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Fairfield Methodist Schools

Fairfield Methodist School (Primary) and Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) are two schools located on Dover Road. Founded in 1888 as the Telok Ayer Girls School,[1][2] they are among the oldest primary and secondary schools in Singapore. Their current premises are at the neighbourhood of Dover in Queenstown, Central Singapore.

Fairfield Methodist Schools
Location
100 & 102 Dover Road, Singapore 139648
Coordinates1°18′0.511″N 103°47′6.785″E / 1.30014194°N 103.78521806°E / 1.30014194; 103.78521806
Information
TypeGovernment-Aided (Both); Autonomous (Sec only)
MottoPure and Honest
Religious affiliation(s)Methodist
Established4 August 1888
SessionSingle (Day)
School code5020; 7309
PrincipalMdm Law Li Mei (Primary); Mr Wee Tat Chuen (Secondary)
Age range6 to 12; 12 to 16
EnrolmentApprox. 1,500 (Primary); Approx. 2,000 (Secondary)
Colour(s) Blue   Yellow 
SongSchool Song School Hymn
AffiliationsAnglo-Chinese Junior College
Websitefmsp.moe.edu.sg; http://www.fairfieldsec.org/
The old Fairfield Methodist Girls' School Building

History edit

Background edit

In 1886, Reverend William F. Oldham, the first Methodist missionary in Singapore, appealed to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States to set up a girls' school in Singapore.[3]

Sophia Blackmore, a 32-year-old Australian missionary from the Methodist Women's Foreign Missionary Society,[4] had just established her first school in Singapore. Meanwhile, several influential Chinese families were persuading her to teach their daughters.[5][6] A widow later offered Blackmore her home along Cross Street for teaching.[1]

On August 1888, the Telok Ayer Girls School began with just eight Peranakan girls.[7]

Founding edit

Fairfield was started in August 1888 by Miss Sophia Blackmore, a 31-year-old missionary from the Methodist Mission. Her mandate in 1888 was to start a girls' school in Singapore in an enclave called Telok Ayer. She finally managed to start a class for eight Nonya girls in a little room at Cross Street. During that time, education for girls was definitely not favoured by the early traditional Chinese immigrants, even among the liberal-thinking Baba merchants.[8] Miss Blackmore then started going house to house, trying to persuade families to enroll their girls in her school. However, little by little, they suspected that she was a government spy sent to catch them secretly gambling at cards. They had started to pass the word that the young missionary lady was in fact a 'mati-mati' agent who was helping the British government enforce its new law against gambling.

Miss Blackmore's habit of asking for the women's names and writing them down in her notebook seemed to have alarmed the women. This was actually done as a record of who she visited, but still, the parents were suspicious of her. In spite of the differences and even suspicion from parents, Miss Blackmore persevered in her vision for a girls' school, and found that the parents were starting to welcome her more cordially, and would even invite her to sit down and chat over a cup of tea. They started to become more receptive to the idea that it would be good for their daughters to get a little education.

On 4 August 1888, Miss Blackmore finally managed to get her first pupil. She recalls,

How pleased we were when one little girl, hearing of the school, clapped her hands and begged her mother to let her attend. She had been nicknamed 'Ganadolf', which means bald, because her head had been shaved during sickness. Not much knowledge entered that little bald head, but her own willingness to come to school helped others to decide.

After Ganadolf's mother agreed to send her daughter to school, a few other mothers followed her lead. Altogether, seven more pupils were signed on. Soon, she managed to rent out the front room of Nonya Boon, a rich widow's front room. The Telok Ayer Girls School was finally founded.[9][10]

Early years edit

In 1893, the new principal, Emma Ferris,[11] found that the furniture had been removed because the landlady had decided to rent the room out to someone else to be used as a shop. She managed to find a new site for the school in a corner house along Telok Ayer Road. By then, the school had 30 students.

In 1910, principal Miss Olson, realised that she required more space in the building and tried to raise funds for a new building. The biggest donation (US$5,000) came from a Mr James Fairfield from New England (patron of New England Branch of Women's Foreign Missionary Society or "WFMS").[12][13] This allowed the school to construct a new school building on a site provided by the government at Neil Road. The school moved from Telok Ayer into the new premises on Neil Road in 1912,[14] and was promoted to a 'first-rate school' by the British Government. The relocated school was renamed Fairfield Girls' School.[15][16] By 1917, the growth of the school had forced a hundred Fairfield girls to study in a dark shophouse. In response to this, a new block extension was completed, consisting of six classrooms and a chapel hall in 1924.[17]

During the Japanese occupation of Singapore, the school was shut down. It only reopened in 1945.[18] Between 1942 and 1944, the school building was taken over by the Japan Military Force.[19] After Miss Olson, Mrs Lim Bock Kee became the first Asian Principal to lead Fairfield Girls’ School in 1946.

