Hwa Chong Institution (Chinese: 华侨中学)
File:Chinese high logo.PNG
Location
661, Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 269734 Singapore
Coordinates	1°19′36″N 103°48′13″E / 1.326540°N 103.803491°E / 1.326540; 103.803491
Information
Type	Independent Secondary School & Junior College Boys (Secondary 1 – 4), Coed (JC 1 – JC 2)
Motto	自强不息
Established	1 January 2005 from the merger of The Chinese High School (est. 21 March 1919) & Hwa Chong Junior College (est. 1974)
Principal	Ang Wee Hiong
Staff	60+
Faculty	270+
Colours	Red, Yellow
Guiding Principle	饮水思源
Mission	With our blend of tradition and innovation, we nurture leaders in research, industry and government, who have the integrity, wisdom, passion and vision, to succeed in the global environment and serve our nation.
Philosophy	Win-Win 己立立人　己达达人 Live with passion, Lead with Compassion
Website	HwaChong.edu.sg

Hwa Chong Institution (simplified Chinese: 华侨中学; traditional Chinese: 華僑中學; pinyin: Húaqíao Zhōngxúe) is a junior college offering education from a Secondary (High School) to Pre-University (Senior High) level in Singapore. Previously two separate but affiliated schools, The Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, the Institution was the result of a merger which was officiated on 1 January, 2005.

The school offers a 6-year Integrated Programme from Secondary 1 to JC 2. The program will allow students to skip the GCE 'O' Levels, taking GCE 'A' Levels at the end of their six years in the school. This gives the students much more time to embark on various educational endeavours that will greatly benefit them. An example of this would be the Hwa Chong Sabbaticals, which allows students to spend one of the last weeks each term undergoing programmes which allow them to develop their interests, such as music composition as well as camps and field trips abroad. 90% of students who graduate from Hwa Chong Institution and complete their 'A' levels then go on to attend university, in Singapore and abroad.

The school has also been consistently ranked among the best of Singapore's schools, and has to date, produced 47 President's Scholars, the highest number among all Junior Colleges in Singapore. In addition, the school spans a large area of 79 acres (320,000 km²), making it the largest high school in Singapore and South East Asia.

The high school section, previously known as The Chinese High School, was founded by philanthropist Tan Kah Kee on March 21, 1919, being the first high school at that time in South-east Asia to cater to different Chinese dialect groups. On the other hand, the college section, previously known as Hwa Chong Junior College, was established in 1974 at the Bukit Timah Road campus of The Chinese High School, but under the same management board with the latter school. On 1 January, 2005, the two schools merged as one institution, the result of months of negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the schools' Board of Directors and Governors.

The Hwa Chong Institution Tower Block was declared a National Monument in 1999.

The school uniform for Secondary One to Secondary Three students consist of a white short-sleeved shirt with four brass buttons( two on the shoulders, and one for each breast pocket), with a pair of khaki shorts. The school uniform for Secondary Four students and male students from the college section consist of a beige short-sleeved shirt and beige long pants. Female students from the college section wear a beige short-sleeved blouse and a beige skirt. All students from both the high school and college sections wear their school badge, which is their school logo, in the form of a collar pin, on their left collar.

The school song is in classical Chinese. It is set to Annie Lisle.

The High School section consists of 4 consortiums - Aphelion, Ortus, ProEd and iSpark. The consortiums work closely with one another and each has its own council of students.

Aphelion

Students from the Aphelion consortium are known as Aphelians. The target of Aphelion is, "building bridges, realising dreams". It organises major events like SMOPS (Singapore Mathematical Olympiad For Primary Schools) and the subsequent round, APMOPS (Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad For Primary Schools).

Proed

Students from the Proed consortium are known as Proedians. Staff is split into teams to maximise efficiency and to minimise student's holistic development, e.g. students exchanges team, curriculum innovations team, leadership team etc.

Ortus

Students from the Ortus consortium are known as Ortusians. In 2002, Ortus was formed from the merger of former consortiums Radix and Quest. Ortus Council organizes many school based events such as Open House, Racial Harmony Day and many more council initiatives.

iSpark

Students from the iSpark consortium are known as iSparkians. In 2000, the iSpark consortium was formed, with 7 GEP classes (the 7th including the CHS-GEP class, 3O) stretching across 2 levels. The student council of iSpark is known as the iCouncil.

