapore General Hospital) when the school ceased to function.
I’m not sure if this is considered as a merge but it could be, since Outram Primary is mentioned on Zhangde Primary’s history.
Alexandra Hill Primary School
Bukit Ho Swee Primary School
Henderson Primary School
Keng Seng Primary School (Bukit Merah)
Merged in 2002 to form Gan Eng Seng Primary School
This happened quite recently but it still deserves a mention because they had been around for a long time, at least for Alexandra Hill. Even though its year of establishment isn’t stated anywhere on the net, I reckon that it existed since the 1960s as Dr Amy Khor (Member of Parliament for Hong Kah North) was a student there from 1964 to 1969.
Alexandra Hill Primary School
Alexandra Hill Primary School – class P5A of 1987
Bukit Ho Swee, on the other hand, was actually a merged school between Bukit Ho Swee East School (English-medium) and Bukit Ho Swee West School (Chinese-medium) formed in January 1986. Prior to the merger, East’s uniform was white and brown while West’s was light blue. Both schools shared a common tuck shop but had two assembly grounds. After they were combined, only Bukit Ho Swee East Primary’s building was utilised. The image of the dilapidated premise is still fresh in my mind because my Dad had to drive past it after visiting my grandparents at Jalan Bukit Ho Swee during my younger days to get home. I kinda foresaw the closure of that godforsaken place. Singapore Exam and Assessment Board had since taken over its site.
Keng Seng Primary seems to get the most limelight from the merger as it even got its own book. Like Bukit Ho Swee, it was also an amalgamation of many schools – three, in fact – namely Keng Seng School, Strathmore Primary School and Friendly Hill Primary School in 1980. You can pretty much tell from here that Keng Seng Primary is an old school.
Keng Seng School came into existence in 1939 through donations from farmers who were supportive of education. These were pig farmers who lived around the area, hence pig faeces along the way school were a common sight for students in those days. Occasionally, the pigs would also break into the classrooms!
However, preference for English education grew by the mid 1970s, leading to the decline of Keng Seng’s popularity among parents. Keng Seng was down to less than 300 students by then and hence had to merge with two other schools. Although the name “Keng Seng” was retained after the merger, it had to take on Friendly Hill’s school crest and Strathmore’s school song. The amalgamated school relocated to Alexandra Road.
More information about the parents schools (Friendly Hill and Strathmore) can be found in part 3.
Keng Seng Primary School – class P6A of 1987
As for Henderson Primary, it closed without a trace so I can’t really find any information about it. No one, even its ex-students, documented on its history before the merger? What a waste.
Henderson Primary
Henderson Primary
Gan Eng Seng Primary is presently located at the former site of Alexandra Hill Primary.
Redhill School
Bukit Merah North School
Bukit Merah South School (Redhill)
Merged in 1986 to form Bukit Merah Primary School
Redhill Primary School – class P5A of 1979
Bukit Merah South School
These three schools were adjacent to one another and they shared a big field where cows and other animals roamed. Bukit Merah North School was founded on 10 January 1955, conducting classes at Crescent Girls’ School and then at Delta East School (defunct as well). It only shifted to its latest location at Redhill Close in September 1956. The other 2 schools, I believe, were also there since early 1950s.
Bukit Merah Primary School (Redhill)
Merged into Alexandra Hill Primary School in 1998
The ancient OHP projector that we all missed.
Class P5 of 1995
Bukit Merah Primary School shut its doors 12 years later due to falling enrolment and was subsequently merged with Alexandra Hill Primary School. The newly merged school was then shifted to Telok Blangah a year later and the old site was revamped to the current Gan Eng Seng Primary School. Gan Eng Seng School now sits on a smaller piece of land space, as some land area was cut off to Bukit Merah Secondary School.
(Thanks ‘cornflict’ for the added information)
Did you know? F4’s Ken Chu attended Bukit Merah Primary School during his 8-year stay in Singapore.
Source: [1]
Silat Primary School (Bukit Merah)
Closed in 1992
This school is a result of the merger of two primary schools in 1984 – Silat I Primary and Silat II Primary.
The six-storey white building was at Silat Road in old times. That stretch of road where the school once stood is now renamed to Bukit Merah Road. The school field was also reduced by almost a third to make way for the road that now runs in front of it. Judging from the photographs taken by ex-students (as recent as 2013) who went back to explore, the abandoned building was probably still standing on the same ground not too long ago. But Street View shows something else when I tried to look it up so it could already be gone by now.
The school was closed (last batch was in 1991) following a declining enrolment rate and its students joined Zhangde Primary, which is still existent today.
(Thanks Ginny for the additional input!)
Sennett Estate School (MacPherson)
Closed in end 1999
Local actress Fann Wong was there from 1978 to 1983 before it was merged with Kwong Avenue School and renamed to Sennett Primary. After not offering primary one places for two years due to low demand, the school was closed in 1999 and students were transferred to nearby Cedar Primary School.
At the same time, Jagoh Primary was also earmarked to close due to low enrolment. Its students were transferred to Blangah Rise Primary School.
Rangoon Road Primary School (Farrer Park)
Closed in the early 1980s
The school was established in 1968 when the staff and former students of McNair School moved to its premise. It’s a pity that the school is no-more as it churned out quite a number of ministers and influential people such as Devan Nair (third President of Singapore), S. Dhanabalan (former chairman of Temasek Holdings), S. Jayakumar (Senior Minister) and Wong Kan Seng (former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs). I’m pretty sure it’d be one of the most sought-after schools today if it still exists (but of course it needs a name change first…)
Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society presently sits on the former site of Rangoon Road Primary.
Source: [1]
Towner Primary School (Bendemeer)
Closed in 1998 (verification needed)
This school was form by merging two schools – Whampoe School (est. 1950) and Towner School in 1984 – and catered mainly to the population in the immediate vicinity of the school. However, it was demolished to make way for HDB flats and students moved over to May Primary School.
May Primary School (Boon Keng)
Merged with Boon Keng Primary in 2002 to form Farrer Park Primary
This school was an amalgamation between May South (blue uniform) and May North (green uniform) Primary School and students in the newly established school wore blue and green uniform. When Cambridge Primary shut its doors in December 1998, its remaining students were also absorbed by May Primary. However the school was later vacated and renamed May Adventure Camp. Its park nearby was also converted into an expressway.
Yam Ah Mee (think General Elections) was from May North Primary School.
Serangoon Garden North School (Serangoon)
Merged with Serangoon Garden South in 1988
Established in 1956, the school moved into its own premises at 49, Kensington Park Road. Students there used to fight (playfully) with those from Serangoon Garden South when they crossed the centre-line of the field into their territory. However, the latter was later proved to be victorious when it took over Serangoon Garden North to form to new Serangoon Garden South School (probably because it was established a year earlier).
But that victory was short-lived as in January 2007, the school was merged with Zhonghua Primary School and is now located at Serangoon Ave 4.
Mattar East School (MacPherson)
Merged with Mattar Primary in 1988
Subsequently closed (year unknown)
Founded in 1963, the school was loosely associated to the police force for having a homophonic name to “mata-mata” (Malay for “Police”). Luckily for them, they had a neighbour with a similar name (Mattar Primary) and a minister named Ahmad Mattar which cushioned the teasing.
Mattar Primary
Mattar Primary
They had a very big field shared with Mattar Primary and Aljunied Primary. With 3 schools in close proximity vying for students in the fast-maturing estate, it’s no wonder none of them lived til this day. Ex-students of Mattar Primary School (merged with Mattar East) said that the school was later absorbed by MacPherson Primary but this absorption is not stated anywhere on the latter’s history.
Aljunied Primary School (MacPherson)
Closed in 1997
Rumour has it that the school was built to accommodate the dragon babies born in 1964. In other words, the school started in 1971 (officially opened in 1972) when most schools in Singapore were full. A relatively new school in that era, it had “no past successes to look back upon” as I quote the then-parliament secretary to the minister for education. 26 years went by and the school didn’t seem to gain any recognition but it did churn out a few well-known figures such as local actress Jacelyn Tay (郑秀珍), who was a vice-head prefect of the school.
It was absorbed by MacPherson Primary (currently at Aljunied Primary’s site) upon its closure.
(Thanks Gurmit for confirming the school’s history)
Chong Shan Primary School (Ang Mo Kio)
Merged with Townsville Primary in 2001
Chong Shan started functioning in 1982 and was in fact the 180th school built by the Singapore government. It had a joint official opening with Chong De Primary in 1984.
Chong De Primary’s students were transferred to Chong Shan when it closed in 1998. More details about Chong De can be found in part 2.
(Special thanks to Lim Wei Chern Jocelyn for her contribution)
Source: [1]
Ang Mo Kio North Primary School
Li Hua Primary School
Hong Dao Primary School (Ang Mo Kio)
Merged in 2000 to form Anderson Primary School
Ang Mo Kio North was established in 1981 and Hong Dao Primary in 1982. Li Hua Primary had a longer history as it originated as a rural school in the fifties, formerly known as Lee Hua Chinese School at Yio Chu Kang Road. Students used to wear all-white before the attire changed to white and blue.
Ang Mo Kio North Primary
Li Hua Primary
Li Hua Primary
Li Hua Primary in 1971
Li Hua Primary
Li Hua Primary
Ang Mo Kio North and Li Hua primary schools shared a field with Presbyterian High School before it moved to a bigger space.
Hong Dao Primary
Hong Dao Primary
Source: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Sembawang Hills Estate School (Upper Thomson)
Closed in 1992
The school overlooked the forest reserve by Casuarina Road and students wore white blouse/shirt and brown skirt/shorts. Many ex-students recalled having a prata stall (now known as Casuarina Curry Restaurant) conveniently across the street.
It garnered media attention in 1968 during the Gene Koh murder trial as the mentioned’s decaying body was found by one of the school’s stallholders when he went to relieve himself in the forest at night.
In 1992, the school was closed to make way for private housing development.
Seraya Primary School (Katong)
Merged with Fowlie School in 1986
Seraya Primary and Fowlie School were like sister schools to each other for they shared the same field back then before both schools were merged to form Fowlie Primary. Both schools were also opposite each other and very often, students from Seraya would go over to Fowlie’s canteen to eat.
Seraya Primary school band
Other schools in the vicinity were St Hilda’s, Tong Cai, Haig Boys’ and Girls’ School.
Fowlie Primary School
Mountbatten Primary School
Haig Boys’ School (Mountbatten)
Merged in 2001 to form Tanjong Katong Primary School
For a brief history of Fowlie, refer to Seraya Primary.
Unfortunately I’m unable to obtain any details of Mountbatten Primary but if you’re an ex-student, you may consider joining this members-only Facebook group here. Please feel free to provide me with the history of Mountbatten Primary if you’re familiar with the school.
