24/08/2026
Sharing the heart behind the Kim Gek Archives themes: Discover. Remember. Celebrate.
DISCOVERING
Building an archive for generations to come
By Sharon Su
Much of SCGS’s history is held not in documents, but in the memories of a handful of senior teachers, staff and principals. They remember the people, the stories and, importantly, the thinking behind decisions that shaped the school we know today.
Without proper archiving, that collective memory can quietly disappear.
So we have begun gathering and consolidating photographs, publications, recordings, artefacts and anecdotes from across the SCGS community — preserving them, organising them and, over time, digitising older materials so they can be found and understood by future generations.
Mrs Florence Phuah has been invaluable in this work. As a former student, teacher and Vice-Principal, she can look at an old photograph and not only identify the people in it, but tell us the story behind it.
Anyone can scan a photograph. It takes someone like Mrs Phuah to look at one and know everybody in it.
And sometimes, discovering our history means realising it was right under our noses all along. While seeking help from the National Heritage Board, we discovered that the school still held copies of its 1908 Memorandum of Association, naming Lim Boon Keng and Song Ong Siang among its members and setting out the desire to promote the education of Chinese girls in Singapore.
There is much more still to uncover.
If you have photographs, programmes, uniforms, letters, recordings or memories tucked away somewhere, come talk to us on the 29th.
