Da Qiao Primary School

Da Qiao Primary School is a Government-funded school that is currently located in Ang Mo Kio St 54. Da Qiao Primary School's history traces back to the 1936 when it served as a Chinese-medium public school.

History

Da Qiao Primary School originated in 1936 as a Chinese-medium public school to serve the education needs of the community. It was founded by members of a Hakka clan and was known as Tai Keou School (公立大侨学校) then. ‘大’ refers to ‘Dabu’, the province where the founding members came from, and ‘侨’ refers to the Chinese immigrants in Singapore at that time. Members of the Char Yong (Dabu) Association served as its Board of Directors.

The school was first located at North Bridge Road. After closing during the Japanese Occupation, the school re-opened at Lorong Tai Seng. It re-located to Jalan Paya in 1964 and functioned there until the end of 1980.

In 1981, Da Qiao Primary School was established as a government school in the residential estate of Ang Mo Kio. The school name ‘Da Qiao’, a Hanyu Pinyin version of Tai Keou, was chosen to perpetuate the name of the former Tai Keou School and to recognize the past contributions made to the school by members of the Char Yong (Dabu) Association.

The new school started operating in its new building at 10 Ang Mo Kio St 54 in January 1982 with 38 classes and a pupil enrolment of about 1200. The school was officially declared open by Mr Hwang Soo Jin, Deputy Speaker and Member of Parliament for Jalan Kayu on 22 July 1983. The first Principal was Mr Cheong Cheng Swee and the Vice Principal was Mr Ng Hing. Mr Cheong was succeeded by Mrs Christina Koh in 1992 and later, by Mr Lee Lam Hua in 1995.

As a result of PRIME, a Ministry of Education school rebuilding programme, Da Qiao Primary moved to its current campus at 8 Ang Mo Kio St 54 on 8 December 1999.

The new millennium marked another milestone in the history of the school when it merged with Chong Boon Primary on 1 Jan 2000 to form the present Da Qiao Primary. On 2 February 2002, the school celebrated its 21st Anniversary and the Official Opening of its new campus which was declared open by Mr Wee Siew Kim, Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC. The new merged school was headed by Mrs Loh Meng Har since its inception until Dec 2006.

Basketball is the school niche in sports. The pupils also excel in Scrabble, Chinese Dance, Bhangra Dance and Harmonica. They also perform well in the PSLE with results above National Average for all subjects.

Mrs Bilveer Singh, the current principal, leads a team of highly committed and dedicated teachers and administrative staff in delivering quality education in line with the school philosophy, 'Pupils first, Teachers the key'.

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