Hwa Chong Institution

Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) is an independent school in Singapore for students aged 12 to 18 covering both secondary and pre-university levels. A Ministry of Education-designated FutureSchool, it operates under the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) for bilingualism, and offers the Integrated Programme (IP) and also the School Based Gifted Education Programme (SBGEP), after the Secondary School Gifted Education Programme was phased out. The main campus, in Bukit Timah, covers 72 acre shared between Hwa Chong Institution, Hwa Chong International School, the institution's boarding school, and the Bukit Timah campus of SIM University. The campus is markedly larger than most schools in Singapore and the region.

Previously two separate but affiliated schools, The Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, HCI was the result of a merger on 1 January 2005. The change was in line with the Ministry of Education's introduction of the IP, whereby students undertake a six-year "through-train" education and bypass the traditional GCE 'O' levels. In spite of the merger, the secondary school section remains boys-only, while the pre-university section is co-educational. Approximately 4000 students are enrolled in the school, which has a student-teacher ratio of 13:1.

HCI has produced 50 President's Scholars, and it has been cited as a leading Oxford and Cambridge entry centre outside of the United Kingdom. Some of its research and leadership development programmes have gained international accolades; educator Edward de Bono has referred to HCI as the "Eton of the East". The school offers a variety of extra-curricular programmes, where achievements include championship-winning sports teams in track-and-field, gymnastics, water polo and judo.

The Chinese High School (1919–2004)
The Chinese High School, at that time the Nanyang Chinese High School, was founded by Tan Kah Kee in March 1919 at Niven Road. With an enrolment of 78 pupils, it was the first Chinese institution of higher learning at that time in Southeast Asia, catering to Chinese dialect groups amongst the overseas Chinese. Six years later, the school moved to its Bukit Timah campus.

After its founding, the school offered comprehensive secondary level Chinese education. It remained funded and supported by Tan Kah Kee until shortly before World War II. In 1934, Lee Kong Chian, son-in-law of Tan Kah Kee, became the chairman of the school's board and remained in his post until 1955. During his tenure, the school faced the threat of closure several times due to financial difficulties, but managed to survive due to strong financial support from both Tan and Lee.

During the Battle of Singapore, the school's clock tower, for its height and vantage point, served as a headquarters for the Allied defenders. Following the war, the school resumed its predominant Chinese education. In the 1950s and 1960s, during periods of civil unrest in Singapore, many students, teachers and alumni participated in or led the anti-colonial riots.

After Singapore gained independence in 1965, the school came under the purview of the Ministry of Education and was accorded the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) status in 1979. Later, in 1988 the school achieved the status of an independent school, under a scheme that the ministry perceived as proven successful and which was extended to other top schools in Singapore. On 19 March 1999, the school's clock tower was gazetted as a national monument.

Hwa Chong Junior College (1974–2004)
Hwa Chong Junior College, now HCI's college section, was established in 1974 at the Bukit Timah campus of The Chinese High School as a separate pre-university education institution, but under the same management board. The college was the government-aided junior college, with its name being an abbreviation of the high school's Chinese name to mark the relationship between the two schools.

Hwa Chong Junior College moved out of its campus at Bukit Timah Road in the late 1980s following the discovery of structural problems with the building to facilitate rebuilding. Lessons continued but conducted at various locations. The rebuilding of the campus finished in 1992 and lessons restarted at the campus in 1993. Following The Chinese High School's accord of independent school status in 1987, the junior college followed suit in 2004, becoming the first JC in Singapore to be granted the status of an independent school.



Merger (2005–present)
Following the introduction of the Integrated Programme into Singapore's education system in the early 2000s, The Chinese High School merged with Hwa Chong Junior College on 1 January 2005 to form Hwa Chong Institution. The school's official title is now 'Hwa Chong Institution', but the names 'The Chinese High School' and 'Hwa Chong Junior College' are still used colloquially to refer to the two sections.

In 2008, HCI was selected by the Ministry of Education to implement the FutureSchools@Singapore programme, one of five initial schools to do so and amongst the eventual fifteen planned. Also in the same year, the Hwa Chong Diploma was introduced. The diploma is awarded to the best performing 30% of its graduating cohort, stacking upon the GCE 'A' Levels certificate.

