School Bell is a collection of news excerpts from past issues of the Victorian and the Seladang.



...80 YEARS AGO


1924

The official opening of the School Parliament took place on 18th February at 6.45 p.m. Various members of the school assembled in the school hall in the manner of the British House of Commons. The Headmaster, Mr Sidney, who was the president called upon each member of the House of representatives to take an oath jointly which ran as follows: "I promise to do my best for the boys whom I represent - and in all things to uphold the honour of the school." The school captain was called upon to propose a speaker for the House. He proposed Teh Yok See and the motion was seconded by Mohamed Sulong. Teh Yok See then took his seat beside the headmaster. At the conclusion, the Headmaster thanked all who were present and said that the Chief Secretary to the Government, Sir William George Maxwell, was very pleased with this idea of a School Parliament.

On 6th April, 1924, the first anniversay of the creation of the school prefects, the Headmaster invited the prefects to a dinner at his house. Mr. E.W.N. Wyatt, the Chairman of the Trustees, was present as a guest of Honour.

The school now numbers over 1,000 boys and we have had to take over the gymnasim for two classrooms. The gymnasium has recently been done up and now makes two very excellent classrooms with a moveable partition dividing them. Meanwhile, the assembly hall has been furnished with chairs and an experiment is being made in taking groups of classes there in senior subjects.

An attempt is being made to enlarge the playing field to its greatest extent, and Mr. Carr has been superintending operations which will make it possible to have a really big cricket field with proper boundaries. Next football season there will be a junior football field extending from the infant school towards Jalan Sekolah, and a house football field extending from the High School across the ground; while the full length field from High Street to the Headmaster's bungalow will be reserved for school matches. The only person who suffers under this arrangement is the Headmaster who has to sacrifice his private drive.

Next year we shall really hope to begin the teaching of science, and the question of languages is receiving very serious attention, though it has only been possible to do them on Saturday mornings.

Gardening seems to have started in earnest and there has been considerable tidying up of the school grounds in consequence.

The School Orchestra is busy practising for the school plays next year. There is a new orchestra of beginners being trained. Henry IV Part I is to be the Shakespeare play next year, and already we are getting well ahead with its rehearsals.


...70 YEARS AGO


1934

Not available.
...60 YEARS AGO


1944

Not published. War time.
...50 YEARS AGO


1954

The students of Forms Five and Six elected eight new prefects. The VI Prefects Board now stands at twenty.

On February 1st, Federation Day, the school listened to a school broadcast by Dato Sir Onn bin Ja'afar.

On Feb 25th to 27th, the Society of Drama presented two one-act plays "Pot of Gold" and "Magic in the Mirror" in our School Hall.

The Deputy High Commissioner, Sir Donald MacGillivray, visited the school on March 25th. The following day the school took part in a farewell concert given to Sir Gerald Templer, the British High Commissioner. The school lined up along Birch Road and the Airport Road to bid farewell to Sir Gerald on April 5th.

On 14th May, the headmaster, Mr G.P. Dartford left us on long leave. We welcome Mr. A. Atkinson as our new headmaster.

On Empire day, May 24th, Che Yaacob Latiff, an Old Boy, addressed the school and read us the Empire day message.

On 10th July the VIOBA organised a dance in the School Hall to celebrate the school's Diamond Jubilee. A week later the Prefects' Board held their Diamond Jubilee Ball in the Hall as well. A cake, shaped like the school and baked by the wife of Mr. A.L. Foenander, was cut by the headmaster, Mr. Atkinson.

The Diamond Jubilee week began on 25th July with a swimming gala held at the swimming pool. The gala was repeated the following day while a junior oratorical contest was held. Two days later the senior oratorical contest was held. The school cricket team met the staff in a friendly match on the school grounds on July 29th.

On July 30th the foundation stone f the VIOBA building was laid by the Sultan of Selangor. Prizes were presented to those who had done well on the academic side as well as in sports. An exhibition of school work was also held till late at night.

On 17th September, five new prefects received their badges after election. Lee Mun Thong was appointed School Captain and Sung Wing Choon, Vice Captain.

