In celebrating our 125th anniversary, it should be clear that the Anglo-Chinese School is a work in progress, and that our motto of “The Best is Yet to Be” rings true time and again - that change and improvement have been a constant theme, although its stated ideals have remained as strong as ever. There was no “master plan” for the founding of ACS unless giving an education to as many who could benefit from it qualifies as one, and the School developed as a private Christian institution in response to the educational requirements of Singapore society.

In 1886, the immediate initiative came from Chinese businessmen who asked Rev William F. Oldham to teach their sons. In fact, Mrs. Marie Oldham in a magazine article published in 1907, said that “there ought not to be any discrimination between evangelistic and educational work; each can be as educational or as evangelistic as the one in charge chooses to make it….

At that time, the school provided instruction in English in the morning and Chinese in the afternoon, and that was how it came to be called by its present name. The first thirteen scholars studied at 70 Amoy Street, but the enrolment rapidly outgrew the shop house, forcing the first removal of the school to a new purpose-built school house adjoining the Methodist Church which Rev Oldham had built at Coleman Street at the junction of Armenian Street. Here the ACS was to stay for many years until redevelopment in the 1950s obliged the School to rebuild.

An important educational philosophy introduced by Oldham strove not to confine his scholars’ learning simply to the Standards but sought to spread it over a larger area, “that it may be useful to them in all their after life….” Education should cultivate the man and transcend the making of a livelihood. With well-qualified missionaries with college degrees, it was possible to offer preparation for the Queen’s Scholarship, and introduce the Cambridge Junior and Senior examinations by the turn of the century.

In the 1910s, an ambitious educational innovation was introduced by Rev J S Nagle, whose mission was the transformation of the ACS into the Anglo-Chinese College, a job for which Bishop Oldham specially selected him. Although the project itself failed to materialise, the preparatory arrangements begun by Rev Nagle encouraged him to raise the quality of teaching staff through foreign recruitment, thus providing the School with an unprecedented intellectual edge. It was also under Rev Nagle’s leadership that the Old Boys’ Association was set up in 1914.

The 1920s and 30s saw another milestone reached when some of the most prized and enduring traditions of ACS were introduced. The Principal from 1929-1947, Mr T.W. Hinch, who is widely considered the tradition builder of ACS, played a central role in cultivating a distinctive School tradition that lay the foundation of what we now call the ‘ACS Spirit’. These traditions included the ACS Anthem written by HM Hoisington, which bonded and continues to bond ACSians together, the ACS Crest and Shield designed and created by Dr.Yap Pheng Geck and the House system to encourage sports and healthy rivalry among students during annual Athletics championships. The Houses were named after Bishops Thoburn and Oldham, the Rev Goh Hood Keng, Mr Tan Kah Kee and Mr Cheong Koon Seng, all of whom showed great passion for ACS. The House system, which all our ACS schools observe, has since expanded to include houses named after Dr Lee Seng Gee, Dr Shaw Vee Meng, and Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan.

The Pacific War years and the Occupation forced the closure of the School until after the war. The immediate post-war period saw a burst of activity, including a massive building programme that transformed the Barker campus into a fully equipped secondary school with its iconic clock tower, a sentinel of Bukit Timah. Together with this was the expansion of the Primary/Junior Schools both at Coleman Street where the original buildings were torn down and rebuilt to cater for a much enhanced enrolment, and Barker Road where the boys were taught in classes which had been temporarily occupied by the Secondary classes.

In 1950, Post School Certificate Classes, later known as Pre-University classes, were set up and the first batch of female students were enrolled in ACS. Two years later, Mr Thio Chan Bee, an Old Boy, became the School’s first Asian Principal.

On January 7th 1955, ACS became the first Methodist school to have a Board of Governors. With the formation of the BOG, the Old Boys were able to provide even better service to the school as the Board, as it still does, comprises representatives from the Methodist Church, the ACS OBA and the ACS family.

The attainment of self-government and political independence of the 1950s and ‘60s were a powerful force which raised educational horizons and made desirable significant new facilities.

The first of the famous ACS Fun-O-Ramas was held on the Barker Road campus in 1956 to raise funds for the Pre-University block (‘Lee Hall’) which was fully equipped with science laboratories and a library.

Another breakthrough was the design and building of the Sports Complex and gymnasium and the first Olympic-sized school swimming pool in Singapore.

In the half century since the 1970s, educational expansion and upgrading saw even more dynamic changes to the School. ACS embraced the trend of introducing Junior College education and it established our Anglo-Chinese Junior College in 1977. ACJC also had the first full-sized football field and 400m running track that an ACS unit ever enjoyed.

The 1980s were yet another memorable period, with the building and resuscitation of Oldham Hall in 1985 to house both foreign scholars and ACS students. In addition, the Junior School moved out to a refurbished school building at Peck Hay Road with more space and facilities. On a grander scale was the transformation of Anglo-Chinese Secondary School to ACS (Independent) in 1988.

ACS (Independent) was first located at Barker Road. In January 1992, the school made its move to its new campus at Dover Road. The site was officially opened by Dr Richard Hu, Minister of Finance of Singapore, on March 1st 1993. ACS (Independent) was recognised as an IB World School in 2005 and was the first national school in Singapore to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

Two years later in January 1994, ACS (Barker Road) was established as a full government-aided secondary school. The purpose of ACS (Barker Road) was to provide the feeder pupils from the two ACS primary schools with an additional option to continue with an ACS secondary education.

ACS ended the 20th century with a massive construction programme- this time, the complete rebuilding of the Barker Road campus to provide the new Barker Road Secondary and Primary School with an associated auditorium and performance theatres that set new standards in school architecture, appropriately winning a prestigious award for innovation and excellence. The completely new Oldham Hall stands as yet another feather in the cap of ACS.

As the dawn of the 21st century, the ACS Family welcomed its sixth member - ACS (International) which opened its doors on January 3rd, 2005 to a multinational cohort of students. To reinforce the unity of the ACS Family, the ONE ACS initiative was launched in 2006 to re-evaluate the mission and core values of our rapidly growing family.

In 2007, STB-ACS (International) Jakarta became the first Anglo-Chinese School outside Singapore. The newer members to the ACS family promise to be further innovations in the history of “Our ACS Forever”.

To accommodate the further growth of our student population, Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) moved to its current premised at Winstedt Road in December 2008.

The ACS family looks to the future of our school with great anticipation for another 125 glorious years and many more.

* Affectionately known as the Mr. Chips of ACS, Mr Earnest Lau had influenced the lives of thousands of ACS students. Many older ACSians associate him with the stirring and nostalgic “40 Years On” which he taught and sang with gusto when he first joined ACS as a teacher in the mid-fifties, whilst others from the 1977 to 1983 era remember his charismatic leadership when he was Principal. An author of several books and an authority on ACS history, Mr Lau was the Archivist of The Methodist Church in Singapore before he passed away on 05 March 2011.