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ACS
(Primary) PSG:
Up close and
personal with Dr Danny Ng
 Dr
Danny Ng has always been involved in volunteer
work in the community and Christian Ministry. So getting
involved in the school was a natural step, but being the
Chairperson for the Parent Support Group (PSG) was something
else altogether.
Here are some of his
views.
What moves you?
One could say that I was a reluctant leader. I was
confronted with the opportunity to help shape the landscape
of the partnership between the parents, teachers, boys and
the church. I had to seriously ask myself what my
motivations were for taking on this challenge. I came up
with three compelling ones which I found hard to reject:
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To help the school
rise further in its calling as a mission school, to
share the message of God’s love by the way we serve the
teachers and our children.
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To foster greater
bonding of our children by entrenching the “spirit” of
what it means to be an ACSian. The uniqueness of the
tradition of ACS is not just based on our desire to seek
academic and sporting excellence. Though important, I
firmly believe that the strength and the roots of ACS
lies in the ideology that “we are a family”. This means
that we will always be loyal to the school, for what it
stands for and be there for other ACSians through the
years to come.
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Finally, as an Old
Boy and a father to my two boys, I could serve to open
up the “gates” for other fathers to come in to support
the school.
 What
are the challenges?
Aplenty, then and now.
Let me just share two: one concerns the parents and the
other, our boys.
ON PARENTS:
Getting all parents to be on the same page is tougher than I
envisaged. Establishing ACS (P) as a family is just
beginning. I think we are only tapping some 10% of the
parent resources (about 300 parent volunteers with some 1600
pupils enrolled). Invitations to be more active, by way of
offering time, expertise, partnership, leadership and
resources have not always been met with strong enthusiasm.
ON CHILDREN: It is
our prayer and desire that as our children go through the
primary education on the grounds of this established and
fine institution, they will experience three things:
a. The love from God and
nurture of the Christian community;
b. Deep and strong
friendships that will last a lifetime;
c. A loyalty and
gratefulness to the school, and teachers for the knowledge,
love and holistic experience
 Why
is this a challenge? Well, try taking a look at how our boys
view their promotional exercise after their PSLE. The many
who have had the option to continue their education in the
ACS family of schools
after PSLE chose not to. Yet others who could opt for the
ACS family were posted to other schools against their
wishes. The fostering of the identity and loyalty of ACS
boys is at stake here. We need the tradition and the
historicity of the ACSian spirit to live on, beyond the
school years. The history of tomorrow is written today!
While we understand that
this may not be a simple problem to resolve, I do pray that
we will be able to address this issue. It is something that
I believe we should not take lightly or for granted.
What are the blessings?
I am extremely amazed at
the level of the commitment of my EXCO and their
sub-committees. These parents have given far beyond the
expectations and amazingly, have an insatiable reservoir of
wanting to give even more. They have laboured hard and their
hearts of gold and the deep love for the teachers and
children ooze out abundantly with joy.
 They
don’t just talk; they are not critical; and they have no
personal agendas. They are just ready to help in whatever
way they can.
Their heart of servitude
makes everything worthwhile. I have said that if I had to
re-live my boys’ primary education all over again, I would
have had no regrets going down the same path with these fine
parent volunteers. These bunch of parents are simply the
best.
As I look back over the
years, I am grateful and awed by the partnership that has
been fostered between the parents, teachers, children and
the church. May it grow from strength to strength and
may the next generation of parent leaders carry the torch of
bringing more unity and cohesiveness in the family at ACS
(Primary).
The rallying cry
I urge more parents to
come and be a part of the journey of your son’s development.
It has rewards beyond measure for our children, teachers,
not counting the many personal blessings you can expect.
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