Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)

Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)
Sekolah Perempuan Raffles (Menengah) (Malay)
莱佛士女子中学 (Chinese)
இராஃபிள்ஸ் பெண்கள் பள்ளி (உயர்நிலை) (Tamil)
Address
2 Braddell Rise

Singapore
318871

Singapore
Coordinates 1.3428°N 103.8434°E / 1.3428; 103.8434
Information
Type Independent
Motto Filiae Melioris Aevi
(Daughters of a Better Age)
Established 1879
Sister school Raffles Institution
School code 3008
Chairman Judith Prakash
Principal Haslinda Zamani
Gender Girls
Enrolment 1600
Colour(s)  Green   Black   White 
Website www.rgs.edu.sg

Raffles Girls' School (RGS) is an independent girls' secondary school located in Braddell, Singapore. Established in 1879, it is one of the oldest schools in Singapore. RGS, together with its affiliated school Raffles Institution, 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 examinations at the end of Year 6.

The school was recognised by the Ministry of Education 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.

History

Before RGS became a school in its own right, it existed as a section of Raffles Institution (RI).

The precursor to RGS opened in the RI campus of Bras Basah Road 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, 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 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

Semi-formal RGS uniform with school tie
Formal school attire

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.

Students from the school have won the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition.

Notable alumnae

See also: Raffles Institution (Secondary) § Notable alumni, and Raffles Institution (Junior College) § Notable alumni