Haig Boys’, on the other hand, isn’t as mysterious as its other counterparts. Founded in 1951, it was named after Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, British Commander-in-Chief during the Battle of the Somme. Its original location was at Haig Road in Katong but was later relocated to Mountbatten Road.
Haig Boys’ school staff in 1968
Haig Boys’
Haig Boys’ badminton team in 1968
Today, Tanjong Katong Primary is a popular school with the expatriate community in Singapore with about 40% of its students coming from 30 over countries. Some parents even started queuing as early as 3 days before the opening of Phase 3 registration to vie for a spot in the school. Judging from its popularity, this school is definitely going to be around for a long time and this is certainly good news to Fowlie’s alumni, whose alma mater had merged twice in its history.
Guillemard East Primary School (Kallang)
Closed in 1987
Known to be located behind Singapore Badminton Hall, its remaining students were taken in by Guillemard Primary (previously known as Guillemard Road English School but merged with Guillemard West Primary in 1984) upon closure. However, Guillemard Primary also suffered from the same fate some years later.
While we’re at it, allow me to also give a special mention to affiliated schools like Kallang Primary (previously known as Kallang Integrated Primary School, closed in 1987) and Guillemard West Primary in the region. Sadly, none of these schools exists today.
Bedok Girls’ School
Bedok Boys’ School
Bedok Primary School (Bedok)
Merged in 1986 to form Bedok Primary School
Closed in 1998
Bedok Girls’ and Bedok Boys’ were built in 1952 and located along Bedok Road in the middle of a ridge. Each of them is a single-storey building with 14 classrooms. They shared a field and a canteen which was on top a flight of stairs. Students who attended both schools live in villages in that area.
Bedok Girls’ – class P4A of 1975
Bedok Girls’ – class P6 of 1987
Bedok Boys’
Bedok Girls’
Bedok Primary, on the other hand, was founded in the early 1960s. However due to its falling enrolment, all 3 schools mentioned were merged to form a new co-ed school. Bedok Primary has quite a number of famous alumni though, such as Vikram Nair (MP from PAP) and Clarence Lee, a renowned professional make-up artist, just to name a few.
Bedok Primary farewell ceremony
Bedok Primary
Bedok Primary
Bedok Primary class P6N1 of 1989
Bedok Primary
The new Bedok Primary closed in 1998 and students were transferred to Bedok View Primary (which ceased operation and students moved over to Bedok South, which became Bedok Green in the end). In 2003, Bedok South Secondary School took over its former site.
Source: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Braddell Primary School
Westlake Primary School
San Shan Primary School (Toa Payoh)
Merged in 2002 with First Toa Payoh Primary to form the last
Braddell Primary started in 1976 and was also used by Mensa for its initial admission test sessions. It gained media attention when one of its student, seven-year-old Wong Chong Kum, was kidnapped by a man and a woman in January 1985 at the school (see source 4-6) who sought a random of S$30,000. All principals had to undergo an anti-kidnap briefing because of this.
Braddell Primary
Braddell Primary
Braddell Primary. Not sure where this is but it looks like an assembly hall
Braddell Primary in the midst of tearing down in 2011
The school building was demolished in 2011, about 9 years after the merge for Marymount Centre, which shifted from Thomson Road due to the construction of the North-South Expressway.
Westlake Primary canteen
Westlake Primary
Westlake Primary mural
Westlake Primary had its first batch in 1977 and used to be surrounded by 2 neighbouring schools – Westlake Secondary and Braddell Secondary (read below). The premises of Westlake Primary and Secondary were used to film the 2002 movie “I Not Stupid”. There is also a mosaic mural in Westlake Primary that depicts the Singapore of the mid-1970s and the early 1980s (see picture below) and it’s probably still there.
San Shan School, established in 1929, used to be a Chinese-medium school at Sophia Road but was relocated to Toa Payoh and renamed to San Shan Primary in 1982. The old building, still around today, used to be a holding site for Methodist Girls’ School for a short period and one of NAFA’s campuses. The new school building at Toa Payoh had already been torn down for Beatty Secondary.
Source: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Braddell Secondary School
Westlake Secondary School (Braddell)
Merged in 2000 to form Braddell-Westlake Secondary School
Closed in 2005
Braddell and Westlake Secondary were founded in 1981 and 1978 respectively.
Westlake Secondary
Braddell Secondary
Braddell-Westlake Secondary
Westlake Secondary
Braddell-Westlake Secondary
In order to boost falling enrolment, both schools were merged but their premises were retained and utilised, thus making them known for being one of the few secondary schools to occupy two separate campuses. Its enrolment continued to decline, leading to its official closure in 2005 and remaining students and staff were transferred to Guangyang Secondary School. Since 2012, the area has been earmarked for the shift of Raffles Girls’ Secondary.
Swiss Cottage Primary School (Dunearn)
Moulmein Primary School (Balestier)
Merged in 2002 to form Balestier Hill Primary School
To combine two schools that were quite distant from each other.. this was certainly a very unusual merge. If you ask me, it seemed like an attempt to rid the less-popular Swiss Cottage from the plot of land populated by famous schools such as SCGS, Raffles Girls’ Primary and ACS Primary.. but of course, that’s just my opinion. MOE has a reason for everything they do, right?
Swiss Cottage Primary was, no doubt, a school which lacked publicity. Before my “research” for the purpose of this entry, I had never heard of this school despite its presence since the 1960s. Swiss Cottage SECONDARY yes, but not the primary version of it (which could be because Bukit Batok was my place of residence for 23 years and everyone there knows that Swiss Cottage Sec is the best secondary school in the neighbourhood). The school’s last enrolment was 710, paling in comparison with Moulmein Primary’s 1030 in 2001, which was one of the factors that led to the cessation of the school in name.
Moulmein Primary
I knew about Moulmein Primary though, thanks to the TV drama “Moulmein High” on Channel 5 in the early 2000s. Trivia aside, Moulmein Primary was formed by the merger of Griffiths School when it first closed (Now Griffiths Primary School) and Balestier Girls’ School in 1983. Subsequently, it also absorbed Kim Keat Primary.
Bukit Batok East Primary School
Bukit Batok West Primary School (Jalan Jurong Kechil)
Merged in 1984 to form Bukit Timah Primary School
Bukit Batok East Primary
The unified school was actually called Bukit Batok Primary School before it changed to its current name. That’s an appropriate change as I don’t recall seeing the school at all in Bukit Batok. The principal (Mr Lim/Lee – ex-students, please verify!) then was a skinny man with black frame glasses and white hair who portrayed a rather regimental look. (Quoted from Kian Wee in the comments)
Bukit Batok East was probably founded in 1955 (reference from some MOE correspondence sheet with restricted access) but I’m clueless about the history of Bukit Batok West (not very popular I guess) except for the fact that the land is now occupied by German European School.
Clementi North Primary School
Clementi Town Primary School (Clementi)
Merged in 2001 to form Clementi Primary School
A Clementi North Primary student
Clementi North Primary and Clementi Town Primary were established in 1980. Probably due to competition from neighbouring schools such as Nan Hua Primary and Pei Tong Primary, they saw their enrolment dwindling and were eventually made to merge.
Clementi Town Primary – primary 1 students in 1982
To accommodate the expansion from the merge, a new school building was built on the former site of Clementi Town Primary School. While the construction took place, students from both schools occupied Clementi North Primary premises.
Ghim Moh Primary School (Commonwealth)
Merged with New Town Primary School in 2008 to form the latter
The school was founded in 1977 and used to be at Queenstown area. The site of Ghim Moh Primary has now been converted to Singapore Chinese Language Centre.
Ghim Moh Secondary School
Jin Tai Secondary School (Ghim Moh)
Merged in 2007 to form Clementi Woods Secondary School
Ghim Moh Secondary – alumni (of batch 1986) gathering
Ghim Moh Secondary, formerly known as Alexandra English Elementary School at Portsdown Road, started in 1976 with only 8 classes of students – 6 class of boys and 2 of girls. The first batch of students had no tuckshop (otherwise known as canteen today). The school was relocated to Ghim Moh estate a year later. (History of Ghim Moh Secondary quoted from Tan Helward)
Jin Tai Secondary achievement
Jin Tai Secondary was established in 1982 and judging from the pictures posted by ex-student on the Facebook group, I can say that the school was adept at sports especially soccer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t widely known for its achievements but instead for an infamous incident in 1999 where a mock attack was staged as part of a Total Defence Day exercise. The mock attack, conducted by eight student-officers aged between 16 and 18 in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) to simulate the Japanese Occupation of Singapore and teach students the importance of psychological defence, turned real and fourteen students had to be treated for injuries with 3 warded (source 4).
Jin Tai Primary School (West Coast)
Merged with Qifa Primary in 2008 to form the latter
Jin Tai was officially opened 1984 and like Jin Tai Secondary, it appeared on the news many times for its outstanding achievement in sports. However both remarkable schools bearing the same name are no longer existent. It was the second school absorbed by Qifa Primary – first was Jubilee Primary when it ceased operations in 1996.
Jin Tai was also involved in the high profile 2004 murder case of eight-year-old Huang Na as the deceased was enrolled in that school. Sidetrack a bit, oh gosh.. if Huang Na is still alive, she’d be 18 today can you believe it!?
Yung An Primary School
Merlimau Primary School
Jurong Town Primary School (Jurong West)
Merged in 2003 to form Lakeside Primary School
Yung An, Merlimau and Jurong Town started functioning in 1977, 1966, 1968 respectively. These were the first few schools in Taman Jurong for the early settlers in that estate.
The first-mentioned was originally at Yuan Ching Road and before the school building was ready for occupation, students were housed in Boon Lay Garden Primary.
Merlimau was initially a Malay school named Pulau Merlimau Primary from Jurong Island. It was renamed to Merlimau Primary when it shifted to Taman Jurong and had an alumnus who was awarded the most coveted President’s scholarship in 1999.
Merlimau Primary in 1989
Merlimau Primary
Merlimau Primary in 1988
Before the merge, Yuan Ching Secondary, Yung An Primary and Merlimau Primary shared the same football field but now it has become Yuan Ching Secondary’s property… so are both neighbouring primary school buildings.
Jurong Town Primary in 1986
Jurong Town Primary in 1986
Jurong Town Primary
Jurong Town was a pretty popular school when it first started due to the lack of schools in the area. The demand was so great that they had to borrow classrooms from nearby secondary schools to accommodate the large number of students. However as more schools were built and completed, the demand waned.
As of today, there are about 13 primary schools just in Boon Lay estate alone, some equipped with newer and better facilities. Thus it isn’t surprising to see the pioneering schools in Jurong losing out in competitive advantage.
