Saint Joseph's Institution (SJI) is a Catholic secondary school for male students in Singapore. Since 1886 it has been an independent school within the Singapore education system.
SJI was founded in 1852 as the first missionary establishment of the La Salle Brothers in the Far East. The endeavour was initiated by Rev Fr JM Buerel MEP, who offered the six Brothers who came out from Europe to start the school the use of a former chapel as premises. Within a year, an attap hut also had to be erected to accomodate all the students. The school was originally known as St John's, but on 19 March 1855 (the day of the Feast of Saint Joseph), the corner stone of a new school building was laid. From this date onwards, the school was known as Saint Joseph's Institution. The new central classroom block was completed in 1865, though further expansion of the facilities continued into the 20th Century. The school had 426 students in 1900. This grew to almost 1200 in 1914, and 1600 in 1922. With the student numbers expanding, a temporary branch school was opened which eventually led to the building of a second school – Saint Patrick's School – in 1933.
During World War II, prior to the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, the school was used as a Red Cross hostpital and housed a unit of the Civil Defence Force. A bomb hit the school coutyard during the war, leaving a crater, but the main building remained unscathed.
In 1975, SJI's pre-university classes and some its teachers were transferred to the newly-opened Catholic Junior College.
SJI moved into a new campus at Malcolm Road in 1988. The old campus has now become the Singapore Art Musuem.
SJI Today
Today, St Joseph's Institution is recognised as being among the top secondary schools in Singapore recognised for providing a value added and allrounded education to boys of all races and religions. Leadership in the school has passed increasingly to lay people but they remain committed to the memory and mission of the Christian Brothers and their founder St John Baptise De La Salle.
The school has done extremely well. In September 2005, the school is one of the few schools in Singapore to be awarded the prestigious School Distinction Award as part of MOE's 2005 Masterplan Awards. Besides that, it also has been awarded the Best Practice Award for teaching and learning. Moreover, for the 3rd consecutive time, it has been awarded the Sustained Achievement Award for Sports and the the Sustained Achievement Award for Uniformed Groups for the 7th Consecutive time.
Its current principal is Mr Benjamin Lui Seng Cheong. The deputy principals for curriculum and character development are Mrs Goh Poh Kenn and Bro Michael Broughton respectively.