The old boys group from St John's Institution of Kuala Lumpur, Dad's Alma Mater, gathered together in Singapore again. The last was in the year 2010 as recorded on this post when Mom was still alive. When one can keep friends for so long from school, they are as close as family members to me with so many school day stories remembered vividly. Yes indeed, Families and Friends can be Forever! This is the very reason why the Alma Mater page is attached to our familylane website
This gathering at the King's Hotel in Singapore for dinner on 21 April 2013 was made up by mainly those who are now residing or working in Singapore with some coming down all the way from Kuala Lumpur. In this informal gathering or reunion of old boys, the latest updates on the school was shared with us by Megat Mizan Nicholas Denney, an old boy who now sits on the Board of Governors of the school.
What was shared by Megat was of concern to us as the fate of the school seems to be affected by a decision of the Catholic Church to take back the land the school sits on from the De La Salle Christian brothers institution. A meeting would be scheduled in October to further discuss this and to contemplate the future of the school that would celebrate its 110 anniversary next year! It was also mentioned that if the school were to continue in another location, it is desirous to take the school out of the Government system as all would agree that the standards of the school etc have dropped tremendously from what the old boys were familiar with. What was generally agreed among the old boys was that it would be good to keep the 'inclusive' culture of the school that we knew, ie the rich and the poor students could attend it, not making it an exclusive school for the rich. Also what was generally agreed by those in attendance was that in order to get the best teachers for the school, it has to pay good money to attract them and therefore privatization of the school would be considered.
Coincidentally the successful models of St Joseph Institution( a La Sallalian institution) and ACS Anglo Chinese School (managed by the Methodist Church) in Singapore were mentioned that happened to be the two secondary schools our boys had attended. A video I had taken in St Joseph is found here while one of ACS is found here.
This gathering at the King's Hotel in Singapore for dinner on 21 April 2013 was made up by mainly those who are now residing or working in Singapore with some coming down all the way from Kuala Lumpur. In this informal gathering or reunion of old boys, the latest updates on the school was shared with us by Megat Mizan Nicholas Denney, an old boy who now sits on the Board of Governors of the school.
What was shared by Megat was of concern to us as the fate of the school seems to be affected by a decision of the Catholic Church to take back the land the school sits on from the De La Salle Christian brothers institution. A meeting would be scheduled in October to further discuss this and to contemplate the future of the school that would celebrate its 110 anniversary next year! It was also mentioned that if the school were to continue in another location, it is desirous to take the school out of the Government system as all would agree that the standards of the school etc have dropped tremendously from what the old boys were familiar with. What was generally agreed among the old boys was that it would be good to keep the 'inclusive' culture of the school that we knew, ie the rich and the poor students could attend it, not making it an exclusive school for the rich. Also what was generally agreed by those in attendance was that in order to get the best teachers for the school, it has to pay good money to attract them and therefore privatization of the school would be considered.
Coincidentally the successful models of St Joseph Institution( a La Sallalian institution) and ACS Anglo Chinese School (managed by the Methodist Church) in Singapore were mentioned that happened to be the two secondary schools our boys had attended. A video I had taken in St Joseph is found here while one of ACS is found here.
More photos can be viewed in the facebook album
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