The Arden Condo Review

Primary School

Teck Whye Primary School started as Jalan Teck Whye Primary School in 1959. Located at 36 Jalan Teck Whye and served the largely farming community in Chua Chu Kang. In 1972, the school amalgamated with the neighbouring Bukit Panjang Malay School, when vernacular schools were phased out.

In 1996, the school relocated to the school building, which was once occupied by Bukit Panjang Government High students, at 30 Jalan Teck Whye. The School was then renamed Teck Whye Primary School.

The shift to the current building at 11 Teck Whye Walk took place in mid-December 2001. The school was officially opened on 28 Jun 2002, by Prof Low Seow Chay, then Member of Parliament for Chua Chu Kang.

West View Primary School began functioning on 2 January 1998 to meet the increased demands for places in Bukit Panjang and Chua Chu Kang housing estates, as a result of rapid demographic population shifts. The school was housed in the former Jalan Teck Whye Primary School and Bukit Panjang Malay School buildings with very limited facilities. In December 1999, the school moved to its current premises at 31 Senja Road. Memorable that year was that the pupil population had increased so exponentially that four of its classes had to be located at the school’s second campus at Fajar Secondary School. The pupil population has since stabilised to its current state of 30 classes.

West Spring Primary School was established in 2014. We are guided by our philosophy that a positive learning environment that provides opportunities for students to experience big and small successes can be attained through meaningful learning and character development opportunities. This belief is captured through the school song that encourages students to be “thankful for this day will have joy in hearts and love in souls as work towards goals”. We believe students enjoy coming to school when they are able to experience small and big successes.

Through this belief, the school’s approach to teaching and learning includes taking a refreshing approach to making learning a joy, engaging, and effective in mastering the skills and developing the disposition and attitude that will keep them open to lifelong learning.

The student’s joy in coming to school is due to the hard work of the school community of committed teachers, staff, and very supportive parents and partners who believe in the school’s vision. The school community aspires to excellence in our pursuits.

Greenridge Primary School began functioning in January 1995 to cater to the growing demand for primary schools in Bukit Panjang New Town. The school then had 8 classes of 285 primary one pupils housed in two different schools within the estate. In January 1996, 12 more classes were added and they were housed in another school in Chua Chu Kang New Town. The school moved into its current site at Jelapang Road in January 1997.

PRIME was carried out at its existing site in November 2000 and completed in April 2003.The upgrading has expanded and enhanced our school facilities to cater to the increasing pupil enrolment.

Beacon Primary School was the first new primary school set up as part of the FutureSchools@Singapore program. This program was a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Infocomm Development Authority to effectively harness the benefits of technology for engaged learning.

The name ‘Beacon’ was first made public on 21 May 2007 as part of the official announcement of the FS@SG program. It was chosen to signify the school’s important role as a vanguard in charting new directions and providing possible models to engage students in learning by leveraging technology, thus preparing them for a complex and ever-changing global environment.

Zhenghua Primary School was established in 1989, with a student population of 560 and a teaching staff of 28. The school was named after the former Cheng Hwa Public School, which was closed in 1985 after 44 years of history. The school was housed temporarily at Keming Primary School whilst the new premise was built. The new premises at Fajar Road were formally handed over on 4th November 1989 and the school population moved in on 30th November 1989. In 2005, the school underwent PRIME and was held at a holding site in May 2006 with new facilities to deliver quality education to our students. After the completion of our recent upgrading in December 2020, the school now has a performing arts auditorium, dance studio, band room, an art gallery, an indoor sports hall, a running track, a new fitness area, and outdoor experiential learning areas. These additional facilities add to the vibrancy of the holistic learning experiences we design for our students. In 2021, we welcomed our first batch of kindergarten students from MK@Zhenghua

Our school has grown from strength to strength over the years, but what has remained unchanged is our culture of care, our teachers’ dedication and professional excellence, and our commitment to nurturing the whole child in a vibrant learning environment. Under the leadership of 5 principals Mr Chan Kok Min, Mdm Lee Tee Choon, Mr Koh Chin Tong, Mdm Rita Raj Lal, and the current principal, Mrs Constance Loke, the school has grown to be a primary school with a student population of 1400 primary school students, 220 kindergarten students and a staff strength of more than 140.

Bukit Panjang Primary School firmly believes that every child is a unique individual with the potential to become a self-directed learner grounded in the school’s values of Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, Gratitude, Integrity, and Compassion. We strive to provide a secure, caring, and innovative learning environment that embraces the spirit of enterprise with the courage to take a calculated risk.

