guage School would have been cut down to very , very few . It was just beyond his capacity , and he wanted to channel the children away from English education into the Chinese schools when - especially at that time - the ratio of Chinese schools to English schools was something like five to one . As soon as this Plan was defeated the Governor dared not put it to the vote . He just accepted the amendment and overruled his Director of Education who soon afterwards resigned . A new man called A . W . Frisby came in and he said : " I have to build two hundred new schools right away ." That is why for many years Primary Schools in Singapore were accommodated in pre-fabricated , low-cost buildings . But we managed to meet the Plan . I think , in view of the demand for English language education as a result of the Ten Years ' Plan being amended , the Brothers also thought it was necessary to increase the intake into the Primary English Schools .' The first step that the Brothers took was to open an Afternoon School , limited to pupils in Standards IV , V and VI . At first it was run as a private school , Later it attracted a government grant . The Headmaster was S . D . Pillay , who had been on the Staff for thirty-three years and had retired in 1948 . Now he returned to contribute again where he was needed . By July all 150 places in the following year ' s entry had been filled . The Brothers realised that if they were to make a greater contribution to English education in the Colony moving towards Independence they would have to build .
Three factors helped to make this expansion possible - the generosity of the Brothers with their money , the timely arrival of the school ' s Centenary and the character of the Director , Brother Ignatius .
After World War ITthe Brothers had all received a government gratuity , or back pay , from the British authorities . Their money went , as a matter of course , into their common purse . With this capital in hand they decided to build a new Primary School on an attractive site at Telok Blangah that they already owned .
The Brothers had bought the property in 1926 to cope with the overflow of students before they builtSt Patrick ' s . On a beautiful hillside overlooking the harbour , there was a substantial house surrounded by an estate that had once belonged to a Captain Snow of the Singapore Pilotage Board . Lim Choo Sye was a lad of seventeen when he used to go there as a relief teacher whenever Form Teachers went on medical leave . He travelled by bus to teach the students . They were many of them overage and , he recalls , rather large ! The other teachers were Francis J . Rappa , A . K . Surattee and Bernard Nicholas . Mr Rappa lived at the school . Later the distance from S1Iand the difficulty of transport made the Brothers close the school and it became a Private School for the children of the area . It continued after World War ITuntil early in 1950 when the house was demolished and a level area was carved , with some difficulty , out of the hillside . The building and levelling cost $ 250 , U ()() and the Brothers and the Government each paid half . The school was furnished and equipped by St joseph ' s Institution and it opened on 14 January 1952 . Twenty-four years after his teaching career began there , Mr Lirn returned to the newly named De La Salle School as a senior teacher , at Brother Ignatius ' special request . He was working with Brother Thomas , the first Principal , and Brother Raphael , while the lay teachers were Bernard Fong Fook Chak , Stephen Low , Charles Carnegie , Lee Peng Chuan and Philip Lau . The teachers and boys came from SJI .
The architect of the new school was Koh Cheng Yam , who had earlier been responsible for the new Brothers ' Quarters in 1939 and alterations to S1Iafter World War IT .
The Principal wrote in the school Diary from time to time - with a nice sense of the incongruous . The following entry appears on 9 March 1953 :
' Rev . Bro . Assistant ( Lawrence ) left Singapore by air today for Rome . J . Stalin , the Russian Autocra t of unholy fame , was buried today in Moscow .' The following significant entry appears on 20 May
1953 :
' Registration for 1954 nearly completed - we could enrol three times as many as we are able to accommodate . It is the case presently all over Malaya . Hundreds of children unable to get admission to the school . Enrolment 350 . Attendance329 . At their Annual Dinner in 1950 , held in the Robinson ' s Dining Halt all the clergy , including the Bishop , attended . C . C . Tan gave the toast of ' The King ' and ' The Christian Brothers ' . Reverend Brother Director responded . RL . Eber gave the toast of ' Our Guests ', and Mr Justice F . Gordon-Smith responded . The Old Boys announced their decision , on the occasion of the Centenary of the School , to build a new Primary School as a token of gratitude and appreciation to the Christian Brothers .
In due course the Centenary arrived , and the schools celebrated it thoroughly . There were numerous events-a Solemn Mass by the pupils of the combined Brothers ' Schools , at which the Celebrant and
Pages 50-51 , Sj I Staff in 1954 . Back row , left to right , Chee Kah Ann , Anthony Chew , Poon Kay Tee ,
Francis Fong , Tan Song Chuan , Mr Aloysius , Brother joseph Kiely , Loh Siew Mok , lames Low , Eu Siak Hong . Middle row , left to right , Tan Kwang Loong , unknown , Tan Chin Moh , Brother Dermot , Mr Vincent , Tan Eng Yoon , C . [ ansen , Sng Yew Chong , Brother Albinus , Ngui jim Chiang , Leong Hong Hee , Clifford [ ames , Brother Alphonsus , Cheah Boon Hong .. E . Read , S . Holmberg ( partly concealed ), lames Tseng . Front row , left to right , G . V . San thou , C . V . J . Reutens , unknown , Freddie Reutens , Miss Soares , C . B . Arriola , Brother Christopher ( Sub-Director ), Brother lgnaiius ( Director ), F . J . Rappa , Miss Scares , Lim Choo Sye , Miss Soares , Brother Vincent , Tong Quee Yai , Frank james .
Post-war Memories 49