The school enrols an estimated 4,000 students, spread across the six levels, with a student-teacher ratio of 13:1. To date, Hwa Chong Institution has the highest number of President's Scholars among its graduates as compared to those of other junior colleges in Singapore, currently standing at 50. The college section's Humanities Programme has a significant percentage of its students going on to study abroad at such universities as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, MIT, UC Berkeley, Peking University and Tsinghua University.

Campus
The main campus of HCI in Bukit Timah covers 72 acres, making it one of the largest in Southeast Asia. The campus land is shared between the Hwa Chong Family of Schools - namely, Hwa Chong Institution itself, Hwa Chong International School and Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School. Also onsite is the Bukit Timah campus of SIM University and its administrative headquarters. Despite the multi-sharing, each entity possesses its own set of facilities, marked by certain perimeters.



The dedicated Science Research Centre, built in 2008, has ten purpose-built laboratories in which students experience different research disciplines outside of the usual curriculum, including labs for Robotics and Engineering, Biotechnology and Microbiology, and the Pharmaceutical Sciences. The centre provides resources to support the research and innovation programmes, serving as a central facility for student research activities.

The Ong Teng Cheong Student Activities and Leadership Training Centre (also called the Ong Teng Cheong SALT Centre, or the SALT Centre), named in honour of alumnus and former President of Singapore Ong Teng Cheong, aims to develop students holistically, particularly in arts and leadership development. Housed in it are dance studios, music rooms, and a cardiovascular and weight-training room. A moot parliament is also housed in the centre, modelled on the Singapore Parliamentary Chamber, and it is a central venue for events such as student council meetings and Model United Nations conferences.

Apart from the two purpose-built facilities, other facilities in HCI include a three-storey library, a gymnasium, a 400-metre track, a hall, a multi-storey carpark, lecture theatres, general laboratories and classrooms. The 31-metres-tall Clock Tower of the school is a national monument, the only one in a Singapore school.

Beijing Satellite Campus
In line with the school's plan to set up a Global Academy, HCI established its Beijing Satellite Campus in 2007, the first of its kind for a Singapore school. An agreement was inked with a top school in China, Beijing's The Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, in which classrooms will be leased. A total of 4 batches of students make their way to the campus every year, staying for up to two months. Priority is given to scholars of HCI's Bi-cultural Studies Programme. Students in the campus take lessons together with students from China in partner schools, carry out community involvement activities, and take field trips to cities such as Xi'an, Tianjin and Shanghai. Students maintain a blog, posting their experiences and insights from the programme.

HCI has been quoted as saying that it is looking to opening satellite campuses in India and the United States, with the aim of establishing the two in the near future. In July 2010, it was announced that HCI would be developing a school in the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City in Guangzhou, China, akin to that of its first satellite campus, following the inking of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). This would see HCI partnering a top local school for exchange and mutual learning programmes. The school is also reported to be establishing a virtual campus offering e-learning courses by Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY).

Academics
Incorporated within HCI are the high school (junior high) section and college (senior high) section, each caring for a different cohort of students separated by age group. Secondary One (age 13) students first enter the high school section and study there for four years, before proceeding to the college section where they prepare to take the GCE 'A' Levels final examinations. The school-wide Integrated Programme offered enables students to skip the GCE 'O' Levels, typically taken by secondary four students in Singapore. The Hwa Chong Diploma was introduced in 2008 and is awarded to the best performing 30% of its graduating cohort. It is awarded on top of the 'A' Levels certificate, and is an added qualification to university applications.

HCI also organises academic competitions and conferences, both for its students and external participants. The school organises the Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (APMOPS) and the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (SMOPS). At the same time, the International Science Youth Forum (ISYF) is hosted at HCI and co-organised by Nanyang Technological University, bringing students from across Asia-Pacific together to network and dialogue, with Nobel laureates coming down to share their experiences in the scientific field; a record five Nobel laureates were involved in 2010.

Consortiums and faculties
Students in the high school section are divided into what is called consortiums (consortia) - a different naming convention from the typical house system. The four consortiums in the school are Aphelion, iSpark, Ortus and ProEd. The iSpark consortium houses HCI's Gifted Education Programme (GEP). The consortiums work closely with one another and each has its own council of students. In the college section, they are instead called faculties, highlighting the differences in function between consortiums and faculties. There are four faculties, namely - Apollo, Ares, Athena and Artemis - all named after Greek deities.

