华文名：杨厝港小学

History

Yio Chu Kang Primary School was built under the colonial government’s ten-year plan in October 1950. It began as a single block of 14 classrooms with a principal’s office and a staff room. There were initially 11 classes. In 1952, the classes expanded to 26, functioning in two sessions. With the completion of the school field in 1953, the first Annual Sports Meet was held the following year.

A new four-storey block, assembly hall, staff room and canteen were completed in October 1968. The extension was officially declared open on 8 April 1969. In July 1969, a central library was built. In July 1970, Mr S. Ratnagopal, the school’s fourth principal, wrote the lyrics of the school song. The music was composed by Ms Janet Chee, who was then the music teacher. A change in the girls’ uniform was also made – the blouse and pinafore were replaced with a blouse and skirt.

From 1969 to 1975, the school converted into an integrated primary school, admitting students taking Chinese as the first language of instruction. In 1976, Yio Chu Kang Primary School became an English-medium school as the intake for the Chinese stream had become very small. Numerous facilities such as the central library, dental clinic, resource room, theatrette, music room, Tamil language room, conference/lounge, staff room and general office were built by 1982.

In May 1999, the school relocated to 1 Hougang Street 51. The new school building had three blocks occupying 1.86 hectares of land, equipped with the latest facilities of the time. PERI upgrading and the building of the indoor sports hall were completed in 2014.