The following is a report of a speech given by Mr. Nixon at the annual meeting between governors and parents. Mr. Nixon commended Tanglin’s recent successes and discussed the School’s inspirational future in his address to staff and parents at the Open Meeting in the new Performing Arts Hall, on Level 5 of the School’s new building.

Recent Achievements – A-level Results, Inspections, Facilities

The Board Chair said that the latest A-level results and the feedback from recent independent inspections were most impressive and that the Senior School was rated as ‘outstanding’ and the Junior and Infant Schools as ‘good’ with some outstanding aspects.

Other achievements he mentioned included the School’s new central administration building, named “The Point”, and the spectacular Sports and Performing Arts Centre. Mr. Nixon said that sound and judicious financial management had enabled these facilities to be built with fees from the parent body.

Discussing Tanglin’s newly introduced Placement Rights, he said that they would introduce an additional source of revenue for the School. He guaranteed that Placement Rights were limited and that Tanglin would not be flooded with placement right holders. He also said that the School community would be informed as to how many placement rights holders had been accepted and what new facilities, to be enjoyed by all students, would be purchased with the additional funds. In addition, he announced that part of the revenue raised from Placement Rights would be allocated to Tanglin’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes that involve Tanglin students in the local community.

An Inspirational Future – Mandarin, the IB, and New Buildings

Mr. Nixon said that after careful consideration of the issues surrounding the importance of foreign language teaching, the Board had decided to extend the teaching of Mandarin. Mandarin teaching will be introduced as a foreign language in the Infant and Junior Schools from September 2008. It is already offered in Tanglin’s Senior School.

Mr. Nixon affirmed that Corporate Social Responsibility programmes would continue to gain importance at Tanglin. He congratulated those responsible for the successful staging, at Tanglin, of the recent CSR workshop and symposium. This involved Tanglin senior students working with their contemporaries from eight other international and local schools in Singapore and gave them the opportunity to interact with key experts. 

Looking ahead, Mr. Nixon said that what was most important for young people was the provision of choice. He said that the School was looking into providing more choice within the Sixth Form, both in subjects offered and possibly the curriculum. “We are reviewing the situation to see if we can possibly offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme in the Sixth Form, to run alongside A-levels, and provide a choice, with both being of the same quality”, he said. He invited members of the School community with experience in the IB to come forward and meet with Board members and the School’s management team to share information.

The Board Chair said that to meet demand for places, the current Sixth Form Centre would be redeveloped to cater for more students. He said he hoped that the new facility would be ready for the start of the 2009-2010 academic year.

Mr. Nixon praised Tanglin’s management team. He said that it was a well-balanced team of highly experienced and energetic professionals. He stressed that Tanglin would continue to invest in people – in the teachers and managers, not only facilities, and would seek to continue to attract world-class experts.

Discussing the search for a new Head of the Junior School to replace David Porritt who is taking up a position in Europe, Mr. Nixon said that a candidate had been chosen and had accepted the role and that an announcement would be made after Chinese New Year. He said that the School had searched extensively and had interviewed an impressive group of candidates.

More than 80 people attended the informal gathering and Mr. Nixon thanked everyone for their support and contribution to the School.