Each consortium is led by the Director (DC) and Assistant Director (ADC) of Consortium. Consortium and faculty life extends beyond curricular education as programmed by the school, with programmes differing amongst consortiums and faculties. These include exchange programmes and student bonding activities. Inter-consortium/inter-faculty contests or gatherings are held throughout the year, an example being the Faculty Shield. It was launched in 2006 and is a year-long competition wherein faculties compete to amass points to win the challenge shield. Points are gained from events such as the Chinese New Year Faculty Dance competition and the annual Sports Meet (including the cheering competition).

Special programmes
Various special programmes are offered in HCI, such as the Bi-cultural Studies Programme, the Art Elective Programme and the Science and Math Talent Programme. These programmes offer a degree of specialisation that is generally not possible in the standard curriculum, enabling students in the school to explore respective fields to a greater degree. Despite having similar names, the special programmes offered in the high school and the college section are different; however, most are closely associated with each other. An example would be the Humanities Programme (HP), in which the high school HP focuses on the three core humanities subjects - history, geography and English literature, while HP in the college section offers a greater variety of subjects such as China Studies and economics, while gearing students for university humanities programmes locally and abroad.

Special programmes offered in the school are as follows:


 * Bicultural Studies Programme
 * Language Elective Programme
 * Science and Math Talent Programme
 * Humanities Programme


 * Malay Special Programme
 * Research Studies
 * School Based Gifted Plus Programme
 * Art Elective Programme

In 2008, the Centre for Scholastic Education (CSE) was set up to house all special programmes in the high school section except for the Art Elective Programme and the Malay Special Programme. They are the Bicultural Studies Programme, Humanities Programme and the Science and Math Talent Programme. It also used to house the now-defunct Entrepreneurship Programme. CSE is also used as an umbrella term to describe the specialised academic programmes offered at the upper secondary level.

Sabbatical Programme
Under HCI's Integrated Programme, the Sabbatical Programme is offered whereby students from Secondary 1 to 4 go on sabbatical courses for one week every term except the last (Term 4). The programme is unique in allowing the majority of the school populace to put aside formal curricular lessons for a week in pursuit of their passions or interests. Sabbaticals offered are of a wide variety, in categories as defined by the school: arts and aesthetics, Chinese studies, humanities, English and literature, leadership, technology, science and math, camps and student exchange (exchange programmes). Also, the school requires students to use the specifically designed Online Bidding System to organise their sabbatical plans. Students who accumulate demerit points as a result of various offences are penalised in their sabbatical bidding or are recommended for corrective work order.

Exchange programmes
HCI offers a host of exchange programmes with schools spread across Asia-Pacific, and also the United States. There are also specifically organised study trips to places beyond, including the United Kingdom. Different exchange programmes are offered at the high school and college sections; in fact, certain exchange programmes are limited to consortiums within the high school section itself. Apart from sending its students abroad, the school also hosts international events that draw students from several countries across continents, such as the Hwa Chong-Asia Pacific Youth Leaders Summit and the International Science Youth Forum.

The exchange schools working in collaboration with HCI, sorted by country, include: Christian Outreach College Brisbane in Australia, Rajagiri Public School in India, Ritsumeikan Senior High School in Japan, Chung Hwa High School in Malaysia, Philippine Science High School in Philippines, Loudoun Academy of Science in the United States, and St Nicholas Girls' School and Cedar Girls School in Singapore. In 2008, a collaboration between the Loudoun Academy of Science and HCI saw the team winning the Extreme Collaboration Award in the Stanford Global Innovation Tournament, in a unique achievement for both schools.

Extra-curricular activities
HCI offers a wide variety of extra-curricular activities, labelled Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) by the Ministry of Education, and this is in part due to the school's large student population and size.



Leadership
There is one international leadership conferences hosted by HCI, the Hwa Chong Asia-Pacific Young Leaders Summit. The Hwa Chong Asia-Pacific Young Leaders Summit, into its fourth year since its inception in 2006, is a forum where Asian and international student leaders gather to discuss pertinent issues in the region and also to share their cultural and personal experiences. It has seen students from schools in Australia, China, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States and more, providing an international representation to the summit.

Sports
There are a number of sports CCAs offered in HCI, ranging from soccer to ten-pin bowling, and from wushu to touch rugby. The gymnastics, judo, shooting, table tennis and track & field teams garner nationwide achievements almost every year. HCI has won track & field championships in most divisions. The HCI track & field team used to hold and currently holds a few national records, particularly in pole vault.

