Singapore school run

[londonmoo]

Very likely we are moving to Singapore in Aug of this year. I've been trawling the forums and found all the info hugely helpful. My boy, aged 7 and at a small London prep, is used to the heat and food as his Dad is half Malaysian so we've been to that side of the world a few times; he loves it. He is, however, used to a small and intimate school.
I like the sound of Dover Court and OFS for their intimate make-up, though the latter seems to have had some dodgy write-ups. We'll also put him down for Tanglin although the size will be something for him to get used to; probably by the time a space comes up he'll be doing his A Levels.
Having visited S'pore at Christmas and stayed in town as you do when on hols, I have this romantic notion of having a condo somewhere similar. My question is, if we got into DC - my preferred choice, I think - or even Tanglin if we were so lucky, can I still live somewhere central and do the school run by cab or MRT? I don't drive and I'm not sure about the school bus system, although I think after a few months he'd be OK about doing it.
Or is it better to live near the schools and so have your new parent friends around you? And if you do live near Dover Court or Tanglin what do most people do for accomm and do you all drive? And taxi swaps going on? Where do you all live and is it easy to get to town? I like the condo idea but find the property websites hard to navigate.
Any ideas / thoughts appreciated.
Oh, and if anyone has left beloved pets behind, where did you relocate them and how did that go?
LOTS of questions, sorry...

You can do the run in a cab - plentiful and cheap but unlikely on mrt. probably best to have regular driver as they tend to be busy in the rain. The school buses are fab - well they were at Tanglin - an administrator on the end of a phone at school, 'bus aunties' to supervise and driver with phone too. I'd have no hesitation in using them, even for very young children as the service is door to door.

I had a car as with three children, cabs would have been inconvenient, but with one child, you can manage. Many people do, though few expats were without their own car when I was there.

Singapore isn't that big so you can live centrally and travel to school. I lived by Orchard Rd and condos are plentiful with super facilities) and it was a 20 min drive to Tanglin. Unless you live further out so that you can more easily afford a villa with garden and private pool, I strongly recommend living centrally as most folk do.

You should also have his name down for UWC as that and Tanglin are the most popular schools, with good reason.

Aha, UWC, for some reason I just keep skipping over that one, will take a look - can't get my head round the website with all the different campus/sections of school but perhaps I need to persevere, it does seem to keep cropping up on all the 'Singapore School' threads.

Much cheered to hear central living is possible. I've never had a house and garden, always lived in flats, and although not against the idea of a more rural existence I think condo life somewhere central is the way for us.

Regular driver sounds good but pleased to hear school buses are fine, and not mean machines that swipe your child off the kerb and drive like the insane Harry Potter bus, dumping small children in a heap at school gates. Will have to consider all this once there I guess.

Thanks for swift reply; how long were you there for?

[pops off to research UWC]

Hi,
For dc and Tanglin you could try looking around Dover and Bueno vista areas, as then you're virtually walkable to both schools. Tanglin is great. On paper a big school, but so so small and intimate when you get in to the class set up. A lot of people are at dc, Avondale, australian school, ofs, sji only whilst waiting for a place to come up and UWC and Tanglin.
Condos around dc and Tanglin for you to benchmark, could be: star vista, the Rochester, one north, the metropolis .
It depends if you have more than one dc and how old your dc is as to how quickly a space comes up. Unless of course your company is willing to buy the place!

You might be lucky with Tanglin- some years have smaller waiting lists than others.

The trouble with taxis is booking one each morning is very stressful as you are waiting to get a booking then waiting for the taxi, and if it is raining it can take ages to get a taxi or even for the company to answer.

The bus service is very good and as others have said it is door to door.

It doesn't really matter where you live- but if you can't drive make sure you can walk to a supermarket easily.

I would avoid living near the Bukit Timah and Dunearn Roads at the moment. The traffic is horrendous due to the building of the next new MRT line.

I agree One North and surroundings is a good place to live for UWC and Tanglin. Not so good for the other schools though.