Source: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Outram Institute (Bartley)
Jurong Institute (Jurong West)
Merged in 2004 to form Millenia Institute
They were two of the “four original centralised institutes (CI) in Singapore and one of the pre-university centres in Singapore that offers a three-year curriculum leading to the Singapore Cambridge (UCLES) General Certificate of Education Advanced Level examination” (Wikipedia). Due to dipping enrolment, they were merged to form the nation’s only centralised institute, Millenia Institute, at Bukit Batok.
Seletar Institute (Thomson)
Townsville Institute (Queenstown)
Closed in 1997 and 1995 respectively
Seletar Institute started in 1988 at the old campus of Upper Thomson Secondary School (now known as North View Secondary). Similarly, Townsville was also in the same year. Like the two institutes mentioned above, they offered a three-year pre-university programme based on the students’ O-level L1R4. However they weren’t as lucky as they were closed down altogether.
According to reader Adam, local host/actor Bryan Wong is an alumnus of Townsville Institute.
Seletar Institute has a very detailed write-up (more comprehensive than the others in fact) on its history on Wikipedia and here’s one part which got me snickering:
Due to the “Kampung spirit” and small cohort, many of the students ended up in a relationship with no less than 10 couples in a student population with less than 200. The school leadership force a reshuffling of the students to ensure that those in a relationship do not end up in the same class in Year Two.
– Wikipedia (Seletar Institute)
Due to time constraint and the impossibility to cover every single closed/merged schools in Singapore, I’ll briefly mention some of those not discussed in detail here: Bedok Town Primary, Dorset Primary (Farrer Park), Yuqun Primary, Pandan Primary (Teban Gardens), Jalan Kayu Primary, Kebun Baru Primary (Ang Mo Kio), Tanjong Rhu Boys’ School and Tanjong Rhu Girls’ School (both merged to form the now-defunct Tanjong Rhu Primary School), Chong Boon Primary and the list goes on.. and on.. and on.
I’ll do a follow-up if time permits, probably in my next long break. Haha. PART 2 here!
And joining the list with effect from next year will be..
Qiaonan Primary School
Griffiths Primary School (Tampines)
To merge in 2015 to form Angsana Primary School
I’m shocked at the closure of Qiaonan as it’s inarguably one of the oldest schools in Singapore to have been around for 81 years. I guess it’s just not popular enough in terms of academics despite its long history. To prove this point, the school only received 30 registration out of its possible maximum intake of 120 in last year
Qiaonan Primary
Founded by Wenzou Clan Association in 1933, it was known as Kiau Nam School and classes then were conducted in rental units in the now-defunct Lorong Koo Chye. 7 years later, students were schooled in a donated house (by the school director of school board) at Paya Lebar Road. Then came World War II, which saw the school closed during the mayhem until it was over. During the war, the school principal and a handful of teachers stood their ground and did not flee, hence were all executed. In the late 1950s, classes were also conducted in a Chinese temple to accommodate the growing numbers.
Qiaonan Primary
Qiaonan Primary
Qiaonan Primary school uniform
Griffiths Primary was formerly known as Towner Road Primary due to its locality. Started in 1950, it was then renamed to Griffiths Primary in honour of Mr James Griffiths. However, the school closed down once in 1982 and its pupils were transferred to Moulmein Primary (history above) as a result. The school was subsequently resurrected in 1988 and was operating at Junyuan Primary School before the completion of its premises at Tampines 22. Who would have expected its closure again 20 over years later? 😦
From Griffith’s 30th Anniversary Souvenir
And seriously, Angsana?? Couldn’t the naming committee think of something more modern?
Hong Kah Primary School (Bukit Gombak)
To merge with Lianhua Primary School in 2015
I used to live about 15 minutes walk away from the school, which started in 1994. Being a resident of Bukit Gombak for 20 over years, I’m pretty familiar with the schools in the neighbourhood. Moreover, two of my best friends were ex-students of Hong Kah Primary as well. From their account, I have to say that this absorption is inevitable.
There are 4 primary schools in the small housing area of Bukit Gombak alone – St. Anthony’s (my alma mater), Lianhua, Dazhong and Hong Kah – and sad to say, Hong Kah is the least popular among all. It faces very stiff competition from neighbouring schools like St Anthony’s, the most popular in the area with oversubscription in phase 2C. According to my friends, parents only enroll their kids there as a last resort when they can’t get a spot at St. Anthony’s 
Some never even considered about Hong Kah Primary.
With just 23 applicants for its 150 vacancies in 2014, I’m also unsure of the reason for its unpopularity. Could it be due to its less than exceptional academic performance? Nevertheless, I’m certain that it’s remote location plays a part in its closure.
Bedok West Primary School (Bedok)
To merge with Damai Primary School in 2015
Formerly known as Kaki Bukit Primary School, it was renamed Bedok West when it shifted to 50 Bedok Reservoir in 1984. For many years since its relocation, the school functioned as a single session school until the end of 1995 when there was a demand for more places and the school had to function both sessions. Its pupil population increased and hit 1468 in 40 classes in a particular year. The school serves pupils living in Bedok area and the neighbouring areas such as Eunos, Tampines, Pasir Ris and Changkat Changi.
Probably due to population shift, the school suffered a precipitous drop in enrolment in recent years. The last recorded population in 2013 was 600. During P1 registration last year, it only had 35 pupils registered out of a possible 150.
(Special thanks to Hadi Chik for the pictures)
* * *
Looking at these pictures made me reminisce about the past. I’m sure kids born in and before the 90’s had a much enjoyable childhood as compared to the new generation.
Have a story to share about your decommissioned school? Let me know in the comments below! I may include that in my next write-up 🙂 And as you can see, some schools mentioned above don’t come with pictures. That’s because I can’t find them online so if you have some pictures of your school, feel free to share them!
Credits go to sgschoolmemories for their very comprehensive lists of schools in mature estates which gave me a good head start in this blog entry.
Special thanks to Kuek Jinhua and Andrew for providing me with additional research for Jervois Primary, Tanglin Boy’ and Girls’ Primary, Kay Siang Primary, May Primary, Boon Keng Primary and Bukit Ho Swee Primary schools.
Read also:
HISTORY: Closed and Merged Schools in Singapore (PART 2)
HISTORY: Closed and Merged Schools in Singapore (PART 3)
HISTORY: Closed and Merged Schools in Singapore (PART 4)
fionaseah.com 
Wow, you sure did a fantastic job there researching all these schools. Sad to see many of them go… and your article here is definitely going to stir lots of memories of many of us, Thanks for all the efforts. Two remarks :
– Any idea if the name of Tanglin Technical School would be retained after the merger?
– Any researched info on Margaret Drive Primary School, which is no longer around.
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Hi YL! Thanks for dropping by. Never thought that this post would be of interest to so many people. Just wanted to pen down what I’ve found about these schools 🙂
I’m not sure if the name Tanglin Sec is going to be retained, but there’s a 50-50 chance as the merged sch will be based at the site of Tanglin Sec. But most probably not though because usually when MOE merges two schools, none of them gets to keep their names (unless one school absorbs another – the one receiving the students will get to keep its name)
I have left out Margaret Drive Pri in this post because this is getting a little too long. I am now in the midst of completing the second instalment of this entry. Do stay tuned 🙂
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Hi Fiona, what a wonderful effort you did. All of a sudden, I missed my primary and my childhood so much. Times really flies. By the way, do you have St Thomas Secondary School?
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Hi Dave! Thanks so much for the encouragement! I haven’t written about St Thomas Secondary yet but thanks to your input, I’ll be including that in my next writeup 🙂
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Hi Fiona
Thanks for the write up. Makes for a nostalgic read! Can you include Balestier boys, balestier Mixed and. balestier girls in your new edition? Thanks!
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Hi Kevin! Thanks for dropping by. Sure, I will include the mentioned schools in the third instalment 🙂 Thanks for contributing!
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Fiona
Pleasantly surprised to know that your Mother was from Alexandra Estate Primary School and your Father was from Tanglin Technical School, both schools that I had studied in. The Tanglinians will be fighting to keep the name Tanglin that has a 50 years history. Clementi Woods officially was started in 2007. Instead of waiting for MOE to make a decision, we will be making our voice heard at KeepOurTanglin facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/keepourtanglin/?notif_t=group_description_change
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Hi Kok Keong, what a small world! And thanks for sharing. I have included that Facebook page in the blog post. Hope that would raise more awareness!
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Great! You should invite your Father to join the KeepOurTangin FB and your Mother to the Alexandra Estate Primary School FB. You made a mistake on the section on Tanglin Technical School. It should be Tanglin Halt / West Coast. As for Alexandra Primary School, I wrote to SMS of MOE before it was ofiicially named. I was pleading for the new school to be named after Alexandra Estate Primary School and retain the uniform, school song, etc. I could not get everything. Anyway, I was quite satisfied as recent new schools are seldom named after a geographical name in case they are relocated to distant area later.
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Hi, really appreciate the effort & write up . Just a bit of background info on Bukit Ho Swee Primary School. There were actually 2 primary schools. Bukit Ho Swee East Primary was “English” educated whilst Bukit Ho Swee West was “Chinese” educated. East’s uniform was maroon/brown while West was light blue. The 2 primary schools shared a common tuck shop but had 2 assembly grounds. Bukit Ho Swee East’s building is still around as it’s used by MOE exam board. Used to go there for GE voting. The building architecture is quite iconic & similar to other primary schools of that era.
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Hi Kok Keong. I actually read about your appeal to MOE with regards to the name selection for Alexandra Primary on the school’s Facebook page. Kudos to you for that! I’m really glad my mom’s school isn’t entirely gone today. Really appreciate your efforts!
My mom has joined the group. I’ll persuade my Dad to join Tanglin’s later but mind you, they are not very active on social media!
Thanks for pointing out the error! However I wanted to only indicate the location of Tanglin Technical School (before it was relocated and renamed to what it is known today) thus instead of Outram, it should be Commonwealth. Not sure what made me type Outram but I’m slightly embarrassed about the blunder!
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Hi Andrew!
Thanks for dropping by and providing me with such wonderful information about Bukit Ho Swee Primary cannot be found elsewhere. I have added that into the post and credited you at the end of it. If you’d like me to include your last name, please let me know by replying to this message. Have a great week! 🙂
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Great job there! You should write about Owen Primary! We were quite famous for the two boys who went missing after school in 1986. It was closed in 1989 and merged with Cambridge Primary.
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Thanks Cindy! Owen Primary is in the second instalment of this series. Do check it out and feel free to furnish me with more details 🙂
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Alamak so sorry I didn’t see/read your part 2! Wow you’re superbly detailed 🙂
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It’s okay! Thanks for the kind words! Hope it brings back some good memories of your school 😉
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Thanks for your compilation. I saw my primary school photo (may north which merged with May south to form May primary). I saw the drain behind the school where all students used to squat there n brush teeth together. It really bring back some nice memories. Thanks again.
