Hua Yi Secondary School

School history

Formerly known as Hua Yi Government Chinese Middle School (华义政府华文中学), the school was first established on 14 October 1956. It was founded by Chinese philanthropists and clan leaders, and was one of the earliest government-aided schools formed during the period of Singapore's self-governance. Located at Fowlie Road, the school started with just 578 pupils and 26 classes. The school then shifted to Windstedt Road in 1957, where the enrollment rose to a total of 1,079 pupils in 30 classes.

In December 1957, the school was given her own school building at Margaret Drive. It officially started functioning at its own premises in 1958. Overtime, the school expanded with the addition of new facilities to the original building, to cater to the growing needs of the students. Hua Yi Government Chinese School rose to become a premier Chinese school at that time, together with Dunman High and River Valley High, excelling academically and in sports.

As the student intake increased progressively, a decision was made to relocate Hua Yi to bigger premises. The big shift to the new building in Depot road took place in March 1983, and was officially declared open by the Honourable Dr Koh Lam Son, Member of Parliament for Telok Blangah, on 26 April 1985. It was then when Hua Yi transformed from a Chinese medium school to an English medium school.

In December 1999, Hua Yi moved to an even bigger premises at the present Jurong West Street 42. It was seen as a "new era" because the school was then well-equipped with new facilities. It opened its doors to its first batch of Secondary One students on 3 January 2000. It was also this time when part of the school's staff members was selected by the ministry to start Westwood Secondary School, which occupied a classroom block in the premise during the academic year of 2000 and used the premise's facilities with the school before moving to its own premise approximately 2.4 km away at Jurong West Street 25 in 2001. Hua Yi's new premise was officially declared open on 29 June 2002 by Mr Lim Boon Heng, Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC.

Past locations

1956: Fowlie Road, near Tanjong Katong

1957: Monk's Hill Primary School, Windstedt Road

1958: Margaret Drive

1983: Depot Road

2000: Jurong West Street 42 (present)

School vision

"Where Learning is Dynamic and Teaching is Vibrant"

School mission

"To nurture our students to be creative, independent, life-long [sic] learners who are confident, gracious, humble and responsible citizens, prepared for the challenges ahead."

School motto

The school motto, “Together We Care to Grow”, is a significant part of the school's culture. The Chinese version of the school motto is 仁义智群, which embodies four main virtues- benevolence, wisdom, justice and togetherness. It signifies the qualities in which the school aims to cultivate the students with; and sets the culture where the students learn to grow and develop to be independent learners who are ready to meet the challenges of today's future. They are:

1. Benevolence (仁): To be kind to others; to demonstrate graciousness and civic-mindedness. Also to be sympathetic and willing to help others in need; to be caring, thoughtful and considerate.
2. Justice (义): To observe fair play and respect for authority. Also to be just in words and actions; to be fair and mindful of oneself, with the national interests and benefits as our goal.
3. Wisdom (智): To cultivate independent lifelong learning skills, to make wise decisions. Also to be understanding and reasonable, to be able to discriminate right from wrong, to challenge old assumptions and not to follow others blindly.
4. Togetherness (群): To learn and grow together in harmony, regardless of race and religion. Also to be able to get along harmoniously with others, not to be selfish and harmful to others in seeking personal gains, and be willing to make personal sacrifices to benefit the community and society.

School song

The first half of the school song is sung in Mandarin, which symbolises the school's roots as a Chinese middle school; the second is sung in English. The two parts of the lyrics, albeit in two different languages, share the same meaning.

尊守我校之校训发扬仁义与智群求取种族和谐促进社会繁荣为国家为民族我华义Observe the school motto,and spread its guiding principals.Seek racial harmony,and foster prosperity.O serve our nation our Hua Yi.

The Bonsai - Hua Yi's iconic symbol

The Bonsai is of symbolic significance to the Hua Yi family. They are miniature trees being grown in pots, kept small by the use of skilled pruning. It signifies the physical and spiritual strength of nature which embodies the traditional spirit of Hua Yi.

All students are taught to appreciate the bonsai culture. The school has a 30-year-old bonsai garden in the campus which is known to be the pride of the school. It is integrated into the school's character development programme so as to cultivate the values of patience and perseverance in the students. Yeh.

Notable alumni

Huang Qing Yuan (黄清元): 60s-80s singer; Known as the Elvis Presley of Singapore

Hong Huifang (洪慧芳): Actress, Mediacorp

Anthony Png (方钟桦): Prominent vocal coach

Wang Xiang Qin (王相钦): Former television presenter.

Cai Yiren (蔡忆仁): Founder of TCR Music.

Liu Maoyuan (柳茂源): Former Music Producer.