In 1958 the school was renamed to Fairfield Methodist Girls' School to commemorate its founding by the Methodist Mission.

On to Dover edit

 
FMS(P) Students, 2008

In 1983, the school moved to its current Dover campus to accommodate a larger population of students.[20] Concurrently, the school went co-educational, becoming the first Methodist School in Singapore to do so,[21] and became two separate schools, Fairfield Methodist Primary School and Fairfield Methodist Secondary School, each with its own administration, but still under the Fairfield Methodist School Board of Management. The schools also saw its first intake of boys as well.[22] Both schools remain housed in the same campus and share common facilities.

Fairfield (Primary) edit

To highlight the common history, heritage and close relationship of the Fairfield Methodist Schools, the name of the school was changed from Fairfield Methodist Primary School to Fairfield Methodist School (Primary), effective from January 2009.

Fairfield (Secondary) edit

Fairfield Methodist Secondary School was granted autonomous status in 1996, for its academic and co-curricular achievements. Like its Primary counterpart, the school was renamed Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) in January 2009.

 
Fairfield Methodist School (Primary)

Achievements edit

Fairfield Secondary edit

In 1987, Fairfield Methodist Secondary set up its Pioneer batch of The Boys’ Choir, headed by Mrs Seet. There was no Girls’ Choir then.

87% of Sec 4 Express leavers were eligible for Junior College in 2007. The school achieved 76% distinctions in English Literature, compared with a national average of 37%, and 73% in Maths, compared with a national average of 55%.[23]

The number of pupils with 7 distinctions increased from 17 in 2010 to 27 in 2011. The number of pupils with 8 distinctions increased from 4 in 2010 to 11 in 2011.[24] There were 6 pupils with 6 distinctions in 2019. The school's Symphonic Band won a Gold award in the 2008 National Band Competition. Also in 2008, the school won Gold with Honours in the National Chinese Short Play competition, and 2nd prize in the Drama of History competition. The school's Boys’ Brigade won Gold in the JM Fraser Award for Excellence.[25] The school's choir won Gold in the SYF in 1997, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Fairfield's English Drama won consecutive Gold with Honors in the years 2009 and 2011, for their performances of Hamlet and Over the Wall.[26]

In 2008 FMSS received a School Distinction Award from the Ministry of Education.[27] It has also been awarded the Best Practice Award (Teaching and Learning), the Outstanding Development Award (Character Development), and the Sustained Achievement Awards for Academic Value-Addedness, Uniformed Groups and Sports.[28]

Notable alumni edit

Fairfield Primary edit

Fairfield Secondary edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Singapore, National Library Board. "Sophia Blackmore | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  2. ^ SWHF. . swhf.sg. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  3. ^ . 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  4. ^ Singapore, National Library Board. "Sophia Blackmore | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  5. ^ Tan, Ban Huat (3 January 1978). "Street talking: Tan Keong Saik". The Straits Times. Singapore. p. 6.
  6. ^ "The Late Mr. Tan Keong Saik". The Straits Times. Singapore. 6 October 1909. p. 7.
  7. ^ "Portrait of Miss Sophia Blackmore, founder of Methodist Mission Girls' School – BookSG – National Library Board, Singapore". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  8. ^ "Philanthropy in Transition: An Exploratory Study of Asian Women and Philanthropy in Singapore, 1900–1945" (PDF).
  9. ^ Frost, Mark Ravinder; Balasingamchow, Yu-Mei. Singapore: A Biography.
  10. ^ "Book preview: The education of Singapore girls". singaporebiography.com. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  11. ^ From Mission to Church: The Evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia, 1885–1976.
  12. ^ "Fairfield Methodist Girls' School | The Long and Winding Road". thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  13. ^ Earnest., Lau (2008). From mission to church : the evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia, 1885–1976. Singapore: Genesis Books. pp. 98–99. ISBN 9789814222426. OCLC 228041073.
  14. ^ "Neil Road | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  15. ^ "Former Fairfield Girls' School". roots.sg. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  16. ^ "Methodist School Brochure (October 2012)" (PDF).
  17. ^ "CONSERVATION ABOUT BLAIR PLAIN (INCLUDES FORMER FAIRFIELD METHODIST GIRLS' SCHOOL)".
  18. ^ "Our Story – Fairfield Methodist Church 卫理公会花菲教堂". fairfieldmc.org. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  19. ^ "Skylinep4b". ura.gov.sg. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  20. ^ The Straits Times (1 November 2013). "101-year-old Fairfield Girls' building gets total makeover". The Straits Times. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  21. ^ "Fairfield Methodist Secondary School". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  22. ^ "SPEECH BY MR HO KAH LEONG, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY (EDUCATION), AT FAIRFIELD METHODIST SECONDARY SCHOOL'S 95TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER AT THE SHANGRI-LA ISLAND BALLROOM ON THURSDAY, 4 AUGUST 1983 AT 8.00 pm" (PDF).
  23. ^ . Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  24. ^ . Archived from the original on 9 April 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  25. ^ . Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  26. ^ "English Drama". Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  27. ^ Ministry of Education, School Information Service.
  28. ^ Speech by Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State 22 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine, at the FMSS 120th Founder's Day Service, 1 August 2008.

