Exploring the Unexplored - Westlake Secondary School

Exploring the Unexplored (Part 1): Westlake Secondary School

Coordinates: 1.343451N, 103.844482E MRN: 2940 3620 Description: Abandoned School (2005)

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Braddell-Westlake Secondary School was the result of a merger between Braddell Secondary School and Westlake Secondary School in 2000 in order to boost falling enrolment. Located along Braddell Road, it occupied the former premises of its component schools, and had the distinction of being one of the few secondary schools in Singapore to occupy two separate campuses. 

~Wikipedia (Braddell-Westlake Secondary School)

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Description.

Braddell-Westlake Secondary school is an abandoned school located on the North-Eastern end of Toa Payoh, just south of Braddell Road.  Abandoned in 2005, the building has been mostly untouched and is currently state-owned.  The premises are free for visitors to enter, but entry into the building itself requires you to climb over fences, which shouldn't be difficult given the fact that most of the place is quite run down.  

The main school building generally comprises of 3 distinct buildings, 2 of which belong to 1 campus which was formerly Westlake Primary School and another which formerly belonged to Braddell Secondary school, before both campuses merged to form Braddell-Westlake Secondary school.  The distinction can be seen in the quality of the buildings, 1 campus is significantly more worn down than the other as it was much older, and the design of the two buildings are drastically different.  

(a much more detailed overview of the place's history can be found here.)

Currently, the site is scheduled for renovation and will likely be inhabited by Raffles Girls' School in 2018, a logical location given its proximity to Raffles Institution.  This fact seemed to excite many RI students until they realised that they will be JC students by 2018 so there wouldn't be much difference. (hmm, yeah)

Despite the extremely prominent location of the building in a very populated region of Singapore (contrary to the ulu places like Changi Hospital and Mandai, etc which we might explore in future write ups), the building was really not populated when I visited it.  There was only someone taking a walk with their dog in there as well as a group of people (probably security guards) at the entrance of one of the buildings.  Besides that, the premises and interior of the buildings were unoccupied as far as I could see.

Getting there.

There are two ways to get there:

1. By Braddell Road: Walk along the southern side of Braddell Road, and at 1.343759N, 103.844492E, there should be an entrance to the school building which says "State Land: Enter at your own risk".  You should be able to enter the school from there. 
2. By Braddell Vista (Lor 1 Toa Payoh): Along Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, turn left into a HDB precinct of flats (I'm not too sure, but I think it was called "Braddell Vista") After that, head straight down the road that runs along the East perimeter of the school, before reaching the gate at the end.  Turn left and you should be in there already.

 

Inside the building...

Currently I have only explored one of the buildings, the one circled in red here, mostly because it was the easiest to gain entry to, and I didn't have much time to explore the rest after this.  (I probably would try to explore the rest one of these days and write an update post XD )



Based on the description, this is likely to be the older campus of the building.  The interior seems quite worn down, which is the effects of 10 years of abandonment.

To get into the building, enter via the left-most corner of the building (the top-left corner indicated by the green arrow).  There, you would see a conjunction of two fences overgrown with a thick vegetation.  The intersection of the barbed wire fence, part of it has been cut, and the metal fence makes it possible for one to climb in with relative ease, the only impediment being a large dead branch lying at the foot of the fences (which I endeavor to remove with the aid of a knife in due time).  


The barbed wire fence/metal fence intersection that you can climb in from.

Once you enter the building, you would have to ascend a small flight of stairs to first get into the interior of the school hall.


Corridor with wash-basins, reminiscent of many primary schools. Rather surprising that these would be found outside a school hall instead of the canteen!

Once you reached the interior of the hall, you would be able to access a small series of rooms on the second floor of the compound located at the back. 


How many school halls have such colourful decorations?


Many "inspiring quotes" around the school... some of which are more frightening than inspiring... Don't want to spoil too many for you!

After you exit the hall and enter the school courtyard, a short ascent of stairs would take you to the classrooms.  These classrooms must have definitely been really old, evidenced by the fact that the walls are covered with chalkboards instead of whiteboards.  Although most of the chalkboards are covered with graffiti, I saw one of them which still had the date "15 November 2001" printed on it.  Given that the school was abandoned in 2005, I wonder whether this was the doing of someone after the abandonment, or perhaps this room remained untouched for 15 years?  The thought of it is quite intriguing.


Interesting relics of the past...


At the top floor, you can go into the boys toilet where there would be a ladder to the roof of the building.


Ladder to the roof.


"pump room" in the roof.


View from the top!

So with that I concluded my first day of exploration.  I would probably try to uncover what lies within the compounds of the other buildings, but that is for a later date.