Eminently moving to Singapore and looking for school options

[akeelm]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum but need some help. I have just accepted a role to work for a company in Singapore and the move date is drawing upon us. Been having a read through the forum and there is allot of mention about International Schooling. However, they all cost a lot and i would have assumed that the standard of education in Singapore local schools would be very good as well. We are moving from Solihull in UK and have two daughters. 7 years and 3 years. Can anyone recommend any good decently priced schools in Singapore? I am planning a recon trip in June/July and would really like to make some appointments during my visit to scout the places out.

Appreciate any help and thank all in advance.

Akeel

[katbh]

There are a few good cheaper International Schools. But watch out. Some are not very good. Some are excellent. Perhaps a reasonable way of judging is the time the school has existed and your feeling of the school when you visit. It also depends on where you are going to be living. But not crucial as school busses collect children from your door and drop tbem back to your door (at a price).
Local school education is good - usually academically a higher standard than UK schools (and I know I will be shot down here by vested interests) and International Schools here.
There are lost of thread about Local v international on this forum.
My two cents worth - I have a largish number of children and have been both international (when we first came) and local. Give me local any day.
When and if we ever move onto the UK, my children will be far ahead in maths, science and YES, grammar!

[akeelm]

Thanks for the post. Much appreciated. This is what i expected as i too studied in a public school in Africa but all my teachers were British and the standards of education were extremely high. Would you recommend any local schools for us to check out? I still have not figured out where i am going to stay as that would really depend on the school my kids eventually get into and i would like to stay somewhere close by. Don't fancy them travelling 30 minutes into school everyday.
Thanks once again.

Akeel

[katbh]

One good reasonably priced International School is Chatsworth which is junior school in the east and a junior and high school in the city.
For local schools, I only have experience with Tanjong Katong Primary, Opera Estate Primary, CHIJ (girls only), St Stephens (only for boys), Haig Girls and secondary schools. These are all in the east.

[akeelm]

thank for the fast response. Will certainly check these out.

[sundaymorningstaple]

What katbh neglected to mention is that you will be curtailed, in the local school, to wherever you can get a slot. There are three phases for determining who goes to what school. Most schools are already filled before even getting to "Phase 3" Dependent Pass or LTVP holders are eligible to be considered. (ballots are held if the remaining places are exceeded by the hopefuls (most of them are oversubscribed). So, you want to figure out where you can get your eldest into a school and then try to live in that vicinity or you could find yourself having to buss the child clear across the island to a school.

[katbh]

These phases are only relevant if you are going into P1 in January. Children go into P1 the year they are turning 7 (1 jan - 31 dec of the year they are entering school). So if your child is 7 already it is not an issue. And from what Akeelm said, his daughter is already 7. So she would be either starting P2 or entering P1 partway through.
If a child is entering a school AFTER January in P1 or going into any other year group (P2 - P5) the phases are irrelevant.
Often if you are not able to get your child into your school of choice for P1 in the normal school admissions, a space will come up a few months later. Once a local child is into a local school, they rarely move schools as it is frowned upon. So if you have your child in an International School, or are home tutoring until you obtain a school, you can move them over later in the year when a space becomes available. Otherwise, get your child into the closest and best school you can. You may fall in love with this school or your can apply for a transfer and approach the school of your choice directly later in the first term.
One other thing to remember is that a child is not allowed to transfer schools or to enter the local school system in P6 as it is the year of the PSLE and MOE believe that there is not enough time to cover the curriculum in the final year. I also believe it would be too disruptive.
But do look at some International Schools. There are some good ones out there - especially if you intend to be in Singapore for only a short time.

[mummy mantras]

If a child is entering a school AFTER January in P1 or going into any other year group (P2 - P5) the phases are irrelevant.
Often if you are not able to get your child into your school of choice for P1 in the normal school admissions, a space will come up a few months later. So if you have your child in an International School, or are home tutoring until you obtain a school, you can move them over later in the year when a space becomes available.

Based on my experiences (as a school teacher, not as a parent), katbh is right.

Do note that the school may also ask your child to sit for an exam to determine what level and class he is best suited for.

For example, in the primary school that I taught in, we had a foreign student who was turning 10 that year and so was eligible to enter Primary 4. However, before coming to Singapore, his parents had been posted to Myanmar (and he had studied at an international school there).

The principal did not think that he would be capable of keeping up with the rest of his schoolmates in Primary 4 and so recommended that he join a Prmary 3 class instead. However, he parents insisted that he would be more than capable of managing his Primary 4 classwork, and so I was asked to administer the previous year's Primary 3 End-of-Year exams to this student to see how he would do.

He aced all his subjects, except maths, for which he got decent but not stellar grades. And so, the principal approved his admission to a Primary 4 class, with the provision that he stay back after school at least once a week for remedial maths lessons with his subject teacher.

As his former Form Teacher, I'm pleased to say that he did very well indeed in the PSLE exams at Primary 6, and grew to love maths so much, in fact, that he continued studying the subject all the way till university!

[katbh]

+1
Yes, schools often try to keep international kids back a year. Sometimes it is warranted, some times it is not. Best way to check (but not foolproof) is to get some exam papers (usually sold at most markets - they come in pack wrapped in clear plastic and contain 1 years worth of exam papers from about 10 schools) and try them out. Or you can buy an exam paper book from Popular. If you child has not problems - or if you think they can overcome them quickly - ensure that your child is put in their age appropriate year. This is important if your child does sport. If they are overage in p5 and p6 they may not be able to play their chosen sport in inter-school competitions. Having said that, there are quite a few overage students in each year. Often, however, they are from china, korea, myanmar etc. These children have to learn English as their first obstacle so they are held back so they can learn English well prior to their PSLE.

[movingtospore]

These phases are only relevant if you are going into P1 in January. Children go into P1 the year they are turning 7 (1 jan - 31 dec of the year they are entering school). So if your child is 7 already it is not an issue. And from what Akeelm said, his daughter is already 7. So she would be either starting P2 or entering P1 partway through.
If a child is entering a school AFTER January in P1 or going into any other year group (P2 - P5) the phases are irrelevant.
Often if you are not able to get your child into your school of choice for P1 in the normal school admissions, a space will come up a few months later. Once a local child is into a local school, they rarely move schools as it is frowned upon. So if you have your child in an International School, or are home tutoring until you obtain a school, you can move them over later in the year when a space becomes available. Otherwise, get your child into the closest and best school you can. You may fall in love with this school or your can apply for a transfer and approach the school of your choice directly later in the first term.

This was not my experience trying to get into local schools. There were no spaces for foreigners, period, except for one school way out by the airport. In three years now of being on the "wait list" at a few neighbourhood schools not a single one had a place come open for foreigners. So, just be aware, as a recent arrival, it is not easy to get a place. In retrospect though, the international school we're now in is a better fit for our approach to towards education anyways.