Dunman High School

Often confused with Dunman Secondary School

Dunman High School (DHS) (previously known as Dunman Government Chinese Middle School) is an autonomous co-educational school in Singapore that offers the Dunman High Programme, a customised version of the Integrated Programme. It is generally recognised as being one of the top schools and has always been the top co-educational secondary school in Singapore in terms of academic results.

From December 2006 to November 2008, it is temporarily located at the former Raffles Junior College campus in Buona Vista while its existing campus at Tanjong Rhu is being rebuilt in order to meet the needs of the expanded student population. As of January 2009, the school has shifted back to the Tanjong Rhu campus where basic construction works have been completed but with library, performing arts centre, and other minor works still under construction.

Its Chinese name Démíng (德明) is a transliteration of "Dunman", named after an English governor, Lord Dunman. The meaning of its name in Chinese is derived from a line in the Book of Rites (大学之道，在明明德) which is a statement that has influenced the Emperors of the glorious Han, Tang and Song dynasties in Imperial China. Written in ancient and refined wenyanwen, reflecting traditional Confucian intellectual and moral scholarship, it can be crudely translated into modern English as "the Dao (path) to the greatest learning lies in understanding the brightest Virtues".

Dunman High School is often confused with Dunman Secondary School, but is in fact a different school.

History

On 14 October 1956, in the midst of the Chinese middle schools riots, the Ministry of Education (MOE) established the predecessor of Dunman High School — Kallang West Government Chinese Middle School.

In the Chinese middle schools riots of October 1956, Chinese middle school students who subscribed to the communist ideology staged sit-ins and demonstrations, disrupting classes and in effect shut their schools down. The simple function of the newly established Kallang West Government Chinese Middle School was to allow students who had no wish of being embroiled in communism to have a place to study. The premises of a newly built primary school at Mountbatten Road were loaned and the initial enrolment included about 100 boys from The Chinese High School, with 10 teachers. In December 1957, the school moved to Dunman Road and was renamed Dunman Government Chinese Middle School.

Special Assistance Plan

In 1979, the school was selected to be one of the nine Special Assistance Plan (SAP) secondary schools. The school was renamed "Dunman High School" and began to offer both English and Chinese languages at the first language level. When the Music Elective Programme (MEP) was introduced by the MOE in 1982, DHS was selected to implement the programme for musically gifted students.

In 1990, the school expanded its physical area by taking over the neighbouring former premises of Dunman Secondary School at Dunman Road. Hence on, it became a single session school (Previously the school was divided into the "morning session" and "afternoon session" so that 2 classes of students can share a classroom.). It was one of six schools to go autonomous in 1994. The school moved to its current location in Tanjong Rhu on 27 May 1995. It was made the 7th Gifted Education Programme centre in Singapore in 1997.

Dunman High Programme

Main article: Dunman High Programme

From 2005, the school is implementing a customised version of the Integrated Programme called the Dunman High Programme (DHP), which allows all students to bypass the 'O' Level examinations and directly take the A-Level examinations.

50th Anniversary

The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006. A time capsule was launched on the opening ceremony of DHS's 50th Anniversary Celebrations on March 31, 2006. The time capsule will be opened in 2031 on Dunman High's 75th anniversary. Significant items, such as the existing DHS uniform and the 2006 student handbook were placed in the time capsule. A letter by the current Principal of the school is also present. In addition, a Heritage Run was also organised that day. There were also many performances, including a dance by the school's Chinese Society, and a drumming performance by the percussionists from Chinese Orchestra and Symphonic Band. There was also a special 50th Anniversary song, written by Kelvin Ang Chin Yuan and played by Clara Ng Yi Wen, sung by the school.

PRIME

Dunman High School embarked on U.S. high school styled 6-year Integrated Programme called the Dunman High Programme. To meet the needs of the Integrated Programme, the school moved to a holding school in the former Raffles Junior College at Mount Sinai in December 2006 to allow for upgrading of the current site at Tanjong Rhu.

The land area of the expanded campus will increase from 4 hectares to 7 hectares, making Dunman High School one of the biggest government schools in Singapore.

