• Founded in June 1823 as the Singapore Institution by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who established the basis for Singapore's emergence as a major centre of mercantile trade.

• The oldest school in Singapore, and also one of the most progressive, welcoming girls and offering pre-university classes as early as 1844 and 1886, respectively.

• In 1879, the girls' wing was established as Raffles Girls' School (RGS). To this day, both schools are closely affiliated, and frequently conduct joint programmes and activities. The large majority of RGS girls join RI at the Year 5 mark.

• The original campus of RI was located along Bras Basah Road, where the Raffles City mall now stands. The library building of RI's Bras Basah campus is featured on the two-dollar paper and polymer bill in Singapore legal tender.

• In March 1972, RI made its first big move to Grange Road.

• 1982 saw the establishment of Raffles Junior College (RJC), which took over RI's burgeoning pre-university enrolment. Temporarily housed at Paterson Road, RJC moved to its Mount Sinai campus in 1984, which would form its home for the next 21 years.

• Also in 1984, RI became one of the first schools selected by Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE) to offer a school-based Gifted Education Programme.

• In 1990, RI moved again to its current site at Bishan, in central Singapore. In the same year, the school acquired independent status.

• RI, RGS and RJC began to jointly offer the Raffles Programme, their version of MOE's Integrated Programme (IP), in 2004. IPs allow the most able students in Singapore to bypass the GCE 'O'-Levels and take the 'A'-Levels at the age of 18.
  RI was first awarded the School Excellence Award in 2004, the highest award in MOE's Masterplan of Awards.

• At the end of 2004, RJC held its moving ceremony from Mount Sinai to Bishan, beside RI. Students took a chartered MRT train to Bishan and then walked to their new campus.

• In Jan 2005, RJC became an independent institution, and also became the first junior college to be awarded the School Excellence Award.

• In 2007, RI's GEP stream merged with its Special/Express stream into a single stream, with the set-up of the Raffles Academy, which sees students being developed in subject-specific pullout classes from the Year 3 mark onward.

• Oct 2008 saw the announcement of and approval a proposed re-integration of RI and RJC. This took effect in Jan 2009, under the name Raffles Institution.

RI's history has been extensively documented in the book, The Eagle Breeds A Gryphon, written by former headmaster Eugene Wijeysingha. The original edition chronicles the school's history up till 1985, while the latest includes events up to 2003.

1st Chief Minister- David Marshall

1st President of Singapore after independence - Yusof Ishak

1st Prime Minister of Singapore after independence - Lee Kuan Yew

1st female Cabinet Minister for Singapore - Lim Hwee Hua

1st female Permanent Secretary - Lim Soo Hoon

1st school in Singapore

1st library in Singapore (later became the National Library of Singapore)

1st Gifted Education Centre

1st Boarding School

1st virtual school (e-learning)

1st to receive School Excellence Award

1st and only Queen's Scholarship Class

1st woman SAF Overseas Scholar - Sharon Tan

1st SPFO/President Scholar - Benedict Cheong

1st National Cadet Corp

1st Debate Society

We have a Heritage Centre on the school campus which is open to Old Rafflesians as well as friends of the school. Tours of the Heritage Centre are strictly by appointment only.

Please contact the General Office at (65) 6354 9118 for more information.

The RI Museum was established in 1962 at the initiative of Miss C David and Mr P K Hernon with a group of biology students to cater to those interested in natural history. In 1993, after RI moved from Grange Road to its current Bishan campus, the need to know about RI's past became more pressing, as new generations of pupils lost touch with the history of the school and its glorious past. Hence, the Heritage Room was opened by then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1994 with the purpose of preserving and showcasing the proud heritage of Raffles Institution. Items on display include artifacts from school life in the past, as well as records of the numerous achievements of Rafflesians past and present. In 2007, as part of the larger upgrading and renovation of the school, official permission was granted to redesign the Heritage Room. The new Raffles Heritage Centre was officially unveiled on Founder's Day in 2008. As custodians of RI's rich history, the Raffles Archives and Heritage Centre records, preserves and highlights the school's illustrious past.

Raffles' Ark Redrawn: Natural history drawings from the collection of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles