Spotlight on Clare Anderson-Au, Assistant Headteacher, Senior School
Whilst in Hong Kong, Clare was selected to be a member of the country’s national Dragon Boat Team and has paddled in competitions all over the world, including in Hawaii, Australia and Asia. A natural sportswoman, Clare also played for the Hong Kong Football Club. So far, her time in Singapore has been spent getting to grips with a new job, a new school and making sure her family is settled. However, she has enjoyed some of the great trail running in Singapore and has started cycling. When asked about her role at Tanglin, Clare said, “I am looking forward to really getting to know the students. I want to find out what makes them tick and how they fit into the community here. They were a little reticent at first but are gradually becoming more chatty.”
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Clare Anderson-Au joined Tanglin in August this year as Assistant Headteacher in the Senior School with responsibility for care, guidance and support for students in Years 7 to 10. Clare has been teaching for 17 years in total, the last 13 of which have been for the English Schools Foundation in Hong Kong. Originally from the North-east of England, she left the UK in search of adventure and new experiences.
A highlight of Term 1 for Clare was seeing the whole school come together for Our World Day which she thought was “a fantastic experience for everyone involved.” Clare is a strong believer in team building and sees opportunities to develop this through the Senior School house system. She is also excited about going on some of the Outdoor Education Programmes.
Clare has two children, a son who is 18 months old and a daughter in Reception at Tanglin. She met her husband, Andrew, during her Dragon Boating times; he was also a member of the team. Andrew is Hong Kong Chinese so Clare is having the fascinating experience of being part of a dual culture family.
Sibling Support Tanglin is a family orientated school and we typically think of this in the context of student siblings. However, we also have several sets of siblings working in our Operations Department. Housekeeping Assistants Low Mei Chan and Low Fong Chan enjoy working in the same team. Fong Chan tells us, “I started working here in 2009. It’s a good place to work and when a vacancy came up, I encouraged my sister to apply.” James Lee and Lee Chan Tuck work as facilities technicians and enjoy sharing the experience of work, learning from each other and having lunch together! Finally, you may see a family resemblance between brother Osa Adnan, who is in the Operations Support Team, and sister Ha Asinah in the Housekeeping Team!