Singapore schools revamped as lifestyle hubs
Singapore’s moniker as the Little Red Dot should clue you in on how starved for land we are. As such, those in charge of mapping out plans for the Garden City’s use of urban space are always looking for ways to repurpose buildings, especially those that have seen better days. If you’ve not noticed, old schools fit the bill perfectly.
With lower birth rates leading to shrinking student populations, certain schools may be forced to merge with others or close altogether, leading to vacant buildings laying dormant, ready to be given a new lease of life. Trust our government to pounce on the chance to do just that; here are a couple of old schools that have been revamped to carry on serving the community.
1. Nan Chiau High School – New Bahru
New Bahru needs no introduction. Opened in 2024, it’s the go-to lifestyle and creative cluster that the Gen-Z crowd and older folks hit up whenever the weekend arrives.
With the completion of its new Factory Block, it’s home to over 60 tenants, ranging from popular cafes you’d constantly see tagged as you scroll through IG stories, to craft studios offering a plethora of workshops to spend your entire afternoons in. There’s even an oversized Oatside outdoor playground here, to keep the kids entertained as you wander from store to store.
The old Nan Chiau High School in River Valley.
Image credit: Nan Chiau High School
However, its younger visitors might not know of the history behind New Bahru. Despite its name, its blocks aren’t exactly “new”. The hub used to be the grounds of Nan Chiau Girls’ High School and Primary School, which was built all the way back in 1969. Like its contemporary counterpart, the school was widely successful, boasting a student cohort of around 2,700 in its heydays.
In 1984, the high school was renamed Nan Chiau High School, and accommodated for co-ed cohorts. Come the 1990s, the schools’ enrolment dwindled as Singaporeans back then favoured starting families in newer housing estates than in the city. As a result, the schools moved to Sengkang in 2000, and remained in the North-East till today.
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2. Methodist Girl’s School – Old School
The former campus of Methodist Girls’ School at Mount Sophia.
Image credit: Methodist Girls’ School
Not too far away in the city, Old School at Mount Sophia was the New Bahru of the late 2000s. This multidisciplinary arts and creative hub opened in 2007, on the site of the former campus of Methodist Girls’ School (MGS). Living up to its name, Old School preserved as much of its predecessor as it could, retaining the facades of 6 low-rise school buildings, alongside old staircases and walkways.
Image credit: Universes in Universe
Classrooms were repurposed into art galleries, retail concepts, and spaces for designers to play around with. Notable tenants included famous Singaporean artist Chua Ek Kay, as well as Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons, which turned the school’s disused bookshop into a unique retail experience with the use of vintage Japanese school desks for display.
However, Old School’s tenure of serving as a haven for the arts was unfortunately short-lived, as its lease was initially only signed for 2 years as the government had long-term plans for the land. They extended the lease year by year, but by 2012, Old School had to make way for these redevelopment efforts.
The preserved Olsen Building.
Image credit: Wikipedia
Not all was lost though. Most of MGS’ historic campus was demolished, but 1 structure was conserved: the Olson Building. It once housed 6 classrooms that once contained the chatter of P4 and P5 students, and now serves as a clubhouse for the Sophia Hills condominium complex.
3. Serangoon Garden South School – New unnamed lifestyle hub
What the unnamed lifestyle hub might look like.
Image credit: Top Pave Pte Ltd
In stark contrast, the former Serangoon Garden South School will soon become the home of a new lifestyle hub. Heck, the plans for it are so fresh, that the finalised project has not even been given a name yet. But, based on artist impressions, it just might be called Lumina, although nothing’s set in stone just yet.
According to a proposal, the revitalised campus will sport a tenant mix featuring fitness studios, physiotherapy services, TCM clinics, and community spaces. There’ll also be occasional programmes scheduled that aim to encourage residents to gather at the hub, promoting inter-generational bonding.
The school’s aviary.
Image credit: MOE Heritage Centre
A bit on Serangoon Garden South School, the campus is about 71-years-old, and was established during the country’s post-war school-building boom. Interestingly, in 1984, the school opened a giant dome-shaped aviary, which housed birds donated by the Jurong Bird Park.
Image credit: Singapore Land Authority
After a merger with Serangoon Garden North School in the late 80s, it moved out of its original location in 2007 to merge with the nearby Zhonghua Primary School, and so the now-vacant campus is eagerly awaiting redevelopment.
4. Tun Seri Lanang Secondary School – Goodman Arts Centre
Image credit: LASELLE College of the Arts
While some LASELLE College of the Arts and School of the Arts (SOTA) alumni might remember attending classes at their old campus along Goodman Road, some of the buildings there actually date all the way back to 1963. That’s because it was originally occupied by Tun Seri Lanang Secondary School.
Image credit: Dolby Thx via Facebook
The institute was a Malay-medium school, a type of school that does not exist in present-day Singapore, as all schools transitioned to a standardised English-medium curriculum by the late 1980s. The school was praised for its outward-looking perspective to education, as it often organised overseas excursions and hosted students from Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
When the school eventually shuttered in 1987, LASELLE then moved into the school grounds in the 1990s and expanded the site, constructing new buildings and facilities. Then came SOTA in 2007, and once the arts school vacated the campus in 2009, Goodman Arts Centre called it home.
Today, the centre is an enclave for creatives to flaunt their stuff, in refurbished galleries, music and dance studios. It also hosts open house events annually, where everyone is invited to take part in various craft workshops and sit in for exciting live performances.