In the academic domain, we are committed to providing student-centric learning experiences that cultivate thinking and promote independent learning in our students. By purposefully engaging our students to ‘think out of the box”, we imbue in them the courage to go beyond their comfort zone. We constantly review our programs to ensure that they remain relevant, diverse, and robust to meet the demands of the educational landscape and cater to our student’s needs.

Recognizing the importance of staff capacity as the key driver to realizing our school’s vision and mission, we place a strong emphasis on staff training and development. Besides the formal training, we also strive to create a collaborative learning culture through level sharing, professional learning communities, and focused group discussions.

Chij Our Lady Queen Of Peace founded in 1955, is one of the eleven schools belonging to the congregation of the Infant Jesus. CHIJ OLQP aims to nurture every child to be a Learner, Leader, and Lady, who embodies our school motto ‘Simple in Virtue, Steadfast in Duty’. A CHIJ OLQP education has always stood for the holistic development of a child through educational opportunities in the six domains of cognitive, physical, aesthetics, social & moral, student leadership, and morale.

Aligned with our vision, our school’s values are for every girl to be Good and Smart. The school provides opportunities for all students to show qualities to be their best selves, and do their best work. Guided by the IJ mission, our staff, and students work together to promote the IJ virtues ‘Truth, Justice, Freedom, and Love’ through acts of service within and beyond the school community, attending to the needs of persons who are disadvantaged in any way.

St. Anthony’s Primary School was established on 1 August 1879 by the Catholic Portuguese Mission of Singapore. It was then called St. Anna’s School and had a mixture of boys and girls. Fr. Jose Pedro Sta. Anna de Cunha, a native of Goa, Assistant to Fr. Nicolau Inacio Pinto, had started the school to cater to the poor children who could not afford an education, even though the school fees then were very low. St. Anna’s School, which was located in a small rented house in Middle Road, did not charge any fees. The six pupils of the first enrolment thus enjoyed free tuition. C.M.E. Buccanam was the 1st principal of St. Anna’s School and was aided by two teachers, Margaret Dias and Mary Anna Ruggelly.

Chua Chu Kang Primary School started operations on 2 January 1994 with 400 students from Primary One to Primary Four under the leadership of Mr. Raja Rajendra using South View Primary School as the holding site. Mr. Tan Boon Chee was appointed as the vice-principal of the school.

South View Primary School was founded on 2nd February 1946, with students housed in three separate locations: temple, wayang stage, and warehouse. Under the first principal Mr. Kua Chu Yan, the student population was a mere 157. In June 1946, Mr. Ong Koh Bee, a community leader, initiated a fund-raising project to build a school. Villagers contributed generously towards the fund. Eventually, $13,000 was raised, together with a donation of 1.75 acres of land. By 27th March 1947, the building for Nam San School was built at 12 miles Choa Chu Kang Road. The building had only 5 classrooms.

Secondary School

Teck Whye Secondary School was a co-educational government secondary school in Choa Chu Kang, Singapore. It was founded in 1966 and merged with Chua Chu Kang Secondary School in 2023.

Assumption English School was founded in 1953 by Brother Vincent, a Gabrielite Brother as one of the three components of Boys’ Town. By 1955, Boys’ Town English School was established as a single-session, full school with classes from Primary One to Secondary Four. In 1955, the School presented its first batch of students for the School Certificate Examination. In 1973, the Secondary section of CHIJ Bukit Timah merged with Boys’ Town English School and the school became a Co-educational Catholic Mission School.

The School took on the name of Assumption English School in honor of our Lady, Mother Mary, the Patroness of the Brothers of St Gabriel.

Swiss Cottage Secondary School started in 1962 with about 200 pupils, housed at Raffles Institution on Bras Basah Road. In July 1963, students and staff moved into a new school premises at Swiss Cottage Estate (along Dunearn Road), which officially opened in November 1963, with an enrolment of about 870 pupils in two media, namely English and Malay.

Junior College

Jurong Pioneer Junior College was founded in April 1981, JJ was the 9th junior college in Singapore. In the beginning, the campus had to be hurriedly put together and despite the conversions to house a junior college, “the facilities were grossly inadequate”, according to Mr. Koh Beng Thiam, JJ’s first Principal. While the campus was situated in an idyllic setting facing the large expanse of Pandan Reservoir, there were almost no facilities for sports.

In 1985, staff and students moved to their permanent home at 800 Corporation Road. The patience of staff and students were rewarded as all classrooms were air-conditioned – a rarity even today – due to the deafening sounds of the RSAF airplanes from the nearby Tengah Airbase.

