Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution (RI for short; formerly Singapore Institution), is a secondary school in Singapore. It was founded in 1823, and is the oldest school in Singapore. In 1990, RI moved to its current location at Bishan, in central Singapore (its address is "1 Raffles Institution Lane Singapore", making it probably the only school in Singapore which has the road it was on named after it). The Raffles Institution is a well-known Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary (ages 13-17) school in Singapore, and has consistently been ranked first- or second-place among secondary schools in Singapore.
The school was originally founded by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, as the Singapore Institution. It adopted the name Raffles Institution in 1868 as a testament to Raffles.
Raffles Institution is traditional considered a British school, and is contrasted with schools such as The Chinese High School in Singapore, which are traditionally Chinese. The Raffles Institution's motto is "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.
The school relocated from Bras Basah to Grange Road in 1973 and to Bishan in 1990.
The five houses of Raffles, which are mostly (but not all) 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-lasting headmaster; and Morrison was the co-founder of the 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.
The school also has a very active Co-Curricular Activity programme, with a wide variety of CCAs in sports, uniform groups and musical groups. It also organises clubs and societies to cater to students' interests and the needs of the school, such as science and mathematics. It performs extremely well in national inter-school competitions, frequently getting first place for many sports.