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Hi Fiona, very interesting read on something so close to our hearts. Thanks for taking time to research and record.
Will you be including Birkhall Primary in the 3rd instalment? It merged with Queenstown Primary School in 1984. Both schools shared a school field and was linked by a long corridor and a short road called Birkhall Road. Being of a smaller enrolment, it was merged into Queenstown Primary.
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this article sure bring back memories,i’m from KAY SIANG PRIMARY SCHOOL.first batch of students from various school to fill up this new school.trying hard to contact former classmates.anybody out there from this school
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Hi Elaine! Thanks for dropping by! It’s my pleasure to share what I’ve researched. Yes I will be including Birkhall Primary in my next History post. Sorry that I’m unable to do so in the first 2 entries as there are just too many schools to cover! And thanks for furnishing me with additional info about the school 🙂 appreciate that. stay tuned!
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Hi Yew Loong, do you have a Facebook account? You can try finding your classmates there. Search “Kay Siang Primary” and you’ll see a private page with over 200 members. Hope that helps!
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Enjoyed reading the history of the closed and merged schools. How about featuring Pasir Panjang Secondary School? It is now the site of MOE Labrador Adventure Centre and the PPHS school badge is still at the hall the last time I was there.
All the best in your record keeping! It’s nice to see the photos and to relive my old school days, haha 😊
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Thanks Esther! I had fun doing the write-up of these schools too! Glad that you enjoyed it. I will try to include Pasir Panjang Sec in my next post. Otherwise it will be in the fourth instalment. Thanks for providing me the info. Have a great weekend! 🙂
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Permaisura Primary School beside new town primary school( commonwealth mrt(
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Hi Fiona,
Thanks for the write-up 🙂 It does bring back memories. I started in Bukit Batok East School and then it merged with the west school to form Bukit Batok Primary School. That was 1984 and I was in Primary 5. The principal then was a skinny guy with black frame glasses and white hair who portrayed a rather regimental look (can’t remember whether it was Mr Lee or Lim). I graduated from class 6N1 in 1985.
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Hi Kian Wee! Thanks for dropping by to provide me with more info about Bukit Batok Pri. Will include that in the write-up later when I have access to my computer 🙂 have a great weekend!
Edit: info included!
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Wow thanks Djohan! That will be in the fourth instalment 🙂
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Great article. Kudos for the research. I used to go to Parry Primary, located deep in landed housing estates in a very mature neighbourhood. We had a massive field we shared with Rosyth primary (which has moved) and it was even used in the filming of a Kit Chan rice commercial (多吃多吃). It’s closed recently, and I’m not sure what’s there now, but there were really good memories running around in that field.
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Frankly I feel that MOE when merging schools, ought to consider using existing school that has long and memorable history instead of coming up with crappy names eg keep Qiannan Primary instead of Angsana Primary.
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Hey Tammi! That’s an interesting piece of information about Parry Primary. Thanks for sharing! I’ve included the actual Kit Chan commercial under “Parry Primary School” in PART 2 of this entry. I remember watching it on TV. Brings so much memories!
Do check it out here: https://fionaseah.com/2014/08/06/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-2/ (ctrl+f Parry Primary)
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I concur, Hian Meng. It’s a pity to see schools painstakingly set up by the founders get torn down like that. They should retain at least the name of the oldest school when considering a merger!
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Hi, back in 1972-1977, I attended Cedar Boys’ Primary School. There were 3 schools in the “Cedar” family along Cedar Avenue. Cedar Girls’ Secondary (still around), Cedar Boys’ Primary and Cedar Girls’ Primary. Not sure when it happened but I think both primary schools became Cedar Primary School.
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I didn’t know there were Cedar Girls’ and Boys’! Thanks for letting me know. Will definitely research on these schools and include them in my next entry.
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How abt PERMAISURA PRIMARY SCHOOL …
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That would be included in the fourth instalment 🙂
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This 联合早报 article in April 2014 provides some information on Keng Seng (更生小学):
http://www.writingsingapore.com/bbs/viewthread.php?action=printable&tid=19166
Following is an extract:
“更生，更生，1939矗立狮子城，弘扬文化，乐育群英，先贤惨淡经营……”。我的两个姐姐和妹妹，在一年级还没有认得多少个中文字的时候就开始唱（背）这首小学校歌了。当时谁都没有去问什么是“先贤惨淡经营”，当然，就算问了也是一知半解。更生小学的校址是由当地热心教育的猪农和乡绅们捐赠的，所以上学的路上常是“遍地黄金”（猪粪），上课时偶尔也有迷途的猪只闯人课室。
校门上“更生小学”四个字乃出自书法家张瘦石先生之手，负责学校在1962年扩建的绘测师，正是已故王鼎昌总统的父亲。到了我上小学时的60年代，在红山区亨德申路的更生小学已算是颇有名气了。 …………
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Thanks Choon! Will try my best to translate it (haha) and include that into the entry. Really appreciate your assistance 🙂
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Great job! I believe you must have spent lots of time and efforts culling through the materials. By the way, my primary school Jaya Pri was merged into East Coast Pri. It is located at Chai Chee St.
Have you thought of this as a meaningful project under SG 50 as a way to walk down the memory lane?
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wow, nice research … can include my former secondary school too ? serangoon garden technical school … we are the last one to be “closed” down and merged with Serangoon Garden Sec …
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Hi ZQ! Sure, I will add that in the next post 🙂 Do stay tuned!
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Wow!!! Very interesting read. My parents were educators and I am one now. It brings back memories as I read the intro. My mum as a teacher in Bukit Ho Swee Primary in the 70s. Was very different then and now about how we engage students.
One thing I can also share was that when I was in Primary school an entire cohort of us were moved about from Clementi Town Primary School 1981 (squatting school) to Jinxiu Primary School 1982 (short existence of 1 yr) and finally relocated to Nan Hua Primary 1983 permanently. Jinxiu Primary was in existence for about a year and not sure why, the school closed. Nan Hua Primary was also known as Nan Hua Girls School previously…..in Bencoolen Street.
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Hi John! That’s some interesting history from you as well. I believe students in the past tend to shift around a lot because school closure was so common. I agree, the teaching style today is vastly different from that in the past.
Glad that you enjoyed the post 🙂 As for Jinxiu Primary, I’ll also add that into my next instalment as I’m also puzzled about its short existence. Thanks for contributing!
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Thanks Teng Leng! No doubt that it’s not easy getting all the sources but it was a very fulfilling experience for me. It brought back a lot of my childhood memories while I read on the schools’ history. 🙂 I have never thought of collaborating with SG50 since I started this post out of interest. But now that you’ve mentioned it, I think it’s a pretty good idea! Do I drop the committee a message about these posts?
Jaya Primary is in the second instalment in case you haven’t read it yet: https://fionaseah.com/2014/08/06/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-2/ Do feel free to add if I missed anything 🙂
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This is some seriously intense data mining there! The content you have here is worthy of a mini exhibition at the museum. Good job!
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Thank you 🙂 glad that you enjoyed it.
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i was in Tanglin Primary School from 1992 to 1997 and most of us knows of the merger of Tanglin Primary + Queenstown Primary + mei chin primary or keng seng primary to form the current queenstown secondary.
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I used to be in Lee Kuo Chuan Pri 1990. It’s closed down too but not sure when. It used to be at Ah Hood Road in Balestier. I believe it was part of merger with Moulmein Pri but I might be wrong.
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Great read! Never knew the names of the merged schools were rather fair when given. My own primary school, Boon Lay Primary, was merged with Jurong Primary in 2006. Yet, the latter managed to retain its own name and we are now known as Jurong Primary to all. We never knew how to appeal against the decision back then, and we all still regret it to this day… It seems ironic that the school with the longer history was totally erased off from the face of Earth so easily.
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Thanks so much for the effort! Do you have any information of Dorset Primary School which used to be located at Dorset Road currently where IRAS stands?
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Hi Fiona,
Very awesome job especially pictures of schools in the 80s, 90s sure bring a smile.
I was from Swiss Cottage Primary. If you asked me, that was THE most popular school for expats to send their kids to a local school. I had half of my classmates from countries like India, Mexico, Japan, Korea and many Indonesians.
I almost felt blessed to be mixing around with so many students from different background it has certainly moulded my childhood.
It was lesser known perhaps coz most of the students were from the surrounding well-to-do residences.
My take is that perhaps expats in recent years prefer to put their kids in international schools, and kids from the environs will most likely be placed in elite schools, looking at the kiasuism mentality that is of the rage now.
Sad that such an interesting institution had to merge and take on another name.
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Hi! Fiona
Swiss Cottage Primary School was once a very popular local school to students from overseas. My auntie used to be a teacher there and she had once a class of 30 students with children from 26 countries within her class. My son was one of the last batch of student who went through that merging stage. If you look closely at the current Balestier Hill Primary badge, you will notice that it has a globe as the main feature in the badge as Swiss Cottage Primary used to be a “Local” International School. If you have the opportunity to participate in their Racial Harmony Day, you would noticed many children dressed in different countries attire on that day. Currently I believe Balestier Hill Primary School still have a lot of foreign students.
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Sim: yeaps i can attest to that. Any chance you can share your aunt’s name? Could well be one of my teachers!
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Thank you Fiona, i was a student at Kay Siang Pri >> Xianglin Pri >> Tanglin Tech Sec, they still hold special places in my heart and memories and whenever i have time, i would drive pass the still standing Xianglin building and sincerely hope it will not be torn down like what was done to Tanglin Tech.
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Thanks Colin! Tanglin Primary will be in the next post 🙂
Hi Amelia, I have already considered Lee Kuo Chuan Pri for the next post. It will be included and I will try my best to research on the school. Stay tuned 🙂
Hey Dulcia, so sorry about the loss of your primary school. To my understanding (but correct me if I’m wrong), Boon Lay Primary was absorbed by Jurong, which meant that Boon Lay was the one with the greatest decline in enrolment and forced to close while Jurong Primary was just helping to take in Boon Lay’s students. Hence Jurong’s name was retained instead. Hope that this post has helped to recover the history of your school and remind people of its existence 🙂
Hi Christopher! Dorset was mentioned in the second post. However I was unable to get substantial info about the school. Tried contacting the admin of Dorset Pri facebook page but got no reply. If possible, do furnish me with additional info 🙂
Hi Zye! Thanks for the kind words. I agree that closing down schools with long rich history is a bad move. They should have relocated them instead, like what they did for Swiss Cottage Secondary. After all with so many new estates sprung up, they would need new schools to cater to the new residents. Not sure why the ministry didn’t consider this option but I guess it’s the trouble of shifting existing staff and students over that was stopping them. However I believe its heritage would still continue with the new name Balestier Hill Primary, and be popular among the expats as well like what another person has commented 🙂
Hi Sim! That’s interesting to know about Swiss Cottage Primary and please pardon my ignorance in the entry. Will include an extract of your comment to school history in my post. Thank you 🙂
Hi Darryl, I believe my Dad (also an alumnus of Tanglin Tech) would feel the same if the existing school is torn down. Thankfully the merged school will still be at the compound of Tanglin Secondary so it won’t be gone too soon! Let’s just hope that the merged school will ultimately be Tanglin Sec’s namesake 🙂
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Fantastic job on the research. One of the school I attended is in the list: Merlimau Primary School. I still remember vaguely the teacher’s name in the photo. Miss all the great teachers that I knew. How I wish there’s more photos though. Would love to see the past. Thank you for the post!
