Raffles Institution Scholarships: Requirements and Opportunities

Raffles Institution (RI), the oldest school in Singapore, founded in 1823 by Stamford Raffles, has a long-standing tradition of academic excellence and holistic development. To ensure that deserving students have access to a Rafflesian education, regardless of their financial background, RI offers a variety of scholarships and financial aid programs. These initiatives aim to increase the socio-economic diversity of the student population and provide opportunities for students to participate fully in the school's wide range of developmental programs, co-curricular activities, and exposure trips.

Needs-Based Scholarships and Financial Aid

The Raffles Scholarship Series

The Raffles Scholarship Series, co-funded by the Quantedge Foundation, is an integrated needs-based merit scholarship program awarded from Primary 5 to Year 6. This initiative seeks to ensure that students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds do not forgo an opportunity to pursue a Rafflesian education due to financial considerations or concerns of not fitting in.

Eligibility: Primary 5 and 6 students from lower-income households who have performed well in their studies.
Award: A scholarship award of $1,000, along with mentoring by RI or Raffles Girls' School (RGS) students who serve as role models.
Additional Support: RI and RGS students from Year 1 to Year 4, and RI students in Year 5 and 6, who demonstrate financial need (i.e., with gross monthly household income of $4,000 and below) receive an additional scholarship award of up to $2,000. This is in addition to the school fee support and UPLIFT scholarship they receive from the Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Education (MOE) Independent School Bursary

Complementing the Raffles Scholarship Series is the Ministry of Education’s Independent School Bursary.

Merit-Based Awards

The William Soeryadjaya Award

This award is given to the top-performing Primary 6 student graduating to Secondary 1 and the top-performing Secondary 4 student graduating to Junior College 1.

The Raffles Scholarship

The Raffles Scholarship is awarded to the top-performing 10% of the Primary 6 cohort graduating to Secondary 1 and the top-performing 10% of the Secondary 4 cohort graduating to Junior College 1.

School-Based Scholarship with BPGHS

This scholarship is offered to top Secondary 2 and 3 students who achieved consistent outstanding results in their respective school-based assessments and performed well at the scholarship selection exercise administered by education officers from the Ministry of Education (Singapore). The scholarship is awarded for studying in BPGHS for Secondary 3 and 4, and for studying in a Junior College in Singapore.

Raffles Institution: A Historical Overview

Founded by Stamford Raffles in 1823 with the vision of establishing a college for the people of Singapore, Raffles Institution has a rich history. Raffles wanted to establish a college for the people of Singapore since the founding of the colony, and wrote on 12 January 1823 that a site for a planned college had been selected. His intention was to provide education for the children of Malay Ruler and leaders in the new British colony of Singapore as well as the company's employees and others who wished to learn the local languages. Another objective was to "collect the scattered literature and traditions of the country" so that the most important may be published and circulated. Raffles referred to the plan as his "last public act"; by setting up the Institution, he hoped it that it could, through its generations of alumni, serve as "the means of civilising and bettering the conditions of millions" beyond Singapore.

Early Years and Development

The original building of RI was sited on Bras Basah Road and it was designed by engineer Philip Jackson. On 1 August 1834, Reverend F. J. Darrah opened the Singapore Free School with 46 boys, which quickly grew to nearly 80. When the building for the Institution was completed in 1837, the school applied to occupy the building, a proposal the trustees of the Institution accepted. The Singapore Free School moved into the building in December 1837 and became the Institution Free School. It was, however, established as an elementary school rather than the college that Raffles had initially intended. Originally the school offered classes in Malay, Chinese and English, but the Malay classes soon closed in 1842 due to low enrolment, and it would eventually become an English-medium school. In May 1839, the first wing extension was completed, and the second at the end of 1841. In the 1860s, the school gradually turned into a high school. In 1868, the school was renamed Raffles Institution in honour of its founder.

Relocation and Expansion

In March 1972, the school moved to Grange Road. The old building was demolished and replaced by Raffles City Shopping Centre. In 1982, Raffles Junior College (RJC) was established at Paterson Road to take over the school's burgeoning pre-university enrolment. In 2004, the six-year Raffles Programme was offered to Secondary 1 to 3 students.

The Raffles Programme

The Raffles Programme is a rigorous six-year integrated programme jointly offered by RI and Raffles Girls’ School (RGS). By bypassing the GCE O-Levels, the Raffles Programme offers students multiple options for research and independent learning in addition to regular curricular subjects. There are opportunities for mentorship, research and attachment with institutes of higher learning or industry partners as well as options for service learning and aesthetic development. The Raffles Programme is jointly offered by RI and RGS; girls who join the Raffles Programme in Year 1 study at Raffles Girls’ School from Year 1 to Year 4 before joining RI for Years 5 and 6.

