Looking for primary school!

[jasonknight]

Hello everyone, I am looking for a primary school for my 8 year old daughter. Due to my job, we will be moving to Singapore in the upcoming winter. We would like to send her to a school where the teacher can take good care of my child. Also, we look for a school where tuition fee is reasonable.
Please give me some recommendations.

Thanks a lot!

[abbby]

You can to to the MOE website to check on your child's eligibility:

https://www.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-regis ... l-students

For the school fees you can check here:

https://www.moe.gov.sg/financial-matters/fees

[sundaymorningstaple]

As OP is posting from a US IP addy, I am taking it with a grain of salt (how about a tablespoon!). She only has 1 or 2 choices if they want the kids to remain with the US curriculum/schoolyear, etc. Neither of which are inexpensive and they think they are coming to Singapore this winter? Let's assume they are, that mean the child will lose a year of school (repeating half a year here due to the 6 month school year difference). Additionally, no school in Singapore gives the "take good care of my child" service. Too many to take care of. This especially so if in a local school system where it's dog eat dog and the teachers are stretched too thin.

Add to that, how can they be assured they are coming this winter when nobody knows when any green lane will open to the US at all. I'm inclined to call foul on this one.

[malcontent]

In this case, I would recommend:

https://www.ics.edu.sg/

- US curriculum
- smaller class sizes
- lower tuition fees

[malcontent]

You can to to the MOE website to check on your child's eligibility:

https://www.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-regis ... l-students

For the school fees you can check here:

https://www.moe.gov.sg/financial-matters/fees

Local schools are not going to take care of anyone, unless you mean it in sarcastic way… as in, that’ll really take care of them!

[Lisafuller]

Hello everyone, I am looking for a primary school for my 8 year old daughter. Due to my job, we will be moving to Singapore in the upcoming winter. We would like to send her to a school where the teacher can take good care of my child. Also, we look for a school where tuition fee is reasonable.
Please give me some recommendations.

Thanks a lot!

SAS is excellent but very expensive, you can try applying for a place at a local school but the chances of actually securing a spot are slim.

[Lisafuller]

In this case, I would recommend:

https://www.ics.edu.sg/

- US curriculum
- smaller class sizes
- lower tuition fees

Haven’t heard the best things about ICS though, the American schools that I tend to hear better feedback about are SAS and SAIS.

[malcontent]

It’s a bit like comparing Harvard with a community college experience. Of course Harvard is going to get a lot of glowing reviews, but some students do better in a community college because of more individualized attention.

It really depends what you are looking for. This person seems to prioritize on care and attention given to his daughter, which is something a smaller school like ICS can provide. They also mentioned lower fees, and ICS is among the lowest offering US curriculum.

SAS is kind of the default school for Americans here… but only if someone else is paying! It is a huge school with resources o’plenty, but it is really expensive. If someone is asking for lower fees, SAS is the last school on the list!

[Lisafuller]

It’s a bit like comparing Harvard with a community college experience. Of course Harvard is going to get a lot of glowing reviews, but some students do better in a community college because of more individualized attention.

It really depends what you are looking for. This person seems to prioritize on care and attention given to his daughter, which is something a smaller school like ICS can provide. They also mentioned lower fees, and ICS is among the lowest offering US curriculum.

SAS is kind of the default school for Americans here… but only if someone else is paying! It is a huge school with resources o’plenty, but it is really expensive. If someone is asking for lower fees, SAS is the last school on the list!

True. Admittedly, the fees at SAS are exorbitant. However, if you are trying to suggest that students there will receive any less individualized care than those at ICS, I doubt that is the case. Like you said, they have plenty of resources which is the least you would expect when you’re paying 60,000 a year in fees so I’m sure they have enough teachers and resources to go around.

[malcontent]

It’s a bit like comparing Harvard with a community college experience. Of course Harvard is going to get a lot of glowing reviews, but some students do better in a community college because of more individualized attention.

It really depends what you are looking for. This person seems to prioritize on care and attention given to his daughter, which is something a smaller school like ICS can provide. They also mentioned lower fees, and ICS is among the lowest offering US curriculum.

SAS is kind of the default school for Americans here… but only if someone else is paying! It is a huge school with resources o’plenty, but it is really expensive. If someone is asking for lower fees, SAS is the last school on the list!

True. Admittedly, the fees at SAS are exorbitant. However, if you are trying to suggest that students there will receive any less individualized care than those at ICS, I doubt that is the case. Like you said, they have plenty of resources which is the least you would expect when you’re paying 60,000 a year in fees so I’m sure they have enough teachers and resources to go around.