In December 2008, Dunman High officially moved its operations back to its Tanjong Rhu Campus. On 2 January 2009, the school opened to a new year with an opening ceremony named "Homecoming"（回家）to welcome students and staff to the newly upgraded campus.

Achievements

Dunman High School has been given various Sustained Achievement and Best Practice Awards by the Ministry of Education in Singapore, receiving both special awards as well.

Best Practice Awards

• Teaching and Learning (2003) (2008, re-certification)
• Staff Well Being (2004) (2008, re-certification)
• Student All Round Development (2004) (2008, re-certification)

Sustained Achievement Awards

• Uniformed Groups (2006) (6th Award)
• Physical Fitness (2006) (9th Award)
• Arts (2006) (3rd Award)
• Sports (2007)

Special Awards

• School Excellence Award (2005)
• School Distinction Award (2004)
• Outstanding Development Award for Character Development (2007)
• National Arts Education Award, Gold (2006)
• National Education Award (Development) (2005)
• Singapore Quality Class (2005)

Other Achievements

• A*STAR Talent Search (School), First
• EDB-VJC Economics Symposium, First
• National Chinese Story Telling (Group) Competition 2007, Champion
• National InnovateIT Competition 2007, First Runner-up
• National eBay Enterprise Day Challenge 2007, Third
• Theatresports Competition (Macau Open), Third

Principals

Since its establishment, DHS has had seven principals. They are:

• Sun Hwan Sin (孙焕新）(1956–1959)
• Chen Jen Hao (陈人浩)(1959–1969)
• Shu June Mai (许锦美)(1969–1978)
• Lim Nai Yan (林乃燕)(1978–1993)
• Cheah Chak Mun （谢泽文）(1994–1998)
• Tan Thiam Hock （陈天福）(1998–2004)
• Sng Chern Wei （孙振炜）(2004– Present)

School Song

德明中学 矗立加东

亭亭松影 习习海风

集我英才 汇于一家

文艺科学 同冶同攻

树模楷 教诚信

立风范 诲勇忠

吾学兮博通 吾德兮高崇

师生共陶镕 浩气干长空

爱护我德明 永志乎五中

光大我德明 永志乎五中

School crest

The school crest of DHS was designed by the late Chen Jen Hao, its second principal, and Liu Kang, a pioneer in local fine art and former Art teacher of the school. The two Chinese characters read, from right to left, Dé míng, the Chinese name of the school. The characters are written in seal script.

The red colour symbolises passion and the drive for success. The blue colour signifies peace and dignity while the circular border represents wholeness and unity, as well as the pursuit of universality, as defined in the Confucian classic Book of Rites.

School uniform

The dressing scheme for all students is a short-sleeved white top, dark blue bottoms and white shoes with matching socks. Lower secondary boys wear shorts while upper secondary boys wear trousers. All girls don blouses and skirts with some choosing to wear shorts underneath. The shirts and blouses of DHS differ from most other schools in that they use metal buttons instead of plastic ones. This tradition is shared by the former Chinese schools such as The Chinese High School, Catholic High School, Chung Cheng High School, Nan Chiau High School, Anglican High School and River Valley High School.

Students wear badges depicting the school crest on the left side of their uniforms. On Mondays they also put on the school tie — a dark blue tie. The school councillors wear a badge of a slightly different design. All councillors don the school tie at all times. In addition, the committee members of the Student Council clip on a tiepin as well.

From 2007, the Senior High uniform was launched. The school badge was replaced by a collar pin, while the metal buttons were dropped. Senior High students follow the practice of wearing the school tie on Mondays. All councillors at Senior High level don the school tie and the Senior High Student Council tiepin. Senior High House Committee members also don the House Committee pins.

Relations to other schools

Dunman High School is not officially affiliated to any school.

It holds an annual sports meet with Chung Cheng High School (Main), Ngee Ann Secondary School and Temasek Secondary School called the Four-School Combined Athlete Meet.