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Hi fiona
Pse include Kim Seng Technical in your next episode. Jagoh Primary ?
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Hi Fiona
I am also an alumnus of Birkhall Primary and Tanglin Technical, like your dad. I was in Tanglin Tech 1966 to 1969. Glad that u are adding Birkhall next. Pse add Kim Seng Technical next. I taught there from 1974 to 75. Toh Tuck secondary? There are so many other forgotten schools..
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Thanks Zaid! Glad you enjoyed it. Unfortunately adding more photos would slow down the loading process of this already-very-long post! There’s a Facebook page for Merlimau with pictures you can browse. Stay tuned for part 3 if you’re interested to learn more about closed schools 🙂
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Hi Woo Fei! You’re in luck. Kim Seng Tech and Toh Tuck Secondary (not forgetting Toh Tuck Primary as well!) were already added in part 3 as I stumbled upon them when I was doing additional research. Jagoh was already mentioned in part 2 (but I guess you’ve already seen that!). There are indeed many forgotten schools.. I don’t think 3 posts would be enough to cover them all. But I’ll definitely continue this series until I’m satisfied! Thanks for your support 🙂 Do stay tuned!
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Hi Fiona,
Great job with the research! The year of commencement for Aljunied Primary School of 1971 that you indicated is correct. I had the pleasure of forming the first cohort of Aljunied Primary in 1971 as a Primary 5 student. I was given a free transfer from MacPherson Primary School to Aljunied to fill up the places. A painful transfer it felt at that time because I was comfortably settled in MacPherson for 4 years from Pri 1 to Pri4. I surely felt severe unfairness at the transfer on two counts. Firstly, i believe the neighbouring schools such as Mattar Primary and Mattar East Primary had sent all their poor performing students to Aljunied whereas myself as a top performer from MacPherson had been sent there. Secondly, it appeared that the teachers had hand picked students that they did not particularly like to be transferred.
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Hi Fiona,
I was from Bukit Ho Swee East Pri and so were most of my sibling (during the 60s n 70s). The uniform is white and brown, not maroon/brown. There is another smaller Chinese Ed primary school a little bit further down Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, which is Seng Poh Primary school. It has been closed for many years too. Great work and thanks for bringing back all those sweet memories
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I attended Pearl’s Hill Primary in the late 70s. And was I proud to be going to school there and getting the privilege to travel up on the lift to get to the top floor for music lessons. Kids during my primary school days had nary a care.
I also distinctly remember another primary school nearby, further down from the hill and a little closer to People’s Park. I believe it was Pearl Bank Primary rather than Pearl Park.
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Hello Gurmit! Sorry for the late reply. But thanks for sharing the brief story behind Aljunied Pri, and confirming the founding date. Will definitely include what you wrote in the post 🙂
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Hi Dan, thanks for the clarification about the uniform colour. Seng Poh Pri has been added to the list on part 3. Thanks for contributing! 🙂
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Hey ShenYang! I was actually wondering about Pearl Park and Pearl Bank too and I thought they were the same school. I’ll find out and post an update. Thanks!
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Hi Fiona 🙂
Thank you for doing this research 🙂 Thought I could add in more…Alexandra Estate Primary is later known as Alexandra Hill Primary School (AHPS), if it is the same one located near Jalan Rumah Tinggi 🙂 I was a student there.
And Bukit Ho Swee merged with two schools (Tiong Bahru Sec and Kim Seng Tech) later to become Delta Secondary School 🙂 My mom was from Bukit Ho Swee. I was from Delta Sec 🙂 hope this helps 🙂
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Alexandra Estate Primary School and Alexandra Hill Primary School were two different schools with no common history. Alexandra Estate Primary School was located at Prince Charles Crescent. When it was closed in 1987, it was closed for good. There is no record that it was later known as Alexandra Hill Primary School.
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Hey Janice! Thanks for the input! I’m afraid Alexandra Estate Pri closed for good as I had done extensive research on that and there was no mention that it became Alexandra Hill in any news article 🙂 but still, thanks for confirming the history Delta Sec. I will move Delta Sec over from part 2 to part 1 soon.
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Hi, interesting read. I was in the very little-known Swiss Cottage Primary School from 1982-1987. There is a SCPS Facebook group page actually. I think I still have my old school badges and some old photos on my mum’s wall in Malaysia (I am living in Australia now).
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Great effort!…Thank you for the write up on these gone schools. Bring back beautiful memories of our primary school days. Please do add Jalan Eunos School and Jalan Daud School in your post,
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Thanks for writing this entry. It brings back a lot of memories of many old schools. I was from Keng Seng Primary (and thanks for using my class photo of 1987). There is an (Zaobao) article from another blog about Keng Seng Primary School. http://sgschoolmemories.blogspot.sg/2014_04_01_archive.html
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Hey Leslie! It’d be great if you could share with me Swiss Cottage Pri’s Facebook page so that I could link it in the post. And if the page is privatised, could you share some pictures of SCPS pls? Preferably of students in uniform and/or in the school compound. Thank you 🙂
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Thanks for dropping by Norhayah! I will try my best to include both schools. Stay tuned for the next post 🙂
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That’s very helpful, Chuan Shin! Thank you 🙂
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Please please please include Telok Kurau Secondary School. Founded in 1965 -same year as SG’s independence and closed rather recently. I’m sure you can find lots about this school and if I’m not wrong it still has its building erected.
Cheers! 🙂
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Hi SRP! Sure, I will include Telok Kurau Sec. Thanks for contributing 🙂
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FARRER PRI SCHOOL WAS MY FORMER SCHOOL SO TOO ALSO ASSUMPTION PRIMARY SCHOOL
CLOSED DOWN TOO.
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SINGAPORE IS A SMALL COUNTRY BUT SO MANY SCHOOLS JUT LIKE IN HK,MACAU
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Hi Fiona,
Thanks for the research and the post. I was from Alexandra Estate Primary School. I have the exact same photo of the final day of AEPS, I was standing second from the right. Really brought back memories.
AEPS does have a FB page, the link is here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/20725927637/
I’ll be sharing your post on the FB page too. Cheers.
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Hi David! Glad you enjoyed the post. Most of the pictures were retrieved from AEPS’ Facebook page 🙂 And thanks for sharing!
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Dunearn Technical Secondary School as well
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Fiona,
Very good job providing the information which many former students of the schools long to have and reminiscing our old primary school.
I studied as a pioneer student at Kaki Bukit Primary School from 1962 to 1967 when it first started as a mixed Malay and English School. Sadly it had very low passing rate at PSLE, as far as I can remember.
The school building is still there. Wherever I passed by Bedok Reservior Road / Kaki Bukit Ave 1&4, I can still see the school building, but the name of the school has changed to Kaki Bukit Prison School. Albeit the same KBPS building.
I told my children, it is not due to me or my fellow former schoolmates faults that it become a Prison School. They don’t have a chance to register for their primary education in this prison school (KBPS) under MOE scheme when they were 6 years old over a decade ago. Fortunately so for all of us.
I hope my Primary School under a new name Bedok West Primary will do well for the children there, even though its students population and primary one intake is now low – a real concern of its well being and future.
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Hi Fiona,
This is a very interesting post. Good read, I was from Haig Girls’ School. Haig Girls’ was supposed to become part of Tanjong Katong Primary in 2001, but the parents and alumni of Haig Girls’s objected to it violently. Else Tanjong Katong Primary’s location will be at Koon Seng road instead, because the plan was to merge the 4 schools(those three you mentioned in your post above together with Haig Girls’ School) at Haig Girls’ current site.
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Thanks for your kind words, Daniel! And I appreciate you sharing the history of Kaki Bukit Primary with me. That’s one piece of information I failed to find and will definitely be included in the post. Thank you 🙂
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Thank you, Abia! I thought Haig Girls’ was spared because it somehow received more applicants than the rest. Didn’t know it was almost a casualty of schools’ cost-cutting move too. It must’d been a relief for you (if you’re an ex-student). Once again thanks a lot for sharing this with me! 🙂
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Thanks Adrian. Will add that to PART 4 🙂
Update (21/5/16): Dunearn Technical Secondary is still around, has been relocated to Bukit Panjang and renamed to Greenridge Secondary since 1991 (link)
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Thank you for putting up this blog Fiona. My secondary school (Tanglin Technical) will be merged in 2015 and I feel sad that part of the institutional memory will be erased. I published an article in TODAY early this year and I am glad that ST has finally picked up the story 6 months later. It is important that the spirit of our pioneer schools be remembered. Many thanks again
http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/singapores-unsung-pioneer-schools-should-be-more-just-footnotes
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Can I ask if anyone heard of Raymond Primary School at Whampoa Drive. Currently the building is being occupied by Handicap Welfare Association.
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Hi Chan Hoong! I’m very happy that ST wrote about closed schools too. They’re finally given the attention they long deserved. Thanks for your contribution! 🙂
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Hi Belmock, Rayman School is featured in part 3: https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/
I hope that’s the school you’re looking for 🙂
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Hi Fiona, wow! that was amazing…anyway I was formally from Mei Chin primary but it was no longer…and in Secondary, I was from Bukit Ho Swee Sec. Also no longer…sad to recall all this schools are no longer….BUT the GOOD things are we have an Alumni Club for Bukit Ho Swee Sec till now about more than 300 link in the FB….Every year, we are still doing a yearly gathering for those who can make it….We managed to gather back some school magazines to share and recall our memories every time we meet. If you would like to know more of our Alumni Club, feel free to let me know….Cheers.
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Hi Doris! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I will link up the Alumni page on the post. Hope that will reconnect you with more ex-students!
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There is also a primary school Lee Kuo Chuan primary school any news
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Hi Charles, Lee Kuo Chuan (Primary) School is featured in part 3: https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/
Lee Kuo Chuan School merged with Rayman School and Thomson Primary School to form Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School in 1985 but later closed in 1997.
