Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)
| Name |
Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) |
| Abbreviation |
RGS |
| School Code |
3008 |
| Chinese Name | 莱佛士女子中学 |
| Pinyin |
Láifóshì Nǘzǐ Zhōngxué |
| Address |
20, Anderson Road Singapore 259978 |
| Country |
Singapore |
| Town |
Orchard |
| Established |
1879 |
| Community |
Urban |
| Type |
Independent Secondary |
| Religion |
Secular |
| Students |
Girls |
| Levels |
Secondary 1–4 (13 to 16 year olds) |
| Colours |
Green Black White |
| Motto |
Filiae Melioris Aevi |
| Newspaper |
The Spiral |
| Distinctions |
Awarded the School Distinction Award by Ministry of Education in 2004 |
| Website | |
Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) (RGS for short, or known among Rafflesians as RG), is an independent girls' secondary school in Singapore. RGS was further recognised by the Ministry of Education in 2004 by being awarded the School Distinction Award (recognising schools with 'exemplary school processes and practices'), among other more minor awards. [1]
RGS offers the first four years of the Integrated Programme in the Raffles Programme, together with Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College. It was also one of the first few schools to offer the Gifted Education Department.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not affiliated with Raffles Girls' Primary School, though students from that school tend to dominate the school population for it's name.
| Contents |
History
RGS used to exist as a part of RI. Now, it is one of the top premier secondary schools in Singapore. The department for girls was opened on 4 March 1844 with an enrolment of 11, in the RI campus of Bras Basah Road. The demand for the education grew and in 1847, the school moved to RI's eastern wing and later to houses. Miss Nelson was their first headmistress in 1879, and she ran the school with an enrolment of 77.
RGS was a government school since 1903 at Queen Street, and at Anderson Road from 1959. It later moved to a holding school located at Jalan Kuala and moved back to a new building at Anderson Road on 1 November 1992, becoming independent on 1 January 1993.
RGS now offers the Intergrated Programme, which allows students to be promoted directly to Raffles Junior College without taking O levels.
School song
Sisters in Learning and Sisters at Heart
From High Olympus flows to us the glory
On us the sacred fire descends.
Rise, sisters, rise, the world is all before ye
Fear not to grasp what fortune sends.
Chorus:
Sisters in learning and sisters at heart
Life lies before us,
Here's luck to the start.
A little while the sun shines high above us
And youth's elixir fills our veins.
The magic fire, that moves the gods to love us
The fire by which the will attains.
Repeat Chorus once
So heart to heart we'll scale the heights of learning
No mean desires our days shall shame.
Whole-hearted, true, with pride and ardour burning
On sisters, on to life and fame.
Repeat Chorus once
The school song was not composed specially for the school, but was chosen out of a songbook by the first principal, Miss Nelson. It was originally titled "From High Olympus".
Uniform
The uniform of RGS consists of a knee-length dark navy blue pleated pinafore over a white collared blouse. Students customarily fold their sleeves, following in a time-honoured school tradition.
Prefects wear a white blouse with a skirt of the same hue as the pinafore. They also wear the school tie at all times when in uniform.
For CCA days and other more casual occasions, students don the culottes, a pleated knee-length skirt. A white RGS PE tee-shirt usually accompanies the culottes, or the respective House T-shirt, which consists of Waddle, Richardson, Tarbet, Buckle and Hadley.
The culottes can also be accompanied by a CCA t-shirt, or a class t-shirt, which both are designed by students themselves, but have to be approved by the school.