Raffles Junior College

Raffles Junior College (RJC for short, or RJ as most people call it) is a premier junior college in Singapore offering a two-year course for students. It is located in Bishan beside the campus of Raffles Institution. It consistently ranked tops among Singaporean junior colleges, until the ranking of junior colleges was discontinued in 2004. At least 95% of graduates attend university, many of them on scholarships.

History

RJC was formed in 1982 to provide Pre-University classes which were then discontinued in Raffles Institution (RI), in keeping with national trends. Since then, it has excelled in both academic and non-academic fields, developing "fine traditions and excellent spirit". There is a distinct school spirit, termed the Rafflesian Spirit, which bonds Rafflesians near and far, past and present, in common purpose and determination. It is as yet unknown if the Spirit is indeed an actual spirit, or merely a metaphorical one.

In the 2004 GCE 'A' Level Examination, Raffles Junior College has obtained the best results in 24 years since its establishment, with 75.5% of the class of 2004 scoring 3 or 4 'A' Level Distinctions.

On 29 December 2004, RJC held its moving ceremony from its previous Mount Sinai campus to Bishan Street 21 beside RI, enlisting the help of the RI student population to line the pavement leading to the new campus, strengthening the bonds between the two schools. The two schools now run open concept campuses, where no fences separate the two campuses. Facilities between the schools are shared in terms of CCA, and students of both schools may access both campuses. Both schools also share a common driveway with vehicles going to both schools entering through the RI gate and exiting through the RJC gate.

The college has since turned indepedent from its former government school status after the move to Bishan.

College Anthem

Unlike most ordinary schools, Raffles Junior College calls its school song the "College Anthem". It was written by E W Jesudason (Principal of RI 1963–1966), and retained by Raffles Junior College since it was born from the bosom of RI. This is the same as the Institution Anthem of Raffles Institution.

Auspicium Melioris Aevi

When Stamford Raffles held the torch
That cast Promethean Flame
We faced the challenge of the day
To give our school a name

The eagle eye and gryphon strength
They led us to the fore
To reign supreme in ev'ry sphere
The sons of Singapore

Come heed the call Rafflesians all
And let our hearts be stirring
We'll do our best whate'er test
And keep our colours flying

Let comradeship and fervent hope
With one voice make us pray
Auspicium Melioris Aevi
With God to guide the way

Affiliation

RJC is affiliated to Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls' School (Secondary). It shares its school anthem, school crest and much of its school culture with the former. The uniform for RJC boys is largely similar to that of RI boys, with the main differences lying in the pleat at the back of the shirt, the single fold at the end of the sleeves, pleats in the long pants and the thickness of the material of the shirt. RJC girls wear a white blouse with a green pleated skirt. The school badge, however, is marginally taller than the RI badge. In addition, a third of its 2001 intake was from RI and a quarter from RGS. Still, the students generally come from diverse backgrounds.

RJC is currently involved in the Raffles Programme, an Integrated Programme which takes students all the way from Secondary 1 to JC2, skipping the GCE 'O' Level Examinations. Students spend the first 4 years in RI or RGS, and the last 2 years in RJC.

When the students of the first batch of RP (Raffles Programme) enter RJC in 2006, its enrolment would increase from 2150 to 2850. Most of the students would then be from RI and RGS, who will gain direct admission to RJC.

Faculty and House System

RJC has introduced the house system which will replace its faculty system in 2005, where the JC1 batch of 2005 will be the pioneer batch to be inducted into the new system. This is due to the large inbalance of people taking different subject combinations in recent years. For example, Engineering and Arts Faculties combined was smaller than the Medicine Faculty. Other reasons include the pioneer batch of students in the Raffles Programme entering RJC in 2006, the major change in the Singapore junior college education system from 2006 which does not allow students to take "triple science", as well as the fact that computing is no longer offered as a subject. These are the faculties from the old system that have ceased to exist from 2005:

Arts: A01, A02, A03, A04 (Red) (Formerly 'Arts and Commerce' until Commerce ceased to be offered at the Junior College Level)
Computing and Pure Science: S04, S05, S06 (Green)
Engineering: S01, S02 (Blue)
Medicine: S03 (Yellow) Commerce: CXX (Black) (Merged with Arts to become 'Arts and Commerce' some time in the 1990s)

Students from RI and RGS will remain in their original houses while students from other schools will be evenly allocated into the five houses. The Houses' names are merged from the five houses each from RI and RGS and are as follows:

Bayley-Waddle (Yellow)
Buckley-Buckle (Green)
Hullett-Hadley (Black/Purple)
Moor-Tarbet (Red)
Morrison-Richardson (Blue)

Facilities

RJC's new campus in Bishan boasts a 8.65 hectare campus with state-of-the-art facilities, located within 11 blocks. Pupils spend much time during lectures in lecture theatres. Ordinary students have tutorial sessions in the tutorial rooms in Block A, B and C, while Arts Students under the Humanities Programme have them in air-conditioned seminar rooms.

Notable facilities include a 850-seater lecture theatre, a Performance Arts Centre and an Indoor Sports Hall. "Chat Rooms" are provided for individual teacher-pupil conferencing. The 3-storey Media Resource Library is also frequented by students, especially during the common test and examination periods. Parts of the campus are 7 storeys high, where all the floors are served by lifts. All parts of the campus are linked by a wide network of walkways and ramps.

Block A
Lecture Theatre 3 (200 Seats)
39 Tutorial Rooms
AV Projection Room
Music Room
Theatre Study Room

Block B
Lecture Theatre 4 (200 Seats)
Lecture Theatre 5 (200 Seats)
14 Tutorial Rooms

Block C
Lecture Theatre 1 (850 Seats)
Lecture Theatre 2 (350 Seats)
4 Tutorial Rooms
2 LEP Rooms

Block D
10 Seminar Rooms
8 Computer Laboratories
14 "Chat Rooms"

Block E
6 Physics Laboratories
6 Chemistry Laboratories
4 Biology Laboratories
Life Science Laboratory
Research Laboratory
Students' Council Room
Bookshop

Block F
Parade Square
Canteen

Block G
Tennis Courts
Basketball Courts
Indoor Rifle Range

Block H
General Office
Staff Room
Media Resource Library

Block J
Performance Arts Centre (396 Seats)
Lecture Theatre 6 (200 Seats)
4 Seminar Rooms

Block K
Indoor Sports Hall
Dance Studio
Chamber Ensemble Room

Block L
Multi Purpose Hall
Health Fitness Studio
Chinese Orchestra Room
CCA Rooms
Spectators Gallery
Track and Field

Notable Alumni

• Chu, Ci
• Choo, Nam Young
• Kwek, Mean Luck

External links

• Official RJC Website
• Raffles Programme Website
• Informal RJC Review