My son is in his 8th year at SAS. Agree on the resources, and they do try to provide some individual care, but how much each student gets out of their educational experience depends greatly on the initiative taken by the student themselves. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing for students that have the initiative, and learning to take the initiative is an vitally important life skill — but those who simply do not have it… they won’t be much cared for. Sure teachers will try to encourage and will speak to parents about it, but in the end, the student either learns to take the initiative or inevitably gets left behind. That is the reality on the ground at SAS.

I don’t have any direct experience with ICS but know of at least one parent who switched their child from SAS to ICS because their child just wasn’t cut out for SAS — and their child was very happy at ICS. I think those who enquire at ICS tend to get a bad impression because the admin personnel are not very friendly (that was my experience as well), but they haven’t actually enrolled, so it’s not a useful data point. The data you can see is the matriculation of students from the school to universities (shown in their website) and the academic scores of the students which appears at least similar to SAS, clearly ICS is no slouch.

[Lisafuller]

It’s a bit like comparing Harvard with a community college experience. Of course Harvard is going to get a lot of glowing reviews, but some students do better in a community college because of more individualized attention.

It really depends what you are looking for. This person seems to prioritize on care and attention given to his daughter, which is something a smaller school like ICS can provide. They also mentioned lower fees, and ICS is among the lowest offering US curriculum.

SAS is kind of the default school for Americans here… but only if someone else is paying! It is a huge school with resources o’plenty, but it is really expensive. If someone is asking for lower fees, SAS is the last school on the list!

True. Admittedly, the fees at SAS are exorbitant. However, if you are trying to suggest that students there will receive any less individualized care than those at ICS, I doubt that is the case. Like you said, they have plenty of resources which is the least you would expect when you’re paying 60,000 a year in fees so I’m sure they have enough teachers and resources to go around.

My son is in his 8th year at SAS. Agree on the resources, and they do try to provide some individual care, but how much each student gets out of their educational experience depends greatly on the initiative taken by the student themselves. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing for students that have the initiative, and learning to take the initiative is an vitally important life skill — but those who simply do not have it… they won’t be much cared for. Sure teachers will try to encourage and will speak to parents about it, but in the end, the student either learns to take the initiative or inevitably gets left behind. That is the reality on the ground at SAS.

I don’t have any direct experience with ICS but know of at least one parent who switched their child from SAS to ICS because their child just wasn’t cut out for SAS — and their child was very happy at ICS. I think those who enquire at ICS tend to get a bad impression because the admin personnel are not very friendly (that was my experience as well), but they haven’t actually enrolled, so it’s not a useful data point. The data you can see is the matriculation of students from the school to universities (shown in their website) and the academic scores of the students which appears at least similar to SAS, clearly ICS is no slouch.

Wow, you must’ve spent close to half a million at this point on tuition. I think it’s good for the children to be self-directed and to have initiative rather than have their hands held all the time, so is it really a bad thing that the curriculum encourages self-directed learning?

[malcontent]

Agree, it is a good thing… for most kids, including mine.

But kids are like a rubber band, some can be stretched more than others, some don’t need much stretching and some can even snap.

Take for example, kids who are left-brain dominant tend to do much better in school. But just because a kid is right-brain dominant doesn’t mean they are not capable of great things, they just don’t go about it a way that works well in our structured society. Point is, there are kids out there who need more help than others, they can’t all stretch as far or in ways you’d like them to.

The financials definitely make no sense. We are a dual income household, which helps but it’s still a pinch, even for one kid. But then lots of things here are a pinch. Housing being chief among them.

[the observer]

Agree, it is a good thing… for most kids, including mine.

But kids are like a rubber band, some can be stretched more than others, some don’t need much stretching and some can even snap.

Take for example, kids who are left-brain dominant tend to do much better in school. But just because a kid is right-brain dominant doesn’t mean they are not capable of great things, they just don’t go about it a way that works well in our structured society. Point is, there are kids out there who need more help than others, they can’t all stretch as far or in ways you’d like them to.

The financials definitely make no sense. We are a dual income household, which helps but it’s still a pinch, even for one kid. But then lots of things here are a pinch. Housing being chief among them.

There’s one key takeaway from the NDR. Housing will stay expensive, with commitment to keep migration open. Added bonus now is there will be forced wage inflation.

[malcontent]

Holding your breath for things to get cheaper in Singapore? You’ll get hypoxia before that happens.

Singapore is now the #2 after Monaco as the most densely populated country on the planet.

The way Singapore has handled the Covid situation has only increased the demand from people in the region who want to migrate here (for those who can afford it). Last time they can fly to Singapore if they need to access the medical here. Now they are stuck.