Where do parents of SAIS pupils live ?

[crazysafari]

Hi,

We are moving to Singapore in a few weeks time and managed to secure admission for our child in SAIS in KG. Trying to narrow down on the area to take up a condo. Budget around 4k, prefer a 3 bedder condo. Work in Marina Bay.

Having spoken to the bus operator, typically 40-45 min ride is the max. We were initially thing East Coast.

Heard holland village in quite pricey.

Can any parents share where they live and their experience with the bus/areas please. It will be most appreciated.

thanks

[Michelle Martin]

Hi,

We are moving to Singapore in a few weeks time and managed to secure admission for our child in SAIS in KG. Trying to narrow down on the area to take up a condo. Budget around 4k, prefer a 3 bedder condo. Work in Marina Bay.

Having spoken to the bus operator, typically 40-45 min ride is the max. We were initially thing East Coast.

Heard holland village in quite pricey.

Can any parents share where they live and their experience with the bus/areas please. It will be most appreciated.

thanks

We too are moving to Singapore in a couple weeks and my 8 year old was accepted to SAIS, but our pre-K (in Kinder in fall 2012) is on the wait list! Ugh...we are looking at district 9 - I read that SAIS is moving campus' in August - I stare at the map of Singapore and wonder if we are crazy and how far it will be to get my 3rd grader to SAIS. Have you found any other information? Would love to know!! Best of luck, wondering if you are there already?

[SCinSG]

Hi Michelle,

The travel time will really depend on the route the school bus takes. I suggest calling the school and/or the transport provider and asking them how long of a ride your child will have if you live at River Valley Road (basically, the heart of District 9).

Looking on Google Maps, from River Valley Road to the current SAIS campus and to the new one (opening in August 2012 at 279 Upper Serangoon Road) looks like about 6km. You could certainly find places closer to the school, but in the context of Singapore you're also not really that far away.

Living around Newton/Novena or Thomson Road will get you a bit closer to the school, but again you need to check what the bus routes are to see if it would make much of a difference in travel time.

[Michelle Martin]

Thank you so much, this is great info. I assume finding a place closer for August school move and just suffering through the long bus ride this spring will have to do or maybe finding somewhere in the middle. We were given an ok housing allowance I guess, but no idea since I chose NOT to go with my husband when he went and looked at places (simply because he had to go to Korea first and I didn't want to do both trips - silly on my part).

Thanks again for the info, much appreciated!

[SCinSG]

Hi Michelle,

Just to be clear, the old and new SAIS campuses are quite near each other (about 1.5km apart, I think). So your travel time won't change much between this spring and the campus move in August. Both campuses are about 6km from River Valley Road (District 9).

[crazysafari]

We are planning to take up a condo along East Coast. Looks like the move will make the school a bit closer for us

[Brooklynjenn]

I just posted on another thread, but I will share here too. We live at Waterfall Gardens, close to Holland Village, and there are two other families here, grades pre-k to 3rd. Our commute time is 20 minutes. The new campus will be virtually the same distance. Even though we seem far away on the map, there are so many families out here in this area that the bus picks up children in the area and then goes straight to school, so it is a quicker commute than from areas that may in fact be closer, like the East Coast. I was quoted about 40 minutes from the East Coast, and it is about 15 minutes closer than our old commute of 35 minutes from Orchard Scotts in the central area. I know there are also a lot of families at the Arcadia, so many that they have their own bus. There were maybe about 10 kids at Orchard Scotts at SAIS, but a lot of them are transitory like we were. I know of a family at the Cornwall also. I am still pretty new myself so I can't say for sure where people are living. We would love more SAIS kids at our condo, though! Our kids all know each other, and have spontaneous play dates after school, which is hard to do with families outside our condo due to the long school days.