The school commenced operations in 1977 at a S$3.59 million campus at the junction of Boon Lay Way and Jalan Boon Lay,[2] with 13 classes, seven of which were English-medium and the remaining six Chinese-medium.

It was officially opened in 1979 by the then-Member of parliament for Boon Lay Ngeow Pack Hua.

[4] Specifically it educated deaf students who were required to use sign language to communicate.

[5] As part of the phasing-out of streaming, Boon Lay has been dividing classes by their students' co-curricular activities (CCA) since 2017.

Its resemblance to a ladder also calls for its students to spur on to greater heights.