Anderson Secondary School (AndSS) is a co-educational government autonomous school in Ang Mo Kio, Singapore offering education for Secondary 1 to Secondary 5. It became an autonomous school in 1994 and was one of the pioneer autonomous schools in Singapore.
Anderson Secondary School was founded in 1960 as a girls' primary school. In 1964, it became a girls' secondary school and began admitting boys in 1965. The school has occupied several sites. Previously situated at Stevens Road and Anderson Road (from which it got its name), the school moved to Ang Mo Kio Street 44 in 1984. In December 1993, it moved to its current site, Ang Mo Kio Street 53.
Anderson Secondary School has been used from time to time for educational experiments.[1] In 1994 it was declared an autonomous school for consistent academic performance, and in 1996 it was one of the first schools to use the Students-and-Teachers Workbench project.[2] In 1997 it was chosen as an IT demo school.[3] The school received the School Distinction Award from the Ministry of Education in 2004.[4][5]
Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing Schools[edit]
From 2003 to 2006 the school underwent a Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing Schools upgrading project. The school raised funds for a student activity hub, a heritage centre and a multi-purpose studio, upgraded the lecture theatre and classrooms and added a five-storey building.
The final stage of the upgrading process took place in 2005. Some facilities, such as the school hall, cookery rooms and the football field, were ready in July 2006.
A facility called the "Inspire Town" was opened in 2005. This is a room where innovation and creativity is encouraged amongst pupils. Two classrooms were converted into a black box theater for use by drama students.[6]
Girls wear a white blouse and a kelly blue[7] tunic knee-length pinafore.[8] Lower secondary boys wear a pair of short trousers while upper secondary boys wear a pair of white long trousers. Students wear the school badge, with their name tag directly below it. Students wear the school tie on Mondays, and at formal school functions. On Fridays, students are allowed to wear "half-uniform" (PE T-shirt or class T-shirt with uniform bottom). From time to time, if there is an increase in temperature, the school may allow "half-uniform" from Tuesdays to Thursdays.
The Anderson Secondary School Discipline Committee has classified offences committed by students into minor and major offences. Minor offences include being late for school, flaws in personal grooming and use of electronic devices during curriculum time. Major offences include absenteeism, forgery, arson and many others. Punishments for major offences include detention, caning (for boys only) and suspension.
Being an integrated secondary school, Anderson Secondary School offers three academic streams, namely the four-year Express course, as well as the Normal Course, comprising Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) academic tracks.
The Normal Course is a nationwide 4-year programme leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examination, which runs either the Normal (Academic) curriculum or Normal (Technical) curriculum, abbreviated as N(A) and N(T) respectively.[10]
A 5th year leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examination is available to N(A) students who perform well in their Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examination. Students can move from one course to another based on their performance and the assessment of the school principal and teachers.[10]
The Normal (Technical) course prepares students for a technical-vocational education at the Institute of Technical Education.[11] Students will offer 5-7 subjects in the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal (technical) Level examination.[11] The curriculum is tailored towards strengthening students’ proficiency in English and Mathematics.[11] Students take English Language, Mathematics, Basic Mother Tongue and Computer Applications as compulsory subjects.[11]
The school organises events such as Cross Country[16] (Term 1) and Arts Fest (before end of Term 4) every year.
The school's Choir and Military Band stages a performance biennially known as VOICES and AMBience respectively, with the Chinese Dance and Malay Dance team staging a joint performance biennially known as ANDance, with their last concerts in 2014, it has been stopped indefinitely with the current school principal's decision.[17]
Most intra-school events are played at the class level, where students compete in events for their classes. This is done instead of inter-house competition to encourage greater bonding within classes.
^Zainal, Nur Syahiidah (3 December 2014). "K-pop and Oscars mix for ChildAid". The Straits Times. Singapore. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