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We start to grow our academic self in Pri One. We sink roots deep and firm for 6 years of schooling, We make friends, lose some and often frustrate our mentors. And along the way, we developed crushes – and fall in and out of … what we thought, and glorified, as ‘love’ – puppy or otherwise.
A school, whether primary or secondary,should not be mere brick and paintwork forever rooted in its location.
School buildings are destined to be renovated, rebuilt, demolished and re-sited. Time will make sure it happens. Nostalgic as it may well be, when we wander down memory lane, schooling is an experience really. Schools come and go, but the schooling stays. There is no need to remember not to forget.
Then, when you least expect it, there is a dizzying blast from the past! Its yesterday once more ….. and some.
School is out – for those that are no more. But dear memories remain – Thanks to Fiona’s efforts.
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Thanks Pat, very well-said. Couldn’t agree more 🙂
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Hi Fiona
I write in regards to our picture you used for Seraya Pri School. I noted our facebook page is not linked as your source for the photo obtained. Appreciate that you make that possible. Looking forward to your reply.
Seraya Pri School Facebook Page
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Hi Lam,
Sorry for the oversight! I must’ve thought that it’s already included as one of the sources since there’s another Seraya Pri page too. I’ve added the other one in. Thanks for alerting me about that 🙂
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Hi Fiona,
It’s regarding the merging of Bukit Batok East/West School to Bukit Batok Primary School.
It happened during my days at Bukit Batok West Primary School. Both schools merged when I was in Pr.3.
Our Principle was Mr Lim, very fatherly look, correctly described by Kian Wee, thick black frame glasses, skinny guy with hair always neatly combed. He retired 3yrs later in 1987, Indian Vice Principle Mr. Jaya took over.
Our former music teacher (forgotten her name) composed a song for Mr. Lim. I almost can remember the whole song til now…
“Thank you Mr. Lim, Farrwell Mr. Lim, we are sad you have to go,
Thank You Mr.Lim, Farewell Mr. Lim, we shall surely miss u so…(chorus)
You have helped us, encouraged us in so many ways, May Peace, Good Health and Happiness be with you from day to day….
Repeat chorus
And of cos, Mr Lim cried after we sang him this song during our assembly that 1987 morning……
If Mr. Lim still around, he will be around 88yrs old now.
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Hi Ken, that’s very heartwarming. Thanks for sharing! Will elaborate Mr Lim’s part in the post with what you’ve commented.
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This is incredible! How much efforts and time had been put into this compilation is beyond expression. Kudos to you! When I started reading, I was telling myself that no way would I get to see Bedok Pri, Bedok Girls and Bedok Boys being mentioned, but to my surprise, I did!!!
Coincidentally, I saw Clarence Lee at Parkway Parade just few days ago, on Wed and as usual I tried to be funny and told my sis who was beside me that I want to ask him for his autograph and my sis was like “seriously? ” I told her he has been touching famous faces., why not at least get a handshake, hahaha.. I told her I am very sure he was from the same as Pri school and my sis was in doubts but anyway that was like abt 28 years back already. The sch song, especially the chorus stays in our memories. “Bedok Primary, love, honour and respect. Bedok Primary, love, honour and respect..
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Hey CT! Thanks for your compliments. That’s exactly what I wanted to evoke from the readers – the strong sense of nostalgia you were feeling. It wasn’t easy digging out the name of the more unknown schools but I’m so glad I did 🙂 And that’s a pity! You should’ve shaken hands with him!
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My primary school also closed down. It was Elling primary school merged from Elling North and Elling South primary school.
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Hi Jane! The closure of Elling Pri is documented here: https://fionaseah.com/2014/08/06/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-2/
Ctrl+F “Elling Primary” to jump straight to the school. Enjoy! 🙂
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Wahhh.. That pic of ang mo kio north primary and li hua primary, those images and especially the sneaky smoking corners in between the three schools are stuck in my head for many years… The whole three school area is my teenhood playground since i was from presbyterian high school and my younger brother is from amk north primary.. We use to sneak out of class and meet at the corner of the shared field to share a stick of cigarette in between classes.. Those were the days of my life that i cherish most…
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The Tanglin Alumni had been notified by Tanglin’s current Principal that the Ministry had decided on keeping Tanglin’s namesake in the new merged school between our alma mater and Clementi Woods Secondary. However a new Tanglin identity will likely emerge in the new school.
Do we still deserve a place in this great blog?
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Whoa Afiza, you sneaked out of class to smoke during your primary school days?? Havov ah. Un un un unbelievable. Thanks for sharing 😉
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Oh yay thanks for informing Kok Keong! Yes it will remain on this blog. After all I wanted to document its history when it was known as Tanglin Technical Secomdary School 🙂
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Hi Fiona
Just wish to share that you may have missed out on my ex school Upper Aljunied Technical School locared in Joo Seng.. Was a student there from 89 to 92..its closed for quite a period of years now did not know d exact year.. During my studies there Willow Avenue Secondary School merge with us in 1991 before it’s closed too… Nice sharing
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Hi Yem! Thanks for sharing. Will look up Aljunied Technical School in a bit 🙂
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Kudos Fiona! I was praying that my primary school – May Primary was merged with another primary school as I read your write-up. I am so glad that you had found out that it was merged with Boon Keng Pri to form Farrer Park Pri! I checked with Farrer Park Pri and confirmed that I can register my gal for the old boys/girls phase for Pri One. Thank you so much for all your time and efforts. Awesome!!
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Thanks Kate! That’s precisely the other purpose of this post, to facilitate parents in their kids’ p1 registration. Glad the post was useful to you! 🙂
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Thank you for a great job!
May I add to your article?
I was the last batch of pupils from Dunman Primary School, which closed in 1982. DPS was located at Dunman Lane, sitting at the edge of the big school field shared by Dunman Secondary, Dunman High, Tanjong Katong Technical and Tanjong Katong Girls Schools. In 1980, the lower primary pupils were transferred to other schools, leaving the upper primary with no additional intake, with only a few P6 classes in 1982 when it closed for good. The understanding I had was that the school building was being taken over by Dunman High, which was designated a SAP school and going to become single session.
I have very little other details of the school and only had a few photographs that I will gladly share with you.
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Thanks Simon-Peter! That’s very useful piece of info. I’ll add Dunman Primary to part 4. Could you send some pictures over to askme@fionaseah.com if it’s not too much of a trouble for you? Thank you and really appreciate you coming forward to tell me about your school 🙂
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Great effort. Keep it up.
Just to add to your list. (Sorry no pictures)
– Labrador Primary School (featured in http://remembersingapore.org/)
– Boon Keng Primary School
– Thomson Secondary School (North Vista Secondary School) (https://www.facebook.com/groups/5741752682/)
Thanks and regards.
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Hey MawarJAntan, those schools were already mentioned, but on other parts:
Labrador Primary: https://fionaseah.com/2014/08/06/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-2/
Book Keng Primary was briefly mentioned in this entry under Farrer Park Primary. But will cover in more detail in part 4
Left out Thomson Secondary because it’s still around, just renamed to North Vista Secondary.
Thanks for your input! 🙂
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brings back memories of my primary school at belvedere.
Initially, we had more boys than girls, eventually we merged with Xianglin Primary School and suddenly there were a lot of girls, and i took a long time to get used to it haha
thanks for sharing
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Sadly I can’t find both my schools that hv closed down, Dunman Primary School & Sang Nila Utama Secondar School. Been googling for Dunman Primary but to no avail 😔
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Hello Rose, Sang Nila Utama Sec is mentioned in part 2:
https://fionaseah.com/tag/sang-nila-utama-secondary-school/
As for Dunman Primary, don’t worry I’ve got it covered in part 4 🙂 Stay tuned!
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Hello Ms Fiona,
Its A Good Resourceful Journal Of The Old Schools In Singapore By Your Good Self! Keep Up The Good Work!
I Was Not Fortunate Enough To Own A Camera During My Younger Days, Otherwise, I Could Assist In Providing Some Pictures As Well.
I Am Wondering Whether You Have Anything At All About My Primary School, McNair School. I Was There From 1960 To 1965?
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Hey Rickee! Thanks for the compliments 🙂 I don’t have McNair School yet but I will definitely include it in my next instalment. Do let me know if I’ve missed out any other schools!
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Hi Fiona, Raymond Primary School was missed out. Used to be in Balestier. I think now they converted to a school for the handicap. Used to be the primary school for my dad. Then my sisters then me for 1 year before I got transferred out.
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Hi Ailin! Did you mean Rayman Primary? It’s covered in Part 3. Do take a look 🙂
https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/
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Hi Fiona, Good job thumbs up to you.
I was looking for my old wchool its was Clementi primary school, it wae location at Pasir Panjang next 4o the army salvation, would nice if there were some write and pics of my school. Was there from 1977 till 1979. Thank you
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Hi; have been looking everywhere very hard. It seems like there isnt any record for Bartley Primary School. Very sad 😦
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Hi, have been looking everywhere very hard. It seems like there isnt any record for Bartley Primary School. Very Sad
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Hi Umma! Thanks for the compliments. Unfortunately I won’t be covering Clementi Primary because it’s still existent today (at Clementi Ave 3). I guess that’s good news to you 🙂 At least your school is still around!
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So sorry Soh Hoon! It will be up on part 4! 🙂 Still waiting for more schools to be added before I publish the post. I will try to get it up by the end of the year so stay tuned!
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Hi Fiona; I am happy to hear that, appreciate your help. Looking forward for your next post. Cheers
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Showed this to my parents… They laughed and it brought back some memories. Can’t believe you spent the time to collate these informations of so many schools!!! Really informative, good to know how my parents schools looked like, and reflect on our current schools. Thanks A lot!!! For the effort put into this post!
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Thanks Leonard! I love reading about closed schools too so I thought it’d be great if I share them with my readers. Part 4 is underway. Do keep a look out for it! 🙂
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Short off 1 primary school where i came from, which is Beatty Primary School. Closed down 1995
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Hi Hadi! Yup, realised that too. Will include Beatty Pri in part 4 🙂 Stay tuned!
