Raffles Girls' School (RGS) is an independent girls' secondary school located in
Braddell,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. Established in 1879, it is one of the oldest schools in Singapore. RGS, together with its affiliated school
Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...
, offers a six-year
Raffles Programme, which allows students to skip the
Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examinations and proceed to take the
Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level The Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (or Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level) is a GCE Advanced Level examination held annually in Singapore and is jointly conducted by the Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore Exam ...
examinations at the end of Year 6.
The school was recognised by the
Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
in 2006 by being awarded the School Excellence Award (recognising schools with 'exemplary school processes and practices'), among other awards.
It was a member of
Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia
The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (abbreviated as AGSA) is a non-profit organisation that promotes the education of girls in single-sex girls' schools, and promotes the image of, and support the development of, girls' schools in Australa ...
.
History
Before RGS became a school in its own right, it existed as a section of
Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...
(RI).
The precursor to RGS opened in the RI campus of
Bras Basah Road
Bras Basah Road () is a one-way road in Singapore in the planning areas of Museum and Downtown Core. The road starts at the junction of Orchard Road and Handy Road, at the ERP gantry towards the Central Business District, and ends at the junc ...
on 4 March 1844 with 11 students, five day-scholars and six boarders, who were clothed, fed and instructed by the RI management. The demand for education grew and in 1847, the school moved to RI's eastern wing, extending towards Bras Basah Road.
Edmund Augustus Blundell
Edmund Augustus Blundell (8 August 1804 – 12 October 1868) was a British Colonial administrator.
History
Born 8 August 1804 in Taunton, Somerset, England, the son of William Blundell & Mary Ann Horniblow. He joined East India Company as a w ...
, the Governor of the
Straits Settlement, described the school as "a female school designed for the education and religious training of the children of poor
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
parents" in 1855. In 1871, the school moved into a house, the George Family's Old Mansion at the corner of Bras Basah Road. In 1879, the school separated from RI and M. Nelson was appointed the school's first headmistress. Together with three assistants, she ran the school which had an enrolment of 77. Since then, 1879 has been officially regarded as the year of the founding of RGS.
On 21 October 2019, RGS moved from Anderson Road, where it had been located since 1959, to its new campus at
Braddell Rise, located opposite RI.
School culture and identity
Uniform
![Formal school attire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Formal_school_attire.png)
The usual school uniform is a belted, deep blue pinafore and a white collared blouse. Students customarily fold their sleeves on most shirts (except PE shirt), which also requires a colour-coded nametag (colours Black/Green (green as of 2019) Blue, Red and Yellow inherited by first-year batch to graduating batch respectively), along with the school badge, on the top left of the uniform, right below the name tag. There are also school culottes, worn with the PE shirt.
Awards and accolades
A group of four students from RGS emerged Champion at the Kids' Lit Quiz 2018, and represented Singapore in New Zealand in July that year.
Joseph Toh Kim Leng won the Teaching Award in 2016, which honours outstanding teachers of English language, English literature and General Paper in Singapore.
Jodie Lai, a 2015 Optimist World Championships Under-15 champion, was conferred the title of Best Sportsgirl for sailing at the 46th Singapore Schools Sports Council (SSSC) Colours Awards in 2016.
Veronica Shen won the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition in the Junior Category in 2019 with her poem entitled 'Lost'. Earlier, Amanda Chong also won the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition in 2004.
Notable alumnae
*
Ang Swee Chai, orthopaedic surgeon and co-founder of
Medical Aid for Palestinians
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is a British charity that offers medical services in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, and advocates for Palestinians' rights to health and dignity. It is in special consultative status with ECOSOC since 2002.
A ...
*
Kit Chan
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, singer and actress
*
Beatrice Chia, actress and director
*
Annabel Chong
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, former pornographic actress
*
Chua Sock Koong, former
SingTel group chief executive officer
*
Joanna Dong
Joanna Dong (Chinese: 董姿彦; born 15 November 1981 in Singapore) is a Singaporean singer, actress and host. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she is the first artiste signed to Singapore label, Red Roof Records.
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The only child of div ...
, singer, actress and television host
*
Faizah Jamal
Faizah binte Haji Ahmad Jamal is a Singaporean academic who served as a Nominated Member of Parliament from 2012 to 2014. She was educated at Raffles Girls' School, the National University of Singapore (Bachelor of Laws) and King's College Lond ...
