Page 1 of 1

International School Help

Posted: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 6:23 am
by hog
Hi,

I am currently in Australia and may have an opportunity to relocate to Singapore early next year. I have two kids, one moving to year 5 and year 8 next year.

I have done alot of reading of these forums and online and hoping to get your advice:
1. I would like a school that follows the Australian school year. That is with the school year starting at the beginning of the year and ending in December.
2. Based on feedback AIS does not come as highly recommended

I was looking at Tanglin and ICS but their semesters are based on Americian school year. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I know this is "how long is a piece of string" and will depend on the school, but does anyone have experience on the likihood of being accepted in an International School at the moment...ie starting in Feb 2021. Is this too late in the application process?

Thanks for your help.

Re: International School Help

Posted: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 9:06 am
by TropicalExpat
I don't know about quality of schools, but there are a number of expats leaving with families so there are likely to be school places for all age groups. The question is, are you ok to pay the sums required?

Re: International School Help

Posted: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 11:40 am
by PNGMK
You will have no issues finding a place. AIS is about the only Aussie curriculum school and while I despise for profit schools friends tell me it's not as bad as it could be. However the Northern Hemispehere schools years do break at Christmas and it would be ok to put a kid into the UK system at that time IMO.

School fees run from $16,000 p.a. (Invictus) to $30,000 p.a. or more (Tanglin).

The local school system runs from Jan to Dec and is rated 4th in the world which is not widely known, don't listen to the urban legends about Singapore schools being hard and harsh - it's BS - I've got a 10 yo and 19 yo in their system and my 19 yo is writing papers at graduate level and my 10 yo is at a US grade 6 or 7 level according to my wife (who is an American teacher). Honestly if you have any chance (not easy - kids have to sit an entry exam) I'd put them in a local school.

Re: International School Help

Posted: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 1:07 pm
by hog
Thanks for the feedback. Agree the International School fees are pretty steep...Tanglin being $42k+

From what I have read it is quite difficult to get into the local schools. Also, we would be moving with short notice so not I could get everything in order and in on time for MOE?

Good to hear about AIS, I might have to have a second look.

I was also recommended St Jospeph's International...does anyone have any experience with them?

Re: International School Help

Posted: Tue, 13 Oct 2020 9:39 am
by PNGMK
Both Anglo Chinese International and St Josephs International are good but not easy to get into. They are not really "international" schools but local mission schools that have a system set up for boarding students from overseas but yes, you can try them.

There is a FB group for expats trying to get their kids into the local school system and MOE.GOV.SG has a lot of info.