Dunman High School

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Name

Dunman High School

Abbreviation

DHS

Chinese Name

德明政府中学

Pinyin

Démíng Zhèngfǔ Zhōngxúe

Address

10, Tanjong Rhu Road, Singapore 436895

Country

Singapore

Founded

14 October 1956

Type

Autonomous, co-ed

Levels

Secondary 1 to 4, JC 1 and 2 (under Dunman High Programme)

Colours

Blue White Red

Motto

Honesty, Trustworthiness, Moral Courage, Loyalty

Website

Official DHS Website

Email

School email

Dunman High School is an autonomous co-educational secondary school in Singapore. It is generally recognised as being one of the top schools and the top co-educational secondary school in Singapore in terms of academic results.^[1]^[2]

The school is located at Tanjong Rhu. In December 2006, it will be temporarily relocated to the former Raffles Junior College campus in Buona Vista while its existing campus is being rebuilt. ^[3]

Its Chinese name Démíng (德明) is a transliteration of "Dunman", and its meaning is derived from a line in the Book of Rites (大学之道，在明明德) which states that the main objective of education is to inculcate moral values.

1 History
- 1.1 Principals
2 Dunman High Programme
3 School crest
4 School song
5 Motto and vision
6 School uniform
7 Relations to other schools
8 Student Council
9 Co-curricular activities
10 Notable alumni
11 References
12 External links

[edit] History

On 14 October 1956, in the midst of the Chinese middle schools riots, the Ministry of Education (MOE) established the predecessor of Dunman High School — Kallang West Government Chinese Middle School.

In the Chinese middle schools riots of October 1956, Chinese middle school students who subscribed to the communist ideology staged sit-ins and demonstrations, disrupting classes and in effect shut their schools down. The simple function of the newly established Kallang West Government Chinese Middle School was to allow students who had no wish of being emboiled in communism to have a place to study. ^[4]The premises of a newly built primary school at Mountbatten Road were loaned and the initial enrolment included about 100 boys from The Chinese High School^[5], with 10 teachers. In December 1957, the school moved to Dunman Road and was renamed Dunman Government Chinese Middle School.^[6]

In 1979, the school was selected to be one of the nine Special Assistance Plan (SAP) secondary schools. The school was renamed "Dunman High School" and began to offer both English and Chinese languages at the first language level. When the Music Elective Programme (MEP) was introduced by the MOE in 1982, DHS was selected to implement the programme for musically gifted students.

In 1990, the school expanded its physical area by taking over the neighbouring former premises of Dunman Secondary School at Dunman Road. Hence on, it became a single session school (Previously the school was divided into the "morning session" and "afternoon session" so that 2 classes of students can share a classroom.). It was one of six schools to go autonomous in 1994. The school moved to its current location in Tanjong Rhu on 27 May 1995. It was made the 7th Gifted Education Programme centre in Singapore in 1997.

The school is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2006. A time capsule was launched on the opening ceremony of DHS's 50th Anniversary Celebrations on March 31, 2006. The time capsule will be opened in 2031 on Dunman High's 75th anniversary. Significant items, such as the existing DHS uniform and the 2006 student handbook were placed in the time capsule.^[7]^[8] In addition, a Heritage Run was also organised that day. ^[6] There were also many performances, including a dance by the school's Chinese Society, and a drumming performance by the percussionists from Chinese Orchestra and Symphonic Band. There was also a special 50th Anniversary song, written by Kelvin Ang Chin Yuan and played by Clara Ng Yi Wen, sung by the school.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Principals

Since its establishment, DHS has had seven principals. They are:

Sun Hwan Sin (1956–1959)
Chen Jen Hao (1959–1969)
Shu June Mai (1969–1978)
Lim Nai Yan (1978–1993)
Cheah Chak Mun (1994–1998)
Tan Thiam Hock (1998–2004)
Sng Chern Wei (2004–)

[edit] Dunman High Programme

From 2005, the school is implementing a customised version of the Integrated Programme called the Dunman High Programme (DHP), which allows all students to bypass the 'O' Level examinations and directly take the A-Level examinations. This is different from the standard IP becase the school implements the 'A' Level syllabus directly, whereas other IP schools either merge with an affiliated junior college, or are junior colleges that have expanded to take in students at secondary 3 level. ^[9]

[edit] School crest

The school crest of DHS was designed by the late Chen Jen Hao, its second principal, and Liu Kang, a pioneer in local fine art and former Art teacher of the school.^{[citation needed]} The two Chinese characters read, from right to left, Dé míng, the Chinese name of the school. The characters are written in seal script.

The red colour symbolises passion and the drive for success. The blue colour signifies peace and dignity while the circular border represents wholeness and unity, as well as the pursuit of universality, as defined in the Confucian classic Book of Rites.

[edit] School song

The school song is in Chinese.

德明中學，矗立加東。

亭亭松影，習習海風。

集我英才，汇于一家。文艺科学，同冶同攻。

树模楷，教诚信，立风范，诲勇忠。

吾学兮博通，吾德兮高崇。师生共陶熔，浩气干长空。

爱护我德明，永志乎五中。光大我德明，永志乎五中。

An English translation^[10]:

Dunman High School, here in Katong

Amidst the pine trees, gentle sea breeze

We are like a happy family

Arts and Sciences, we shall study

Honesty, trustworthiness, bravery, loyalty

We shall have knowledge, uphold all virtues

Teachers and students willing and able

We give you our love, we give you our praise

Glory unto you, for eternity

[edit] Motto and vision

The school motto is 诚信勇忠 (Honesty, Trustworthiness, Moral Courage, Loyalty).

The school vision is "Enterprising Loyal Citizens With A Global Outlook" (Chinese: 堂正君子、社稷栋梁、心系祖国、放眼世界). It replaces the former school vision, which was "To develop our pupils' potential to the fullest to enable them to Care, to Serve and to Lead".

[edit] School uniform

The dressing scheme for all students is a short-sleeved white top and dark blue bottoms. Lower secondary boys wear shorts while upper secondary boys wear trousers. All girls don blouses and skirts. The shirts and blouses of DHS differ from most other schools in that they use metal buttons instead of plastic ones. This tradition is shared by the former Chinese schools such as The Chinese High School, Catholic High School, Chung Cheng High School, Nan Chiau High School, Anglican High School and River Valley High School.

Students wear badges depicting the school crest on the left side of their uniforms. On Mondays they also put on the school tie — a dark blue tie. The school councillors wear a badge of a slightly different design. All councillors are required to wear the tie at all times, in addition the committee members of the Student Council clip on a tiepin as well.

[edit] Relations to other schools

DHS is not officially affiliated to any school. It holds an annual sports meet with Chung Cheng High School (Main), Ngee Ann Secondary School and Temasek Secondary School. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Student Council

The DHS Student Council (DHSSC) was set up in mid-2004. One of the objectives was to streamline the system of student leadership, for the school's application of Best Practice Award (Student All-Round Development) and also for DHP. The Student Council consists of students from Year 2-4, although it is set to change with the Year 5 students in DHP. The Student Council was formerly divided into 3 main departments, General Affairs, Event Management and Pupil Mentoring, each headed by a Vice-President of the Student Council. This structure was modified in late 2005, into 6 departments, namely Level Council, Student Welfare, Communications and Publicity, CCA Council, Corporate Relations and Internal Affairs, which is effective from 2006. The Student Council is 86-strong as of now.^[11]

[edit] Co-curricular activities

DHS offers an extensive array of Co-Curricular Activities (CCA), including competitive sports, uniformed groups, musical groups and assorted clubs and societies. Specifically, the school's traditional forte has been Chinese orchestral music.^[12]