Ronald Stones OBE
Director of Schools
Ronald Stones OBE
Ronald hails from Britain, but has been resident in South-East Asia for thirty years. His entire career has been spent in education. He led three of the region’s prestigious international schools – Tanglin Trust School, British International School Jakarta and British School Manila.
He also spearheaded the development of a new paradigm in education which changed the distribution of prosperity in the developing world. Ronald has been awarded several honorary positions, including Fellowship of RSA and recognition by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II for services to education.
Eugene Low
Principal
Eugene Low
Eugene is an experienced international educator who had held various teaching and leadership positions in both Singapore and overseas schools. In his various roles, Eugene had been directly involved in school administration, student pastoral care, professional development, mentorship and appraisal of teachers, curriculum development, implementation and review, and preparing school communities for external accreditation.
For the last 14 years, Eugene actively represents Fieldwork Education and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Asia Pacific region in providing school consultancy, accreditation and teacher training services for schools in the Asia Pacific region – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China (including Macau and Hong Kong), Australia and New Zealand. After 22 years in education, Eugene remains passionate about children’s education and believes that a quality international education should be focused on developing internationally-minded, culturally-sensitive, environmentally-conscious and self-aware learners who can impact the world we live in.
In his free time, Eugene enjoys spending time with his two young sons, food, travelling, swimming, gardening, walks in nature, movies, cars, LEGO, jig-saw puzzles, design and architecture. He is fluent in Chinese and hopes to learn Japanese in the near future.
Academic Faculty
Iris Low
Year 1A Teacher
Iris Low
Iris Low is passionate about children’s education and their development of character and confidence. She believes that every child is unique and that the education experiences of a child will cast a lasting impact in their later years and therefore, requires careful attention.
Iris has a PGDE qualification, specialising in Early Childhood. In the last 6 years she was based in Hong Kong, and had the privilege to work as a class teacher with multilingual learners and in schools with different philosophies, curriculums, learning environments and cultures. Through her teaching, she aspires to instil in learners independent thinking, imagination, and building good character traits that will benefit them into the future.
Iris believes in living a well-balanced life. She derives great satisfaction by committing her time to social projects where she can help build others up and help them grow their unique identities. Travelling and creative cooking are how Iris recharges and finds inspiration.
Julie Cooper
Year 1B Teacher
Julie Cooper
Julie is an experienced UK qualified teacher. She has a BSC (Hons) in Applied Biology from Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic and a PGCE from Bradford University. Her subject specialism is science.
Julie has many years’ experience teaching across the primary age range in schools in the UK and Singapore. Her love of science and expertise in teaching science is highly valued in schools she has taught in. Whilst working at Tanglin Trust School Julie promoted the use of the grounds as an exciting science resource for young learners to explore science concepts and develop their understanding of and love for science. She is looking forward to developing the Garden to Table Project at The Grange in which the students learn essential life skills in a fun way and also learn about food education and environmentally sustainable practices and lifestyles. These are areas in education that Julie is passionate about.
She believes in creating a positive learning environment in which children are confident to “give it a go” and believe in their own ability to take on new challenges. Julie’s hobbies include a variety of arts and crafts, often taking inspiration from nature and the architectural and cultural diversity of SE Asia.
Magdalena Ackermann
Year 2 / Additional English Language Teacher
Magdalena Ackermann
Magdalena is a UK qualified teacher with a university degree in teaching obtained in London. She specialises in EAL pedagogy within the context of the curriculum. Magdalena has taught a wide rage of students from multicultural backgrounds, which helped her facilitate international-mindedness. She speaks two additional languages and owns a linguistic background in English.
Since her graduation from university, she had various opportunities to work in EAL departments in schools across London. This experience greatly enriched her specialised knowledge and pedagogy in second language acquisition. One of the areas she feels particularly captivated about is the language dominance in bilingual children, which she has researched.
In her spare time, Magdalena enjoys spending time with her son and is passionate about fundraising money for children’s hospitals.
Emi Morishige
Japanese Language Teacher
Emi Morishige
Emi is the Japanese language teacher at The Grange. She has been a relief teacher at other international schools in Singapore for over 6 years. She also teaches Japanese culture and traditional customs to students as well.
