BEWILDERED school kids. Puzzled parents. Confusion over expectations that don't add up. No, this isn't another controversy over exams or even that overworked lament, the stressful school system.

The subject: schools and their names. Like why Swiss Cottage Secondary School is nowhere close to its earlier location in Dunearn Road, near the Swiss Cottage Estate. It is now in far-off Bukit Batok Street 34.

Looking for Beatty Secondary School? You'd do well to start your search in Toa Payoh. Should you end up at Beatty Road, off Serangoon Road, which was home to the school, what you will find instead is the self-help group Singapore Indian Development Association (Sinda) and the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre.

That's not all. Whitley Secondary School is nowhere in Whitley Road but in Bishan and the Yio Chu Kang Secondary School is in Ang Mo Kio.

River Valley High School is another that will have parents scratching their heads. In two years, when it moves to a new site, don't go anywhere near River Valley. Think west, in terms of way over in Boon Lay, instead.

The confusion over school names that don't match their location has arisen due to schools moving for reasons such as bigger premises or making way for other developments.

The result: The unprepared might need a lesson in geography to track a school down.

And for some, this is unnecessarily testing. Fouzia, 36, a mother of twin girls, believes a school's name should change if it moves location.

While on the lookout for schools for her six-year-old daughters, Nur Haziqah and Nur Sarwizah, she found it unsettling to see how names and locations can throw a parent off.Deepika Shetty

Making the point that a school's name and location are part of its identity, she says: "I studied at Opera Estate Primary School and the immediate connect is with the Frankel area. If the name is associated with a place, it's only logical that it should change; if not, the school loses its identity."

Dad-of-three S. Vivakanandan, 45, chief executive officer of Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital, notes: "If the name carries a certain heritage, like Bartley, Beatty or Gan Eng Seng, then the names should remain. However, if there is no heritage value to the name, then schools can adopt a new name based on their new locality.

"Maybe we should move towards more generic names like Casuarina Primary in Pasir Ris, rather than street names."

Mum-of-one Jagjit Kaur, a social worker who works closely with schools, adds: "The name and image of a school takes years to build. If you change it, you have to go through the whole process of rebuilding it. It doesn't really matter where a school is located as long as it's built a solid reputation."

Whatever the case, there is no denying that confusion can arise.

Another parent, Mr John Francis, 47, sales and marketing director of Horizon Books, recalls: "I was to visit the Outram Institute some years ago and assumed it was in Outram. I confidently told the taxi driver to head to Outram and ended up getting lost.

"When we checked with people, we learnt it was in Braddell."

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