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Raffles Diploma

Given to graduands of RI alongside their GCE A-Level certificates, the Raffles Diploma (RD) is a certification that recognises and celebrates student participation and achievements in a wide spectrum of activities beyond academia.

Independent Status and Academic Partnerships

In 2005, RJC, along with Hwa Chong Junior College, became one of the first junior colleges in Singapore to attain independent status. RI is a member of various academic partnerships and alliances, such as the G30 Schools and Winchester Network. The school motto - Auspicium Melioris Aevi - comes from the coat of arms of its founder, Stamford Raffles.

Campus and Facilities

Boarding Complex

Raffles Institution Boarding is housed in a boarding complex consisting of five blocks. These are named after the five Houses; Bayley, Buckley, Hullett, Moor and Morrison. Each block, apart from the new Hullett block, can accommodate 90 pupils. The foundation stone of the Boarding Complex was laid by Lee Kuan Yew on 25 March 1994. The first batch of boarders moved into the Complex in 1996. During the upgrading works in 2006, the former Moor block was demolished to make way for a 13-storey twin tower hostel, the Hullett block, completed in July 2007,[50] and the former Hullett block in turn renamed Moor.

Yusof Ishak Block

The main building is the Yusof Ishak Block, comprising offices, staff rooms, lecture theatres, study areas and computer labs, as well the Main Atrium. It houses the Year 1-4 General Office and the Raffles Archives & Museum.

Science Hub

The Science Hub, opened in 2008, includes facilities for specialised research such as Xploratory-Labs;[51] as well as Chemistry, Physics and Biology labs. It also houses the Discovery Labs, a Microbiology Lab, a Laser Animation/Technology Studio, the Materials Science Lab and the Raffles Academy Home Room.

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Hullett Memorial Library (HML)

The Hullett Memorial Library (HML) stands below the Shaw Foundation Dining Hall, with a staircase leading down to the library. Co-founded by Lim Boon Keng and Song Ong Siang, it was named after RI's longest-serving Headmaster, Richmond William Hullett, in 1923.

Student Life and Activities

Houses

Year 1 students are sorted into houses by class. In the early years of RI's history, there were ten houses, including a sixth Philips house (purple), later disbanded. House allocations used to be student-based, instead of class-based. Each House is led by a House Captain, a Year 4 student, who carries out his role along with the respective House Committee.

Uniform

The school uniform from Years 1 to 4 is all-white, including a white short-sleeved shirt with the school badge at the top-right corner of the shirt pocket. Lower secondary students (Years 1 and 2) wear white short trousers and white socks. From Year 3 onwards, students may continue in short pants or opt for white long trousers. Shoes are white-based for all students. Year 3 and 4 prefects wear a different badge and formal black shoes, except for Physical Education lessons, where they wear appropriate shoes. School ties are worn on formal occasions. Teachers wear a formal gown for special occasions. The uniform for male students in Years 5 and 6 is identical to that worn by students in Years 3 and 4.

Leadership Development

The Raffles Leadership Programme is an initiative of the Leadership Development Department, aimed at preparing students to take on positions of leadership in school and in life. All Year 3 pupils go through the programme which includes going through the Leadership Challenge Workshop and taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Instrument.

Prefectorial Board

The Prefectorial Board in Years 1-4 is divided into 3 branches, namely the Spirits Branch, the Outreach Branch, and the Standards Branch. The prefects go through a 2-day, 1 night Prefects’ Camp, spearheaded by the newly elected Executive Committee, where newly elected prefects bond over activities such as dragon boating, escape room and etc. The Executive Committee is led by a Head Prefect, Deputy Head Prefect, Spirits Branch Head, Outreach Branch Head, Standards Branch Head.

Students' Council

The Students' Council of the Years 5-6 section is divided into a total of eight departments, namely the Welfare Department, the Communications Department, the CCA Department and five House Directorates, which form the EXCO for each of the five houses. Members of the Students' Council are selected through a college-wide election process. Each batch undergoes a rigorous selection process, which culminates in the Council Investiture. The Students' Council is headed by a President, who is assisted by his/her executive committee consisting of two vice-presidents, two Secretaries, the three Heads of Departments and the five House Captains.

Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs)

CCAs are categorised as either core or merit CCAs. Core CCAs comprise all sports, uniformed groups and performing arts, as well as Raffles Debaters while merit CCAs consist of all other clubs and societies. Every student of the school takes up at least one core CCA. Merit CCAs are optional, but students are encouraged to take up at least one merit CCA to supplement their core CCA. The Year 5-6 section offers over 70 CCAs, including sports, performing arts, and clubs and societies. Unlike in the first four years of the Raffles Programme, no distinction is made between core and merit CCAs.

Raffles Press

The college community is served by the Raffles Press, the school's journalism society, which publishes its flagship online student newspaper Word of Mouth. The newspaper includes features, op-ed columns, sports reports and concert reviews.

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