Our Revamped House System

Introduction by Michael Holiday, Director of Co-Curriculum

You will notice that the Co-Curriculum is at the core of What’s New at Tanglin in this issue of The Voice.

This is emblematic of a renewed focus on this important aspect of student development and opportunity at Tanglin. Since, while the Co-Curriculum has always been a vital part of school life, the new Gate C building has brought it to the forefront of our collective conscience. Our aim is to broaden the Co-Curriculum so it is a central part of every child’s journey through school, not only in supporting them in their academic learning and pastoral wellbeing, but also in equipping them with passions and interests that will provide them with deep joy.

The Co-Curriculum is a means through which we can open more doors to a child; offering them opportunities that allow a variety of skills, pursuits, and pleasures to remain parts of their lives beyond school.

The team skills and physical confidence that can be learned in Sport; the ability to express oneself and the discipline that can be arrived at in Music; the creativity that can be explored in Art; the ability to absorb different perspectives and recast them that can be acquired in debating; the sense of community that can be developed through the House system; the curiosity that new knowledge fostered through societies can inspire – employers sometimes call these soft skills, but ultimately, they are life skills. And beyond these benefits, there is the inherent pleasure of immersing oneself in a range of pursuits; there is a value in simply doing and enjoying.

At Tanglin, we oversee children from ages 3-18, but those children will go on to live many years beyond that. As well as providing students with the best possible start to their future careers, we can also nurture them to feel happy and fulfilled as individuals long beyond their time at school; that is the “success” the Co-Curriculum supports.

Houses for the Future

For 40 years, the Tanglin House system has been an integral part of life on campus. Now, this beloved tradition is being reinvented for 2021

As a school community we are all fundamentally Team Tanglin, but for many staff and students, the team they often feel most closely connected to is their House team. House Days at Tanglin are synonymous with fun, friendship and a feeling of belonging, forming memories that often linger long after Graduation Day.

The House system itself has been a staple of British schooling for centuries, originating from the existence of physical houses in which student boarders lived during term time, and becoming a byword for grouping students into teams that represent a cross-section of the community.

Throughout this time, there has always been the idea that a House is a home in itself: populated by a small, close-knit “family” that values collaboration, prizes diversity, and celebrates both individual and collective achievements. There is a certain magic to a House; you need only to look at the enduring appeal of Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat, after all, to know many young people crave the kinship fostered through this kind of affiliation.

Tanglin’s own House system dates back to 1981, when Tanglin Preparatory School, Raeburn Park School and Weyhill Preparatory School merged to form Tanglin Infant and Junior schools on Portsdown Road. Since then, every child who enrolled in the Junior School has been placed into one of four houses, each named after Malay animals: Elang (also known as the brahminy kite), Harimau (Malayan tiger), Beruang (sun bear) and Singa (lion). In 2001, the House system was rolled out across a growing Senior School, with the four new Senior houses – Alexandra, Cameron, Raeburn and Wessex – named to honour schools that had all, at some point, been incorporated into the larger Tanglin family.

Later, in 2014, the House system also became a key part of life in the Infant School, with its own groupings inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book: Sher (from the Hindi for lion), Baloo (meaning sloth bear), Rann (from cheel, meaning kite) and Bagheera (tiger).

2021 and Beyond

Currently, students on the Tanglin campus are divided into four Houses that differ from school to school. In order to unify the Houses, and Tanglin as a whole, students will now be assigned membership to Houses that are consistent across the Infant, Junior and Senior schools. And for the first time, the new House system will also be inclusive of our youngest, Nursery, children. So, once a child has joined the school, they will remain in the same House throughout their Tanglin journey. Given the expanded numbers of students in this unified House system, the number of Houses will rise from four to eight, ensuring that each House keeps its small community feel.

As in the previous system, the eight Houses will be led by Year 12 House Captains and each will represent the range of nationalities, cultures, beliefs, backgrounds, interests, talents and abilities that typifies life at Tanglin. In addition, the new House system will also allow younger brothers or sisters who subsequently join the school to become members of the same House their older sibling belongs to, meaning Tanglin families with multiple children on roll can all be part of the same “team”.

These exciting changes will not only create a greater sense of togetherness, but also allow the school to develop a more expansive House Calendar. Driven by students and staff alike, it will include a wider range of activities and competitions, from sporting events to musical performances, debating competitions and charity drives, as well as the much-beloved House Days.

Like their Senior School predecessors, each of the House names – Claymore, Cameron, Raeburn, Alexandra, Weyhill, Wessex, Winchester and Portsdown – nods to a significant location in the school’s rich history. Here, The Voice explores the heritage of each name while, over the page, we examine how this heritage has been woven into each of the new House logo designs.

