Which area is generally good for local schools?

[Price Tag]

If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. we will be moving to SG from HK probably around June this year. I have 3 girls & need to sort schools. MOE has advised that we need to decide on the area we will be living in for us to be allocated a school depending on the exam marks for the S-AEIS test. Though we will be having the Dependent visa they think the test will give us more of a chance to get in to a local school. Having said that I have no idea which area is better. I am looking at Geylang/Tampines. Anyone have any ideas or any other advise?

[Adhewar]

Bishan is not bad for girls and boys. It has one International School and various other good local schools. Try googling it.

[jacL]

Hi i'll be going HK too next month:) You'll love sg if you want to run away from the hustle & bustle but yet have an orderly city. Is there any reason why you chose Geylang/Tampines? The top schools are mainly found in Bukit Timah Rd. Having said that, the entry level is not easy too but the chances of getting in is also much dependent on the area you stay. How old are your children so that I can tell u more about the schools:)

[Clarice1]

It is getting very difficult for expats to place their kids in local schools. The areas in which expats like to live are particularly bad. No one knows the statistics because the government releases no information. As a rough guess, at least a third of the parents who applied this year have been rejected for P1. (Age six and a half to seven.) No appeals are allowed. Older kids have to sit for a very tough exam in which they compete against large numbers of Chinese and other kids from the region. Most Western kids won't be able to compete in Maths. The Singapore government assumes NO responsibility for the children of expats. If you can't negotiate an education package, think twice about coming to Singapore. Some people have already decided to stay home or go elsewhere.

[sundaymorningstaple]

^^^^ This is spot on!

[Clarice1]

If you can't afford International School, the only feasible strategy is to find out which schools had the most vacancies for Phase 3 for Primary 1 this year. This doesn't vary too much from year to year. You do this by joining the Kiasu Parents forum. (Kiasu means "pushy".) Look at the section at the top which gives you the registration history for every school in each district. (You could just about write a PhD thesis on the subject of registration phases.) Choose the schools LEAST popular with the locals. These will be in the so-called Heartland and will not be places popular with expats such as Clementi, East Coast or Central district. OR you can take pot luck, cling to the condo districts with the other expats and have about 30% chance of getting a place. Having said that, it is also true that the government is making a concerted effort to convince the populace that "every school is a good school" and is providing resources to try to achieve this. Small comfort though if it means no school at all.