Help with British schools please!

[Jum Jane]

Hi there

We've lived in Dubai for almost 20 yrs and are finally thinking of moving to Singapore. Despite living in DXB for so long, we totally messed up our sons primary school here and sent him somewhere unsuitable, and had to wait almost 2 yrs to get a space in a fabulous school. I really don't want to mess up again and so if we do move to Singapore I wondered if someone could please tell us which is the best British primary school in Sin? We don't care where we live, as from our past experience, it is the school that matters more. However, we do like the Tanglin area and are looking for a small, more exclusive school where Brits tend to send their kids. If you know Dubai, we are looking for a school that is similar to Jess or Kings and definitely not a gigantic school where he will be in a huge class.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks so so much

[aussiemeg]

At the risk of getting into a long arguement Tanglin Trust is THE british school in Singapore. Depending upon age it may be difficult to get him in but in our experience with other schools we are delighted with TTS. Dover court is a lot smaller and good too. A less specific british school is one world international which is small and very family oriented and a good program but have no personal experience with the myself.

Cheers
Megan

[Jum Jane]

Thanks so so much for being kind enough to reply. You know that sounds exactly the type of thing we are looking for! It's so hard to know, as I know there are millions of intl schools everywhere, but we had a bad experience with that here and so I'm paranoid about them now! Also, from my experience here, there is no shortage of schools, but the ones who have huge waiting lists are the best ones. So, you know, it sounds like that could well be the type of thing we're looking for. I don't mind as we're in no major hurry to relocate anyhow, so if I put my son down then at least it's a start.

Thank you once again for being so helpful!

[road.not.taken]

I can second Tanglin Trust. My children never attended but over the years I've known many teachers and students who have ~ they are doing very good work over there. I have spent hours there waiting for my kids while they attend some extra-curricular activity or another. You can learn a lot about a school by what is displayed on the walls, how the students treat each other when they think no one is watching, the general vibe. It's top-notch, no doubt.

[Jum Jane]

Wow, thanks. Yup, this definitely sounds like the type of thing I'm looking for. I don't know if they do a Govt rating for the schools like they do here, but I know that the school we eventually got our son in to was rated as outstanding, while the school he previously went to (which in my eyes was dreadful) was rated as good, so that I guess is also an indication.

Oh, I just never want to repeat that experience again. I can't believe that a school experience can be soo stressful, I'd always thought a school was just a school, but there can be an enormous difference between one place and another! I will most definitely contact TT today and at least try to get on the waiting list. If it takes years then so be it! I've learnt from Dubai that it's worth paying deposits because those places do come up -eventually!

I wonder if they have quite strict assesments?! Now that's probably another story. I know here assesments for the best schools can be hard to pass! But thanks, this is great news!