华文名：圣尼各拉女校

History

In the 1930s, the Chinese population in Singapore was increasing rapidly. The Infant Jesus sisters decided to establish a Chinese-medium primary school to provide education for Chinese girls. On 16 January 1933, Victoria Girls’ School began operations – with 40 pupils and a Chinese teacher – in the building that used to be Hotel van Wijk. Sister Solong was its first principal. The school was later renamed St Nicholas Girls’ School.

Between 1938 and 1939, the school started its first secondary class and a teacher-training section to ensure a pool of qualified teachers. In 1940, Sister Francoise Lee, a local Chinese, became the principal. She expanded the secondary section to include classes up to Simplified Normal IV, making St Nicholas a full school providing primary and secondary education.

During the Japanese occupation, St Nicholas continued as a school but had to change its name to one chosen by the Japanese. While Mandarin continued to be taught, English was forbidden and Japanese was introduced in its place.

The school resumed by November 1945 shortly after World War II. In 1946, there was an enrolment of 700 girls. The outdated Hotel van Wijk building could no longer accommodate the burgeoning school population. In 1949, St Nicholas moved to the Town Convent premises on Victoria Street where it enjoyed the facilities and spacious compound.

In 1972, Mrs Hwang-Lee Poh See became the first lay principal. By then, enrolment had doubled and there was an urgent need for a bigger school. In 1979, the school included a pre-primary section. In the same year, St Nicholas became one of the nine Special Assistance Plan schools in Singapore, in recognition of its rich Chinese culture and strong school outcomes.

By 1980, the school building on Victoria Street could no longer house the entire school. After five years of relocating to different venues to house the school population, St Nicholas finally moved to its permanent premises at Ang Mo Kio Street 13 in 1985. In 1992, St Nicholas was renamed CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School.

In 1995, the school was granted autonomous status in recognition of its value-added academic performance. From the end of 2009 to 2012, the school underwent PRIME upgrading to build a future-ready school. The school celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2013 with the reopening of the school by Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong. In the same year, the school also introduced the Joint Integrated Programme with Catholic High School, Singapore Chinese Girls’ School and Eunoia Junior College. The school celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2023.