Dalat International School (GPS: 5.46661, 100.28982) is an international school in Tanjung Bungah, Penang. It follows the American syllabus for children from preschool up to grade 12. The school presently has an enrollment of 420 students from 25 different countries. The school is located at Sandycroft, the former R & R centre for the British military in Tanjung Bungah.
Original known as Dalat School, it was founded in 1929 to provide North American elementary and high school education for the children of missionaries from the Christian and Missianary Alliance (C & MA). It was set up in the town of Dalat, in Vietnam, from which it got its name. Housed in a building called Villa Alliance, the school provided education to children of missionaries.
During the Second World War, the missionaries and their children were placed under house arrest for three months before being transferred to a Japanese internment capt in My Tho, south of Ho Chi Minh City. Despite the hardship endured, classes were being conducted. After the war, the school returned to their premises at Villa Alliance, amidst a souring political climate in Vietnam.
One fateful day in 1965 - 16 April to be exact - the US Embassy in Saigon notified administrators of Dalat School that they could no longer guarantee their safety. The missionaries and their families had just 48 hours to evacuate. Four C-123 US military planes relocated the entire student body, and some 11 tons of belongings, to Bangkok, Thailand.
What followed was a hellish eight-month sojourn at the American Club in Bangkok. During that time, the school had to make do with wanting premises and crammed living quarters.
The news that Dalat School was moving out of the American Club was greeted with much joy. The new premises was at Tanah Rata in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. It was not Dalat, but it was much better than the previous location in Bangkok. Here, the children and teachers have the opportunity to go climbing and jungle trekking - not without incident, however, as a teacher once took a wrong turn, and got lost in the jungle for three whole days.
The withdrawal of the British from Malaya meant that basic necessities that the school had come to rely on were slowly being closed down. That, even as the number of students continued to increase. Hence the administrators were forced to search for a new location once again.
By chance they stumbled upon the British military recreational centre of Sandycroft. However the possibility of securing it appeared bleek, as others were ahead of them in wanting to lease the place. Their prayers must have been answered, for six years to the day, from when they departed Dalat, the administrators signed the lease for Sandycroft.
First day at school in Penang was 31 August, 1971, with an enrolment of 214 students.
It is now coming to thirty years that Dalat School has been in Penang. During that time, it has grown, while at the same time, saw the landscape around it evolve with the sprouting of beach hotels and luxury condominiums.
Getting there
The nearest bus stop is near Dalat International School. It is served by Rapid Penang bus 101, 102 and 103.
If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.
Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang
Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.
Adakah anda mempunyai hartanah untuk dijual atau disewakan? Adakah anda ingin membeli atau menyewa hartanah? Hubungi saya. WhatsApp saya (Timothy Tye) di 012 429 9844, dan saya akan menugaskan salah seorang ejen hartanah saya untuk berkhidmat kepada anda. Saya akan pilih ejen untuk anda, mengikut keperluan hartanah anda. Oleh itu, apabila anda menghantar mesej kepada saya, berikan saya beberapa butiran tentang apa yang anda perlukan, sama ada untuk menjual, untuk membeli, untuk disewakan atau untuk disewakan, dan jenis hartanah apakah itu kondo, pangsapuri, rumah, kedai, pejabat atau tanah.
Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.
Disclaimer
Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.
Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.