Bartley Secondary School is a co-educational government secondary school in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. It was founded in 1952, and is named after William Bartley (1885–1961), who was acting collector-general of income tax in the 1920s and president of the

Municipal Commission of Singapore The Municipal Commission of Singapore was a body created in 1887 by the British colonial government to replace the Municipal Committee that was created in June 1848. The role of the commission was to manage key services for the Town of Singapore, ...

between 1931 and 1946.

History

Founding

The school was founded on 18 February 1952 with Chua Leong Hean serving as the first principal and an enrolment of 81 male and 10 female students. The school was named after William Bartley (1885–1961), who was acting collector-general of income tax in the 1920s and president of the

between 1931 and 1946. The construction of the science laboratories, school hall and tuck shops were completed in 1955. In 1956, the female student population of Bartley was transferred to

Cedar Girls' Secondary School Cedar Girls Secondary School is a government autonomous girls secondary school in Singapore. Established in 1957, it initially offered only a four-year Express course leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examinations. Starting in ...

, with the school becoming a boys' school in the secondary section. Post-secondary section was also started in that year, and female students were admitted into the pre-university level.

Conversion into a co-educational school

In 1992, the school moved to the former Mount Vernon Secondary School premises while a new school was built. In 1995, Bartley moved to new premises at 10 Jalan Bunga Rampai, and began admitting girls at the secondary level again that year. Pre-university section were phased out from the school in 1996. The school was upgraded under the

PRIME A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

scheme on its present site from 2003 to 2005. The new school had facilities such as a dental clinic, a new school hall, additional classrooms and a library with a cafe. The school was banded for the first time in the annual school ranking exercise by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(MOE) in 2009. The school attributed this success to a lower student-teacher ratio. Due to the low student enrolment, the school merged with First Toa Payoh Secondary School in 2016. An exhibition of the achievements and heritage of First Toa Payoh Secondary was set up.

Academic information

Being an integrated secondary school, Bartley Secondary School offers three academic courses, namely the four-year Express course, as well as the Normal Course, comprising the Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) academic tracks.

O Level Express Course

The Express Course is a nationwide four-year programme that leads up to the

Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level The Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (or Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level) is a GCE Ordinary Level examination held annually in Singapore and is jointly conducted by the Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore Exam ...

examination.

Normal Course

The Normal Course is a nationwide four-to-five-year programme leading to the

Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level The Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Normal Level (or Singapore-Cambridge GCE N-Level) examination is a national examination held annually in Singapore. It is taken after four years in the Normal (Academic) or Normal (Technica ...

examination, which runs either the Normal (Academic) curriculum or Normal (Technical) curriculum, abbreviated as N(A) and N(T) respectively.

Normal (Academic) Course

In the Normal (Academic) course, students offer 5-8 subjects in the

examination. Compulsory subjects include: * English Language * Mother Tongue Language * Mathematics * Combined Humanities A fifth year leading to the

examination is available to N(A) students who perform well in their

examination. Students can move from one course to another based on their performance and the assessment of the school principal and teachers.

Normal (Technical) Course

The Normal (Technical) course prepares students for a technical-vocational education at the

Institute of Technical Education The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) is a post-secondary education institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. Established by the Ministry of Education, it was formerly known as Vocational ...

. Students will offer 5-7 subjects in the

examination. The curriculum is tailored towards strengthening students’ proficiency in English and Mathematics. Students take English Language, Mathematics, Basic Mother Tongue and Computer Applications as compulsory subjects.

Notable alumni

* David Lim, former national

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

player who represented

at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

* Janet Jesudason, former national sprinter who represented Singapore at the

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Secondary schools in Singapore Educational institutions established in 1952 Aljunied Schools in Central Region, Singapore 1952 establishments in Malaya