HELP - Which International School??

[Debbie007]

We are moving to Singapore in June 2009 and my son will be 7 years old. I will not be able to go there before so need to find out everything on the Internet. Has anybody done the research on International Schools and been to see some and are happy with one? Can you please let me know what you have found out or where I can get more inside information? We are Canadian but not sure if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance

[Julie2009]

UWC(United World College) is a very good International School. There is Canada International School also .

[Debbie007]

Thanks for that. I have already done a lot of research on the Canadian school but not sure which campus is best (West or East side). Have you been to either? I will also look into the College one you suggested. Any help is appreciated.

[girlPower]

We have just moved to Singapore from Sydney and my 6 year old will be attending year 1 at the CIS East (TK) campus in a week's time. We selected the school because we wanted to live in the East which is close to the CBD and the beach.

I have not visited the other campus but I know they are building a new one but the site in the East will stay the same.

The east campus is fairly small but that was part of the reason why we liked it since our little one is quite young. The area near the school is quite nice and you can find houses and condos within walking distance to the school.

[sillingw]

my 5 1/2 year old goes to CIS (West) and is very happy there - smallish school, very freindly, good extra curricula activities - he is very happy there. We looked at UWC - very large school, excellent reputation, but appears a little more impersonal - good for extroverts, high achievers, nice campus, long wait list.

[Debbie007]

Thanks for your advice in regards to CIS campuses. Someone mentioned that the campus in the East is indeed in a very nice area which sounds great although they mentioned there is a high ratio of Korea children which is not a problem at all but because of this a lot of focus is on learning English which slows down the learning process for the other kids. I wonder if this is true. Also I found out that once the children move on the Grade 8 or 9 they will all end up moving to the new school in the West anyway. What are your feelings on that? I also looked into Tanglin School which looks amazing but the school hours were 8:00 am to 1:50 pm which makes for a very early start. Have you done research on other schools as well. I'm happy to hear that you are happy with the West campus since I'm leaning very strongly towards that one.

[LondonLady]

Hi Debbie, I got your PM but am unable to reply yet as I need to make a few more posts. Yes I have managed to get my son into an International School. We did the initial research by looking at the school website, and we were lucky to be able to come out and do some visits to get a feel for the schools. I eventually chose to send my son to Dovercourt. Its not as big as tanglin but it follows the British Curiculum which is what We wanted and the staff I have met so far are really nice and my son seems to be settling down well.

[Debbie007]

Okay, thanks for that.