Schools and living accommodation

[irishpaddy]

Hi Guys

We are looking to move to Singapore in May and would like some information on the following

Local schools - has any expats placed their children in local schools, if so which and how do you rate them

Accommodation - experiences on condo vs hose with land . does the condo thing work for young families

Expat community - which part of the island id predominantly expat english/irish and has anyone any recommendations for a young family - yip I know its slightly openended and ambiguous question but any help would be appreciated

regards

[mandrew]

Hi Irishpaddy,

we're moving from Australia later this month and planning on putting our six year old daughter into Primary One at Queeenstown Primary local school. Once she's been there for a week or two I can give you an update.

The main difference I've seen is that although there seem to be no 'bad' local schools there are some very popular ones which really push the kids hard in academic excellence. These ones however are not likely to have any open places anyway as locals get first pick. Queenstown seems to be a smaller 'neighbourhood' school with a more holistic emphasis and we're betting it will be better for our daughter anyway. I spoke to the Principal over the phone and they already have a set of expat twins attending Primary One this year in that school.

We did all our research remotely (but we've visited SG a lot over the years for work) for our move plus spoke to friends in SG. I also found a lot of useful info on expat perspectives in these forums by searching. If it's Primary school you also might find this website useful http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/conte ... -singapore which is from a local perspective.

The SG Ministry of Education (MOE) website also has a lot of information and I found this booklet useful for primary school info (http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/primary ... ooklet.pdf).

From comments I've seen the consensus seems to be the older your children the more difficult it might be for them to adapt to local schools.

Good Luck!

[irishpaddy]

Hi Mandrew
many thanks for the reply , this gives us some positive feelings on the subject and a reference point to start with , lastly best of luck with the move

regards

irishpaddy

[eyeFone]

with regards to accommodation; I moved here a few months ago with family in tow. We chose the condo route as I am more comfortable with letting my 3 yr old roam and play in the onsite facilites and so far he's made friends with other kids in the compound.

I do miss living in a house though, with a garden etc. But since moving here i've started swimming regularly, play tennis every other weekend and have made some good frineds myself.

just my two cents

[Colette S]

Hi Eyefone,
We're moving to Singapore this summer. Your situation sounds like what we are thinking about at the moment ie. we would probably prefer to live in a house for the space, garden etc but we have decided to try to find a condo. Our son will be going to the French school. Near Ang Mo Kio I believe. Do you know that part of town? Districts 10, 11 or 20 by the looks of it. There seems to be so many condos / apartments. Haven't got a clue where to start looking. Have you heard of any good ones??
Thanks,
Colette

[road.not.taken]

If you have no experience living in the tropics, then a move into a condo for your first 'go' sure makes it easier. Both have their advantages and drawbacks but a landed property has it's own set of problems, which might add to the frustrations of getting settled in a new country. It would be less likely that a house would be close to public transportation too.

Try to find any place where there is little or no chance of construction near by -- whether it's a house, condo or semi-D. You want all your neighbors to be new if possible. There is definitely a much better chance of making friends in a condo, for parents and for kids. This won't be too popular with some board members, but I'd pick a place loaded with families from the kid's school or lots of expats -- you'll meet more people in your situation that will help you negotiate the awkward 'freshman' phase. I'm not condoning a submersion into a expat lifestyle the precludes local culture, friends, etc. Just that you should 'stack the deck' in your favor for the first few years. After that, if you're still here to sign a new lease -- consider your options.