Further reading edit

  • Doraisamy, Theodore R. (1987). Sophia Blackmore in Singapore : educational and missionary pioneer, 1887-1927. Singapore: General Conference, Women's Society of Christian Service, Methodist Church in Singapore. ISBN 9971-84-748-5. OCLC 17933393.
  • , at the FMSS 120th Founder's Day Service, 1 August 2008.

External links edit

  • Official website

fairfield, methodist, schools, fairfield, methodist, school, primary, fairfield, methodist, school, secondary, schools, located, dover, road, founded, 1888, telok, ayer, girls, school, they, among, oldest, primary, secondary, schools, singapore, their, current. Fairfield Methodist School Primary and Fairfield Methodist School Secondary are two schools located on Dover Road Founded in 1888 as the Telok Ayer Girls School 1 2 they are among the oldest primary and secondary schools in Singapore Their current premises are at the neighbourhood of Dover in Queenstown Central Singapore Fairfield Methodist SchoolsLocation100 amp 102 Dover Road Singapore 139648Coordinates1 18 0 511 N 103 47 6 785 E 1 30014194 N 103 78521806 E 1 30014194 103 78521806InformationTypeGovernment Aided Both Autonomous Sec only MottoPure and HonestReligious affiliation s MethodistEstablished4 August 1888SessionSingle Day School code5020 7309PrincipalMdm Law Li Mei Primary Mr Wee Tat Chuen Secondary Age range6 to 12 12 to 16EnrolmentApprox 1 500 Primary Approx 2 000 Secondary Colour s Blue Yellow SongSchool Song School HymnAffiliationsAnglo Chinese Junior CollegeWebsitefmsp wbr moe wbr edu wbr sg http www fairfieldsec org The old Fairfield Methodist Girls School Building Contents 1 History 1 1 Background 1 2 Founding 1 3 Early years 1 4 On to Dover 1 4 1 Fairfield Primary 1 4 2 Fairfield Secondary 2 Achievements 2 1 Fairfield Secondary 3 Notable alumni 3 1 Fairfield Primary 3 2 Fairfield Secondary 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory editBackground edit In 1886 Reverend William F Oldham the first Methodist missionary in Singapore appealed to the Woman s Foreign Missionary Society in Minneapolis Minnesota United States to set up a girls school in Singapore 3 Sophia Blackmore a 32 year old Australian missionary from the Methodist Women s Foreign Missionary Society 4 had just established her first school in Singapore Meanwhile several influential Chinese families were persuading her to teach their daughters 5 6 A widow later offered Blackmore her home along Cross Street for teaching 1 On August 1888 the Telok Ayer Girls School began with just eight Peranakan girls 7 Founding edit Fairfield was started in August 1888 by Miss Sophia Blackmore a 31 year old missionary from the Methodist Mission Her mandate in 1888 was to start a girls school in Singapore in an enclave called Telok Ayer She finally managed to start a class for eight Nonya girls in a little room at Cross Street During that time education for girls was definitely not favoured by the early traditional Chinese immigrants even among the liberal thinking Baba merchants 8 Miss Blackmore then started going house to house trying to persuade families to enroll their girls in her school However little by little they suspected that she was a government spy sent to catch them secretly gambling at cards They had started to pass the word that the young missionary lady was in fact a mati mati agent who was helping the British government enforce its new law against gambling Miss Blackmore s habit of asking for the women s names and writing them down in her notebook seemed to have alarmed the women This was actually done as a record of who she visited but still the parents were suspicious of her In spite of the differences and even suspicion from parents Miss Blackmore persevered in her vision for a girls school and found that the parents were starting to welcome her more cordially and would even invite her to sit down and chat over a cup of tea They started to become more receptive to the idea that it would be good for their daughters to get a little education On 4 August 1888 Miss Blackmore finally managed to get her first pupil She recalls How pleased we were when one little girl hearing of the school clapped her hands and begged her mother to let her attend She had been nicknamed Ganadolf which means bald because her head had been shaved during