Australian family with 5 children moving to Singapore - help

[Noodle2705]

Hi
We are moving to Singapore in the second half of this year and need lots of advice on schools and where to live.
We are just starting to look at International Schools in Singapore and places to live and would really appreciate any advice or suggestions.
We will have 4 children attending school ages 4,6,7 and 9. As we have some flexibility with our arrival date I am wanting to coincide it with the start of a school term if possible. Our school year in Australia runs the calendar year (Jan-Dec) so I'm not sure if the children would need to repeat their current school year if they go to a school that starts the new year in August. School fees will be paid for us so we are looking or a school that all children can attend together and that promotes the local culture and has regular mandarin classes and also provides some extra curricular activities.
We are also looking at where we should rent a house and ideally would like that to be close to the school if possible. We would be looking for a 5 bed house with pool that is close to public transport and has parks etc closely. We would also like to live in a family area so the children had other children to play with in the street etc.
Finally, any advice any one might have on nursery's for our 1 1/2 year old would be fantastic.
Many thanks - any advice welcome as we don't know a lot about Singapore.

[JR8]

[blink]

Ok, starter question. How much is your housing budget?


[This determines where you might live, your 'sphere of operation', from which most of all else will derive].

[sundaymorningstaple]

Schooling may well cost around the 90~100K/year mark for your brood to go to an International School.

If you try to put them in the local school system, they will be all over the island (not desirable at all) as locals have first priority, PR second priority and if there are ANY vacant spaces then they are put up on ballot but citizens from other areas will be given first option here as well. Usually, the local school system will end up with "some" vacancies way out from the city centre and all over the place, but there are never enough to handle the foreign intake. So, the odds of them getting into a single school is virtually nil.

The school year here runs from Jan to Dec as well, so no problem there, but allocation of seating takes place in Nov/Dec if I'm not mistaken (I could be wrong as my kids finished their schooling here some years ago - they're 23 & 28 now) most of the better school won't even have any balloting for vacancies at all because there won't be any.

[snowqueen]

Oh my goodness, 5 kids in Singapore - I hope your company is paying you the big bucks. Just having a quick look on . a 5 bed house with pool would start around $7k per month. Cluster Houses are quite popular here - rather than a stand alone landed house, you can live in a development which has the benefits and facilities of a condo but you live in a house.

The Australian International School (http://www.ais.com.sg/) is probably one of the post expensive in Singapore - probably around $30k a year per child, but there are lots of other International Schools around. Like SMS said, expect to pay around $90-100 (or more) for 4 children to go to international school.

It will be easy to find a pre-school in the area wherever you choose to live, they're all over the place - can choose a little Montessori or a pre-school like White Lodge, Pats School House, Eton House etc.

If you do a google search on 'International Schools in Singapore' there's a pretty good wiki page with them all listed. There is also usually a sticky file on Singapore Expats which may help.

Hope this helps you get started on your research.

[Noodle2705]

Many thanks for the information provided on costs of International Schools and housing including cluster houses. We are in the process of negotiating a package so the information has been invaluable. Much appreciated.

[Brah]

It would be interesting to know a) what you/ your spouse do for a living and b) if your company will pay for your 5 kid's schooling.

If b I would like to know what a is in order to change my career to a.

[amberrm]

HI,
I see your post was a little while ago but my husband and i are talking about moving to singapore in the next 12-18months. we also have 5 children (1,4,6,9,12), and so it would be really wonderful if you could let me know how you get on with your move - i would very much appreciate your advice if we head out there.
I have been doing some research and whilst the schools and living is all sounding good, the housing bothers me. Having a large family as you know means a fairly big house and a pool would be perfect. We are not keen to be sharing facilities and quite like our private space but it all seems very expensive. what have you found?

We are based currently in the uk and my husband works in banking in london. We have lived in Jersey (channel Islands) for 4 years and moved back to the uk. However, its not quite as we would hope and relish another adventure.

if you get chance, i would love to hear how you have got on since you post in january.

best wishes

[offshoreoildude]

HI,
I see your post was a little while ago but my husband and i are talking about moving to singapore in the next 12-18months. we also have 5 children (1,4,6,9,12), and so it would be really wonderful if you could let me know how you get on with your move - i would very much appreciate your advice if we head out there.
I have been doing some research and whilst the schools and living is all sounding good, the housing bothers me. Having a large family as you know means a fairly big house and a pool would be perfect. We are not keen to be sharing facilities and quite like our private space but it all seems very expensive. what have you found?

We are based currently in the uk and my husband works in banking in london. We have lived in Jersey (channel Islands) for 4 years and moved back to the uk. However, its not quite as we would hope and relish another adventure.

if you get chance, i would love to hear how you have got on since you post in january.

best wishes

An option your might consider is renting a terrace of house (the black and whites) and putting in your own above ground pool. It can be done on a rental basis including maintenance.