In 1899, Lim Boon Keng, Song Ong Siang, Khoo Seok Wan, along with others, actively

promoted a school for Chinese girls and in April 1899, SCGS was established.[1] Lew Luk Lin
was elected president but offered to vacate his seat to Lim who declined.[1]

On 3 July 1899, SCGS opened at Hill Street with an enrolment of seven girls and Mary Geary
as headmistress.[2] Lim's wife, Margaret Wong, also gave lessons in Chinese.[3] Due to general
resistance of the local conservative population who was not in favour of girls having a formal
education, transportation between the school and the students' homes has to be provided by
SCGS.[2]

On December 1906, SCGS relocated to another site on Hill Street due to high rental costs of
the original site. On 13 July 1908, SCGS relocated again further down to the junction of Hill
Street and Coleman Street with land given by the government.[4][5]

In 1923, the school left its premises at Hill Street (the site later became the Central Fire
Station) and moved to Emerald Hill. The premises at Emerald Hill cost S$60,000. The school
building was a two-storey block with 12 classrooms, an assembly hall, a staff room, and a
principal's office.

From 1905 to 1936, the school admitted a handful of male students, but afterwards reverted
to being an all-girls school. After 1946, newly created government laws forced the school to
accept girls of all races. By 1950, SCGS had an enrolment of 700 girls, which rose to 900 in
1952.

Attainment of Independent Status

In 1989, SCGS celebrated its 90th birthday and became an independent school, with more
latitude to expand the curriculum. On 4 July 1994, after 70 years at Emerald Hill, the school
moved to a newly built campus at Dunearn Road.

In 2011, SCGS was presented the School Excellence Award, part of the Ministry of
Education's (MOE) Masterplan of Awards,[6] which recognises schools for excellence in both
education methods and results. In addition, SCGS received the Best Practice Award for all
three categories (Student All-Round Development, Teaching and Learning, and Staff Well-
being) and the Outstanding Development Award for National Education.[7] These
achievements affirm the school's holistic education for the pupils as well as the capacity and
commitment of the staff.[8]

Introduction of Joint Integrated Programme

In 2012, the Ministry of Education announced that SCGS and five other schools would offer the
Integrated Programme (IP).[9] However, SCGS would continue to offer the Singapore-
Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Programme to existing and incoming students. In January
2013, SCGS accepted the first batch of IP students in the Secondary One intake alongside
new students on the 'O' Level programme. After four years at SCGS, IP students will bypass
the 'O' Level examination and move on to Eunoia Junior College.[10] The junior college was
newly created as part of a Joint Integrated Programme (JIP) to accept IP students from SCGS,
CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School and Catholic High School starting from 2017. Besides IP
students, Eunoia Junior College will also accept students from other secondary schools with
'O' Level qualifications. All students enrolled in Eunoia Junior College will sit for the
Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' Level examination after a two-year programme.