Student Council

The DHS Student Council (DHSSC) was set up in mid-2004. One of the objectives was to streamline the system of student leadership, for the school's application of Best Practice Award (Student All-Round Development) and also for DHP. The Student Council consists of students from Year 2-4, although it is set to change with the Year 5 students in DHP. The Student Council was formerly divided into 3 main departments, General Affairs, Event Management and Pupil Mentoring, each headed by a Vice-President of the Student Council. This structure was modified in late 2005, into 6 departments, namely Level Council, Student Welfare, Communications and Publicity, CCA Council, Corporate Relations and Internal Affairs, which is effective from 2006. As of late 2006, the student council has been categorized under four departments, Level Council, Internal Affairs, Corporate Relations and Student Welfare.

In 2007,with the pioneer batch of Senior High students, the Senior High Student Council (SHSC) was set up. It was headed by an Executive President(EP) who would also oversee the Junior High Student Council (JHSC).The Senior High Council was also headed by a Vice-President and 4 HODs, who form the Executive Committee(EXCO) of the Senior High Council. From 2008, the Senior High Council EXCO was restructured. It is now led by the Executive President(EP),President(Senior High),4 HODs and 1 Secretary-Treasurer. The EP now coordinates the Junior High, Senior High Councils and the House Committee(SHHC).

Co-curricular activities

DHS offers an extensive array of Co-Curricular Activities (CCA), including competitive sports, uniformed groups, musical groups and assorted clubs and societies. Specifically, the school's traditional forte has been Chinese orchestral music. However, it should also be noted that the Uniformed Groups have a strong presence in Dunman High School, with the various CCAs like Saint John Ambulance Brigade, Scouts, Girl Guides and National Police Cadet Corps all achieveing top honours in their respective fields.

The Dunman High School Chinese Orchestra was formed in 1973 and has since then matured into a complete and fully developed orchestra with a current strength of over 200 CCA members and 100 alumni members. Under the baton of Mr Tay Teow Kiat, and with the guidance of 4 other teachers-in-charge and 9 professional instructors, DHSCO is now one of the most well known orchestras in Singapore.

Since 1983, the orchestra has participated in the biennial National Music Competition (Chinese Music Section) and has won several prizes in the various sections categories.

In addition, the orchestra has won the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Award of Distinction consecutively since 1987 till the last SYF in 2007. The Orchestra has also held the distinction of being the Best Chinese Orchestra of the Year in the SYF Chinese Orchestra Competition Finals since 1997.

DHSCO has also received the Gold with Honours award in the 2005 and 2007 Singapore Youth Festival, a highly prestigious award.

In 2006, DHSICC (Dunman High Infocomm Club) was formed, under IDA's Infocomm Clubs Programme.

Senior High Student-Initiated CCAs

Along with the pioneer batch of IP students, in 2007, the senior high section of the long-standing Chinese Society was formed as well, as a student-initiated CCA. It consists of 3 sections, namely Drama, Airwaves and I-Theatre.

Besides that, in 2009, DHSSHCS also produced the first of its annual public performance series, 戏聚木麻黄之启点. The name was derived by capitalizing on the rich heritage the school shares with the Casuarina tree, or 木麻黄.

The Dunman Senior High Guitar Ensemble was officially formed in February 2007 by a group of students from the pioneer IP batch, and it is currently under the guidance of conductor Mr Kevin Yeo, as well as teachers-in-charge Ms Lam and Ms Ho Kar Hui. The ensemble plays a mixture of pop and classical pieces, and held its first concert in April 2008 at the DBS Auditorium.

A slightly later addition, the Sailing Club was also formed as a student initiated CCA in 2008, obtaining funding from MOE's Co-Curricular Activities Branch Sea Sports Programme. The club recruits 12 sailors each year.

Notable alumni

• Michelle Chong
• Dr Ong Seh Hong (Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC)
• Douglas Foo (Founder of Sakae Sushi)
• Josephine Teo (Member of Parliament for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC)
• Otelli Edwards (Singapore's Channel News Asia news presenter)

External links

• School website
• Dunman High Water Education Programme Website