Retiring principal will miss her ‘beautiful pupils’
Retiring principal Ang Chin Du. Photo: Horizon Primary School
SINGAPORE – When Horizon Primary School opened its doors in Punggol in 2010, it had an enrolment of just about 125 students in its first year. “It was so small so I knew every child, and every child’s parents,” principal Ang Chin Du recalled with a laugh.
“But the parents told me ‘we will build the school together’… that touched me and spurred me on to not let these parents down,” said Mrs Ang.
She was one of the retiring principals who were honoured for their contributions at the Appointment and Appreciation Ceremony for Principals at Shangri-La Hotel today (Dec 29).
Together with the dedicated efforts of Horizon Primary’s staff and parents, the enrolment numbers slowly climbed as news of the school spread.
Today, the school has about 1,500 students.
Having seen her school flourish has been one of the highlights of Mrs Ang’s career, after devoting nearly 35 years to the teaching service.
“What heartens me is seeing the children walk through the school gate every morning with a smile and the spirit that they are here to learn… It makes my day,” she said, adding that she was also inspired to see her young charges grow with the acquired knowledge and skills.
On the challenges she had faced, Mrs Ang cited one instance when she had difficulty in convincing parents to believe in the school’s vision of developing confident individuals.
For instance, in October, several parents requested for a change in CCA for their children who were in Primary 5. Such a change would mean that the children would have a different CCA every year from Primary 3.
After much discussions, Mrs Ang managed to convince the parents to believe in her vision and what was best for the children.
“In order to learn a skill, you need that length of time and rigour … By changing CCA every year, the child will not learn much…. So we had to convince (parents) this was to teach the child to persevere and be responsible for the decisions they make,” she explained.
Mrs Ang said she will “miss her beautiful pupils” but would take the time after retiring to pursue her own interests.
A mother of three grown-up children, she joined the teaching service in 1979 and holds a Master of Arts (Educational Management).
Prior to her posting at Horizon Primary, Mrs Ang was a teacher and head of department at Swiss Cottage Primary School, a vice-principal at Tao Nan School, and the principal of Eunos Primary.
