Anglo-Chinese School - History

History

ACS was founded on March 1, 1886 by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham, as an extension of the Methodist Church. Its first location was a shophouse at 70 Amoy Street with a total of 13 pupils. The name of the school came from the fact that it conducted lessons in English in the nights and Chinese in the afternoons. By the following year, enrollment had increased to 104, and the school moved to Coleman Street.

Between 1914 and 1920, under the leadership of the Reverend J S Nagle, the school introduced regular religious (or "chapel") services and physical education classes. Afternoon classes were also established for academically-weaker pupils. In a bid to ensure continuity in school life and keep the school adequately staffed, Nagle encouraged ex-students, known as old boys, to return to the school as teachers. To this day, the Anglo-Chinese School Old Boys' Association is a link through which many old boys continue to keep close ties to the school.

The Anglo-Chinese Continuation School was started by the new principal, the Reverend P L Peach, in 1925, for students who had to leave the school due to the newly imposed age limits on school-going boys by the government. Eventually, ACS was renamed the Oldham Methodist School. A secondary school was opened at Cairnhill Road.

Between 1942 and 1945, the Japanese occupied Singapore during World War II. During the Occupation, lessons were suspended, and the school only re-opened its doors in 1946, a year after the Japanese surrender and once the buildings at Cairnhill and Coleman Street were made safe from damage sustained during the war. The pre-war principal, T W Hinch, who had been interned by the Japanese during the Occupation and had been sent back to England to recover, returned to the school in June. Among his first priorities was to set up "X" and "Y" classes, each with different levels of difficulty, for students who had missed years of their education due to the Occupation. In September, 1950, the secondary school relocated from Cairnhill to Barker Road.

Also in 1950, Post School Certificate Classes, later known as Pre-University Classes because they were supposed to prepare students for tertiary education, were set up, and the first batch of girl students were enrolled in ACS. However, students in the lower grades continued to be all male, a practice which persists to this day. Dr Thio Chan Bee, the first Asian principal of ACS, took the reins in 1952. During his tenure, both the Cairnhill and Barker Road premises saw expansion, the latter with the building of the Lee Hall, a three-storey building housing twelve classrooms and four laboratories.

In January, 1961, the Oldham Methodist Secondary School merged with the Secondary School at Barker Road. The school completed the construction of the sports complex at Barker Road in 1970, with an Olympic-sized swimming pool (a first in a Singapore school) and a sports hall. In 1977, the Pre-University classes moved to the newly constructed Anglo-Chinese Junior College at 25 Dover Close East, off North Buona Vista Road, leaving the Barker Road site to the Secondary and Junior schools. The Junior School eventually relocated to new premises in its old neighborhood at Cairnhill, in 1985.

In 1986, ACS celebrated its centenary with the publication of a hardback history of the school detailing its rich student and teacher life over the years, titled, Hearts, Hopes and Aims.

1988 saw another reorganization of the school. The Ministry of Education started its Independent School program that year. Independent schools are allowed to be privately funded and subject to less government regulation in setting out their curriculum. The school was renamed ACS (Independent); in 1993 the Barker Road campus was vacated and the school moved to Dover Road. After strong lobbying by alumni, the Barker Road site was retained for a second secondary school. At the same time, Anglo-Chinese Primary School abandoned Coleman Street (the old building now housing the National Archives of Singapore) to share premises with the new Secondary School at Barker Road, now named ACS (Barker Road).

The Barker Road campus was completely rebuilt in the late 1990s, with ACS (Barker Road) temporarily relocating during the project and ultimately split into primary and secondary school sections, the latter retaining the Barker Road suffix and the former becoming ACS (Primary). On 4 December 2002, the two schools, ACS Oldham Hall, the Methodist Church in Singapore and the Barker Road Methodist Church moved back to the newly built campus at Barker Road. It was officially opened by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tony Tan on July 15, 2003.

In January 2005, ACS (International) was officially opened to the public. A completely private school, it recruits students both from Singapore and other countries. Its students will take the International General Certificate of Secondary Education in their fourth year, then go on to take a two-year International Baccalaureate diploma from 2007. Before 2007, they will take the International A-Levels. ACS(I) has been officially authorised by the International Baccalaureate Organisation to offer the IB Diploma Programme commencing in January 2006. and is recognised as an IB World School.

STB-ACS (International) Jakarta formally joined the ACS family in July 2006. It is a co-ed school for students from Kindergarten to 12. It offers the Cambridge International Primary Programme (CIPP) at Grade 6, the Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) at Grade 10 and either the Cambridge International A Levels or International Baccauaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) at Grade 12.

Today there are six schools under the Anglo-Chinese School umbrella. ACS (Junior) and ACS (Primary) are the primary schools while ACS (Barker Road), ACS (Independent), ACS (International) and ACJC provide secondary and post-secondary education. STB-ACS (International) Jarkata is the one and only ACS school outside of Singapore and offers classes to boys and girls from Grades 1 to 12.

When Bishop Oldham started the school in 1886, he also took in some students as boarders. That boarding facility soon expanded and moved into larger and larger houses. First into Bellevue at Oldham Lane, then to Dunearn House at Barker Road. In 1986, when ACS celebrated its centennial year, the boarding school known as Oldham Hall moved into new premises within the ACS Barker Road campus. It moved back into the rebuilt premises in December 2002 and was renamed ACS Oldham Hall to emphasise its roots as a strong and vibrant member of the ACS family.