Best Schools - arriving in Sing in May

[Anagha]

Hello. I am new to this board. My family is moving to Sinapore from the U.S. in May and I have a 5yo (and a 3yo) who will be attending school there for the next three years or so.

Can you please tell me in your opinion which schools you think are the best? We want a place that can can provide peronal attention, has a very good curriculum and fantastic/caring teachers.

We are not particular as to an American/British system or even a local school.

Also, I've noticed waiting lists can be very long. Is that still the case at the kindergarten level?

Is the American School a long commute from downtown (Holland Village area?)

And finally, through which months does the school year run there?

Thank you for your responses!

[GKalra]

Hi,
Lots of Schools in Singapore, international and Local. Look at the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sc ... _Singapore
http://www.expatsingapore.com/tips-intschool.htm

Tanglin and UWC will have a loooooong waiting list but try all the same. Distances in Singapore are not usually a problem, American school from Holland road is probably 20-25 minutes and most schools have a bus service.
My advice is not to decide on a school till u have physically seen it and met people at the premesis, go into the school when classes are in progress and see the environment, what is a good school for one kid can be horrid for another.
Good Luck
Neeti

[diana_eng]

posted this in another thread, think its quite relevant to what you are asking about:
______________________
There are many childcare centre and pre-schools catering to kids between the ages of 18mths onwards to 7yrs old.

Most of you are from the expatriate’s community, and I believe all of you will go through the many anguish and lengthy search for a good learning school for your little one in a foreign land.

I am been involved in childhood learning for the past 10 years, and I believe most of the pre-schools in Singapore, whether local or international are of the highest standard as compare to your native country.

For International School, there are limited spaces for each cohort of children, which is why you read about the long waiting lists in the few popular one.

If you prefer to give your child a chance to immense themselves in the local culture, with plenty of interaction and learning together with the local children, then you can feel free to check out the local childcare/pre-school with your child when you arrive. There are plenty in each estate, so you will definitely be spoilt for choice.

Most of them have very good and caring teachers. I have seen many local childcare/pre-school with expatriate’s children, and all of the kids seem to be mixing and learning well with the locals. These schools do not do much branding or proper marketing of themselves in the media, that is why most of you wouldn’t have heard or taken notice of them. Most of them don’t even have a website.

(Singapore is a multicultural society, a mix of mostly Chinese, Malay and Indian citizen, with many expatriate like yourself in this diverse country)

It is a good chance for your children, and even yourself to mix with the local and have fun while learning.

Hope this give you better options for your children childhood experiences.

Diana Eng

[mits]

I would suggest take a look at Canadian International School - when we came here first time to introduce ourselves with country, housing, education etc.,we went to two schools - Canadian and Overseas Family School. Canadian has 3 campuses and one where our daughter (6yo) suppose to attend is very cozy and welcome,there are kids from ECE (3yo) to Gr.3. and for my quite shy daughter smaller environment is better than one big campus like Overseas Family School has where attitude also was not very welcome.
Teachers at Canadian School are great and kids love to go to school even when they have to wake up early!
And it's not far from Holland Village - there are many kids from this area as well as there are many kids from US. Curriculum is also good - CIS has IB programme.
But you really need to attend a few schools to decide which one feels and seems better for your kids.
Have a good luck!

[maddiesmom]

We are going to be arriving in July with our 2 kids- 8 year old girl and 5 year old boy, and are relocating from the USA also. We just applied this month to 2 schools in Singapore, had to apply early for fear that they wouldn't get in for the fall. We chose the Canadian International School and the Singapore American School. Now it is the waiting game and we should hear by the end of April whether or not they get in.

Our plan is to visit the schools when we come over in May (just hubby and I) to look for a house. It is very hard to pick a school while WAYYYY over here in the US, but everyone told us that if we didn't apply NOW, that they may not get in. Granted, they still may not get in, and there may be a waiting list, but I am just crossing my fingers and hoping they get into either one. A few of the schools I contacted told us that they already had a waiting list for the fall of 07--so we crossed those off the list. I don't think I can homeschool my kids AND get used to living in a different country.

Both of the schools you are looking at I have heard great things about. If you call the Registration dept. (or email them), they can tell you if they have a waiting list and how many kids are on it. That may help with your decision.

Good luck and I am anxious to hear what you decide and how it is once you arrive with your kids. Maybe we can get our 5 year olds together!

[Anagha]

Thanks for all the advice!! We will apply to UWC (incase the schools they attend first don't work out well for them) and we will also apply to the GESS, Singapore American School and the Canadian School. Thank you so much for helping us figure this out!