Claymore

The name Claymore harks back to Tanglin’s early days when, in 1925, a school was established in the grounds of the Tanglin Club. Situated in Singapore’s Claymore district, the school – and its founder, Miss Anne Griffith-Jones – aimed to provide a quality British education to the children of expatriate families (thus avoiding the need for those children to be sent away to boarding schools in the UK). Beginning with just five students, the school of course went from strength to strength to become the Tanglin we know today. The name Claymore, therefore, is a reminder of the school’s humble beginnings more than 95 years ago, its ambition and, of course, its extraordinary accomplishments in the decades since.

Cameron

This name is representative of the Cameron Highlands Boarding School, opened by “Miss Griff” in 1934 in what was then referred to as Malaya. A boarding offshoot of the school in Singapore, it was intended to extend the children’s education until the age of 12, and benefited from the cooler air of the scenic hill station it was named for. Staff and students encountered much adversity there. In 1942, during World War II, the school was forced to close temporarily due to Japanese occupation of the vicinity, and Miss Griff and several of her colleagues were later held in Changi Prison. Then, in 1948, the Malayan Emergency – a guerrilla war fought in the the Federation of Malaya until its end was declared in 1960 – created a significant security issue for the community; students were given armed escorts at the start and end of each school term until the school’s closure in 1950. The Cameron name is synonymous with courage and perseverance.

Raeburn

Raeburn Park School was established in 1954 by a group of Singapore Harbour Board officials who were concerned about the educational provision for non-service expatriate families at the time. Situated inside an imposing property overlooking the Singapore harbour, its early popularity helped it achieve full capacity within 18 months of opening. But after Singapore achieved independence in 1965, the Harbour Board was replaced by the Port of Singapore Authority and Raeburn Park’s lease was not renewed.

In 1972, the school moved to Alexandra Park (see below), and later fell under the management of Tanglin Trust Ltd. While the Raeburn name became less significant over time, its motive – ensuring that all expatriate children had the opportunity to learn – is one that speaks in a small way to the ideals of inclusivity and acceptance that Tanglin continues to build upon today.

Alexandra

In 1972, what was then known as Raeburn Park School decamped to an empty army base and an adjacent cell block in the beautiful environs of Alexandra Park. Despite its splendour, Alexandra Park has a turbulent history. During World War II, it was at one point the scene of bitter fighting between Japanese forces and the British regiment that was housed there at the time; before staff and students from Raeburn Park could move in, bars had to be removed from the cell windows. After it was vacated by Raeburn Park in 1974, Alexandra Park became the home of Winchester Nursery until it also relocated, in 1996. Despite its past, the leafy grounds of Alexandra Park proved to be a somewhat of an idyll for both communities and in particular for its youngest members.

Weyhill

The name Weyhill signifies Weyhill Preparatory School, opened in 1971 by Tanglin Trust Ltd in response to a rapidly growing waiting list at Tanglin Preparatory School. Housed in a two-storey building featuring only 10 rooms and a communal hall, Weyhill was known locally for its annual shows and blue and white uniforms, though for a time it had only enough outside space for a single netball pitch. When Raeburn Park School moved onto a neighbouring site in 1976, the two schools joined forces to develop the area between them, with Weyhill using the now shared playing field on a rotational basis. This collaboration was fully realised in 1981 when, together with Tanglin Preparatory School, the schools were amalgamated to form Tanglin Infant and Tanglin Junior schools.

Wessex

The significance of the Wessex name originates from 1971, when Weyhill was established on the site of a previous army school called Wessex Infant School. The name continues to have relevance in 2021: the Wessex Estate area is where Tanglin Trust School is now located on Portsdown Road. The site is surrounded by lush greenery and clusters of black and white houses that hark back to colonial times, in addition to blocks of walk-up apartments previously used by British army officers and soldiers, many of them named after British military feats. Today, in addition to being Tanglin’s “home”, the estate is growing in renown as an artists’ enclave and has retained much of its sense of peace and calm.

Winchester

This House name refers to Winchester School Nursery, opened in 1976 and managed by Tanglin Trust Ltd. For 20 years until its closure, Winchester – situated in the modern idyll of Alexandra Park – gave all its children a wonderful introduction to the concept of school. On arriving at Winchester’s magnificent doorstep each morning, each child, according to the school’s prospectus, was shown a “bridge between home and the bigger school, providing a setting for first explorations [...] outside the family circle”. A dedicated Nursery unit was later opened on Portsdown Road alongside Tanglin Infant and Tanglin Junior schools; with all students now on the same site, the school was renamed Tanglin Trust School. While the Winchester name is less significant today, its aims – to nurture curiosity and a lifelong love of learning – are cornerstones of a Tanglin education today.

