Anglo-Chinese School (International) Singapore

Anglo-Chinese School (International) (ACS (International) Singapore), Singapore is a Methodist private school, owned by the Methodist Church in Singapore. Students take a 6-year course, with the IGCSE in the fourth year and the International Baccalaureate in the sixth year. Before 2007, students took the International A-Levels. The school opened its doors on January 2005 with 150 students of 20 different nationalities, located in Holland Village on the former premises of the now defunct Buona Vista Secondary School at 61 Jalan Hitam Manis. The current principal is Mr. Gavin Kinch. The school need not seek permission from the Ministry of Education of admitting Singaporean students as it follows several of the Ministry's policies such as the MOE's bilingual policy and observe practices like singing the National Anthem, while the school runs its own programme. On 12 April 2004, the school was approved as one of the two proposals submitted among five proposals. The school was approved based on the strength of the management team, range of curriculum offerings, and the quality of education they could provide to the students.[1]

Anglo-Chinese School (International)
英华国际学校
Sekolah Antarabangsa Anglo-Chinese
Location
61 Jalan Hitam Manis, 278475

Holland Village

Singapore
Coordinates1.3080521°N 103.7977779°E / 1.3080521; 103.7977779
Information
TypeInternational school, Privately funded, IB World School
MottoThe Best is Yet to Be
Religious affiliation(s)Christian
DenominationMethodist
Established1 March 1886 (1886-03-01)
FounderWilliam F. Oldham
ChairmanTan Wah Thong
PrincipalGavin Kinch
Vice PrincipalsTan Siew Hoon (Senior Division)
Chia Choong Kiat (Acting - Middle Division)
Kris Achter (Junior Division)
Senior Support StaffJase Cheok (Administration & Finance)
Joseph Ng (Business Development)
IBDP CoordinatorCarol Ling
ChaplainJoel Yong / Loretta Lim
Staff100
YearsYear 1 (Secondary 1) to 6 (JC 2)
GenderMixed
Age range12 to 18
Enrolment1002
LanguageEnglish
Colour(s) Red   Blue   Gold 
SongACS Anthem
AffiliationSee category
VisionDeveloping future leaders with an international vision, moral character, intellectual ability and deep compassion for humanity based upon Christian belief and values.
Websiteacsinternational.edu.sg
The older block of classrooms in the school, formerly part of the now defunct Buona Vista Secondary School campus.

Academic programme

The school offers a six-year secondary and pre-university programme where they take the Cambridge IGCSE (examined by University of Cambridge International Examinations) in their fourth year and the IB Diploma Programme in the sixth year. Those need to improve their English proficiency or foundation knowledge related to courses would be recommended to take a bridging programme for around six months to a year where they will be taught English, mathematics, science, music, visual arts and a humanities subject. Students in the bridging programme would have separate form classes from the mainstream students. All Singaporean students are required to take their mother tongue as per requirements from the Ministry of Education, unless exempted. International students have to take a second language of their choice and are obliged to do so at IB level as part of the IB Diploma Programme.

Foundation IGCSE

In Years 1 and 2, students follow a general programme where they study English, a second language (Singaporeans take their mother tongue unless exempted), science, history, geography, religious education, visual arts, music, and physical education. They sit for an internal end of year examinations for all their subjects with the exception of physical education and would be promoted if they have met the minimum criteria. Science is divided into three modules, namely biology, physics and chemistry which would be for a term for each module at minimum with the last term for revision. History and geography are taken for a period of six months and will eventually have a changeover at the end of six months.

IGCSE

For students in Years 3 and 4, they will be able to select their subjects and take them at IGCSE level and at Singaporean GCE 'O' Level for mother tongue subjects. They have to take a minimum of six subjects and a maximum of ten but most students usually do eight subjects at IGCSE including second language. All students have to take English as a first language or as a second language, as well as English literature (in the case of students taking English as a first language). It is compulsory to take a second language where all Singaporean students have to take their mother tongue either at Express, Higher or Language 'B' level (Chinese, Malay and Tamil) unless exempted in which they have to take the language at Mother Tongue 'B' Level or another language at IGCSE level. All other students would then take a second language at IGCSE level in French, Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese, Hindi, Malay. All students take at least one science subject either biology, chemistry or physics and have the option to do two or all three sciences. Also, they have to take mathematics and a humanities subject where they can opt to do economics, business studies, history, geography, visual arts, music, and religious studies. Students with a stronger ability in mathematics are able to take Additional Mathematics at IGCSE level and those who do not wish to do additional science subjects are able to select one or two additional humanities subject.

IB Diploma Programme

Senior students (Years 5 - 6) will take a two-year course leading to the IB Diploma Programme and have to take a total of six subjects together with the core i.e. Extended Essay, Theory of knowledge, and Creativity, Action, Service. Students take a subject each from all the six groups with three at standard level and three at higher level, although it is possible for students to take four at higher level and two at standard level. A Group 6 subject can be replaced with a subject from Group 2, Group 3 or Group 4. In the November 2009 examination session, three students managed to score 44 points out of a total of 45 points. In the November 2015 examination session, 1 student scored a perfect score of 45, making her the first perfect scorer in the school. Moreover, many graduates have been accepted into world-class universities such as University of Pennsylvania, Warwick University, National University of Singapore, Imperial College, Purdue University, and many others.

