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Raffles Institution (RI for short), is an independent boys' secondary school in Singapore. It is well known for being consistently ranked first or second among secondary schools in Singapore in the official annual school rankings published by the Ministry of Education. RI was further recognised by the Ministry of Education in 2004 by being awarded the School Excellence Award (the pinnacle of awards in the Ministry of Education's masterplan), among others. [1] (http://www.moe.gov.sg/press/2004/pr2004sea_sda.htm)
RI offers the Integrated Programme, together with Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and Raffles Junior College. It also offers an internal Gifted Education Department.
Founded in 1823 as Singapore Institution by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, it is the oldest school in Singapore. It was renamed "Raffles Institution" in 1868 as a tribute to Raffles.
History
The original campus of RI was located along Bras Basah Road, where Raffles City (a hotel and shopping centre) now stands today. The school relocated to Grange Road in 1973, and in 1990 moved to its current location at Bishan in central Singapore. Its address at 1 Raffles Institution Lane probably makes it the only school in Singapore with a road named after it.
Culture
The school motto reads "Auspicium Melioris Aevi", Latin for "Hope for a better age". This is also the title of its school anthem. Rugby is an important part of the school's culture, and rugby matches (especially with archenemy Anglo-Chinese School) are followed with great zeal. The school also has an Olympic-sized stadium and swimming pool, as well as tennis courts and an a gymnasium with a rock-climbing wall.
Orientation Camp
Every year, the new intake of secondary one students go through an orientation camp, which lasts about 5 days. The camp takes students out of their comfort zone and puts them through tough challenges, in an effort to imbue in them the "Rafflesian Spirit". At the end of the camp, they receive their school badges in the formal Junior Rafflesian Investiture Ceremony. Each batch of students also have a batch song, which they will pass down to their juniors as secondary 4 students.
School Legends
The swimming pool is thought to be slightly short of being an Olympic-sized pool (at around 49 metres). According to school legend (probably promoted by the prefectorial board to scare new students during orientation programmes), this is due to the fact that a grave was found at one end of the pool, making it impossible to build the full 50 metres. However, few have actually bothered to measure the length of the pool.
The land on which the present campus was built was formerly occupied by a cemetery, giving rise to numerous ghost stories and reported sightings, especially during overnight camps, outside the staff rooms and around the Clock Tower.
Houses
The five houses of Raffles, all (but one) of which are named after former headmasters, are Moor, Morrison, Buckley, Bayley, and Hullett. Moor was the first headmaster of the school; Buckley was a former secretary to the headmaster; Hullett was the Raffles Institution's longest-serving headmaster; and Morrison was the co-founder of Raffles Institution. The houses determine the residence in which boarding students live; they also determine all teams in intramural sports and competitions, and the results from these competitions are summed up in a yearly point system; as such, the houses are a very important part of the school and command a great amount of loyalty from their members.
CCA's
Raffles Institution has a very active Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) programme (which it calls the Pupil Activity Programme (PAP)), with a wide variety (totalling fifty) of sports, uniformed groups, musical groups, clubs and societies to cater to students' interests.
The school has earned top places in many national inter-school competitions.
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