My son Joel will be going to Primary One next year. Inevitably, people will ask, which school is he going to? Answer: Yangzheng Primary School. It is a neighbourhood school, a stone's throw away from my house. That is why I chose it, plus my niece Dawn had attended that school previously and it was ranked Top 10 during her time.
Most people have not heard of this school. When I tell them Yangzheng Primary School, most will return blank looks. One Sunday at church lunch, I happened to be speaking to Choon Peng and his sister's father-in-law, whose grandson Justin is Joel's good friend. So we started talking about primary schools. When I mentioned that Joel will be going to Yangzheng Primary School, lo and behold, Justin's granddad told me that was his alma mater! What a stunning revelation.
I had no idea Yangzheng had such a long history. Justin's grandpa is probably in his 60s and if he had attended that school, that means Yangzheng is at least 70 years old! The elderly gentleman went on to tell me what a good school Yangzheng was and that it was very progressive as during his time, the school already taught them sex education. Then the school was situated at Club Street but has since moved to Serangoon Ave 3.
Once I got home, I searched the school's history on its website http://www.yangzhengpri.moe.edu.sg/ and this is what I found:
1906: Yeung Ching School started as a private school for Cantonese children. Its medium of instruction was Chinese. (Wow, that makes the school 103 years old this year!)
1988: The school moved to a new building with a totally new pupil enrolment at Serangoon Avenue 3 and became a government school. It adopted the Hanyu Pinyin name and became known as Yangzheng Primary School under a new Principal, Mrs Dorothy Francis.
Now I am happy that I have chosen a good school for my son. I pray that he will meet with good teachers and classmates who will make his learning journey in school a fun-filled and fulfilling one.
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