Waitlist and SAS

[Jhonny_Lever]

Folks
This is another waitlist question and SAS question.

My son is currently going to one of the top Private schools in Texas. We just finished applying for admission to SAS. We were told that there are about 20+ kids in the SAS wait list for his grade level.

I will be moving to Singapore over the next couple of weeks. The rest of the family will follow once the school.

My spouse and I are very concerned about what to expect about the waiting time and the overall admissions process. We are looking to hear from others who went through this process and their experiences.

- a concerned parent

[movingtospore]

Hi, saw nobody responded to this. My kids are not at SAS so take this with a grain of salt...but what I've heard is you need to be on top your admissions person. Call them on a regular basis to see where things are at. If you are American you will have priority for admission in August 2012. But if there are 20 other americans ahead of you too bad so sad.

If you are trying for a spot right now, and you've been told there are 20 ahead of you then you're definitely out of luck.

Not sure what grade your child is in. I've met a number of Americans at Stamford American International School - but they only go up to grade 8 or something. And there are also a number at the Canadian school. Many are waiting for a spot at SAS but others are fed up with SAS. Good luck.

[Brooklynjenn]

I agree, there are many fine schools here, SAS is not the only one to consider. My kids go to Stamford American and we love it. We also really liked the Canadian School. I am at a Serviced Apartment now with a lot of Americans, and there are kids at SAS, but also 10 at Stamford, 4 at CIS, and another 6-8 at Overseas Family. Everyone I have talked to has been quite pleased with their school. I think any of these schools would compare favorably with a nice private school in the States, and having lived in Texas for many years, I think you'll find the private schools here to be comparable. We have a few families at SAIS from Texas, by the way.

[mickeysam]

Brooklynjenn,

Your posts have been very helpful. We too have 2 kids ages 6 and 4.

If SAS would not have a waitlist, would you have chosen that over SAIS? Our office is near Marina Bay, so commute times would be an issue, but I am willing to take the extra commute, if the kiddos end up in a better school.

We are about to make an application, and SAS has comeback saying that our older one would be able to get in because there is no waitlist. We are not sure about starting our younger one in Pre-K just yet, so that is not a huge consideration at this time.

[Brooklynjenn]

Mickeysam, I would not have chosen SAS over SAIS because of the commute time and school start times. SAS starts really early, the kids living centrally get on the bus sometimes before 7 am. We have friends who send their kids to SAS and live near Holland Village. Their kids get on the bus at 6:50 am. They get back at around 3:30. My children couldn't cope with that kind of start time. They get on the bus at 7:50, and arrive home at 4 pm.

I know the friends are really happy with SAS, and they feel it is worth the commute. However, I know we don't want a long commute for a 4 and 6 year old, and SAIS is a really great school. The teachers are engaged. My kids really love it. My six year old really enjoys her classes. The amount of language exposure they get is amazing - both of my children rattle off Mandarin phrases to taxi drivers and sing songs with them. We have been at the school for only 10 weeks, so to me it amazing what they have learned. My six year old was a beginning reader when she started, and she has exploded with her reading. She now reads anything she gets her hands on. I completely attribute it to her teacher's ability to make reading fun and encouraging her natural curiosity. Her last school just focused on rote memorization of sight words, and in just 10 weeks she has just completely exploded. The teacher is really young, and I was a little concerned that she would not be experienced enough, but seeing what she has done with my daughter who previously had very little interest in reading and saw memorizing words as a chore, I am just really blown away.

The other thing I think makes SAIS a better choice for us is the size of the school and the community. There are only about 800 kids now, which will be changing soon, but it feels more personal to me and I am getting to know the parents well. They actively encourage meeting the other parents, and there are parent clubs that do things like meet for dinner, discuss books, visit museums, etc., so you can quickly meet others and have a sense of community. I don't know what that is like at SAS, but to me I feel like I have a close knit community BECAUSE of the small size.

Hope that helps.

[scarbowl]

I think SAIS has only around 520, not 800. But, to your point, it is a cozy community as a result.

My concern about SAIS would be the turmoil of the next year. The entire school will move to a brand new location in August 2012. The facility will be better, for certain. But the chaos of opening a new campus, making everything work, the addition of hundreds of students (maybe 1,000?), and settling in a new place? There will be new teachers who are adjusting to Singapore and lots of things that aren't yet working.

I wouldn't enroll my child in that to start her school in Singapore. After a year or two for the administration and faculty to organize the new campus, yes. But not now.