History
SCGS was founded as an all-girls Peranakan school in July 1899 by a group of Straits Chinese men including Dr Lim Boon Keng and Sir Song Ong Siang, at premises in Hill Street, with an English headmistress and seven girls on the register.
In 1923, the school left its premises at Hill Street (the site later became the Central Fire Station) and moved to Emerald Hill. The premise on Emerald Hill cost $60,000. It was a two-storey block with 12 classrooms, an assembly hall, a staff room, and principal’s office. In 1997, the premise on Emerald Hill was declared a significant historical site by the National Heritage Board, three years after SCGS had moved to a bigger campus on Dunearn Road.
From 1905 to 1936, the school admitted a handful of male students, but afterwards reverted to being an all-girls school. In 1946, after the Japanese Invasion in the Second World War, girls of all races were accepted into the school. By 1950, the school had 700 girls. By 1952, the number had risen to close to 900.
In 1971, the students sat for the first Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education or GCE ‘O’ Levels. Everyone passed, giving SCGS a 100% record. In 1989, SCGS celebrated her 90th birthday and also became an independent school, with more latitude to expand the curriculum. On 4 July 1994, after 70 years at Emerald Hill, the school moved a newly-built campus at Dunearn Road.
Read more about this topic: Singapore Chinese Girls' School
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