The college section consist of 4 faculties, named after the Greek Gods Apollo, Ares, Athena and Artemis.

In 2006, the Social and Relations committee of the college's 32nd Students' Council launched the inaugural Faculty Shield. The Faculty Shield is a competition among the 4 faculties in which the faculty with the highest number of points at the end of the year wins the challenge Shield. Points are gained from events that allow each faculty to show their strong faculty spirit, such as the Chinese New Year Faculty Dance competition, the Combined Schools Sports Meet and also the Cheering competition on the final day of CSM. Inter-faculty competitions, such as Dramafeste and Hwa Chong Idol and other inter-CT CCA competitions also allow each faculty to earn points towards winning the faculty shield.

On top of the Faculty Shield, faculty life in Hwa Chong is further spiced up by the various faculty events, the most prominent one being the Faculty Outings organised by the Faculty Committees.

The 4 Consortium Councils are representatives of the student body and also co-operate with the High School Council in organising welfare initiatives for the students.

Each council includes Sec 1 Councillors-in-training (CsIT) that help out during major events such as the SMOPS and PTGs. After a year of training and expertise, these CsIT are then promoted to full-fledged councillors and become ambassadors of the school at Year 2 and 3, also organising events such as End of Term Activities (EOTA) and other welfare initiatives for their respective consortium. Some may also get chosen to organize important school-wide events such as Secondary One Orientation, and international conventions like the Student Leaders Convention.

When Year 3 councillors progress to Year 4, they can choose to run for High School Council elections or focus on other aspects of leadership such as the Class Management Committee (CMC) or ExCo positions in their various CCAs.

Evolving from the fomer Chinese High Students Union, the current Students' Council is divided into 2 sections, the College Council and the High School Council.

List of Council Presidents and Vice-Presidents

The College Council organises 7 major events for the school, namely Orientation (O1), Chinese New Year (CNY), Council Elections, Teachers' Day (TD), Mid-Autumn Festival (MAF), Open House (OH) and the Seniors' Promenade. Besides these 7 major working events, other ad-hoc activities are also organised. These include: SCREAM (Halloween celebrations), Friendship Day celebrations, and H3 (Happy Half hour).

The College Council consists of 4 committees, namely the Co-Curricular Activities Committee (ECACO), the Publications Committee (PUBCO), the Social and Relations committee (SnR) and the Welfare Committee (WELCO).

The High School Council organises several events for the school, and pushes for the welfare of the students. It is made up of 16 Secondary 4 students, together with the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the four consortium councils. The High School Council is divided into 5 different committees, namely Public Relations, Quartermasters (Logistics), Welfare, Projects and Administration.

Every class has its own Class Member Committee (CMC), headed by the Chairman, Monitor, Secretary, Treasurer, Welfare Secretary and the Facilities Secretary.

The iSpark Class Management Guild (iCMG) is a leadership organization in iSpark Consortium. Unlike the other consortium CMCs, iCMG is one whole organization that groups all iSpark CMCs into one family. Under this scheme iCMCs are able to receive more leadership exposure through various activities like combined camps with iCouncil, organizing consortium-based activities etc.

There are three main platforms which improve both the teachers' and the students' quality of education by allowing them to do a great deal of everyday tasks online. They are the EMB (Electronic Message Board), IVLE (Integrated Virtual Learning Environment) and the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). These facilities can be accessed from the school homepage via links. Each student is also allocated an email account in the school's webmail system, called the Hwa Chong Institution Internet Webmail System.

The Student Message Board [1], also known as the Summary Message Board (SMB), was written by Koh Kim Tian, a teacher teaching programming and IT, and acts as an announcement board. Its implementation drastically reduced the amount of time spent on morning announcements and the amount of paperwork. Anything ranging from private messages to a small group of students to important administrative matters addressed to all students can be put up by teachers. Every student is classified into his class, EP3 grouping and level, such that messages addressed to any of these groups can only be seen by the respective members and not on everyone else, thus minimizing clutter generating by messages not pertinent to the individual. In some cases, EP3 heads/chairmen and the Council President will be granted the right to post messages on the EMB.