20th September. We welcomed Mr. A. Saunderson to our Science Staff.

21st-22nd Oct. The Selangor Combined Boys' Schools Aquatic Sports were held at the swimming pool.

5th-6th November. The school Annual Aquatic Sports were held.


...40 YEARS AGO


1964

We bid farewell to two of our teachers, Messrs T. Ramachandran and Patrick Ng. Mr Ramachandran who is now headmaster of Kishan Dial School has taught at the VI since 1948 and is regarded by those who who passed under him as a school master without peer. Mr. Patrick Ng, too, was popular with his pupils. He is a well-known Malaysian artist.

14th - 17th January. The inter-Sixth games between lower Sixth and Upper Sixth were held.

February 6-7. In a series of 3 games played at Kuala Kangsar, VI trounced their opponents in every one of them. On the evening of the 6th, the VI cagers beat their opponents 44-28. On the afternoon of the next day the school Under-15 footballers played a curtain raiser to the Laksamana Cup and won handsomely with a score of 6-3. Then their seniors came on and in a hard fought match, succeeded in winning 1-0. This was the first time the Laksamana Cup had been won on the opponents' ground.

4th to 29th February. The Inter-Sixth form games between V.I., S.J.I. and M.B.S. for the Dato Rajasooria Shield were held. The winner was the V.I.

17th to 21st March. The staging at the Town Hall of the Society of Drama's "the Merry Wives of Windsor".

3rd April. The Formation of the Arts Union. This is a fusing of Historical, Economics and Geographical and the Senior Literary and Debating Societies. The first Chairman was Narayanan while the Vice-Chairman was R. Thillainathan and the Secretary was Cheong Kim Sang. Membership would be compulsory for all Fifth and Sixth Form Arts students.

15th April. The Annual Speech day and Concert.

15th to 17th April. Exhibition by the Arts and Science students.

6th May. Departure of the headmaster, Mr. A.D. Baker, for England. When he first joined the VI in 1962, he had, at thirty-three, been the youngest headmaster ever of the school. In his farewell message he reminded Victorians to be loyal both to the school and to the new nation of Malaysia.

24th May. The whole school attended the inauguration of the National Language Month.

28th May. The school attended a tribute rally for the late Mr. Nehru, Prime Minister of India.

1st June. Polling Day for the Mock Elections.

4th June. Inauguration of the Third Charity Campaign by the Mentri Besar of Selangor, Enche Harun bin Idris.

13th June. The 62nd Annual Athletic Sports.

15th June. Mr. V. Murugasu became the first Asian headmaster of the V.I.

26th June. A special assembly was held in memory of the late Dato Loke Wan Tho. Speeches were made by the Headmaster, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and Mr. Ng Seo Buck.

5th July. The funeral of Dato and Datin Loke Wan Tho attended by the Headmaster, members of the Board of Governors, Old Boys, the Prefects Board and the School Cadet Corps.

10th July. Badri Masri, Nah Seang Hoo and Foo Yeow Leong were inducted as Club 21 members.

17th to 29th July. Form Five Trial Examinations and Sixth Form Entrance Examinations.

28th August. In the inter-school debate between V.I. and the King George V School of Seremban, V.I. emerged as winners.

The VI Rugger XV lost to the Malay College 6-10, enabling MCKK to be the first holders of the Sultan of Selangor Trophy. In an earlier match the VI Under-15 team raced to a runaway 27-0 victory over the Collegians.

For the sixth year running, VI's rugger team won the Lewis Trophy, beating the Technical Institute 21-8.

16th October. Temporary prefects took over the duties of the prefects who were preparing for their examinations. The temporary head boy was Chan Khok Hee.

26th to 29th October. The L.C.E. Examinations were conducted in the School Hall.

19th November to 4th December. The Cambridge Oversea School Certificate and Higher School Certificate Examinations.


...30 YEARS AGO


1974

Not published in The Victorian.



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Created on 20 December 2002.
Last updated on 1 January 2004.


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