Moving to Singapore Feb 2011

[Cheeseymutts]

Hi All, new to Mumsnet. Have visited previous Moving to Singapore thread. Just needing some more up to date info.

I have two children Izzy almost 7 and Vaughan almost 4, both in UK independent schools presently. Looking into schooling situation in Singapore is mind boggling.

Tanglin Trust can't get either in until Aug 2012, Chatsworth Orchard Campus Aug 2011, Overseas Family School can get my daughter in but not my son until Aug 2011. We are not getting the opportunity to have a "look see" visit before we move, so I am going in blind. Would love to hear from anyone who is at these schools. May just have to go with OFS in the first instance, but should we also put ourselves on the wait list for the others???

Secondly, housing - in an ideal world I would like a 4 bed condo close to school in price range of

Hello, I'm about the make the same move with children close in age to yours. If you CAT me I'll give you more details of each school I visited.

Most of the international schools will now be full at the year groups you are looking at (UK pre-school year and Yr 2?). We lined up school places for our DC to start after this Christmas during a visit in early summer, and we were struggling to find places in both year groups.

The problem is mid-year entry as they tend to fill the year in August. So you may be better off looking at schools that have an academic year starting in January - the Australian and Canadian schools, from memory! Otherwise, as well as the schools you've mentioned, the German European Swiss school is quite large and has a large English language stream.

On housing, I think a 4 bed condo for 7k is unrealistic. From what we looked at, you'd be wanting to double that amount.

Being further out (presumably from the CBD?) isn't a problem as the schools are all on the outskirts of the city anyway. And everything seems to be a 15 minute drive! But you'll need a car, so budget around £1k a month for that. If you use the school buses it can mean a very early pick-up and late drop off, even though the island is quite small. And you may not be happy to put your 4 yr old on the bus just yet.

Am about to go out, if you'd like to know more either CAT me or reply here and I'll check back over the weekend. Bit limited on what I'll say on here as it is such an open forum! But hope the generalities above help a bit.

And that all sounds a bit negative, but I've been on a couple of visits, and I'm so excited about the move - so lots good to look forward to as well .

Sorry, am wrong on the housing. You'd need to spend around 12k on the condo I think, not quite double what you'd suggested. For 15k you are getting quite high-spec low-rise condos/town houses, so you'd get an OK condo for 10-12k. Cheaper if you don't mind high-rise, which we'd ruled out, so my costings might be a little on the high side. Can't give you any guidance on those prices.

The property guru website is good for getting a feel for prices, focus on districts 10 and 11 as they are the expat areas and close to the schools you mentioned.

Definitely OFS is your best bet. DS is young enough that you can get by with 2 terms in a kindy until August. There is a variety of options but you also need to contact them NOW.
OFS has really come together last couple of years and no longer merely a stop gap until you get into TTS or UWC

TTS would be first choice of course but very hard to get in short notice and mid year.

Chatsworh I would not even consider.

Dover court is a very proper little school.

Australian if you would consider but in the neck of the woods. Avondale would be a good contender (in Phoenix park near Tanglin) if you were to consider that stream.

German swiss, I know very little of but only heard good things.

I'd have to disagree with movingtosingapore on housing.
$7,000 is very tight in the prime areas around OFS but by no means impossible if you look further along killiney road towards river valley road/river valley close & River valley towards great world city, the bottom of Tanglin road/Alexandra. Options around Holland too.
Of course the norm would be around $12k, but not everyone lives on those budgets so don't despair.
For $7,000 you'd be looking at the 1600-1800 sqft range. Certainly stretching a bit to $8,000 maybe $9,000 would give you better options but its absurd to suggest doubling a housing budget.

Sorry going to disagree too re the housing, you would have to get an older condo, but I do think you would find something for $7k with 4 bedrooms. Pluses with older condos though is that they are usually much bigger than the new ones which look fantastic but have tiny rooms.

If you are planning on your kids taking the school bus, it doesn't matter if you live slightly further out.

River Valley, Tanglin, Alexandra, Holland Village are all great but theres other areas too, some people like around Tanjong Rhu (loads of older condos there) or West Coast - Pasir Panjang, Balmoral area, Newton area, further up Bukit Timah Rd.....I guess you will come and stay in a serviced apartment first? so you will have time to look at all the property available.

Sorry can't help you on the schools as we are working out for our kids at the moment!

yes do keep an open mind Re location as Singapore is really a small place and there is a lot more than meets the eye.
Nort Buona vista/Clementi/Pasir panjang/west coast are all very accessible by car/mrt/buses to the CBD and to Dover court/TTS.
For OFS the buses will easily find their way to anywhere in town.

East coast is absolutely lovely. Do not discount it but do not focus there either thinking it would be a better deal.
Prices have caught up with central areas as the new marina bay sands development has bridged the gap.
That said, it is an option really worth investigating as many international schools now have east coast campuses (which partly explains the price hike).

Apologies OP, just checked back - I see I was too hasty on the condo prices. We're limited to low-rise/central (some mobility issues) so my comment on price was for a very central location (which I see wasn't what you were asking for). Obviously better value to be had a little further out!

Hello again,

was talking to a friend re schools and there is a really good pre school called Lock road kindergarden (british stream) that will most likely have places for your DS.

They have lost a few students in the last 2 terms because they are relocating to new premises (bukit Timah/Kheam Hock road - very close to botanic children's garden)

I actually had DD waitlisted there but did not take up the place in september as we are leaving Sg next week.
The principal teacher is an ex tanglin infant year teacher and pretty much all kids end up there or in other main schools.
Might be a good place to call.