School facilities
New classroom block at ACS (International), completed in June 2007.

It boasts a wireless LAN system throughout the campus. The school also has a fully air-conditioned chapel, the Oldham Chapel, and state-of-the-art Science laboratories including two Life Science labs. It has a sports field and a tennis court. The school has a media resource library that contains around 7000 titles together with newspapers, periodicals, reference books and videos. Between science laboratories, there are small rooms called think-tanks. Think-tanks were built to accommodate student who want to study during their free periods. There are also four auditoriums on the upper two floors on the old building which has since been used as classrooms. It has a kitchen for lifeskills and art rooms. On the floor above the canteen, there are four music rooms. The administration office was once also used as a students lounge when the school was partially completed. There is a HOD room for the heads of department. The school also uses a homeroom system, by which students go to the teachers classrooms. All the classrooms have an average capacity of 25 students and are air conditioned.

In July 2006, the school announced its intention to construct a new three storey block which includes twenty classrooms on the site of the former basketball court. The new building, known as Foo Hee Lim Block, was named after the late Foo Hee Lim after the estate donated a considerable sum to the school. The building was completed in June 2007 with the English, Economics, and Business Studies classrooms housed in this new block.

In 2011, the school finished building the Lim Seng Guan sports hall and a five-storey Sports Block located over the canal. The Lim Seng Guan Hall is an indoor sports hall which includes a rock climbing wall and is used for assemblies and other school functions. The five-storey Sports Block houses the offices of the Holland Village Methodist Church, gym, sick bay, and additional classrooms. A basketball court was built next to it.

The school made a new addition to the campus in 2012. A three-storey block that later became six, this building has a storey each dedicated to the Arts and Drama classes with language classrooms on the third and fourth levels. The two-storey Sitorus Library is located in this block. The building was later named Darren Loh Block, but it is more well-known as the Library Block.

Student leadership

ACS (International)'s current student council is made up of thirteen councilors and they are from years 3, 4 and 5. They get elected to the student council annually through an election. Student councilors from year 5 must step down from the council in year 6 as they are sitting for their external examinations. The Student Council organises school activities such as Chinese New Year celebrations, Valentine's Day, Racial Harmony Day, National Day, Parties and graduations together with the school staff. There is a president and a vice president among the thirteen councilors. There are also council delegates from every level and they assist the student council and are part of the student council. The prefectorial board is made up of senior students of the school in which some of them are also serving as student councilors. They are appointed by the principal to serve a one-year term. The prefects take charge of doing morning assemblies, helping out at school functions, open houses as well as other events. Prefects have the rights to give warnings and detentions (after three warnings). Every class can elect up to two monitors which they are leaders and assist the teachers. Also, there are school ambassadors that represent the school at events and help out the school during school functions of which they are appointed by teachers.

Houses

The school uses eight houses of the ACS family, namely Oldham, Thoburn, Tan Kah Kee, Goh Hood Keng, Lee Seng Gee, Cheong Koon Seng, Tan Chin Tuan and Shaw Vee Meng.[2] All students are assigned to a house upon enrollment for sporting and selected competitions in which they are divided into senior and junior teams. Each house appoints four captains of which two are from the junior team and two from the senior team (where there will be one girl and one boy selected from both teams). The house captains are considered to be student leaders and would therefore be installed at the annual student leaders investiture. Merits earned by students through good conduct, academic work, CCA, helpfulness would be added up to the total points of each house and therefore would be counted towards the House Challenge Shield which is presented to the school at its annual Speech Day.

Uniform

The ACS (International) polo shirt is worn most of the time, with Chapel Attire (with tie) worn on Fridays. During special occasions (e.g. Founder's Day, Prefect's Investiture and Speech Day), the formal attire is worn, inclusive of a blazer, long white trousers for boys/white skirts for girls, and black shoes.

All male students wear navy-blue long trousers as part of the school uniform, while female students wear navy-blue culottes.[3]

Boarding facilities

For foreign students, accommodation is provided at Oldham Hall within ACS (Barker Road) Campus and ACS (Independent) Boarding School. International students must spend a minimum of 1 year in either location, after which they will be allowed to leave and relocate to an approved Homestay.[4] They must also have a local guardian appointed by their parents.

See also

References
  1. MOE Has Approved Two Proposals for Setting Up Privately-Funded Schools, Ministry of Education. Retrieved on 12 Apr. 2004
  2. "House |". www.acsinternational.edu.sg. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  3. "ACS (International) UniformAttire" (PDF).
  4. "Boarding & Homestay |". www.acsinternational.edu.sg. Retrieved 6 August 2020.

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