Anglo Chinese School
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Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) is a family of
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
schools in
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
and
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. It was founded in 1886 by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham as an extension of the
Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...
. Its students and alumni are referred to as "ACSians" (). ACS was the first school in Singapore to have a flower named after it, the "Ascocenda Anglo-Chinese School orchid", a
hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...
created by the school to mark its 116th Founder's Day on 1 March 2002.


History

Founded on 1 March 1886 by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham as an extension of the
Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
, the school was a
shophouse A shophouse is a building type serving both as a residence and a commercial business. It is defined in the dictionary as a building type found in Southeast Asia that is "a shop opening on to the pavement and also used as the owner's residence ...
at 70
Amoy Street, Singapore Amoy Street () is a one-way street located within Chinatown, within the Outram district in Singapore. The street is close to Tanjong Pagar MRT station. Amoy Street starts at its junction with Telok Ayer Street and McCallum Street and ends wit ...
with 13 pupils. The name of the school came from its conducting lessons in Chinese in the morning and English in the afternoon. By the following year, enrollment was 104 and the school moved to Coleman Street. Between 1914 and 1920, under Reverend J. S. Nagle, the school introduced religious (or "chapel") services and physical education classes. Afternoon classes were started for academically weak 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 join the school as teachers. The Anglo-Chinese School Old Boys' Association is a link through which many "old boys" continue to maintain close ties with the school. The Anglo-Chinese Continuation School started in 1925 under a new principal, the Reverend P.L. Peach, who had to leave the school due to the newly imposed government age limits on school attendance by boys. ACS became Oldham Methodist School while a secondary school opened in Cairnhill Road. During the
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Japanese occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Colony of Singapore, Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. The Japanese military ...
between 1942 and 1945, lessons were suspended. The school opened again in 1946, a year after the Japanese surrender, once the buildings at Cairnhill and Coleman Street had been made safe following 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 1946. He set up "X" and "Y" classes, each with different levels of difficulty, for students who had missed their education due to the occupation. In September 1950, the secondary school relocated from Cairnhill Street to Barker Road. In 1988, when the
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
started its independent school program, the school reorganized. New regulations allowed schools access to private funding and subjected them to less government regulation in the content of their curricula. Renamed ACS (Independent), in 1993 the school vacated the Barker Road campus and moved to Dover Road. After strong lobbying by alumni, the Barker Road site became the site of a second secondary school. At the same time, the Anglo-Chinese Primary School abandoned its Coleman Street premises (the old building now housing the
National Archives of Singapore The National Archives of Singapore (NAS) ( Malay: ''Arkib Negara Singapura'', Mandarin: 新加坡国家档案馆, Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் தேசிய காப்பகம்) is the national archives of Singapore. It was for ...
) to share premises with the new secondary school at Barker Road, now named ACS (Barker Road).


Schools


Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)

Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) (ACSP) was separated from the secondary classes in 1928 and was located at Coleman Street while the secondary classes moved to the new building at Cairnhill. In 1951, a branch school was established at Barker Road. In 1957, ACPS in Coleman Street catered to pupils from Primary 1 to 3 while Primary 4 to 6 classes remained known as ACJS. In 1961, leaving the Barker Road campus to be used for secondary and pre-university classes, Mr Lau Hee Boon became the first autonomous principal of ACPS with pupils from Primary 1 to 6, incorporating the Oldham Methodist Primary School with classes from Primary 1 to 6 in the afternoon. At the end of 1984, the junior school moved to 25 Peck Hay Road, while the primary school continued lessons at Canning Rise until 1994. It merged with the Barker Road school in that year, but in December 1998 relocated temporarily to 9 Ah Hood Road while waiting for the completion of the Barker Road campus rebuilding project. The school moved back to Barker Road on 4 December 2002.


Anglo-Chinese School (Junior)

Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) (ACSJ), formerly named Anglo-Chinese Junior School, is one of the two ACS primary schools in Singapore. Established in 1951 at the old Coleman Street campus, it moved to its former premises at 25 Peck Hay Road at the end of 1984. In December 2008, it relocated to a new building at 16 Winstedt Road.


Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)

Anglo-Chinese School obtained its independence status from MOE in 1988. In 1988, Anglo-Chinese Secondary School was renamed Anglo-Chinese School (Independent). After receiving its independent status, the school had outgrown the Barker Road campus and plans were made to construct a new building. It relocated to 121 Dover Road in 1992.


Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)

Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) opened in 1994 and is located at the Barker Road campus. It moved to the former Swiss Cottage Primary School while awaiting completion of the Barker Road rebuilding project. The school was divided into primary and secondary sections, the latter retaining the Barker Road suffix and the former later becoming ACS (Primary).


Anglo-Chinese School (International) Singapore

Anglo-Chinese School (International) is a private school. The school opened in January 2005 with 150 students and is located in Holland Village on the former premises of the now defunct Buona Vista Secondary School at 61 Jalan Hitam Manis. From January 2026, a 10-storey elementary school building on the same site as its high school can accommodate 450 pupils from seven years of age to 12. The pupils will follow the Cambridge Primary curriculum offered by
Cambridge International Education Cambridge International Education (abbreviated CIE, informally known as Cambridge International or simply Cambridge and formerly known as CAIE, Cambridge Assessment International Education and CIE, Cambridge International Examinations) is a pro ...
.


Anglo-Chinese Junior College

Anglo-Chinese Junior College opened in 1977, located at 25 Dover Close East.


ACS Jakarta

ACS Jakarta began in July 1996 as Sekolah Tiara Bangsa (STB) before formally joining the ACS Family as STB-ACS (International) Jakarta in July 2006. The name was changed to ACS Jakarta in 2015.


Notable alumni

*
Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been the current and ninth President of Singapore since 2023. Prior to his presidency, Tharman served as Senior Minister of Singapore between ...
, 9th President of Singapore * Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Defence, Singapore *
Tay Eng Soon Tay Eng Soon (; 20 January 1940 – 5 August 1993) was a Singaporean politician. Education Tay was educated at the Anglo-Chinese School for his primary and secondary education. He was the top student for both schools. He obtained first class ...
, Senior Minister of State for Education, Singapore *
Joseph Schooling Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean former professional swimmer who specialised in butterfly, freestyle, and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's ...
, national swimmer, Olympics Gold Medallist *
Lim Nee Soon Lim Nee Soon (; 12 November 1879 – 20 March 1936) was a Singaporean banker and businessman who promoted social and community matters, and was a respected community leader in Singapore. Lim was of Peranakan descent, with ancestry from Chengh ...
, business and community leader *
Vivian Balakrishnan Vivian Balakrishnan (; born 25 January 1961) is a Singaporean politician, diplomat and former ophthalmologist who has been serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2015. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been th ...
, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore


External links


Anglo-Chinese School websiteACS (Independent) websiteAnglo-Chinese Junior College websiteACS (Barker Road) websiteACS (International) websiteACS (Primary) websiteACS (Junior) websiteACS Jakarta websiteACS Oldham Hall website


References

{{Anglo-Chinese School Singapore Educational institutions established in 1886 Methodist schools Boys' schools in Singapore 1886 establishments in British Malaya