In 2006, an eventful year, the college was selected as the fourth Centre for the Language Elective Programme (Chinese) and the Centre of Excellence for Character Development in the West Zone. JJ was also the first junior college in Singapore to receive the Outstanding Development Award for Character Development that year. The college was revalidated for this award in 2011.

Polytechnic

Ngee Ann Polytechnic started out as Ngee Ann College. Its founder, The Ngee Ann Kongsi, had envisioned setting up a quality educational institution to link the Chinese-speaking community to its cultural roots during the colonial-rule era. The College had since morphed into a full-fledged polytechnic, a public institution overseen by an independent Council.

Six decades on, the Polytechnic has become a leading institution of higher learning, anchored on its core strengths of pioneering a broad-based and holistic learning approach, forging strategic alliances and providing enriching overseas experiences to prepare its students for a global workplace. The transformation of Ngee Ann Polytechnic has been a spectacular one, as evident in the key milestones recorded here.

University

National University of Singapore started out as a modest medical school with 23 students in 1905, founded by a determined group of businessmen led by Tan Jiak Kim, to serve the needs of the local community. Today, more than 100 years on, Singapore’s flagship university, continues to be in service of the country and society.

International School

GESS – International School was established on 2 January 2000, with the inaugural principal, Mr. Kwek Hiok Chuang making the news as Singapore’s youngest appointed principal in recent years.[1] The college initially was located at the former campus of the French-German Institute of Singapore, along Science Centre Road.[2] The College relocated to the current permanent campus at 21 Teck Whye Walk in December 2004. It was officially declared open by Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, then acting Minister of Education on 20 February 2004.

Child Care

Chow & Chows Childcare & Early Learning Centre Ltd. (Teck Whye) is an organization is set up by a low-profile philanthropist who has worked hard and benefited from the success of Singapore. The ethos of giving back to the community and society drives him to set up Chow & Chows Childcare & Early Learning Centre.

Knowing Singapore is a small island state with no natural resources, its only resource is its people, we understand that Singapore must develop its people to the fullest potential, and a crucial stage of development is in a person’s childhood and adolescence.

We believe in empowering our children and youth and providing them with a conducive environment to grow and develop into good citizens and socially responsible adults. As such, Chow & Chows Childcare and Early Learning Centre were established on 9 February 2010 to carry out this mission.

Whizland Montessori is a subsidiary of Whiz Kidz Montessori Pte Ltd.

Montessori @ Graceland is located at number 7 Phoenix Walk off Phoenix Road and Enrichment Centre at 448 The Rail Mall, Upper Bukit Timah Road.

Raffles Kidz @ Bukit Panjang is an established premium pre-school brand from Singapore. We offer bilingual inquiry-based curriculum by experienced and well-trained educators within a quality and innovative learning environment for children.

PCF Sparkletots Preschool @ Chua Chu Kang Blk 10 was established in 1991 by the PAP Community Foundation, it is one of the most familiar brands in Singapore. Its centres make up approximately half of all the preschools in Singapore, with over 360 childcare centres and kindergartens island-wide and over 40,000 students at any single time. It receives the Trusted Brand Award in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Mindchamps Preschool @ Junction 10 was offers early childhood learning and enrichment programmes for children from 18 months to 6 years old, in the playgroup.

New Life Community Services Childcare @ Junction 10 is located on the fourth level of Junction 10 and within a short walking distance of Bukit Panjang MRT station.

Carpe Diem Starlets 1 is a Child care centre & top preschool in Singapore which provides early learning program & curriculum activities to kids.

My World @ Marsiling Greenview was founded by Metropolitan YMCA in 1980, M.Y World Preschool is committed to bringing quality infant and child care services to our communities, with an emphasis on character development and teaching of values. With a dedicated team of teachers, we hope to empower children through programs that focus on learning through play, interaction, collaboration, and the use of technology. In recognition of our commitment to providing quality and affordable infant and child care services, M.Y World Preschool was appointed an Anchor Operator (AOP) by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) in 2014. Our staff and teachers are passionate about teaching and dedicated to providing experiences that inspire your child’s love of learning.

Little Footprints @ ITE West is located at Tower 2 of ITE College West. With the institution’s sports complex within close proximity, as well as wide and open spaces just outside the centre, our children enjoy opportunities to have their lessons and activities conducted outdoors, every once in a while.

Inside the centre, we have large and enclosed classrooms for all levels, where children get to learn, interact and express themselves freely. There are also dedicated learning corners where hands-on learning takes place as our children focus on developing specific skills.

With Teck Whye LRT station nearby, getting to and from the centre daily is made convenient for families who live nearby.