Other sports which have achieved significant results over the years include the basketball, canoeing, volleyball, water polo and wushu teams. The school's basketball team won the championships in both the A Boys and A Girls divisions in 2010. The same was achieved for the volleyball team, gaining the championships in both A divisions (Boys and Girls). Nine HCI students were selected to represent Singapore in the Youth Olympics Games 2010, two of them from the championship-winning basketball team.

Uniformed groups
There are currently four uniformed groups in HCI: National Cadet Corps (Land), National Police Cadet Corps, St. John Ambulance Brigade, and Scouts (and Ventures & Rovers). These CCAs provide a highly structured organisation and a well-defined hierarchy. The HCI National Cadet Corps unit (HCINCC) has been awarded Gold for 15 consecutive years, winning the Best Unit Competition (BUC) in 2000. Also, HCINCC is the only Centre of Excellence in Precision Drill department amongst all NCC units in Singapore. The National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) is currently the largest uniformed group in Singapore, and in HCI, in terms of membership. The St. John Ambulance Brigade is one of three School Corps awarded Gold for 11 consecutive years. The Ambulance Cadet team from Hwa Chong won the National Champions for the Inter-Zone First Aid and Home Nursing Competition 2010. The Scouts uniformed group hosts the Lion Dance troupe, which performs at special and commemorative events. All four uniformed groups achieved Gold in the annual national assessment. Apart from regular planned training, other activities include inter-unit competitions in bowling and captain's ball.

Performing arts
The ten performing arts groups in HCI are: the Chinese Orchestra, the String Ensemble, the Chinese Drama Club, the Harmonica Ensemble, the English Drama Club, the Choir, the Music And Dance Society, the Guitar Ensemble, the Band and lastly Chinese Dance. The 2010 Singapore Youth Festival, saw the English Drama Club judged, where it attained a Silver Award. The previous year, 2009, saw the other performing arts groups being assessed; a number of awards were garnered, including two Golds with Honours for the Chinese Orchestra and the High School Band.

Apart from occasional performances held locally in Victoria Theatre and the school's Drama Centre, many of the performing arts groups travel overseas both for exchange and performances. Amongst them, the High School Band and the Choir are notable for their international achievements. The year 2010 saw the Choir attaining significant achievements in two international competitions, the Festival of Songs in Olomouc, Czech Republic, and the Florilege Vocal de Tours in France. The High School Band, which once performed in the Istana, travelled to Hawaii to attend the Pacific Basin Music Festival for the second time in 2010, attaining a gold award. The Band has also performed at the National Day Parade.

Clubs and societies
Clubs and societies are the most numbered in the school, stemming from a diverse range, such as the Astronomy Club, the IT Club, the Socrates Club, the Chinese Calligraphy Society, Robotics Club and the MediaTech club. Many of these clubs/societies have performed well in competitions. The Hwa Chong Astronomy Club, for example, has seen members participating in the Asian-Pacific Astronomy Olympiad, where it attained the Best Performing New Country Award and the Top Scoring Individual Award in 2008. Many also serve important functions in the school itself, such as the Library Club, which helps maintain the library infrastructure.

Students' Council
The Students' Council is the student council of the school, and comprises the High School Council and College Council which represents the high school section and the college section respectively. Currently into its 38th year, the council is generally regarded to be amongst the oldest student councils in Singapore. It is tasked with caring for the welfare of students in the school, and acts as a middleman between the school administration and the student body. The council also organises multiple events every year, mostly with teacher involvement limited to mentorship only, including skills workshops, forums, the two yearly orientations and the Hwa Chong-Nanyang Annual Track & Field Meet.

Information technology usage
Having been designated a FutureSchool in 2008, HCI has rapidly adopted new Information Technology (IT) resources. The nature of the youths in Singapore, in that almost all are highly connected to latest technologies (Singapore has an internet penetration rate of 77.8%), is a fillip to IT usage in the school. Announcements and notices are posted regularly online in the school's Electronic Message Board (EMB), as a replacement for traditional school-wide announcements. The school requires that students check the online board regularly.