From her working experiences and experience in raising her own children, Emi has a strong motivation to teach Japanese Language to young children.
Emi has lived in Singapore for 14 years now. She has three boys who grew up in here and studied in international schools in Singapore. She is very happy to support expat families by sharing her own experience.
Emi has many interests in areas such as cooking, sowing, knitting, piano and sports. During her free time, she likes to play tennis and football!
Chen Lih Jiun
Mandarin Language Teacher
Chen Lih Jiun
Lih Jiun is an experienced educator with 6 years of Mandarin teaching experience in Singapore and Malaysia. She has also obtained the Certificate for Teachers of Chinese to Speakers of other languages (CTCSOL), a certificate recognised globally for teaching Chinese as a foreign language.
Lih Jiun has a very strong drive for excellence and is very passionate in her teaching. She believes that education must be balanced and consistent. As a teacher she often motivates her students to extend their own personnel limits.
In her free time, she enjoys practicing Chinese calligraphy, reading, swimming, and cycling. She is proficient in Mandarin, English, as well as Malay.
Serena Yeoh
PSPE / Math / Science Specialist Teacher
Serena Yeoh
Serena started her teaching career as a primary school teacher since 2008 after graduating from National Institute of Education, Singapore where she majored in Physical Education and English. Her teaching careers also included teaching at the Polytechnic with the School of Sports Health and Leisure as well as an adjunct lecturer with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
As an ex national athlete, Serena is also a rugby coach since 1998 where she coached rugby to kids age ranging from 7years old across to tertiary and adult level. As a trainer for World Rugby since 2010, she has travelled to different parts of Asia delivering coaching/ strength and conditioning courses and educator courses.
She strongly believes that through Sports and Physical Education, it nurtures and develops creativity, confidence and self- exploration in a child holistically.
Serena holds a Master of Science (Exercise Science and Sports Studies). Currently, she is pursuing a postgraduate certificate in Play therapy with Academy of Play and Child Psychotherapy. In her free time, she enjoys swimming and keeping fit in the gym whilst at the same time, reading, cooking and oil painting for its therapeutic benefits.
Slone Lim
Art Teacher
Slone Lim
Slone started Thearthaus Studio in 2013 as the Director cum Senior Art Instructor. He coordinates all the art programs, trains the teachers at the studio, and teaches and monitors the development of the students.
He is deeply passionate about implementing a quality art education that not only delivers Art knowledge and skills, but also promotes international-mindedness through awareness and understanding of cultural art, as well as develop important personal character.
Slone believes that an Art education is an integral part of education for all students and not just those who are talented in Art. He has since successfully brought his art programs to many kindergartens. Since its inception, Thearthaus Studio has trained over one thousand students from over 30 countries. Each year, many Thearthaus students are successfully accepted into SOTA and Art colleges/universities around the world.
Charis Leo
Music Teacher
Charis Leo
Charis possesses a very personable and pleasant personality and is likeable by all who know her. Beyond such traits, she is dependable and faithful to her friends and family. A big heart, helpful and generous attitude is shown towards others.
Charis is hardworking and is fully committed to the tasks given to her. She gives her best to her work, demonstrates creativity and seeks to plan her lessons with new ideas. Charis is a conscientious teacher and has received many positive comments from her colleagues and students. Charis was a Trainer at the Yamaha Music School and Kinderland Singapore. In addition, she has taught in Pei Chun Public Primary School (IT Music), Nafa Kindergarten and the Tom Lee Music School in Hong Kong.
Charis is especially good with young students as she has many years of experience working with children. Her joyful disposition and expressive nature makes her lessons interactive and engaging.
Adila Sayyed
Coding Instructor
Adila Sayyed
Adila started volunteering as a teacher’s assistant when she was 15 and has moved on to teach all sorts of fun programmes since then. In college, she and her friends ran a non-profit enrichment program where over 50 children learned about the world around them through play and having fun! Due to her involvement in the programme, Adila became a UN Sustainable Development Goal talent for Goal #4 (Quality Education) in 2017. She also started teaching Coding in primary schools during that time.
