The Abandoned Swiss Cottage Secondary School Was Once The Filming Site For TV Drama ‘Growing Up’

Old Swiss Cottage Secondary School building

If you’ve ever been on the way-too-long road that is Dunearn Road, you may have noticed an abandoned compound near Stevens Road.

Out of all the schools scattered along this stretch, this one stands out for a different reason – the building is actually the old Swiss Cottage Secondary School site, giving you a glimpse of what school life used to look like in the day.

Swiss Cottage Secondary School’s history

Image credit: Swiss Cottage Secondary School

Swiss Cottage Secondary School was established back in 1962 with a cosy cohort of 200 students, before moving into its home in Swiss Cottage Estate along Dunearn Road in July 1963. When the school officially opened later that year, in November 1963, 870 students were enrolled across both English and Malay tracks.

But the school’s doors weren’t just open to Swiss Cottage students – students from nearby schools like Anderson Secondary School and Whitley Secondary School would also take technical classes here.

A walkathon to commemorate the move from Dunearn Road to Bukit Batok.
Image credit: Simone Lam via Facebook

After about 30 years, the school moved to its current Bukit Batok site in 1997, leaving its old home along Dunearn Road behind.

What’s left of the old Swiss Cottage Secondary School along Dunearn Road

This road leads to where Swiss Cottage Primary School once stood.
Image credit: Kay Huang via Facebook

Those who were around at the time would know that Swiss Cottage Primary School also sat further up the road, and secondary school students would often pop by to have cheaper meals at their canteen.

Image credit: Kay Huang via Facebook

Walk along Dunearn Road today, and you will find these stairs that lead up to a brick wall. The building behind it used to house an outpatient dispensary, something like the equivalent of polyclinics before those were a thing.

After the dispensary shuttered due to underuse, Swiss Cottage Secondary School took over the building and turned it into the Swiss Art Centre, where students would study and prepare for their art classes and exams. Hearsay, latecomers would jump the fence here in the morning too.

The old Whitley Secondary School site, as depicted in the Whitley Secondary School, 1979 magazine.
Image adapted from: National Library Board

If you go past the old Swiss Cottage Secondary School site today, it would be hard to miss Singapore Chinese Girls’ School right next door. But back in the day, this space used to belong to Whitley Secondary School, which has since moved to its current location in Bishan. In fact, Whitley and Swiss Cottage used to share their football field too.

After Swiss Cottage Secondary School moved out

The old Science Lab Block was one of the filming locations for the Mediacorp drama “Growing Up”.
Image adapted from: mewatch, Simone Lam via Facebook

With the Swiss Cottage students leaving, this compound along Dunearn Road found itself as a holding site for schools undergoing renovation, such as ACS Barker, around the turn of the millennium.

But while actual school was out, this site also became the filming venue for school scenes in the 1990s Mediacorp drama Growing Up. Even if you didn’t attend school here, you may still recognise the place as if you were there.

Traces of the Chinese International School.
Image credit: Kay Huang via Facebook

Eventually, the site became home to the Chinese International School in 2006. However, this school also ended up rebranding itself and moving out, though you can still see remnants of its days here.

More recently, the site found a new lease of life beyond educational needs. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the compound was converted into temporary housing for migrant workers, who were supported by the schools and residents around them.

This abandoned school is worth a peek if you’re passing by Dunearn Road

To the regular passerby, it might not be any different from all the other abandoned compounds along Dunearn Road, but this former Swiss Cottage Secondary School site holds layers of history.

It’s not exactly a spot you’d go out of your way to visit – you can’t even enter, after all – but if you ever find yourself passing by, it’s worth slowing down for a look.