LINKS
HERITAGE: THE QUEST LEGACY
 
THE FIRST SCHOOL CREST
 
The Careers Club was an ECA from1970 to 1977. The main aim of the club was to provide information on careers to members and arouse pupils' interest in the careful choice of careers. In 1975, the club held a Careers Exhibition "Tomorrow Today" in the school. The club became the Career and Guidance Club in 1979 and 1980
 
 
Past Principals
  • (1956 - 1958 ) Mr EJ Doraisamy
  • Mr Chan Chieu Kiat
  • Mr RT Tambyah
  • Mr Lee Chong Kee
  • Mr Ng So Boon
  • Mr Wong Chong Heng
  • Miss Priscilla Ng Chey Keng
  • Mrs Goh Soo Geem
  • Mrs Mariam Chia Siew Yong

 
4 QUEST DECADES
  1956 ~ 1966
  1978 ~ 1998
   
   
  1967 ~ 1977
  1989 ~ 1999
   
   
FIRST TEN YEARS (1956~1966)
1956
About 264 pupils of Queenstown Secondary Technical School and Tanjong Katong Secondary Technical School weretemporarily based in Jalan Eunos School (then Kallang West School), pending the completion of the respective buildings. the school was a technical school only in name. It was not until 1959 that workshops were equipped and Technical courses began in real earnest from 1961. Towards the end of 1956, pupils were shifted to Tanjong Katong Secondary Technical School. In December 1956, Mr Edwin J Doraisamy was appointed the first Principal of Queenstown Secondary Technical School.
1957
On 14 January 1957, Queenstown Secondary Technical School was completed and officially opened. The pupils and staff at Tanjong Katong Secondary Technical School, who had chosen to move to Queenstown, occupied the new buildings, consisting of three main blocks.
The 'A' Block, a two-storey building, housed 7 classes and 2 science laboratories, a library, an office and a staff room. The 'B' Block had 2 classes, a tuckshop, a recreational hall and an assembly hall for 500 pupils. The 'A' Block was linked to the 'B' Block by verandahs, with the pupils' toilet between them. On the left between the two blocks was the bicycle shed. The workshops for Woodwork and Metalwork were in 'C' Block.
The School started with only 116 pupils in 3 Secondary Two classes (them called Form 111) and 6 Secondary One classes (Form 11) with 227 pupils.
There were 15 teachers in the staff. As the full complement of staff, facilities and workshops for teaching Technical subjects was not available, pupils were taught the normal school subjects, except for Geometrical Drawing which was introduced on a limited scale. School activities started quickly with Mr R.S. Anderton, Adviser, Technical Education, Ministry of Education, meeting the staff on 17 January. In the same month, a prefect system was emplaced and the Prefects Installation Ceremony was carried out on 8 February.
The first two Clubs formed were the Chess Club (1 March) and the Art and Crafts Club (6 March), followed by the Geographical Society (20 March), the General and Class Libraries (6 May), School Cadet Corps (9 July), Science Society (16 September) and the Life-Saving Clinic (12 October).
Sports was not forgotten. On 27 February, Mr Bob Miller, a well-known U. S. Coach and Olympic Athlete addressed the School Assembly. The school adopted the House System and the first Annual Athletic Sports Meet was on 28 June. The school also participated in the Quadrangular Athletic Meet at Outram School on 12 July, the Raffles Institution Swimming Carnival on 2 August and the Sexangular Athletic Meet on the School grounds on 7 August. Other games introduced to the school were football, table tennis, badminton and hockey. The School had also visits from Mr V. Ambiavagar, Deputy Secretary 'A', Mr D. McLellan, Director of Education and Major S. C. Thong M.B.E,
Senior Inspector of English Schools.
1958
The School absorbed 2 Form I1 classes of the Dunearn Secondary Technical School that were functioning in our premises in 1957, while another 4 Form I1 classes also of Dunearn Secondary Technical School startedfunctioning in our school, first in the morning and then in the afternoon, with the commencement of the second term.
1959
On 2 January, Mr E.J. Doraisamy, the principal, passed away at the age of 37, after having been ill since the latter part of 1957. Mr Chan Chieu Kiat became the school's second principal.
The school for the first time presented 92 candidates for the General Certificate of Education Examinations conducted by the London Associated Examination Board. The technical subject offered by them was Geometrical Drawing. Facilities for teaching Technical subjects were sorely lacking, but with the arrival of machinery and other technical equipment in 1959, the bare workshops were steadily equipped.
1960