Adila co-founded VERE360, an edu-tech start-up company that builds educational tools in virtual reality to support and enhance better learning.
Adila graduated with a degree in History and Global Antiquity from the Yale-NUS College.
Zoey Tan
Learning Assistant
Zoey Tan
Zoey holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Childhood Studies and Guidance and Counselling, and has more than 6 years of teaching experience at the early years level. She have helmed key leadership appointments where she was involved in curriculum designing, lesson planning and the mentoring of new team members.
Zoey is an enthusiastic and passionate teacher who loves working with young children and is committed to meeting the learning needs of every one of them. She strives to provide children with a positive and supportive environment in which they can thrive.
Her philosophy of education is that all children are unique and must be given the right, stimulating educational conditions where they can grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.
In her free time, she enjoys running, cycling, keeping fit, reading, baking, cooking and movies. She is proficient in Mandarin, English as well as Cantonese.
Desmond Kwan
Head of Marketing & Business Development
Desmond Kwan
Desmond has worked in the education sector for the past 4 years. His experience includes managing operational aspects of the school, leading the marketing team and overseeing expansion in the region.
Desmond had worked in the hospitality sector for 8 years prior to joining education, and he remains passionate towards meeting different people and getting to learn about different cultures. His previous experience in leading youth camps and inspiring youths to excel can come in handy in this school community.
Desmond loves to travel the world to see new places and try new food. In his free time, he loves to attempt to recreate dishes he has tried in restaurants around the world.
Sharon Khoo
Administrative & Support Assistant Manager
Sharon Khoo
Sharon comes from Malaysia. In 2007 she moved to Shanghai where she lived for 9 years and worked at the ELFA Preschool Shanghai (part of the Crestar Education Group). She later moved to Singapore to work with Kinderland. She has been a part of The Grange since its conception stage.
Sharon is a passionate person who loves her colleagues and children dearly. She believes that maintaining a good rapport with others is very important in a working environment and that every child is unique in his/her own special way.
During the weekends, Sharon teaches Catechism class to youths conducts the church choir. She loves singing, playing the piano and going to the theatre. During her free time, she usually goes for a walk and occasionally plays badminton.
Melanie Rappa
Admissions & Administrative Executive
Melanie Rappa
After graduating from hotel school, Melanie worked in the hotel industry for 16 years in various positions from Operations to Convention Services to managing the Catering department. Her experience involved extensive customer service, management and communications.
The next 16 years was dedicated to raising her 3 sons. During that time, Melanie and her family lived overseas for five years in Sydney and Shanghai because of her husband’s job posting.
Having completed a certificate of Professional Practice in Phonics in 2018, Melanie is pursuing a second career in education. She enjoys working at The Grange as a learning assistant working with the teachers and students.
Joie Chua
Marketing Coordinator
Joie Chua
Joie is a bubbly and outgoing person who is passionate about meeting new people. She has worked in the advertising and media industry and her experiences include leading a marketing team, and events and social media management.
Joie grew up in a big family surrounded with many children. She enjoys reading and playing with her little nieces and nephews, and is always amazed by how imaginative young minds can be.
An animal lover, Joie has a bird and 2 dogs and used to have pet hamsters, terrapins, red-eyed rats and fishes. In her free time, Joie enjoys bicycle rides with her dogs or assists her partner in photographing owners and their dogs. Joie is a dog whisperer as dogs listen very well to her. She also loves to experiment with food for both human and dogs. Her goal is to be able to go on road trips in Japan with her partner and her dogs.
Alika Ho
Chief Sustainable Garderner
Alika Ho
Alika is the Sustainable Gardener of Crestar Education Group based at The Grange. He cultivates edible plants using natural and regenerative methods and in the process, cultivates the human bean. His aspiration is to manage a biodiverse, regenerative and resilient farm in Singapore.
For the past 2 years, he has been designing, building and managing edible gardens throughout Singapore, with a focus clientele of schools. He enjoys facilitating students’ learning and play in natural outdoor settings, where they can get their hands dirty and be in touch with nature.
At home, Alika hoards seeds or heirloom edibles and takes care of 3 egg laying hens.
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