5. Kallang Primary School & Haig Boys’ School – Mountbatten Centre
The Kallang Government Chinese Primary School in the 1960s.
Image credit: eBay
Just across the Geylang River, the very grounds that Mountbatten Centre stands on today also has its roots in education. If you count school mergers, it was home to 3 primary schools over the years. Stay with us now – it all began with the now-defunct Kallang Primary School, which merged with Kallang Government Chinese Primary School in 1984, retaining the former’s name.
Kallang Primary School was then absorbed by Guillemard West Primary School in 1987, with its remaining students moving over the latter’s school grounds. But, Haig Boys’ School then moved into Kallang Primary School’s campus in 1988 and stayed there till 2001, when, you guessed it, mergers with Fowlie and Mountbatten Primary Schools meant it was time to leave.
Image credit: Street Directory
After countless rounds of primary school musical chairs, it was finally Mountbatten Centre’s turn to settle down there, and by the late 2000s, it aptly became the cluster of early educational centres that we know today.
6. Loyang Primary School – My First Skool & Vidacity
Image credit: Loyang Primary School via Facebook
Over in the far East lies another repurposed school, Loyang Primary School. In fact, it’s the first ever primary school established in Pasir Ris, having officially opened back in 1992, when the neighbourhood was still in its infancy. Former students might recall the school’s nature-based education programmes which were unique to say the least.
Image credit: EA Study
The school’s eco garden played a huge role in facilitating these, as students were frequently allowed to step out of the classroom to learn about the flora and fauna, participate in hydroponic gardening, and harvest veggies. Sadly, due to declining enrolment rates, Loyang Primary School merged with Casuarina Primary School, leaving behind its campus in 2019.
Image credit: NTUC First Campus
Despite its closure, the site’s long-standing ties with nature were not severed. In May 2023, the My First Skool preschool began operating from the compound, and boy is it massive. It has a capacity of 1,100 children and around 175 educators and support staff, with 60 classrooms sprawled across 4 levels.
The preschool shares the former Loyang Primary School campus with Vidacity, a sustainable innovation hub which supports eco-start ups.
Image credit: Singapore Land Authority
The design of the preschool also saw the preservation of 11 mature Yellow Flame trees, while the landscaping and learning spaces incorporated nature-inspired elements, referencing the neighbourhood’s streams, mangroves, hills, and kelongs.
7. Manjusri Secondary School – James Cook University
From one end of the education timeline to the other, students who attend classes at the Singapore campus of James Cook University in Geylang might not know it used to be the site of Manjusri Secondary School.
Image credit: The Heritage of Manjusri Secondary School
If you’re scratching your head because of its unconventional name, the school became the first and only Buddhist government-aided secondary school, and was named after the Bodhisattva of wisdom. What sets this school apart from the others on this list is the fact that it’s still in operation today, albeit in a different location.
After 24 years watching batches of students graduate at its Sims Drive campus, In 2008, Manjusri Secondary School was given a new site to move to at Ubi Avenue 1. One reason for the move was to relocate Manjusri Secondary School closer to the Buddhist-affiliated Maha Bodhi School, to facilitate closer collaboration between schools.
Image credit: James Cook University Singapore
7 years after the move, James Cook University struck a deal with the government to acquire the old school grounds for a new Singapore campus. Rather than razing everything to the ground, the university refurbished the site, with its classrooms and facilities like computer labs, a library, and study areas being adapted for tertiary education.
8. Monk’s Hill & Outram Secondary School & St. Michael’s School – 10 Winstedt
Image credit: CILISOS
Another spot that has seen a couple of school occupants come and go is 10 Winstedt. Located on the outskirts of the city centre, the grounds which the commercial hub now stands on has quite the storied history.
Winstedt Road, the road that 10 Winstedt sits along, is named after Sir Richard Olaf Winstedt, a colonial administrator who improved Singapore’s education standards by bounds and leaps in the 1920s. As such, it’s only apt that the area played host to a slew of educational institutions, albeit at different points of times.
Image credit: Simone Lam via Facebook
First came Monk’s Hill Secondary School, which was first established in 1958, and it was particularly well-known for performing exceptionally well in sports like rugby. The school moved to a new location in 1993, and in a years’ time, Outram Secondary School took its spot, and was here to stay till its York Hill campus wrapped up renovation works in 1998.
Image credit: MOE Heritage Centre
Finally, St. Michael’s School, known today as St. Joseph’s Institution Junior, took temporary refuge at 10 Winstedt from 1999 to 2001, as they were too waiting on the completion of an upgraded campus on Essex Road.
25 years on, providing quality education is still on 10 Winstedt’s agenda, as it’s home to quite a number of educational institutes, such as music and dance schools and tuition centres.
Alumni or not, visit these revamped school campuses
As Singaporeans, swooning after the good ol’ days is one of our favourite pastimes, so if you’d like to take a trip down memory lane, swing by these revamped school campuses. Although the schools that once occupied these grounds have long since moved out, many of these sites have retained certain structures from yesteryear which will definitely evoke a tinge of nostalgia.
To reminisce more about the simpler times:
- Places in SG slated for redevelopment
- Last look at Queenstown Library
- History of the Road Safety Park in ECP
Cover image adapted from: Nan Chiau High School, Loyang Primary School via Facebook, The Heritage of Manjusri Secondary School