Orient - The Official Magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore - Issue 71 April 2019
I feel very fortunate to be CEO of Tanglin Trust School. In moving from an established school in the United Kingdom, I was keen to move to a school with a sense of history, with a record of success and importantly, a school that was not-for-profit; in my experience, this gives parents great confidence in the mission of the school. Tanglin Trust School will celebrate its centenary in 2025. This longevity places the school central to the expatriate community and as such, central to the success of Singapore.
Relocation to Singapore is a well-trodden path. I am in the fortunate position of meeting many expatriate families. Education of children will always be a critical aspect of every family decision to relocate to another part of the world.
Families must assure themselves of the quality of education in whatever city they move to. This decision is often exacerbated by the absence of extended family. The role of the school and its international community therefore takes on a more significant standing, especially when children are young and equally when they enter public examination years.
After 100 days in post, I have observed how the school ensures a richness of educational experience that is hard to match. This is about the quality of the broad educational provision, but particularly in the enrichment of the curriculum and learning experiences, and the human interactions that occur on a day to day basis. This addresses concerns and provides every family with insights into how to extend and support their children.
I am privileged to meet with children of all ages on a daily basis. They are inquisitive, articulate, thoughtful and interested, exhibiting a voracious appetite for knowledge and learning. We measure their progress against benchmark data, but we also know this intuitively because their teachers know them so well.
This quality is validated by the British Schools Overseas inspections (Ofsted). The Junior School was recently rated Outstanding in all categories. This follows Outstanding ratings for both the Infant and Senior Schools over the last two years. Tanglin Trust School is the only school in Singapore to utilise this robust framework and it reflects wonderfully on the excellent work that takes place here.
I have recently enjoyed working with talented and committed school leaders and Governors, to develop a new iteration of the school’s strategic plan. Tanglin Trust School is successful because of its culture, the way we do things, and the strategy requires evolution rather than revolution. These changes will be organic, building on successes, recognising changes in educational expectations and understanding the desire of all families to provide the best for their children.
I have been impressed at how Tanglin Trust School ensures that our young people and their parents realise that the ennobling elements of drama, music and sport are not ‘opportunity costs’, but lifelong learning opportunities. Far from stifling life chances, they create opportunities to flourish. This is a central plank of our work. Academic achievement assures young people of their future education, but they must build a portfolio of future ready skills. Schools that assist millennials to explore their humanity will guarantee their future in an emerging world of artificial intelligence, big data and technology driven solutions. A Tanglin Trust School education recognises and explores each individual’s humanity, and long may it continue!