Haig Girls' School

Image Gallery

Staff Photo from the 1980s under the Tembusu Tree within the school compound.

Sketch of the façade of the old campus by alumnus – Ms Faikah Edrus from the class of 1960.

HGS was first established in a double-storey building at Jalan Tembusu in 1951.

Think! Contemporary Exhibition at Singapore Art Museum (SAM) – an annual exhibition featuring students’ artwork inspired by their museum visits was first launched in 2012 by HGS in collaboration with SAM.

School History

Haig Girls’ School (HGS) was established on 10 September 1951 at Jalan Tembusu, in a double-storey building with 200 pupils in nine classes. In 1955, seven additional classes were opened in the afternoon session to meet the increase in the student population, which had swelled to over 500 pupils. On 29 November 1999, the school relocated to its current site on Koon Seng Road, and has functioned as a single-session school since January 2000. 

The school is one of only two government girls’ primary schools in Singapore with an enrolment of more than 1,000 pupils in 32 classes. The school’s emphasis on nurturing character, leadership and creativity is a hallmark of an education at HGS that has endured over the decades. Over the years, the school’s alumni have distinguished themselves in diverse fields, and have continued to uphold the school’s motto of Ars Potens Est, or ‘Knowledge is Power in service to others, the school and the community’.

HGS has been recognised by the Ministry of Education and arts organisations for the quality of its whole-of-school approach to arts education. It was the first primary school to be accorded the National Arts Education Award’s (NAEA) Gold award by the National Arts Council in 2007, and one of two primary schools to receive the 2012 NAEA Blaze award, the highest award for arts education. The school’s strength in arts education, the vibrancy of its arts environment and strong partnerships with arts institutions were further recognised with the launch of the East Zone Centre of Excellence for Creative Arts @ Haig Girls’ School in 2012.

A prototype school for Holistic Assessment since 2010, HGS pioneered the Parent-Child-Teacher Conferencing, a distinctive platform in which the student takes the lead in communicating with her parents and teachers her learning, progress, areas of improvement and the support she would like from them. 

The school’s Applied Learning Programme, ‘Service Learning and Innovation through Integrated Project Work@HGS’, was launched in 2011 to nurture creative thinking, civic literacy, collaboration and self-directed learning. The Learning for Life Programme, ‘Character and Leadership through the Performing and Visual Arts’, was also implemented to cultivate students’ appreciation of the performing and visual arts of different cultures, develop their creative expression and integrate the arts into the curriculum.

The school underwent PERI upgrading between 2015 to 2016, and returned to its upgraded campus in 2017. The school was also recognised by Ministry of Education’s Physical Education and Sports Teacher Academy as a physical education satellite school in 2017.

Principals:
- Ms Su Kim Chu (1951–1959)
- Mrs E.D. Desker (1960–1965)
- Mrs Szto Sim Chuan (1965–1974)
- Ms Nanda Bandara (1975–1988)
- Mrs Hardip Singh (1989–1996)
- Mrs Angela Tan (1997–2002)
- Mrs Ginny Leong (2003–2009)
- Mrs Constance Loke (2010–2016)
- Ms Lo Yen Nie (2017–2023)
- Ms Marion Tay (2024-present)

Key Milestones

School Motto

Ars Potens Est – Knowledge is Power in service to others, the school and the community

School Crest

The colours in school crest are:
- White representing the purity of thoughts and ideals,
- Amber representing excellence in the field and in the class and
- Brown representing upholding our honour and zeal

School Song

First in the class and first in the field,
Strive to the last girls never yield.
Hard though the struggle, stronger our will,
Through life's test, we'll pass with zeal.
For knowledge is power, the power we wield,
It is our armour, our sword, our shield.

Chorus:
Up with the colours -brown, amber, white,
Haig Girls' School will always fight,
To keep to the one road that is right,
Uphold our honour, shining bright.

This is our school, our nation, our land,
Steadfast and firm by each we stand,
None shall challenge, none shall doubt,
Our will's strong, our hearts are stout,
For knowledge is power, the power we wield,
It is our armour, our sword, our shield.
[Chorus]