| Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) | |
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Filiae Melioris Ævi
("Daughters of a better age") |
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| Location | |
| Anderson Road, | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent |
| Established | 1879 |
| Session | Single |
| School code | 3008 |
| Principal | Mrs Julie Hoo |
| Enrolment | Approx. 1800 |
| Colour(s) | Green, black, white |
| Website | Link |
Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) is an independent girls' secondary school in Singapore. RGS 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. [1] It has been consistently ranked as one of the top among secondary schools in Singapore in the official annual school rankings published by the Ministry of Education.
RGS offers the first four years of the Integrated Programme in the Raffles Programme, together with Raffles Institution, which allows students to proceed directly to Raffles Institution (Year 5-6) without taking the GCE 'O' Levels. It was also one of the first few schools to offer the Gifted Education Programme.
It is not officially affiliated with Raffles Girls' Primary School, despite having a common history.
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Before Raffles Girls' School became a school in its own right it existed as a part of Raffles Institution (RI).
The department for girls was opened in the RI campus of Bras Basah Road on 4 March 1844 with 11 students, 5 day-scholars and six boarders, who were clothed, fed and instructed by the institution itself. The demand for education grew and in 1847, the school moved to RI's eastern wing, extending towards Bras Basah Road. A wall known as the 'Berlin Wall' separated the boys' and girls' buildings. 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 Miss 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.
From 1882 onwards, English speaking boys were admitted to the lower, middle and primary classes. This was discontinued in 1927 due to the increasing demand for accommodation for girls. The Raffles Old Girls' association was formed on 7 July 1950. The school motto was introduced in 1953, with the school's first annual Speech Day held on the same year.
RGS became a government school in 1903, located at Queen Street. In 1959, the primary and secondary sections of the school were separated and the secondary section moved to Anderson Road, while the primary section remains in Queen Street. The school stopped offering 'A' level courses in 1983, and the Gifted Education Programme started in 1984. The school later moved to a holding school located at Jalan Kuala in 1988 and moved back to a new building at Anderson Road on 1 November 1992, becoming independent on 1 January 1993. In 1994, the RGS chapter was formed, to replace the Women's Rafflesian Chapter.
The curriculum when the school first started was confined to basic skills like reading, writing, needlework and cookery, as the focus of the school in the past was to equip girls with the tools to become an educated wife. The curriculum now comprises the sciences, humanities and aesthetics. All students are also required to have lessons in Philosophy, one of the notable features of the Raffles Programme. Lower Secondary students also have lessons in Speech and Drama.
Today, Raffles Girls' School has a student population of about 1,800 students, including about two hundred foreign scholars, and 170 teachers.
The school uniform is a belted, deep blue pleated pinafore over a white collared blouse.[1] Students customarily fold their sleeves on most shirts, which also require a colour-coded nametag, along with the school badge, on the top left of the uniform. During formal events and weekly assemblies students wear green ties striped with black and silver.
Uniform regulation as a whole is strict. Footwear rules require students to wear all-white socks and 80%-white shoes where the percentage is open to arbitrary interpretation. Unlike some other IP schools, ankle socks are banned and prefects can only wear school socks.
Upper secondary prefects wear a white blouse with a deep blue skirt, along with the school tie which is pinned with their prefect badge. Junior Prefectorial Board members wear the school tie with the pinafore and a badge. Other leadership badges include those for class chairpersons, members of the Student Congress, leadership boards' committee heads and house captains. Strangely for a girls' school, the class chairperson's badge still reads "Class Chairman". Collar pins are worn by Peer Support Leaders, as well as some CCAs like the Audio-Visual Public Address Club, Red Cross Youth, the Girls' Brigade, Band, English Debate, and as of 2010, all CCA chairpersons and House Committee members.
On Wednesdays, Saturdays and during certain school events, the semiformal uniform including culottes is allowed. A white RGS polo T-shirt for Physical Education (PE) is usually worn with this, except on the first Wednesday of each month when house shirts are allowed too. Culottes can be worn with any school-approved T-shirt, such as a House T-shirt, a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) T-shirt, or a class T-shirt, and a nametag is required.
For highly formal events where students are required to represent the school, a formal uniform guideline has to be adhered to. Students don a long-sleeved white shirt with a navy blue button-down vest, with a skirt or culottes. Court shoes must be worn together with the above mentioned uniform, together with stockings.
There are five houses, named after five past principals of the school:
Each house committee has 40 members, led by an EXCO of one Secondary Four House Captain, two Secondary Three Vice-Captains, and one Secondary Four Vice-Captain. The house committee plays a pivotal role in the house system.