, legal academic and former nominated member of parliament
*
Intan Azura Mokhtar
Intan Azura binte Mokhtar (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: اينتن ازورا بنت مختار; born 1976) is a former Singaporean politician. On 30 June 2020, Intan announced her retirement from politics to focus more on her health, her family, and her ...
, former member of parliament for
Ang Mo Kio GRC
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*
Amy Khor
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, member of parliament for
Hong Kah North SMC
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The People's Action Party (abbrevia ...
*
Stella Kon
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Biography
Kon was born i ...
, playwright best known for her play "
Emily of Emerald Hill
''Emily of Emerald Hill'' (''Emily'') is a play by Singaporean playwright Stella Kon. The play won the Singapore National Playwriting Competition in 1983.
Premise
In 1929, fourteen year old Emily arrives at Oberon Mansion, the Gan family home ...
"
*
Lee Choo Neo
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, first female medical practitioner in Singapore
*
Jane Lee, first woman from Southeast Asia to scale the
Seven Summits
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*
Lee Tzu Pheng
Anne Lee Tzu Pheng (born May 13, 1946) is a Singaporean poet. She has five volumes of poems to her name; of these, the first three, ''Prospect of a Drowning'' (1980), ''Against the Next Wave'' (1988) and ''The Brink of An Amen'' (1991) were winne ...
, award-winning poet
*
Lim Hwee Hua, first female
Cabinet
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* Filing ...
minister in Singapore
*
Corrinne May
Corrinne May (born Corrinne Foo May Ying; 19 January 1973) is a Los Angeles-based Singaporean musician, singer, and songwriter.
Life and career
She graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, and began her career as a sin ...
, singer-songwriter
*
, member of parliament for
Jalan Besar GRC
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*
Judith Prakash
Judith Evelyn Jyothi Prakash (born 19 December 1951) is a Singaporean judge in the Supreme Court. She was appointed a permanent Judge of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Singapore on 1 August 2016, the first woman to hold this post.. During her ...
, first female judge in the
Court of Appeal
*
Quah Ting Wen
Quah Ting Wen (; born 18 August 1992) is a Singaporean professional swimmer who specialises in butterfly, freestyle and individual medley events. She is currently representing DC Trident at the International Swimming League.
Education
Quah ...
, national swimmer
*
Rahayu Mahzam
Rahayu binte Mahzam ( Jawi: رحايو مهزم; born 1980) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Law concurrently since 2022. A member of the govern ...
, member of parliament for
Jurong GRC
*
Sim Ann
Sim Ann ( zh, s=沈颖, p=Shěn Yíng; born 1975) is a Singaporean politician and former civil servant who has been serving as Senior Minister of State for National Development since 2020 and Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs since ...
, member of parliament for
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC
*
Siow Lee Chin, violinist
*
Stefanie Sun
Stefanie Sun (, born 23 July 1978) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter. In 2000, she released her debut album, '' Yan Zi'', which won her a Golden Melody Award for Best New Artist. In 2004, she released her eighth studio album, '' Stefanie'', w ...
, singer-songwriter
*
Leaena Tambyah, founder of Singapore's first school for children with multiple disabilities
*
Carrie Tan
Carrie Tan Huimin ( zh, s=陈浍敏, p=Chén Huìmǐn; born 1982) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Nee Soon South division of Nee Soo ...
, member of parliament for
Nee Soon GRC
The Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the north region of Singapore. The GRC includes most of Yishun town, the private residential areas along Sembawang Road and Upper Thomso ...
*
Margaret Leng Tan
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Tan Pin Pin
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Tang Pui Wah
Tang Pui Wah (, born 11 October 1933) is a Singaporean former sprinter. She competed in the women's 100 metres and women's 80 metres hurdles at the 1952 Summer Olympics. She is the first Singaporean female athlete to compete in the Olympic Ga ...
, Singapore's first female Olympian
*
Tay Kewei
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Professional background
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, singer-songwriter and founder of Sparkle Life Music
*
Jackie Yi-Ru Ying
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Early life and career
Ying was born in Taipei in 1966. Sh ...
, nanotechnology scientist
*
Emma Yong, actress
*
Zhang Jingna, photographer and
Forbes 30 Under 30
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References
External links
*
Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...
Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) websiteRaffles Institution websiteRaffles Institution (Secondary)Raffles Institution (Junior College)Raffles Programme website
{{Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia schools, state=collapsed
Secondary schools in Singapore
Independent schools in Singapore
Schools offering Integrated Programme in Singapore
Educational institutions established in 1879
Orchard, Singapore
Girls' schools in Singapore
Schools in Central Region, Singapore
1879 establishments in Singapore