The Integrated Virtual Learning Environment [2] acts as a place where assignments and/or learning materials can be found as soft copies. In the event that a student misplaces a particular handout, the IVLE is the place to go. Progress statistics are also encompassed within the IVLE. Only teachers and students can access this password-protected portal.

The Virtual Learning Environment VLE was developed by teachers and students to facilitate online learning through Flash animation and online articles. Only teachers and students can access this password-protected portal.

Every student is also given an account on the school Intranet. He is allotted 20 megabytes of hard disk space on their individual folder on a network drive to store personal files. Access to other network drives is strictly monitored, with all teachers' files being locked and inaccessible to students. Additionally, every student is also allocated 10 megabytes of space on the school web server to upload files or publish content. This is accessed via the FTP protocol. Accounts are banned if students are caught playing games or surfing restricted sites. If students want to unban the accounts, they have to get a parent letter and pay a S$10.00 fine. There are many technicians who would monitor the networks and ban when it is called for. The aforementioned technicians form the Tech Council, which is also a representative of the student body chosen by popular vote.

In the high school section, assemblies are held weekly. Different levels have their assembly sessions over four days in the week. One of the main appeals of the assemblies is the principal dialogue session, where a special topic of discussion is initiated by the panellists and is discussed together with the students. Pupils are generally forthcoming with their views and do observe appropriate decorums. More importantly, the principal (or sometimes deans) is refreshing and open in his approach, and is willing to listen to views put forth by the students. Topics can range from national issues to school affairs (assessment modes or uniform). This practice is a testament to the transparency and openness the school administration is willing to adopt.

This a platform for students to voice their views on school issues and discuss directly with the Deputy CEO, Mr Hon Chiew Weng.

In 2005, Hwa Chong embarked on a special programme scheme, whereby integrated programme students would be allowed to select a preferred special programme at the end of Sec 2, which he would then take for the next two years. Their eligibility for these programmes is also determined by their year-end results.

The aim of these programmes is to allow students to pursue any interest in which he has a passion for. The various special programmes are as follows:

The idea of the Science and Mathematics Research Programme (SMRP) was first mooted by Mr Hon Chiew Weng, Principal of The Chinese High School, towards the end of 2004 and implemented in 2005. Noting that the school has been achieving excellent results in many national science, mathematics and information technology competitions, Mr Hon felt that the school’s potentials in the areas of mathematics and science could be further enhanced by the SMRP, to strengthen and facilitate students’ learning through project work. Students under this programme have opportunities to be attached to various research institutions in Singapore and participate in local or international symposiums and conferences.

The Bicultural Studies Programme (BSP) is an MOE-initiated programme open to NYGH, ACS(I),HCL, HCI and Dunman High, where students get to be exposed to cultures from both the Western and Eastern perspective. This programme includes a total of six months immersion in China, with 3 months respectively in year 3 and 4.

With the exposure to western culture scheduled for years 5 and 6, students participating in this programme will get to be thoroughly exposed to both the eastern and western cultures, leading to them being moulded for the future of the nation.

This is a new program that is a collaboration with Hwa Chong that would allow students who wish to become entrepreneurs have a chance to be exposed to the modern business world where they would be taught various marketing techniques and skills that would equip them with the abilities to tackle the future economy and to rise as a successful entrepreneur. It would allow students to have talk to various entrepreneurs as to have a better understanding of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. They would also be offered chances to set up their own "markets" as to test their skills in the business world. A three year course that would see through each student would be able to take on the challenging markets of the future.

The Hwa Chong Humanities Programme ranks above that of the Raffles and Anglo-Chinese School programme, having a significantly larger number of scholars than its neighbour, NJC.

Students who join the humanities programme get to learn all three humanities, history, geography, literature. Students who do not only can learn social studies, and another one which they choose from the three.

The Student Leaders Convention (SLC) is an annual leadership convention and is a flagship event by The Chinese High School/Hwa Chong Institution, which is fully organised by students, for students.

The 10th Student Leaders Convention (XSLC) was a significant milestone for SLC after a decade since its inception by Aaron Beng in 1995. Co-organised by the former The Chinese High School Students Union and Nanyang Girls' High Student Council, XSLC was aimed at raising the awareness of the need to address concerns with sensitivity in a changing global landscape and improving networking amongst our student leaders today. The theme was "Sensitivity in Addressing Current Global Concerns", where participants gathered to be empowered to initiate change and make decisions to meet global needs via exchanging ideas and viewpoints through role-playing as international delegates. The chairpersons of the XSLC were Soh Yi Da and Teng Ya Wen.

