It was founded in 1952, and is named after William Bartley (1885–1961), who was acting collector-general of income tax in the 1920s and president of the Municipal Commission of Singapore between 1931 and 1946.

[citation needed] The school was founded on 18 February 1952 with Chua Leong Hean serving as the first principal and an enrolment of 81 male and 10 female students.

[citation needed] The school was named after William Bartley (1885–1961), who was acting collector-general of income tax in the 1920s and president of the Municipal Commission of Singapore between 1931 and 1946.

In 1995, Bartley moved to new premises at 10 Jalan Bunga Rampai, and began admitting girls at the secondary level again that year.

[8] Students take English Language, Mathematics, Basic Mother Tongue and Computer Applications as compulsory subjects.