Established in 1912, Madrasah Alsagoff Al-Arabiah is the oldest madrasah in Singapore. Its beginnings can be traced to the late 19th century when Syed Mohamed bin Ahmed Alsagoff started a small school in the family house of what was then Java Road (present-day Beach Road Garden estate).
Although the school taught the tenets of Islam to Muslim boys when it first started, it began accepting girls in the 1940s, and was eventually converted into a full girls' school for the next two decades.In 1992, an extension building was added to the madrasah to provide better facilities for the students. Today, its students are also taught Mathematics, Science and Malay language in addition to Islamic studies, Arabic and English.