The five houses take part in competitions throughout the school year, with two major events pivotal in deciding the overall champion house. These are the Swimathon and the Sports Festival, held annually in the early part of the year. Netball Carnival is also held for all levels.
Throughout the rest of the year, interhouse games (IHG) are organised by CCAs like netball and photography, as well as miscellaneous staples like the annual Spelling Bee. These IHGs contribute to the Overall Champion House and Best Organised House. For the year 2010, Tarbet was both the Overall Champion and the Best Organised House.
Discipline is enforced via bookings, four of which in the same category can warrant Detention Class. Teachers can also issue bookings with direct detentions, as a separate category. Seven bookings land a student a SOM record (a revised version of the older BETA system), which disqualifies students from future scholarship applications and is thus often used as a discouragement against rule-breaking.
The Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) Prefectorial Board, also known as RGSPB, was established in 1950.
The Board consists of prefects from Year 3 and 4, as well as Prefects-in-Training from Year 2. Upper secondary members of the Board wear the school tie, the school socks, a white blouse and a navy blue skirt.
Apart from the role of maintaining discipline in school, prefects also teach and lead in Rafflesian Cheers during school events and inter-school competitions. The Board also sells Rafflesian products like jackets and school badges, and loans items such as blouses, pinafores and school blazers. Prefects-in-training also hold fund-raisings on special school occasions, and various CCAs' concerts and performances. RGSPB organizes functions and assists the RGS staff in running events, frequently working with the Peer Support Board to organise such events, such as orientation for the Year 1 pupils.
The Peer Support Board (PSB) was set up in 1995 with the main aim of introducing the new Secondary 1 pupils into the new environment. The Board organizes school functions with the Prefectorial Board. Some examples of collaborative leadership between the two boards are the annual Student Leaders Investiture, Reporting Day and the Secondary 1 Orientation. Apart from organising school events, the key event for all PSLs in their leadership journey in PSB is the weekly PSL sessions. In these sessions, PSLs meet with the Secondary 1 classes they are in charge of, to share their experiences and thoughts on issues pertinent to Secondary 1s, and provide a listening ear.
As of 2005, Junior PSLs (JPSLs) were introduced in 2007. Secondary 2 students are selected through interviews and recruited into the board, giving them the chance to apply their leadership skills. Their first project would usually be the Sec1 Orientation for the next batch of students. A second intake is conducted at the end of Secondary 2. The logo of PSB is the dolphin. Dolphins are friendly creatures and travel in groups. Similarly, members of the PSB aim to be friendly and approachable, never walking alone. The motto of the PSB is “riding the waves with you”.
The Student Congress is a student-run board that engages the student populace in the processes of the school. Unique among schools in Singapore, RGS' Student Congress is the only one with an intra-school forum that allows discussion of school issues. As of 2009 it is no longer anonymous, a move aimed at encouraging responsible free speech, which has met with slight success. Nonetheless, Student Congress of 2010 is scaling up activities to encompass greater student participation in reviewing community practices and commenting on school events.
The RGS-International Convention for Youth Leaders (RGS-ICYL) is a biennial gathering of female student leaders from local and international institutions, first organised in 2006 intended as a platform for female youth leaders with diverse backgrounds to exchange ideas and experiences, and thus gain a better understanding of how they can contribute to society as a female leader. Guest speakers from the corporate sector, politics and humanitarian groups are invited to provide a wide range of perspectives. In addition, RGS-ICYL offers opportunities for fellow youth leaders to be ambassadors of their respective countries in the context of an exchange of ideas across cultures.
More information about the convention, as well as details of the 3rd RGS-ICYL held in November 2010, can be found at its homepage.
The Raffles Academy (RA), implemented in 2007, is a feature of the Raffles Programme for both RI and RGS. Students pursue their talents in specific fields by studying advanced curriculum during a pull-out class. RA is offered for literature, Higher Chinese (HCL), history, geography, mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics. For administrative purposes the Special Arts Programme (SAP) and Music Elective Programme (MEP) are both considered RA subjects.
Applications begin in the latter semester of Secondary 2, and go through tests and interviews before being selected. Qualifying criteria include a minimum Grade Point Average of 3.60, and a Grade Point of 4.0 (80%) in the subject applied for. The RA programme is available for upper secondary students, with each student being allowed to take a maximum of two RA subjects. As of 2009, the RA programme is extended in Raffles Junior College, subject to an entry placement test at the end of Secondary Four, but only restricted to the three sciences.
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