Nan Hua Secondary School - Heritage

Heritage

Nan Hwa Girls' School (NHGS) was first established by Mr Xiong Shangfu, an overseas Chinese, on 14 June 1917. It was founded with the aim to give the girls in Singapore the opportunity of receiving an education, which was a privilege that few girls had at that time. When it was first founded, it was located in a makeshift school in Coleman Street. It had less than 100 Chinese girls who were studying there. The school's population grew rapidly and a need for a bigger school to accommodate the students arise. In 1921, the school was shifted into a new school building located in Bencoolen Street. However, in 1924, the school was forced to close temporarily due to financial difficulties. After a series of public appeals, generous contributions of funds from the community helped paid off the school's debts and the school re-opened.

By 1928, the Basic Teacher Training Programme had started and the student population of the school was booming, leading to a space constraint. In 1941, a new school building at Adis Road was ready and it became the "Main School", catering for normal training classes for teachers and primary classes. The old building at Bencoolen Street continued to function as its "Branch School", for primary classes only. That same year after the Japanese invaded Singapore, the school complex at Adis Road was turned into the headquarters for the Japanese Imperial Army.

The school re-opened in October 1945 after the return of the Allied forces. The School Management Committee immediately set out to raise funds to rebuild the school and enrol students. Due to the overwhelming financial support of many parents, secondary classes were set up and the school's enrolment rose to 700 pupils. The school's name was also changed to Nan Hwa Girls' High School (NHGHS) in 1956. During this period, the school's curriculum underwent much restructuring and NHGHS emerged as one of the premier girls' schools in Singapore. The Branch School was transformed totally into a primary school, and the Main School became a secondary school after it terminated the intake of primary pupils in 1964.

A third move took place on 12 December 1982 when the school moved from Adis Road to Clementi Avenue 1 upon the recommendation of the Ministry of Education. The school began to admit Secondary One boys and thus became coeducational in 1994. The school also dropped the "girls" in its name to reflect the change. On 1 April 1986, the School Management Committee handed over the administration of the school to MOE, thus ending its long-standing status as an aided school.

Nan Hua Secondary School became the 10th Special Assistance Plan school. Under PRIME, the school was relocated to a new campus located at 41 Clementi Avenue 1 on 20 December 2003. The school subsequently attained the School of Distinction Award and Singapore Quality Class award in 2005. The new school building was officially opened by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 17 July 2005. The school was also granted an Autonomous Status in 2006. The name of the school was changed to "Nan Hua High School" from 1 January 2006.

Mr Heng Swee Keat, Singapore Education Minister launched Nan Hua High School's Chinese Language Pedagogy Unit on 7 July 2012 at the school's 95th Anniversary Dinner.