Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2017) |
| Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
 | |
2 Braddell Rise 318871[2] | |
| Coordinates | 1°20′34″N 103°50′36″E / 1.3428°N 103.8434°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent |
| Motto | Filiae Melioris Aevi[1] (Daughters of a Better Age) |
| Established | 1879[1] |
| Sister school | Raffles Institution |
| School code | 3008 |
| Chairman | Judith Prakash[3] |
| Principal | Haslinda Zamani |
| Gender | Girls |
| Enrolment | 1600[4] |
| Colour(s) | Green Black White |
| Website | www |
Raffles Girls' School (RGS) is an independent girls' secondary school located in Braddell, Singapore.[5] 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,[6] 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.[7]
It was a member of Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia.[8]
History
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2018) |
Before RGS became a school in its own right, it existed as a section of Raffles Institution (RI).[9]
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.[10] 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.[11]
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.[4]
School culture and identity
Uniform
The usual school uniform is a belted, deep blue pinafore and a white collared blouse.[12] 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.[13]
Joseph Toh Kim Leng won the Teaching Award in 2016, which honours outstanding teachers of English language, English literature and General Paper in Singapore.[14]
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.[15]
Veronica Shen won the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition in the Junior Category in 2019 with her poem entitled 'Lost'.[16][17] Earlier, Amanda Chong also won the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition in 2004.[18]
Notable alumnae
- Ang Swee Chai, orthopaedic surgeon and co-founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians[19]
- Kit Chan, singer and actress
- Beatrice Chia, actress and director
- Annabel Chong, former pornographic actress
- Chua Sock Koong, former SingTel group chief executive officer[20]
- Joanna Dong, singer, actress and television host
- Faizah Jamal, legal academic and former nominated member of parliament
- Intan Azura Mokhtar, former member of parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC
- Amy Khor, member of parliament for Hong Kah North SMC[21]
- Stella Kon, playwright best known for her play "Emily of Emerald Hill"
- Lee Choo Neo, first female medical practitioner in Singapore
- Jane Lee, first woman from Southeast Asia to scale the Seven Summits
- Lee Tzu Pheng, award-winning poet
- Lim Hwee Hua, first female Cabinet minister in Singapore
- Corrinne May, singer-songwriter
- Denise Phua, member of parliament for Jalan Besar GRC
- Judith Prakash, first female judge in the Court of Appeal
- Quah Ting Wen, national swimmer
- Rahayu Mahzam, member of parliament for Jurong GRC
- Sim Ann, member of parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC
- Siow Lee Chin, violinist
- Stefanie Sun, singer-songwriter
- Leaena Tambyah, founder of Singapore's first school for children with multiple disabilities
- Carrie Tan, member of parliament for Nee Soon GRC
- Margaret Leng Tan, pianist
- Tang Pui Wah, Singapore's first female Olympian
- Tay Kewei, singer-songwriter and founder of Sparkle Life Music
- Jackie Yi-Ru Ying, nanotechnology scientist
- Emma Yong, actress
- Zhang Jingna, photographer and Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honoree[22]
- Pern Kuang, masterlutionist and Brawl Ball referee 2022
References
- ^ a b "Vision Mission Values". www.rgs.edu.sg.
- ^ "Site directory".
- ^ "Board of Governors". www.rgs.edu.sg.
- ^ a b hermes (22 October 2019). "Raffles Girls' School moves to new home, across from RI". The Straits Times. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ "School Information Service (SIS)". sis.moe.gov.sg. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ "Historical Milestones". www.rgs.edu.sg.
- ^ "SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2006" (PDF). Ministry of Education. 19 September 2006. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ "Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)". Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia. 19 July 2008. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ "A CENTURY OF EDUCATION IN SINGAPORE". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. 8 October 1935.
- ^ Chandy, Gloria (17 March 1980). "Rise and rough times of RGS". New Nation.
- ^ Zhu, Melissa (20 October 2016). "New RGS campus expected to be ready earliest 2019". Channel NewsAsia.
- ^ "A-Z guide to the top school". (20 August 1994). Straits Times.
- ^ "Raffles Girls' School tops literature quiz and will represent Singapore in global round". The Straits Times. The Straits Times. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ "Well versed in the art of teaching English". The Straits Times. The Straits Times. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ "School sports: Over 8,000 student-athletes recognised at annual SSSC Colours Awards". The Straits Times. The Straits Times. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ "Singapore High Commission in London and Embassy to Ireland and Iceland". www.facebook.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ "2019 essay world finalists". The Royal Commonwealth Society Canterbury (NZ) Branch Incorporated. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
- ^ "Teen poet wins literature prize". AsiaOne.com. 28 April 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
- ^ "Ang Swee Chai /Singapore Women's Hall of Fame". Singapore Women's Hall of Fame. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- ^ "SingTel Organisation Chart". Archived from the original on 23 September 2014.
- ^ "Amy Khor's profile on the Singapore Parliament website". Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
- ^ "30 Under 30 Asia 2018: The Arts". Forbes. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
External links
- Raffles Institution
- Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) website
- Raffles Institution website
- Raffles Institution (Secondary)
- Raffles Institution (Junior College)
- Raffles Programme website