sickness Not much knowledge entered that little bald head but her own willingness to come to school helped others to decide After Ganadolf s mother agreed to send her daughter to school a few other mothers followed her lead Altogether seven more pupils were signed on Soon she managed to rent out the front room of Nonya Boon a rich widow s front room The Telok Ayer Girls School was finally founded 9 10 Early years edit In 1893 the new principal Emma Ferris 11 found that the furniture had been removed because the landlady had decided to rent the room out to someone else to be used as a shop She managed to find a new site for the school in a corner house along Telok Ayer Road By then the school had 30 students In 1910 principal Miss Olson realised that she required more space in the building and tried to raise funds for a new building The biggest donation US 5 000 came from a Mr James Fairfield from New England patron of New England Branch of Women s Foreign Missionary Society or WFMS 12 13 This allowed the school to construct a new school building on a site provided by the government at Neil Road The school moved from Telok Ayer into the new premises on Neil Road in 1912 14 and was promoted to a first rate school by the British Government The relocated school was renamed Fairfield Girls School 15 16 By 1917 the growth of the school had forced a hundred Fairfield girls to study in a dark shophouse In response to this a new block extension was completed consisting of six classrooms and a chapel hall in 1924 17 During the Japanese occupation of Singapore the school was shut down It only reopened in 1945 18 Between 1942 and 1944 the school building was taken over by the Japan Military Force 19 After Miss Olson Mrs Lim Bock Kee became the first Asian Principal to lead Fairfield Girls School in 1946 In 1958 the school was renamed to Fairfield Methodist Girls School to commemorate its founding by the Methodist Mission On to Dover edit nbsp FMS P Students 2008In 1983 the school moved to its current Dover campus to accommodate a larger population of students 20 Concurrently the school went co educational becoming the first Methodist School in Singapore to do so 21 and became two separate schools Fairfield Methodist Primary School and Fairfield Methodist Secondary School each with its own administration but still under the Fairfield Methodist School Board of Management The schools also saw its first intake of boys as well 22 Both schools remain housed in the same campus and share common facilities Fairfield Primary edit To highlight the common history heritage and close relationship of the Fairfield Methodist Schools the name of the school was changed from Fairfield Methodist Primary School to Fairfield Methodist School Primary effective from January 2009 Fairfield Secondary edit Fairfield Methodist Secondary School was granted autonomous status in 1996 for its academic and co curricular achievements Like its Primary counterpart the school was renamed Fairfield Methodist School Secondary in January 2009 nbsp Fairfield Methodist School Primary Achievements editFairfield Secondary edit In 1987 Fairfield Methodist Secondary set up its Pioneer batch of The Boys Choir headed by Mrs Seet There was no Girls Choir then 87 of Sec 4 Express leavers were eligible for Junior College in 2007 The school achieved 76 distinctions in English Literature compared with a national average of 37 and 73 in Maths compared with a national average of 55 23 The number of pupils with 7 distinctions increased from 17 in 2010 to 27 in 2011 The number of pupils with 8 distinctions increased from 4 in 2010 to 11 in 2011 24 There were 6 pupils with 6 distinctions in 2019 The school s Symphonic Band won a Gold award in the 2008 National Band Competition Also in 2008 the school won Gold with Honours in the National Chinese Short Play competition and 2nd prize in the Drama of History competition The school s Boys Brigade won Gold in the JM Fraser Award for Excellence 25 The school s choir won Gold in the SYF in 1997 2003 2005 2007 and 2009 Fairfield s English Drama won consecutive Gold with Honors in the years 2009 and 2011 for their performances of Hamlet and Over the Wall 26 In 2008 FMSS received a School Distinction Award from the Ministry of Education 27 It has also been awarded the Best