The 11th SLC, co-organised by Hwa Chong Institution, Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and River Valley High School, drew more than 500 delegates from all over Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region and was a big success. As the theme, "Managing Global Problems through Regional Unity" indicates, the highlight of the convention includes delegates role-playing as global leaders to solve problems and concerns currently present in the world. The 11th SLC was successful in terms of participant number, organization and execution; and marked a new high in the SLC history. The chairperson of the 11th SLC was Sua Yu Yttrium.

The 12^th SLC concluded on 2 June, 2006. It was co-organised by Hwa Chong Institution, Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and Bukit Panjang Government High School (BPGHS). Its theme is "Building Partnerships Through Socially Responsible Governance". The 12^th SLC marked a paradigm shift in the focus of the convention, with participants role-playing as corporate leaders. In the four days of the convention, they had to form alliances with other corporations before coming up with a proposal for the establishment of an entertainment hub in the mock country of Jangguan. The chairperson for the 12^th SLC was Chew Guan Yu.

The 13^th SLC marked a paradigm shift in the conceptual framework from the previous convention; while the last SLC explored the corporate world of business, the 13^th SLC looked into a completely different leadership frontier - youth leadership. The 4-day convention, which lasted from 29^thMay to 2^ndJune, was co-organised by Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore Chinese Girls' School (Secondary), Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls' School (Secondary). The theme, "Youth Involvement: Making an Impact on Society", aimed to provide a viable platform for youth leaders of different cultures and backgrounds to convene, discuss and deal with global issues. The chairperson for the 13^th SLC was Ng Yu Hui.

The Singapore Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (SMOPS) is a competition with over ten years of history. It is an annual event organised by the Aphelion Consortium of the High School section( yippee!). This event draws a total number of 2000-3000 participants annually. It is always held in the High School section of Hwa Chong Institution. The top scorers for SMOPS will then be invited to the Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (AMOPS), where competitors from different countries gather to compete.=)

Currently, the institution has built three new facilities, namely the Kong Chian Administration Centre, the Science and Technology Research (SRC) Centre and the Student Activities and Leadership Training (SALT) Centre, which has been called the Ong Teng Cheong SALT Centre.

The SALT centre houses a moot parliament (mock up of the actual parliament to facilitate student debates and oral articulation), and the various CCA and uniformed groups.

The new Science and Technology Research Centre houses new research facilities and specialist laboratories that include among others, a virtual reality cove (a theatre that facilitates the learning and teaching of virtual reality-related technology), and laboratories for chemical processing, fibre optics and biotechnology (with microbiological rooms). It also houses media art and 3-D animation studios, and an Art Elective centre that focuses on media art, digital videography, animation, digital audio, and traditional arts disciplines such as sculpture and drawing.

Hwa Chong Institution has a very active Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) programme, with a variety of sports, uniformed groups, musical groups, clubs and societies to cater to students' interests. The term EP3 (Enhanced Pupil Performance Programme) has been coined to represent CCA in the high school section to reflect the enlarged scope of the CCA system.

Amongst its achievements, the school is famed for its dominance in the Singapore National Inter-school Track And Field Championships (it has lost less than 10 times within its 88 year history), and it is also credited with many first-time achievements, such as pioneering the Integrated Programme with the foresight of former Principal, Mr Tooh Fee San. It has also one of the largest Student Councils amongst secondary schools in Singapore, with about 180 councillors belonging to its Students' Council.

Hwa Chong's shooter, Huang Jun Hon, also won a Silver Medal in the 1000m Air Rifle Men Event in the 2003 SEA Games.

The Hwa Chong Choir competed at the 2004 Choir Olympics in Werder Bremen and won two gold medals in the Mixed Youth and Folklore A Cappella categories respectively.

In the Campus SuperStar competition season 1, college student Ng Chee Yang made his mark by winning the competition not only as the male winner, but also the overall winner, beating female champion Teresa Tseng.

The Principal (College Section) and CEO is Ang Wee Hiong, while the Principal (High School Section) and Deputy CEO is Hon Chiew Weng.

Hwa Chong Institution is also affiliated with Hwa Chong International and Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School.

• School website

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