Dear SCIA K-12 Community,

I am very blessed and humbled to join SCIA as the new Principal, K12.  It is, indeed, a great privilege to head this Singapore-flagged premier school in Cambodia.  As such, you have my quality assurance that I will work closely with SCIA’s community to provide our students with a caring, meaningful and robust learning environment.

The 2023/2024 school year will mark my 30th year in education.  From 1994 to 1999, I was an English Language and Literature teacher as well as a boarding school tutor in my alma mater, the Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) in Singapore. In 2000, I was posted to Singapore’s HQ Ministry of Education’s Educational Programmes Division.  As part of the Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) Branch, I headed the Training Branch of Singapore’s HQ National Cadet Corps.  Concurrently, I supported Singapore’s secondary schools in key CCA areas, including the introduction of Risk-Assessment Measures as well as ‘LEAPS’,  a framework for secondary schools to better align their co-curriculum to encourage students’ holistic development in life skills, competencies and values.

From 2004 to 2022, I served Singapore’s Nanyang Family of Schools in various leadership and teaching capacities.  Besides teaching Language Arts, I mentored ASEAN and China scholars as well as coached students for the Global Scholars’ Programme and the Odyssey of the Mind.  I also conducted networking sessions with premier schools in China and the United Kingdom so as to develop the school’s Global Classroom Programme in these countries.  The highlight of my service with Nanyang was my tour of duty as the Vice-Principal, and subsequently as the Principal of Jakarta Nanyang School, a K-12 school that offered a Singapore brand of education as well as the iPSLE and Cambridge International Examinations.  

My personal belief is that every child has the potential to excel and that the partnership between home and school is crucial to achieving this goal.  As such, I am always open to exploring new ideas to meet the evolving needs of our students and staff.  I look forward to interacting with SCIA parents and community members more efficiently. Specifically, I am keen to identify specific goals in the areas of student achievement & development, school climate, and parent communication.

It is my vision that SCIA students can use their highest potential to shape their future and consequently, the future of their respective communities and nations.  As such, I am committed to advancing a culture of excellence in SCIA, while imbuing in our students a strong sense of care, commitment, and community.  

I look forward to engaging you personally as we embark on our SCIA journey together.  In the eternal words of Robert Browning, 

        “Grow old along with me!  The best is yet to be!”

Regards,

Paul Tan