Practice Award Teaching and Learning the Outstanding Development Award Character Development and the Sustained Achievement Awards for Academic Value Addedness Uniformed Groups and Sports 28 Notable alumni editFairfield Primary edit Jamie Yeo Celebrity Kit Chan Singer Joshua Tan Actor Ah Boys to Men Fairfield Secondary edit Elim Chew Entrepreneur Founder 77th Street street wear brand Cher Ng Co founder Zouk Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Founder T R E C the largest entertainment zone in Malaysia Selena Tan Actress Megan Zheng Actress First Singaporean to win a Golden Horse Award the Chinese equivalent of the OscarsSee also editMethodist Girls School SingaporeReferences edit a b Singapore National Library Board Sophia Blackmore Infopedia eresources nlb gov sg Retrieved 5 September 2016 SWHF SINGAPORE WOMEN S HALL OF FAME Sophia Blackmore swhf sg Archived from the original on 11 September 2016 Retrieved 5 September 2016 Treats from the Fairfield story 6 January 2009 Archived from the original on 6 January 2009 Retrieved 8 March 2023 Singapore National Library Board Sophia Blackmore Infopedia eresources nlb gov sg Retrieved 3 September 2016 Tan Ban Huat 3 January 1978 Street talking Tan Keong Saik The Straits Times Singapore p 6 The Late Mr Tan Keong Saik The Straits Times Singapore 6 October 1909 p 7 Portrait of Miss Sophia Blackmore founder of Methodist Mission Girls School BookSG National Library Board Singapore eresources nlb gov sg Retrieved 5 September 2016 Philanthropy in Transition An Exploratory Study of Asian Women and Philanthropy in Singapore 1900 1945 PDF Frost Mark Ravinder Balasingamchow Yu Mei Singapore A Biography Book preview The education of Singapore girls singaporebiography com Retrieved 5 September 2016 From Mission to Church The Evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia 1885 1976 Fairfield Methodist Girls School The Long and Winding Road thelongnwindingroad wordpress com Retrieved 5 September 2016 Earnest Lau 2008 From mission to church the evolution of the Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia 1885 1976 Singapore Genesis Books pp 98 99 ISBN 9789814222426 OCLC 228041073 Neil Road Infopedia eresources nlb gov sg Retrieved 7 March 2022 Former Fairfield Girls School roots sg Retrieved 5 September 2016 Methodist School Brochure October 2012 PDF CONSERVATION ABOUT BLAIR PLAIN INCLUDES FORMER FAIRFIELD METHODIST GIRLS SCHOOL Our Story Fairfield Methodist Church 卫理公会花菲教堂 fairfieldmc org Retrieved 3 September 2016 Skylinep4b ura gov sg Retrieved 3 September 2016 The Straits Times 1 November 2013 101 year old Fairfield Girls building gets total makeover The Straits Times Retrieved 3 September 2016 Fairfield Methodist Secondary School eresources nlb gov sg Retrieved 7 September 2016 SPEECH BY MR HO KAH LEONG PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY EDUCATION AT FAIRFIELD METHODIST SECONDARY SCHOOL S 95TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER AT THE SHANGRI LA ISLAND BALLROOM ON THURSDAY 4 AUGUST 1983 AT 8 00 pm PDF O Level Report Card 2007 Archived from the original on 21 February 2009 Retrieved 14 April 2017 Results of the 2011 GCE O Level Examinations Archived from the original on 9 April 2012 Retrieved 15 October 2012 FMSS achievements page Archived from the original on 21 February 2009 Retrieved 14 April 2017 English Drama Archived from the original on 25 December 2012 Retrieved 15 October 2012 Ministry of Education School Information Service Speech by Ms Grace Fu Senior Minister of State Archived 22 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine at the FMSS 120th Founder s Day Service 1 August 2008 Further reading editDoraisamy Theodore R 1987 Sophia Blackmore in Singapore educational and missionary pioneer 1887 1927 Singapore General Conference Women s Society of Christian Service Methodist Church in Singapore ISBN 9971 84 748 5 OCLC 17933393 Speech by Ms Grace Fu Senior Minister of State Ministry of National Development amp Ministry of Education at the FMSS 120th Founder s Day Service 1 August 2008 External links editOfficial website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fairfield Methodist Schools amp oldid 1208987843, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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