Qihua Primary School 启化小学 (Formerly Kay Wah School 公立启化学校)

1938 - 1988; 1988 - Present

History 
The school name Qihua Primary School is the hanyu pinyin name of Kay Wah School, founded in 1938 by a group of warm hearted pioneer educators led by Mr Neo Tiew the Headman of Ama Keng village. In Chinese, Qihua means ‘the opening of minds to receive education’.

There were no schools in Lim Chu Kang in the 1930s, with the exception of a few study centres. Mr Neo Tiew, the headman of Ama Keng Village and Mr Lim Kim Hoon, a Principal from China, together with a group of caring and far-sighted community leaders, began the challenging task of merging all the study centres together to for Kay Wah School. It was then a Chinese medium school with an enrolment of about 200 pupils. It was briefly closed during the Japanese Occupation but re-opened after World War II with an enrolment of 2000 pupils in its 3 branches.

The school’s 3 branches were Kay Wah Main at Tong Hoe Village for upper primary levels, Kay Wah Branch I at Ama Keng Village and Kay Wah Branch II at Nam Hoe Village for lower primary levels, run by 3 Principals: Mr Ong Hang Tin, Mr Choo Phie Ching and Mr Chen Chek Sen respectively to cater to the rising educational needs of the farming community. In 1976, the school was officially declared a government school by Mr Tang See Chim, then Member of Parliament.

In 1980 the school adopted English as its medium of instruction. When the farming community in Lim Chu Kang was resettled to set aside the area for military purposes, the school’s 3 branches merged into one and shifted to its current address in Woodlands and was renamed Qihua Primary School.

Kay Wah School School Song 

 公立启化学校校歌  

Kay Wah School School Motto

 公立启化学校校训

Qihua Primary School School Song 

 启化小学校歌  

References: 

http://www.qihuapri.moe.edu.sg/index.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/115321390582/

启化第一分校扩建校舍落成典礼纪念特刊 1976