Naval Base Secondary School

Click hyperlinks here for

(1) the present website of Naval Base Secondary School @ http://www.navalbasesec.moe.edu.sg and

(2) the NBSS School Magazine @ http://www.angelfire.com/biz7/kys

Click on “Principal”, “Top Scholar”, "School Staff", “Editorial”, "Art Club" and others in the said website for information.

I happened to visit the Naval Base Secondary School website and remembered that few months ago I met some other old classmates, talked about the old times and the school magazine. As I have posted the entire magazine on to my website, I thought it would be good to connect them here for the benefit of those who may like to see them.

The school magazine was introduced by the then principal Mr R. W. Mosbergen when the school achieved top results. See who is the top scholar who scored 8A1s in the 1965 Cambridge School Certificate Examination and later became a Member of Parliament. Much later the NBSS Alumni was also started. The principal who was posted to the school in 1965 introduced "Little Olympics" and everyone had a chance at sport. ECA was very active. Amongst others, he also introduced the school song.

Mr G Haridas, Mr Teo Lye Huat and Mrs Thampuran were my best teachers as I had made much improvements in subjects taught by them. They taught art, history and biology respectively. They were patient and dedicated teachers. Mr Haridas organised many field trips for members of the art class and facilitated the students to take part in several school and external art competitions. Mr Teo Lye Huat and Mrs Thampuran were very good story tellers who captured our attention. They would also write lengthy notes on the black board for students. Many of us improved our results and some win prizes. To me, school days were very memorable.

See who's who in the magazine and the old pictures of places that were once there. The famous football and sports family also attended this school. There were many notable others too. This was the only English stream secondary school in the north of Singapore in the 50s and 60s.

At that time, if there was no this English stream secondary school, many of the older generation (from poor families) at that time, may not have a chance to attend an English stream secondary school. At that time, the then Thomson Secondary (opposite the present old Police Academy at Thomson Road) was the nearest Chinese stream secondary school.

Sometime in the later part of the 60s, Chinese educated from the Chinese Primary Schools nearby were admitted to Naval Base Secondary School. However, many find difficulties in coping with the subjects taught in English. It was believed that many dropped-out after Secondary One.

Much later, another Chinese stream secondary school (believed to be Upper Thomson Secondary School) was set up near Spring Leaf Estate to cater to the Chinese educated.

But life was simple then. Compared to now, late bloomers in the English stream then, have a chance to do well, as those who fail, can just be transferred to the next level from Secondary One to Secondary Four and have a shot at the School Certificate Examination.