| Beatty Secondary School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Toa Payoh, | |
| Information | |
| Type | Government |
| Motto | Non Vi Sed Arte Not with force but with skill |
| Established | 1953 |
| Session | Single |
| School code | 3003 |
| Principal | Mr Shaw |
| Colour(s) | Navy blue, yellow |
| Website | http://beattysecondaryschool.net |
Beatty Secondary School is a co-educational neighbourhood secondary school in Toa Payoh, Singapore. It was established in 1953 and named for David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, former Admiral of the Fleet of the United Kingdom. The school colours, crest, and motto, Non Vi Sed Arte, are taken from Beatty's coat of arms. The graduated cohort of 2008 presented the school with the best overall results in the GCE 'O' Level examinations throughout the school's 55 years of history. Average L1B5 value stands at 18, making it a Band 9 school.[1]
Contents |
In March 1953, the Deputy Director of Education, Mr R.E Ince invited the Principal of Victoria School, Mr R. F. Bouford, to visit a school building which was almost ready to be taken over by the Education Department from PWD. This was situated near the former Rumah Miskin Police Station along Serangoon Road. The Supervisor of Victoria Continuation School, Reverend Daniel Elijah Sundram, was asked to accompany them as an interested party. The school was later named BEATTY SECONDARY SCHOOL.
Beatty Secondary School was officiallly opened on 6 July 1953 by Mr R. M. Young, the Director of Education. The co-educational school functioned immediately after the opening ceremony. The morning and afternoon sessions, however, functioned as different schools. While the morning school had Mr A.G. Meyer, a Raffles trained teacher, then the Principal of Tampines Morning School, the afternoon school had Reverend Daniel E. Sundram.
The school began with 323 students in eight classes: 3 Standard Six classes from Bartley Secondary School and 3 Standard Seven and 2 Standard Eight Classes from Victoria Continuation School. This was a departure from the original plan of having only 120 students in Standard Six.
In January 1954, the rest of victoria Continuation School, including the staff, moved in. In addition, the students from Gan Eng Seng School and Serangoon Continuation School did likewise. By now, there was 23 classes functioning with 928 students. With such a diverse student population, the plan then was a ‘one-school’ polivy. Subsequently, internal arrangements were made by Mr A.G. Meyer and Reverend Daniel E Sundram. Henceforth, the school functioned as one school in the morning under one single Principal.
The afternoon session was used to accommodate classes from other schools. In 1956, the afternoon session classes were moved to Kwong Avenue Primary School. In the same year, the girls were transferred to Cedar Girls' Secondary School. Beatty Secondary became full fledged all-boy secondary school. 20 students from Chinese Middle School were also admitted to the Post School Certificate class. Hence, the beginning of pre-university education in Beatty Secondary.
The afternoon session was re-introduced to Beatty Secondary in 1960 and was run as part of the Beatty Secondary School administration.
Over the years, the student population increased manifold. The old school premises and facilities were inadequate for both the staff and students. In the late 1970s, Mr Lim Bok Hai, the then school Principal, initiated the move to larger premises with better facilities. The old Beatty Secondary School eventually moved to its present premises in Toa Payoh in March 1982. It was officially opened on 26 July 1983 by Mr Michael Liew, the former Member of Parliament for Boon Teck. In the same year, girls were re-admitted to Secondary One. The school saw the graduation of its last batch of Pre-U 3 students in 1991. From 1992 onwards, it has functioned as a full-co-educational secondary school. The school turned single session again in 1996. In 1996, the school had 40 clasess with a total population of 1,500.
In 2005, Beatty became the fourth zonal centre in Singapore to offer Higher Chinese (A Levels) courses. Higher Tamil and Malay have yet to be offered in the institution.[2]
Beatty Secondary School is home to one of Singapore's oldest existing Scout Troops, Beatty Beaver Scout Group. It has achieved the Frank Cooper Sands Good Unit Award for 12 consecutive years since 1996. The Scout Group was awarded the Silver Award for year 2007.
The Scout Group was formed in 1950 under the name of the Victoria Silver Arrows by Mr Syed Alwi bin Hassan, a member of the first team of teachers at Beatty in its formative years. Later it was re-formed as the 56th Beaver Scout Group. In the late 1960s until the 1980s, the Scout Group was known as 1504 Beavers, registered under the Kallang District. When Beatty Secondary moved to Toa Payoh North, the Group was re-registered under Toa Payoh District as 05 Beaver Scout Group. From the 1990s up to the present day, the Group is better known as the Beatty Beaver Scout Group.
The Scout Group has produced three Queen's Scout Award recipients and six President's Scout Award recipients in its 55 years. In 2008, the Scout Group celebrated its 55th anniversary with a Campfire and an Old Beavers' Gathering. It was the first time in its history that a gathering involved Beavers from the 60s and beyond.
The Beavers have yearly expeditions and overseas trips, to widen their outlook on World Scouting.
Interviewed on Channel NewsAsia in February 2007, in a discussion on school upgrading, principal Boo Hian Kok expressed the view that schools should continue to ask for better facilities, provided they are able to justify their requests and prove they will benefit the students and teachers.[3]
These are set out on the Ministry of Education website.[4]