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Hi Fiona, ever heard of Min Sin School ? At Jalan Lateh ……:) Looking forward to your next post
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Is Min Sin the same as Min Xin Primary School? If so, I’ve covered it here:
https://fionaseah.com/tag/min-xin-primary-school/
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Hi Fiona, Min Sin & Min Xin is not the same. Min Sin School was located togethere with Li Shun Secondary around Upper Serangoon area which I think it closed as well. Have you manage to recover any thing for Bartley Primary School? Looking forward to your new post
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Fiona, they are not the same. Min Sin and Li Shun Secondary were occupying the same premises located somewhere at Upper Serangoon Road. I love your blog cos it really brings memories back. Keep it up and will continue to follow…….Cheers
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Oh I see! Ok I will try to unearth more info on Min Sin (and maybe Li Shun Sec too) then! Thanks for your encouraging words 🙂 Always nice to have readers like you!
edit: Li Sun High School still exists! It’s now known as Presbyterian High School 🙂
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hi. im not sure if anybody has posted about Mountbatten Primary School but im 1 of the nostalgic student who is and always proud to be one of the kiddos in that school.
The school layout is exactly like many of the pri school buildings, seems like moe hired same contractor/designer. =.=”
What is great about the school is,
we can enter the staffrm without any entry pass, just knocked door, go in, put/take stuff from the table tasked by the teacher and leave. The amount of trust given to us is 100% and that created a huge impact cos there isnt any theft case throughout my 5 years in MPS. On PSLE year, then it started to merge with Fowlie and Haig Boys.
A primary school with total 0 stress level, we learnt many sports and we can switch CCA like nobody business, hahah which is the best part. cos that’s when we are very active and curious..
What more do you need, just reply or comment ya? =)
graduated as a tkps pioneer student =D
-cheryn-
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Thank you for sharing.
I was from Henderson Primary (Graduated 2000) and the school merged in 2002. Then i proceed to Delta Secondary and it merged with Bukit Merah Sec in 2003.
Great memories.
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Beng Wan Primary School ?
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Good research I must say. I used to stay in Queenstown in the 1970s and do remember there was a Tanglin Primary School as well as a Permaisura Primary school which was next to New Town Primary school. Permaisura Pri Sch either closed down or merged with New Town Primary School.
Regards
Gordon
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Hope you enjoyed the article! 🙂
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Beng Wan is featured in part 2!
https://fionaseah.com/tag/beng-wan-primary-school/
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Hey Gordon!
Tanglin Primary together with Mei Chin Primary were merged into Queenstown Primary. You can read more in part 3: https://fionaseah.com/tag/tanglin-primary-school/
As for Permaisura, it was merged into New Town Primary with Farrer Primary. Permaisura is also featured in the link given above. Hope that helps!
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Hi Ailsa, thanks for voicing your concerns. I have emailed you regarding this matter. Please let me know if you’ve received it. Thank you 🙂
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Hi Fiona!
A brilliant and thoughtful you have done. Applause to you..
I have not read all of your Primary School article. Has Telok Kurau Primary School(mine), Telok Kurau East and Telok Kurau West included. If it has, do link me.
Regards,
Eddie…
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Hi that’s is Jin shan primary school in clementi rd which now nam hua primary school
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There’s a merged school.
Jurong primary merged with jurong west primary. It is named as jurong primary now.
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Hi. thank you for writing this. it bring back memories. There is another school in clementi. it was Jin Shan Primary School, 30 Jln Lempeng.
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Hi ,what about Beatty primary school merge with cambridge primary school in 1995?
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Hi Fiona,
Great work and write up. It had brought many fond memories to us. Just want to share a little info on Jervois Primaries.
Jervois East and West merged in 1986 to Jervois Primary. Students of Alexandra Estate student joined Jervois and Keng Seng Primary (they had a choice) in 1987. And finally, Jervois Primary was closed in 1989 and most of the students joined Keng Seng Primary.
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Hi, you have done a great job in gathering data for closed or merged schools. What about Bukit Batok Primary School? I graduated in 1990.
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Bukit Merah Primary School Merged with Alexandra Hill Primary School in 1997, and adopted the name Alexandra Hill Primary School. 1 year later, Alexandra Hill Primary School shifted it’s premises to Telok Blangah and the old site was revamped to the current Gan Eng Seng Primary School. Once Gan Eng Seng Primary School was completed in 2002, the 4 schools merged and students of Alexandra Hill Primary School moved back to the old site. Gan Eng Seng School now sits on a smaller piece of land space, as some land area was cut off to Bukit Merah Secondary School.
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I was from Jaya primary and I have quite a bit of photos I can share!
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Hello Eddie! I’ve documented Telok Kurau’s history here:
https://fionaseah.com/tag/telok-kurau-west-primary-school/
You can find it under Telok Kurau Malay Girls’ School & Telok Kurau West School (Bedok). Hope that helps!
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Oh I see! Someone did mention this school last year but I couldn’t find anything except for Jing Shan. Ok will try my best and include it in part 4. Thank you!
EDIT: Just remembered I’ve actually wrote about Jin Shan in part 3. Here you go: https://fionaseah.com/tag/jin-shan-primary-school/
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Hi Angie, I googled and found that both schools are still in operation (at 30 Jurong West Street 61 and 320 Jurong East Street 32). Do you mean that there was a different Jurong Primary and Jurong West Primary?
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Thanks Miggy! Quite a number have brought it up since last year and I mistakenly thought it was Jing Shan Primary. Will try to retrieve more info on this school and add it in part 4 🙂
EDIT: Just remembered I’ve actually wrote about Jin Shan in part 3. Here you go: https://fionaseah.com/tag/jin-shan-primary-school/
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Sorry for the disappointment Rafiza. It will be in part 4 🙂
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hi fion,
ST thomas sec merged with st Theresa high… good write up though.
rgds
William
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Hi Neko! Thank you SO MUCH! Truly appreciate the additional input! Have added it in 🙂
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Thank you! Your encouragement means a lot to me 🙂 Bukit Batok Primary is right here: https://fionaseah.com/tag/bukit-batok-east-primary-school/
It is now known as Bukit Timah Primary School.
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Thanks SO MUCH cornflict (cute nick!) Have added it in 🙂
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Hello Kelvin! Do you have any pictures of the school to share? Such as the canteen, school hall etc. Thanks for offering to contribute! 🙂
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I think you missed out one of the very Historical School formed since 1918 – Tuan Mong High School. Many MediaCorp Stars from there like 陈树成， 周崇庆
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Hi Fiona.
You missed siglap indah primary school which closed down to give way to mendaki. i was from there and had fond memories of the school.
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Hi! Tiong Bahru Pr Sch was not L shaped; it was shaped like a metal staple. Also, the admin block was 2 stories high, at least when I was there from 1975 to 1980. There was a detached canteen at the end of the ‘staple’ opposite the admin block.
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Very well researched piece and great effort. However, I would just like to point out that the new Bedok Primary School ceased operations in 1998, not 1996. I was part of the final batch of students. We were then transferred to Bedok View Primary in 1998. 🙂
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I miss my Charlton primary school. All my childhood memories.
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Hi! Great job with the research. Just want to highlight though, can include bedok north primary school next time? It used to be located beside red swastika. Thanks!
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Hi, good article. You have Pearl Hill and Pearl Park. But u miss out Pearl Bank School which is right beside Pearl Park. Could u add that to the list?
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Hi there, thank you for your great effort done ! You have missed out school like Beatty Primary School , Willow Avenue Secondary School and Mount Vernon Secondary School.
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Hi William, thanks for the encouragement! St Thomas and St Teresa are mentioned in part 3: https://fionaseah.com/tag/st-thomas-secondary-school/
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Hello Anson! Tuan Mong High is featured in part 3: https://fionaseah.com/tag/tuan-mong-high-school/ 🙂
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Hello Shirhan! Yup noted on this. Siglap Indah will be in part 4 🙂
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Oh dear! Wrong info from the colonel? Actually do you have pictures of the school to share? Will add you comment in in the meantime!
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Thanks Jeff! I’ve corrected the info 🙂
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Miss my childhood days too! Those were the best times!
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Hello F! Thanks for dropping by. Bedok North is actually in part 2: https://fionaseah.com/2014/08/06/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-2/
Sorry for the confusion!
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Sure Jeffrey! Please stay tuned for part 4 🙂
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Thank you too for dropping by Daveed! Beatty Primary will be in part 4 but I’ve already covered Willow Ave Sec and Mount Vernon in part 2 and 3! Here’s the link: https://fionaseah.com/2014/08/06/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-2/ (Mount Vernon Sec) Would really appreciate if you could share with me pictures of Mount Vernon Sec if you have them!
https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/ (Willow Ave Sec)
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Hi Fiona,
Whoa, thats alot of research and hard work! Kudos!
Made me think of my primary school days ( Opera Estate CHIJ ) no longer around too.
Cheers,
Maria x
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Hi Fiona,
Cedar Girls Primary and Cedar Boys Primary officially merged at the start of 1985. I was told that Chen Yu Yun was a Cedarian too during the merger. You may wanna find out more from her. 😉
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Where’s my rangoon secondary school?!!
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Thanks Maria! CHIJ Opera Estate and the many other closed schools at Opera Estate will be featured in part 4 🙂
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Thanks P H Ong! That’s actress Evenlyn Tan right? Very interesting fact. Is there any way to confirm this? Can’t seem to find her on Facebook!
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It’s right here!!!!
https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/
Rangoon Secondary was known as Rangoon Road Secondary
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Hey I think this is really an amazing article (and A LOT OF HARD WORK can be seen through the research done)! Thank you for the informative and helpful article. I hope to see more of such article and just a suggestion: perhaps you can organise the article by sorting out the different schools through a “table of contents” so it’ll be easier to jump to the respective schools.
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Hey Fiona, nice article. I was from Westlake Primary between 1980 to 1985….and yes, the photos, together with the rest of the schools sure bring back good memories of the 80s for me. Recently went back to Westlake Primary again to reminisce before it’s demolished. Thanks for putting it all together 🙂
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Nice article. I was from bukit ho swee primary(merged) there was bukit ho swee east and bukit ho swee west.
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Kim Seng East and West primary school was not in your list. This primary school is located at river valley. Appreciate your work . Thanks.
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Thanks Dennis! Glad you enjoyed the article! That’s a wonderful idea. Will definitely take that into consideration 🙂
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No problem Anthony! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the article!
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Thanks Alvin! Hope it had evoked a sense of nostalgia for you!
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Hello Seetha! Both Kim Seng schools are in part 3! Here’s the link: https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/
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Good job Fiona! Wish there are more photos of telok paku school and the surroundings of the school.
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Thanks Aini! Had to limit the number of pictures for each school or else it would lag the whole page! 🙂
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Well done for putting up this website..Made me sentimental of the wonderful memories and carefree times I had in my sch (Farrer Pri); sports day on a muddy field and rewarded 40cents for helping to remove the garden’s weeds…Thank you again..:-))
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Fiona; have you got anything for me ? Bartley Primary School. Hope to hear from you soon, thank you
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You’re welcome Sofea! 🙂 Glad to have ignited that sense of nostalgia in you!
