Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)

Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)
Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)
Address
	60 Barker Road, Singapore; 309919
Coordinates	1°19′10.9″N 103°50′8.7″E / 1.319694°N 103.835750°ECoordinates: 1°19′10.9″N 103°50′8.7″E / 1.319694°N 103.835750°E
Information
Type	Government-aided
Motto	The Best Is Yet To Be
Religious affiliation(s)	Christianity
Denomination	Methodist
Established	1 March 1886; 135 years ago
Founder	William Fitzjames Oldham
Sister school	Methodist Girls' School, Singapore
Superintendent	Toh Chye Seng
School code	7032
Chairman	Lim Tat (ACS Board of Governors)
Principal	Loo Ming Yaw
Chaplain	Malcolm Tan
Gender	Boys
Enrolment	1450
Colour(s)	Red; Blue; Gold
Song	ACS Anthem
Website	www.acsbr.moe.edu.sg

Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) is a government-aided boys' secondary school located at Barker Road in Newton, Singapore. It is a member of the Anglo-Chinese family of schools in Singapore. It offers the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level course for its students from Sec 1 to Sec 4/5. Students may then move on to Anglo-Chinese Junior College or Anglo-Chinese School (Independent). It has provided opportunities for its feeder students to continue with an ACS Education at a secondary level. ACS was also the first school in Singapore to have a flower named after it, the Ascocenda Anglo-Chinese School orchid, a hybrid created by the school to mark its 116th Founder's Day on 1 March 2002. ACS has many partner schools such as Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) and Anglo Chinese Junior College. The school is close to Newton MRT station.

It was a full school which subsumed Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) as its primary school section until 1998, when the school split into two. The school has been based at the newly rebuilt Barker Road campus since 2003. Its principal is Loo Ming Yaw while long-serving principal Ng Eng Chin is now retired and Peter Tan Chong Tze is now heading Queensway Secondary School.

Barker Road campus[]

Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) with its distinctive clock tower. The Barker Road Campus also houses Anglo-Chinese School (Primary).

In 1999, ACS (Barker Road) moved out of the campus after a closing ceremony on 4 November, to allow the campus to be redeveloped. An issue developed after plans were revealed to dismantle the historic Art Deco clock tower facing Dunearn Road due to safety concerns. This conflict was resolved and the dismantling went ahead. A replica now stands 20 metres from the old clock tower, with the original clock mechanism installed in the new tower.

The 5.2-hectare campus now contains the primary and secondary blocks of ACS (Primary) and ACS (Barker Road) respectively. In between the primary and secondary buildings is an administrative block housing the administrative office as well as the two libraries. The landscaped, open-air Student Plaza links the three buildings together. The cafeteria, bookstore, CCA rooms and Music Studios are one floor below the Plaza. The Arts Centre contains the Mrs Lee Choon Guan Concert Hall, Drama Theatre and the Lee Kong Chian Auditorium which can seat 830, 270 and 1,200 respectively.

The sports complex also sits on the campus, containing the Shaw Pool and the Tan Chin Tuan Sports Hall. The Sports Hall has three basketball courts, a racket centre, full recreational facilities including a gym and changing rooms. The Olympic-size pool has eight lanes. The Transport Centre/carpark is below the complex.

Barker Road Methodist Church and the Methodist Centre (housing the Methodist Church in Singapore) have also been relocated to the redeveloped Barker Road campus. ACS Oldham Hall has also been renovated with improved facilities, such as air-conditioning in some rooms, a cafeteria, and the capacity to house 500 borders. The Barker Road campus was designed by SAA Architects Pte and the entire project cost was S$95 million, of which S$15 million had to be raised by the school. In 2004, the campus won the CIDB Award for Construction Excellence.

Construction is underway for a new sports facility featuring two indoor sports halls and an artificial field, known as the AstroTurf. Along with this, a new 7-story building is being built for academic purposes, near the site of the clock tower. Construction was expected to be completed by the end of 2020, however due to Covid-19 the project was delayed.

Sports[]

In the traditional strengths of swimming and water polo, the school teams consistently ranked in the top four placings at the national championships. In 2009, the C Division rugby team reached the finals after beating Saint Andrew's Secondary School in the semi-finals. They also faced ACS(I) for the finals, with Chan Howard Ho Wai drawing first blood by scoring the first try of the match for ACS (Barker Road) but eventually lost when the game ended with ACS(I) winning by 21 - 15. In 2006, the school accomplished the 2nd placings in water polo for both 'C' and 'B' division at the Inter-School National Championships. It was the first time in history that the 'C' Division made it into the finals and the second time the 'B' div made it to the finals. The first time the 'B' div won and made its lone appearance in the finals dates back to 2002. In 2009, the ACS(BR) water polo 'B' Division (Also Known as Barker Titans) was the first school in Singapore to have won the School Nationals consecutively for three years in a row (2007,2008,2009).In 2007, ACS(BR) edged out its brother School ACS(I) 7–5 in the water polo final with 2 superb shots from Rahul Shankar Pandey in extra time. In 2008, ACS(BR) yet again edged out ACS(I) 10-7 despite a slow start, but made history by repeating as champions and remained unbeaten for that season. In 2009, ACS(BR) faced stiffed competition from their younger counterparts from ACS(I) but managed to beat them with a tight score of 6–5. In rugby union, exchange programmes have been held in other countries to gain experience and develop team-building skills. The school came in 3rd in 2006 and has also been consistently ranked among the top four in Singapore. Other sports are snooker and bowling which have also come in 1st and 3rd respectively. These achievements garnered the Sustained Achievement Award for 2006.

Performing arts[]

Since 2006, drama has been earmarked as a niche area for growth in the school, following in the footsteps of Anglo-Chinese Junior College which has offered the to its students. Media related CCAs have also made an impact on a national level.

In 2013, Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) received the Distinction Award for all Performing Arts in the biannual Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation.

Uniformed Youth Organisations[]

Scouts Frank Cooper Sands Award (Gold)
The Boys Brigade J M Fraser Award (Gold)
National Police Cadet Corps Unit Overall Proficiency Award (Gold)
National Cadet Corps (Sea) "Best Unit Competition" (Silver)

Co-curricular activities[]

Co-curricular activities are part of the education provided at ACS (Barker Road), with an emphasis on Drama and the performing arts, and particular sports like Badminton, Rugby, Basketball, Water Polo and Handball. Every student is required to participate in a minimum of one core CCA with at least a 75% attendance track record.

The school also holds an annual event for the Performing Art CCAs which is called Arts Nite.

Notable alumni[]

Nathan Hartono, singer-songwriter

References[]

Earnest Lau and Peter Teo, The ACS Story, ISBN 981-04-8746-0
ECHO Magazine, Oct-Dec 2004

External links[]