Also, learning often takes place with the aid of online IT resources, such as wikis. HCI recently came up with a wiki platform of its own online, called the Hwa Chong Institution Wikispaces, which further supports collaborative learning and interacting for all staff and students of HCI. The school also organises home learning periods every term, typically lasting two to three days, where students study and learn from home through the Internet and their computers without the need to return to school.

Uniform and discipline
In the secondary school section, students in Secondary 1 to Secondary 3 inclusive must wear a white short-sleeved shirt with khaki short trousers and white socks, which must cover the ankle, and white shoes. Only Secondary 4 students are permitted to wear long trousers, with a beige shirt.

In the junior college section, the male students wear the same all-beige uniform with trousers. Female students will wear a beige blouse and beige skirt with a single pleat down the middle. Female students would sometimes wear shorts under their skirts for added modesty.

Students earn demerit points for poor behaviour. Accumulated demerit points can affect final grades and eligibility for certain awards. The student handbook states that, for serious offences, male students at Hwa Chong Institution may be punished with detention, suspension, caning or expulsion. Only the Principal or Discipline Master may administer corporal punishment, which consists of a maximum of five strokes of the cane. Students found smoking are immediately caned or suspended or both. Caning may also be given for integrity-related offences (e.g. cheating), uncivilized behaviour (e.g. defiance), and criminal offences (e.g. fighting).

Secondary One Orientation
At the start of a new academic year, freshmen (secondary one students) usually undergo a three- to four-day orientation designed to inculcate the Hwa Chong spirit. The freshmen are split into 22 groups, with 2 buddies (from consortium councils) in each group.

This event helps freshmen familiarise themselves with the school and integrate into the Hwa Chong family. The freshmen would undergo numerous team building games and cheers.

This event is jointly organised by councillors handpicked from the four consortium councils, and the Secondary One Orientation is the most important event organized by the council every year. The main highlight is the cheers competition held on the final day of orientation. Other aspects of the orientation include the Amazing Race, as well as the Mass Games.

Each orientation has a theme, and the 2011 theme is "Surge Forth, Thunder On". Past themes include "Ignite, Drive", "Step Forward, Make it Happen" and "Blaze the Trail".

Affiliations
HCI offers the Integrated Programme that extends to Nanyang Girls High School (NYGH), an all-girls high (junior-high) school, under the name Hwa Chong Affiliate Programme. Under the programme, a majority of NYGH students graduate to the college (pre-university) section of HCI to undergo their pre-university education. All students of HCI's high school section also move on automatically to the college section and undertake the 'A' Levels, unless they fail to meet requirements or specifically apply to leave.

Under the umbrella Hwa Chong Family of Schools, HCI is affiliated to Hwa Chong International School (HCIS) and Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School (HCIBS). All three schools share the same prefix in their names, and are located in the same main campus. However, in spite of the multi-sharing, each school possesses its own set of facilities.

Hwa Chong International School is a co-educational international school, offering a six-year programme from Grade 7 (11–13 years old) to Grade 12, finishing with the International Baccalaureate. In the interim years, the students will sit for the iGCSE. The fully private independent school saw its final batch of graduating international 'A' Levels students and the first batch of graduating IB students in 2010. Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School is the institution's boarding school, accommodating HCI's international scholars. It also houses international scholars studying in other local schools such as Singapore Chinese Girls' School and Bukit Panjang Government High School. Local Singaporean boarders staying in the boarding school are participants of HCI's Integrated Boarding Programme. The boarding complex was designed by renowned architect Kenzo Tange, consisting of seven six-storey halls providing accommodation for up to 1,000 boarders or guests.

Notable people
The list features notable staff and alumni of Hwa Chong Institution, or the previously named The Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College:
 * Lao She (老舍), noted Manchu writer, taught at the school in 1929
 * Liu Kang (刘抗), renowned oil painter, taught art at the school
 * Ong Teng Cheong, former President of Singapore
 * Jek Yeun Thong, former Cabinet minister, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and to Denmark
 * Olivia Lum, founder of Hyflux
 * Yam Ah Mee, Singaporean civil servant; chief executive director of the People's Association; ex-chief of the Land Transport Authority and Singapore General Election Returning Officer
 * Yong Yuen Cheng, ultra-marathon runner. Finished the 218km Run Round Singapore ultra-marathon 1st with a time of 31 hours, 28 minutes and 51 seconds. Currently teaches Physics in the High School section of the Hwa Chong Institution.