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Hi Soh Hoon! Sorry, I’m still trying to find time to complete the entry. I’m in the midst of my final year so things are getting a bit busy for me! Will update on my Facebook page the first thing it’s up. Appreciate your patience 🙂
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Hi!
With regards to the architecture of Tiong Bahru Primary School again: an image search on google will produce photos of the school in the 50s, which shows that the admin block was 2 storeys high right from the start.
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Hi Fiona,
Guillemard East Primary School was formerly Guillemard Integrated Primary School, which had both English and Chinese stream classes. Chinese-stream education fell out of favour and i think that’s why it became GEPS, with only English stream offered. The school badge and uniform were retained
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Hi Fiona, i notice u indicated celebrity, Worker party’s MP or sportsman from their respective schools, so I want to add that u had one of LOVE FM97.2’s DJ aka Dennis chew (周崇庆）in one of the photos. U want to look under Pearl Park Primary School/Pearl’s Hill School (Outram), one of the photos had a bunch of students standing in front of a blue school bus, the little boy in a bowl tie blue suit standing to the right of a 媒婆 is Dennis Chew. I recognized him cos he was 2 years my senior, back then the chinese teacher would asked him to practice story telling to the juniors. that photo where they were all dressed up as different characters… I believed was a fancy dress contest, and i recognised that blue bus too.
And yes, the first photo is the canteen cum hall for assembly. i was there in that time period when these 2 photos of Pearl hill school was published in yr blog LOL:)
Anyway thanks for all those loving photos and little stories, u did a good job on them!
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Thank you for the clarification! 🙂
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Hmmm, does that mean Guillemard East Primary School is Guillemard Integrated Primary School and Guillemard Integrated Primary School is Guillemard Road English School? Aiyo, so confusing! Hope you can help clarify!
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OH WOW thanks for highlighting that to me! Will add that to the post! Thanks so much for taking time to share these with me. And thanks a lot for your kind words! =)
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great stuff here.. but I couldn’t find the old Pei De 培德 primary school in old jurong road area? Hope to hear from you and thanks!
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Can u help me find Bendemeer Primary School old school photo years 1997 onward and class teachers photo also .
Thanks U！
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Thanks Greg! Did you mean “Peck Teck Public School”? I will add that to the list. Thanks for highlighting that 🙂
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Hi Angeline! The last I checked, Bendemeer Primary School is still existent! As this series of post is only catered for closed and merged schools, I’m afraid I won’t be able to help with your request. Perhaps joining the Bendemeer Primary will give you better results? 🙂
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do keep me posted once you have them up, cheers Fiona!
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Will do Greg! 🙂
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how do I check for update Fiona? Still waiting for the pei de pictures don’t mean to chase 🙂 cheers
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Hey Greg! So sorry, I have quite a number of backlogs to clear due to school commitments, so I have to keep pushing the post back. I’m very eager to complete part 4 asap too because it’s one topic I love reading up and researching on. Perhaps you can follow my FB page and look out for updates. I post there as and when there are new blog entries 🙂 Thanks for your kind understanding and support!
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THanks and sure, what’s your FB address?
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It’s http://www.facebook.com/fionaseahcom 🙂 There’s a widget on the right panel which you can click on to be directed to the page!
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Thank you Fiona. I have just started looking for links and came across your site. I taught English at Serangoon Garden North School 1968 – 1969. I was married in Singapore in 1967. My husband and I hope to return next year as part of our Golden Wedding Celebrations. Sadly I have lost touch with all the lovely people I met during those two wonderful years.
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My pleasure Kate! Perhaps you can try your luck on Facebook. I have provided some links at the sources after the writeup for Serangoon Garden North School that you can refer to 🙂
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I did my first 3 months at Townsville Institute in 1989. 1988 should be its first year, and 1 celeb passed through its gates – Bryan Wong from Mediacorp. He was a 2nd-year student and a councillor when I was there.
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Thanks Adam! Will update the list 🙂
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Hi,
Thanks for taking the effort to bring in back the old memories, i studies in Guillemard Primary during 83, glad to see the photos on my school buildings.
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Hi, from Margaret Drive Primary School [1958 – 1963] and have old photos of classmates, teachers and also the old road and houses, long gone. Would love to share memories. Humbled to say I was the first non-Chinese taking Chinese as second language at the time, according to Mr Alex Abisheganaden, MOE Inspector of schools (1963) who presented me with a tiny trophy, for Chinese, when he announced PSLE results end 1963. I contributed letters often to Voices, TODAY and contributed also the Building Fund, in 1997, for Margaret Drive Special School [Rainbow Centre], We all have but one life and it makes sense to live a truly purposeful life, connecting with diverse people on different platforms, and revisiting memories for goodness sake.
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Hi Fiona, thank you very much for bringing us back memories, I am from Outram Primary School and we are going to have a Great Reunion on 19 Nov 2016 after many years with our Principle-Mr Soohu, teachers and with 17 cohorts. We got the first batch of student 1961 and the last batch 1984. Is really amazing.
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My pleasure, Pram! 🙂
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Thank you so much! Hope you had a blast at your reunion!
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Wow thanks so much for your contribution! Glad to have written about your alma mater 🙂
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Excellent History Fiona. You have a fan!
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Any details about Chong Boon Primary School?
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Thanks Bernard!
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Here, featured in part 2: https://fionaseah.com/tag/chong-boon-primary-school/ 🙂
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Great memories for many to read bits of history on these various schools & what happened to them . Not sure if I missed , I have yet to see Anthony Girls’ School that used to be at Newton Circus area . Another primary school , AMA Keng Primary school ithat used to be located in Lim Chu Kang area (Ama Keng Road) seem to be missed out too.
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Hi Mary, you may want to check out Part 3 (https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/) for Anthony Girls’ Sch and Ama Keng. They’ve both been covered already 🙂
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Hi Fiona, thanks for doing a great write-up. Just to add on to Part 1 on Kakit Bukit Primary School. The school campus is still around today and it is now Kakit Bukit Centre (Prison School). This school produced a top O level private candidate in 2008.
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Thanks Desmond! Will add that to my post 🙂
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Hi Fiona, my father was an ex-student of the now-defunct Woodsville Secondary School. According to him, both Boon Keng Secondary School and Woodsville Secondary School merged together (year unknown) to form the current Bendemeer Secondary School, right beside Hong Wen School, an elementary Chinese-medium primary school in Singapore. The compound where Bendemeer Secondary School is currently standing used to be the premises of Woodsville Secondary School. But when I tried googling for its name, the results did not show Boon Keng Secondary School. Could you help to check whether Boon Keng Secondary School used to exist before? Thank you. 🙂
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Hi Fiona, for your information prior to the school uniform of the now-defunct Woodsville Secondary School, both boys and girls wore unisex plain white buttoned shirts. Schoolboys wore shorts and schoolgirls wore pleated skirts. As for the uniform shorts and skirts colour, I could only recall either green, maroon or brown colour when I asked my dad. Hopefully this will help you to a successful post. Goodluck! 🙂
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I can’t seems to find any history of Winstedt primary school.
I left Winslet primary school after PSLE, ending 1971.
It’s was not a famous school.
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Hi! I stumbled upon the school while trying to find out more about Newton Boys’ but was unable to get more info. If you have pictures or some history to share, please do so with me at askme@fionaseah.com
Much appreciated! 🙂
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Hi, does anyone know what the name of the primary school at Pasir Panjang was called? I went there as a 5, 6 & 7 year old from 1959 – 1961 when my family was posted to Singapore via the British Army. I remember that it was a single storey building and that there were railway lines beside it, beautiful frangipani trees in the school yard and the head was a Miss Rikihana. I think as European kids we only went in the mornings and the Malay kids went in the afternoons (which were, apparently, considered too hot for our delicate little bodies!).
Thanks for any info you can provide.
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I could be wrong about the single storey. It was a VERY long time ago! 🙂
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Dear Ms Fiona,
Do you happen to have photos or write up of Queenstown Primary school. Appreciate your help.
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Graduate of Clementi Town Primary School (class of 1992). Walking distance from my HDB block.
It’s a shame that there’s only one small monochrome low res photo. Unlike the more prestigious schools e.g. Old School on Mount Sophia, neighourhood schools tend to not receive much love.
There are mini spots or dots on fabric of the lighter part of the uniform, but it’s hard to see with that photo.
The teacher and students were posing in front of the main block, nearer to the wing where the principal’s office, stationery shop were located. The other wing on the far side (further in from where they were) were the teachers’ staff room and a music room. Separating the two wings was a ‘quadrangle’ mini garden, at one time chickens were raised in a coop.
On the left (their right), the basketball court, school dentist office, toilets, PE equipment storage room. On the right (their left), the main entrance, canteen, stage and assembly hall (badminton courts), which were next to Clementi Ave 3 road, and across the road was the old Clementi bus interchange (now Clementi Mall and the aircon bus interchange embedded within).
The teacher and students in the photo were facing a big grass field, and not far from them (nearer to main entrance) was some outdoor exercise area and a large sand pit for long jumps.
You can see the 1988 street directory map of the area:
Today, Blk 436, 437 and 438 had been demolished for en bloc. Clementi Town Secondary school absorbed parts of the old Clementi Town Primary School’s area, including a large part of the grass field I mentioned.
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WOW thank you so much! Very very very insightful information there 🙂
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Sembawang Hills Estate School assembly photo – this pic was taken during P5 camp in 1989. I’m the first boy from the right. Thanks for sharing.
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Hi! I was searching for an answer of merged schools that lead me to your blog. Incidentally, St Anthony’s Primary is celebrating their 140th yr anniversary today..
Do you know if St Anthony’s merged with another catholic school when it relocated to Bukit Batok back in May 1992?
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Hi Fiona,
Do you have any info on Winstedt Boys Primary School?
Thank you
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I was a student at Alexandria Estate Primary School from 1961 to 1966. I remember Lim Hng Kiang and his late wife Ai Boon? were my class mates once.
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Why there is no Kim Seng West Primary School and Kim Seng East Primary School. So sad.
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Hi Pauline, both schools were featured in Part 3 (https://fionaseah.com/2014/10/13/history-closed-and-merged-schools-in-singapore-part-3/) 🙂
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Hi Fiona, I am from belvedere primary schools in the 80s and i saw someone that i am know!!!! Thank you so much for your hard work!! thumbs up!!!!
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That is a lot of information!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
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Great job n thanks for the tedious compilation. Bring back memories. How about include the Sungei kadut primary school.
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Fantastic job! I was from Mountbatten English Primary School between 1965 and 1970. There were two schools withing the same compound just across the current Old Airport Road Food Centre, the Mountbatten English Primary School and the Mountbatten Chinese Primary School.
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Can you do 襟江小学 (Jin Jiang Pri Sch)?
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