Noel Evelyn Norris (December 25, 1918 – February 15, 2014) was a

Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, India ...

educator best known for her association with

Raffles Girls' School Raffles Girls' School (RGS) is an independent girls' secondary school located in Braddell, Singapore. Established in 1879, it is one of the oldest schools in Singapore. RGS, together with its affiliated school Raffles Institution, offers a six- ...

. She was also the first principal of

Crescent Girls' School Crescent Girls' School (CGS) is a government autonomous girls' school along Tanglin Road, Singapore. Founded in 1956, it is one of the schools under the Worldwide Microsoft Innovative Schools Programme. History CGS's was founded in 1955 as Alexa ...

. Norris was a volunteer in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

during World War II and later became a Major in the People's Defence Force in charge of Singapore Women Auxiliary Corps.

Biography

Norris was born Noel Evelyn Norris on December 25, 1918. She started primary school at

Raffles Girls' Primary School This is a list of primary schools in Singapore. Children typically start their primary education in the year they turn seven. Primary education lasts six years, and is compulsory for all Singapore citizens. Primary schools in Singapore are clas ...

in 1925. She attended Raffles Girls' Schools until 1933, when she studied for a year at St. George's Girls School. She studied history at

Raffles College The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

and earned a degree in Education. Norris started teaching at Bukit Panjang Primary School in 1939, but when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out, she went to India and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

as a volunteer in the

(RAF). In the RAF, she worked as a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

in the Royal Air Force Library. When the war ended, she came back to Singapore and taught history at the

(RGS) from 1946 to 1955. In 1956 she became the principal of the new

. Norris came back to RGS to work as principal there until she retired in 1976. During her leadership at RGS, Norris developed extracurricular activities, including various sports and music programs. She also encouraged students to learn and understand various "

mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

" languages in Singapore by conducting weekly assemblies in different languages each week. These assemblies rotated through

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and other classes included

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. Norris also worked on

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 ...

committees and helped revise the history

syllabus A syllabus (; plural ''syllabuses'' or ''syllabi'') or specification is a document that communicates information about an academic course or class and defines expectations and responsibilities. It is generally an overview or summary of the curric ...

. Norris also stayed active in the People's Defence Force, eventually becoming a

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

of the Singapore Women Auxiliary Corps, and later took over the

National Cadet Corps National Cadet Corps may refer to: *Bangladesh National Cadet Corps *National Cadet Corps (Ghana) *National Cadet Corps (India) *National Cadet Corps (Pakistan) *National Cadet Corps (Singapore) *National Cadet Corps (Sri Lanka) The National ...

girls' section. After retiring, Norris dedicated her life to community service and worked as a volunteer at the

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals A Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a common name for non-profit animal welfare organizations around the world. The oldest SPCA organization is the RSPCA, which was founded in England in 1824. SPCA organizations operate i ...

(SPCA). She also taught at the School for Retarded Children. In November 2011, Norris had a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and spent around six months in

Tan Tock Seng Hospital Tan Tock Seng Hospital (abbreviation: TTSH) is a tertiary referral hospital in Singapore, located in Novena. The hospital has 45 clinical and allied health departments, 16 specialist centres and is powered by more than 8,000 healthcare staff. ...

. After her discharge, a group made up of former students and faculty of Raffles Girls' School took care of her at her home in Brighton Crescent. Norris died on February 15, 2014. Norris was awarded the Public Service Administration Medal (Silver) in 1964. In 1977, she was awarded the Long Service Medal. Norris was inducted into the

Singapore Women's Hall of Fame The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame is a virtual hall of fame that honors and documents the lives of historically significant women in Singapore. The hall is the creation of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), and grew out of an ea ...

in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Evelyn 1918 births 2014 deaths Singaporean educators Raffles College alumni Raffles Girls' Secondary School alumni Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Singaporean librarians Women librarians Recipients of the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam Recipients of the Long Service Medal (Military) (Singapore)