Portsdown

In 1976, Portsdown Road was still a picturesque and somewhat rustic road winding through the Wessex Estate when it became home to Raeburn Park School. Later, in 1981, Weyhill and Tanglin Preparatory schools moved in, later amalgamating to form Tanglin Infant and Tanglin Junior schools. While the road has retained much of its historic charm, the Tanglin site has transformed. Over the years, new buildings have risen up to accommodate our growing student population and, in 2022, the new Gate C building is set to significantly boost space for teaching and learning. The neighbouring One-North area has also seen its own metamorphosis to become Singapore’s biomedical, media and technology hub. Portsdown, then, is a significant location that makes a physical connection between the republic’s heritage and its future.

True Colours

While the names of the Houses are inspired by Tanglin’s past, the House system itself reflects the school’s present and future. Matt Durant, Creative Director of local design agency Glyphh, worked in tandem with Tanglin and, most notably, Head of Senior Houses Chris Dech, to develop the eight dynamic new logos. He explains his process here.

“For each logo, a new identity and colour palette would need to be created, based on historical or identifiable links unique to the school and Singapore.

While considering that each House logo would require its own provenance and origins, I also had to be mindful that the eight designs would also be part of the same ‘family’, and need to represent aspects of the school ethos as a whole.

As you can see, the construction of each logo consists of the following: the shield, the recognisable ‘Tanglin palm’, and the House icon and name. The shield is derived from the logos of Raeburn Park and Tanglin Preparatory schools – both forerunners of the Tanglin we know today – while the House icon reflects a unique aspect of either the school campus or its local environment.”

Below and right: House Day events, pictured before the pandemic.

“Designing one logo is difficult enough; designing eight is a challenge!” – Matt Durant

The New House Logos

The vibrant colours of each new emblem ensures they look as energetic as the children they represent.

From the “lush” green of Cameron House to the “strength” implied in Claymore Orange, Matt explains the symbolism of each shade.

“As a crossed pair of Scottish Claymore broadswords, the Claymore House icon references the area of Singapore in which ‘Miss Griff’ first founded Tanglin in 1925. The ‘Claymore Orange’ you can see on the icon originates from the Junior School’s Harimau shirt – a nod to the former Houses. Orange itself represents enthusiasm, fascination and determination; in heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.”

“Depicted as a mountain landscape, the Cameron House icon traces its origins to the lush, mountainous terrain of the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Its colour, ‘Cameron Green’, references these Alpine surroundings, with green commonly associated with life, renewal, nature, and energy.”

“Symbolically depicted as a Spartan helmet, the Wessex House icon symbolises the members of the British Army who were once garrisoned in the nearby Wessex Estate. Its colour, the ‘Wessex Maroon’, references the modern Sixth Form shirts that themselves have a historical link – to the Hampshire Regiment once stationed there. It’s a somewhat more sophisticated and serious hue than a true red, symbolising the ambition, power and refinement of this House.” “The lightning flash of Raeburn House references one of Singapore’s enduring features, its tropical climate; specifically, its lightning storms. A symbol of power, strength and energy, the lightning bolt embodies the many positive attributes of Tanglin students. The ‘Raeburn Blue’ is inspired by the prowess of a storm and can be associated with depth, stability, trust, power, confidence and intelligence.”

“Featuring the characteristic architectural qualities of the ‘black and white’ Winchester Nursery building, the Winchester House icon is symbolic of the unification of the Winchester and Weyhill schools into one campus in 1976. ‘Winchester Purple’ combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red. This colour also represents wisdom, devotion, pride and independence.” “The flaming sun of Alexandra House is inspired by one of equatorial Singapore’s most obvious natural resources. The Alexandra Estate was once the site of the Winchester Nursery, historically a precursor to Tanglin and one that provided children with their first encounter with school-based learning. The ‘Alexandra Yellow’ originates from the warmth of the sun, and symbolises optimism, enthusiasm, confidence, originality, wisdom, creativity and fun.”

“Once surrounded by trees and dense bush, the Tanglin campus is now encircled by the One-North development. But its origins are still evident in the banyan tree that grows on the current school site and was the inspiration for the Portsdown House icon. The ‘Portsdown Green’ colour can be found in the hue of the banyan leaves; it symbolises growth, and harmony with the environment.”

“The flaming torch of the Weyhill House icon takes its reference from the historic unification of the Weyhill and Raeburn schools in 1976. A symbol of hope, unity and energy, it symbolises the enduring nature of the school since its inception in 1925. The ‘Weyhill Blue’ imbues calming properties; it is a rejuvenating colour that also represents open communication and clarity of thought.”