Singapore’s Primary One registration balloting
Jul 18th, 2010 by islandhippy
Kiasu: [Hokkien] a fear of losing, used to describe a person who is overly competitive; afraid to lose.
I may not have renounced my nationality and taken Singapore citizenship like Sri but I am displaying all the traits of a true-blue kiasu Singaporean. I’m eagerly following the results of the Primary One registration balloting, which is taking place in Singapore this month.
Primary school places are allocated according to phases laid out by the Ministry of Education. If the number of applicants for each phase exceeds the number of places available then the outcome will be determined first by the distance one lives from the school and then by balloting.
Phase 1: For kids with siblings currently at the school.
Phase 2A1: For kids with a parent who attended the school and joined the alumni.
Phase 2A2: For kids with silly parents who didn’t join the alumni and kids whose siblings studied at the school.
Phase 2B2: For kids whose parents are so kiasu that they have volunteered at the school for more than 40 hours. (This phase is for me, I'm already checking out volunteering guidelines at several schools.)
Phase 2C: For all other Singaporean and PR kids who are ineligible for the above.
Phase 3: For kids who are neither Singapore citizens nor PRs.
I have identified some potential primary schools for Olive and Leo and I’m closely watching the vacancies following the results of each phase allocation.
Of course we now have to move house as there aren’t any schools within 1 km of our flat … except for the Global Indian International School. So, we’re also looking for resale HDB flats within 1 km of our schools of choice.
As I write this post, my daughter is balancing on one leg while singing a Lady Gaga song so I can see she is obviously extremely talented. Finding a top primary school will be imperative.
And the most kisau thing about this is that my daughter is only 2 and my son is 1 month old! Olive still has 4 years to go before she starts school.
Thanks – I never knew all the phases til now. How do you follow the action? Is there an iPhone app?
LOL, I’m sure there is an iPhone app! Catch all the action at http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/primary-one-registration/vacancies/
Other useful sites:
http://unofficial-sg-primary-school-guide.blogspot.com/
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/
thanks for the info, phil..
may i know what is considered top primary school? among the nearer school to hang jebat, such as new town or queenstown primary, would they be considered top school?
I am also looking for info despite being posted in Jakarta at the moment.. thanks!
Hi Rani
How’s the family?
We’re not really looking for the ‘top’ primary schools, we’re just trying to avoid the worst performers although I’m sure there are no bad schools in Singapore. While there are no official school rankings in Singapore, you can find unofficial league tables such as the ones here (you may need to sign up to the site first):
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/singapore-primary-schools-ranked-academic-excellence
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/singapore-primary-1-registration-school-balloting-history
I’m not too sure about schools close to Hang Jebat but you might want to check out Radin Mas which is just down the road. I believe the most popular schools in the neighbourhood (all further than 2 km from JHJ) are Nan Hua Primary, Clementi Primary, Fairfield Methodist Primary, Radin Mas and CHIJ (Kellock).
You really should consider my area then! Where I’m putting up, there are many great schools around >> St Andrew’s, St Nicholas, Cedar Girl’s (that’s a Secondary school by the way), Rosyth Primary etc.. come be my neighbours! I promise to babysit so that you guys get a date night! How’s that?
Thanks phil. Fairfield is still under 2km from Hang jebat. we may aim for that one. But we can’t do volunteering since we’re abroad. so.. i dunno.
We hope to get registered then took leave of absence. That case, when we needed to return to singapore, my kids can get enrolled immediately.
Hey Phil, there’s one that is within walking distance from our place, Tanglin Trust School.
Haha, yeah, lend me S$60k a year for school fees (2 kids) and I’ll happily walk all the kids in the street to Tanglin Trust School every morning!