The school became known as Queenstown Secondary School. In the middle of the year, some of the 21 classes were transferred to the afternoon session, so that 'C' Block could be converted to Woodwork and Metalwork classes. Three classrooms in 'B' Block gave way to a Wood-workshop. In August, limited courses were started with the assistance of part-time technical teachers who were in Woodwork & Metalwork undergoing training at the Singapore Polytechnic. With these changes the school began to operate two sessions with an enrolment of about 850. However, facilities were far from satisfactory as there were insufficient lathes and workshop benches. At the end of the year, the school fielded 164 candidates for the General Certificate of Examination conducted by the London Associated Examination
Board.
1961
At the beginning of the year, Mr Chan Chieu Kiat the Principal left for the Ministry of Education. The vacuum was filled by Mr P. Ratnasabapathy who was succeeded by Mr Richard T. Tambyah in April. Mr Andrew Ng Lian Timm acted as the Principal from August to December when Mr Tambyah was away at Queensway Secondary School. Pupils who took the 1961 Associated Examining Board Examination were able to offer two Technical subjects, namely Woodwork and Technical Drawing. Night classes were conducted in the school for the first time, and they continue to this day. In conjunction with the 1961 Commonwealth Technical Training Week (3 1 July to 4 August), the school for the first time staged a five-day, sevenhour-
a-day exhibition. It was the combined effort of the Science laboratories, the workshops, Clubs and Societies, including the Army and Sea Cadet Corps.
The Exhibition also featured talks by Mr Chan Chieu Kiat from the Ministry of Education, Mr P. Johnson of the Singapore Polytechnic and Mr D. Garside from UNESCO.
The School also participated in the Technical Training Week exhibition open to all schools at the Victoria Memorial Hall, carrying off first prizes for Metalwork and three 'Highly commended' titles.
1962
On 2 June. the school's L.D.D.S. successfullv held the 1962 Talentime Contest in conjunction with the National Dav Celebrations.
The school was honoured by the visit of His ~xcell&cy, the Yang Di Pertuan Negara (Head of state), Inche Yusof Bin Ishak, together k t h the Minister for Education, Parliamentary Secretary and his Permanent Secretary.
In the recruitment of prefects, the election method was tried in place of staff recommendations. Detention Classes were held for light offenders.
The winner of the Tan Jiak Kim Scholarship for 1962 was Lim Soon Heng.
1963
Improvements to the School Buildings were completed. The addition of 4 new classrooms enabled the school to have a proper library and reading room because the reading room was used as a classroom due to insufficient rooms. Two spacious and well-equipped Science laboratories were also added.
Recruitment of prefects by election was found unsuitable and the old method of staff recommendations was re-adopted. Serious offenders were now delt with by a Disciplinary Board.
Lee Yock Suan won the Tan Jiak Kim Scholarship in 1963. Han Cheng Fong and Wong Kwei Cheong won State Scholarships.
1964
The chool has the word "technical" in its name again. Workshops were fully equipped to cope with the requirements of the Cambridge Examination.
Steps wer taken to enable abler pupils to do more specialised work with the introduction of Engineering workshop Practice and later Building Construction.
To publicis and familiarise the public with what the technical schools were capable of doing, a Science and Technical Exhibition was held. Mr Ong Pang Boon, the Minister of Education, was the Guest-of-Honour for the Speech and Prize Giving Day. Ang Hock Chye who scored 4 distinctions in the 1963 HSC Examination was the first Queenstownian to be awarded the Yang di-Pertuan Negara Scholarship, now known as the President's Scholarship.
Roland Wee Beng Sing was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship.
1965
Work began on a $600,000 extension of the school. The extension programme included the 'D' Block, with 16 classrooms, a large hall cum tuckshop and a block of 4 Science laboratories.
A Pre-university Science class was started to meet the new requirement of entry into degree courses at the Polytechnic. 38 pupils pursued a course in General Paper, Pure and Applied Mathemetics, Chemistry and Physics.
Prior to that, Secondary Four pupils had to do their Pre-University courses at Raffles Institution, Victoria, Beatty or Gan Eng Seng Secondary Schools.
1966
Lee Yock Suan was awarded the President's Scholarship.
On 17 February, Lee Pan Hon, a fellow Queenstownian and Singapore's most gifted boy violinist, who had left school for musical studies in England, returned to give a recital in the School Hall.
Former Queenstownians showed their loyalty to the school when they gathered and registered the Queenstown Secondary Technical Old Students' Association on 25 June.
For the first time, Senior Prefects turned out in blazers for special functions and the practice of all a.m. prefects wearing ties daily was initiated.