We know people in the Grange Residences, Four Seasons Park, Spring Grove (which are all pretty central).

Thanks all. Looks like we'll just have to get out there and match whatever school we like/are offered with whatever property works best. Guess it's the school bus for us - will make the most of my 5 months of round-the-corner dropping off until summer... Lots to look forward to, though :)

Sorry, thought of another one: is it more common to live near your DC's school or your work?
I probably won't be working and if I do it'll be freelance from home but DH will be in the CBD. Guess I need to weigh up if I'd rather have him home quicker or make the school run a schlep.
What's the norm?

I don't think there is a norm. Singapore isn't really very big. After years of commuting in London we chose to live nearer to work and still do despite the arrival of ds and dd. DS will start school (SJI) in January 2013 and will go on the bus. I only work part time so it makes more sense for me to be near work now otherwise it would reduce the amount of time I got to spend with the dc's in the afternoons when I'm not working. As for dh his hours are long enough! We live in the River Valley area and I really like it. I agree if you don't have a car live within walking distance of a supermarket. Rents are higher but if your dh's employers are paying then this probably isn't an issue. In my small condo there are children attending quite a few different international schools and the mix makes it nice to meet a wider group rather than if you lived very close to one particular school you might be with a certain set of parents/children all the time if that makes sense?

Merlion, you have scripted my wishes - bingo! Thanks so much, main concern for living near CBD was whether or not my DS would meet other kids; clearly 'Other Kids' live all over Singapore so this is never an issue. How lovely. Thank you.

[starts packing]

You NEED the shool bus if you don't drive.

Finding a taxi in peak hours is tear inducing these days.
And when you find one, you'll be sitting in it for a while paying peak time surcharge.
From experience i can tell you that tanglin for instance has bumper to bumper traffic from the AYE exit at normanton park, all through portsdown road and back on to north buona vista from 7:40 to 8:10.
Same goes around grange road and OFS.
And you might get caught in a tropical downpour which happens without fail just after 3pm while trying to hail the cab/ make it to the bus stop.

2 words: school bus

The traffic is seized up from 7.25am harpy not 7.40am

Well i have not done the shool run for a year now! And glad so!

Am in hk now but in sg once a month for work.
The traffic / taxi situation has just become terrible!
Is anyone using those new mrt lines?

Thanks harpy. It's all a bit new to me, this school bus thing, and I've been privileged to only ever have to either Take DS in by Tube or, since we moved closer, walk him.

As with all these things it's me that'll have to get used to it, not him. Hell love it, probably.

And no, empire state, no spaces at Tanglin until 2014. Madness.

Tanglin is sheer madness right now, unless you can pay for a debenture that is. Worth asking if company would do it.
Dover is a very good option in the meantime.

Hmm... Will see what DH says. It'll be a local role for his current company, just a desk change but quite far away so not a lot paid for but enough, circumstantially, to compensate. Dover sounds by turns adorable and utterly insane in terms of internal management. I think we just need to come for a reccy, don't we?

Am really coming round to things now. Just two adorable fluffies to rehome. They faint at the sound of us sneezing; long flight - and then life indoors - would kill em... Only had them a year :(

...Dover does have spaces, though. OFS would be my choice in terms of location but that sounds overstuffed and slightly lacking. I think we'll focus on where to live. Now that's a nice task... :)

laptop yes lots of seniors are using the new MRT station to get to school. There is a steady stream walking in each morning. After school Starbucks at Fusionopolis does a roaring trade from TTS students.

londonmoo 2014

I know. Similar odds for UWC, both sites. Dover, methinks, is calling.

Am afraid you dont stand the slightest chance in uwc.
A friend is returning her kids after a 2 year hyatus in hk. Her eldest got place confirmed as she is a former alumni and they had kept her place and deposit.
The yougest who is 8 has no place confirmed yet even though he's been on the waiting list for 3 years now and has a sibbling in.
That's what you are competing against.

Uwc is a great school for the senior school, not better that others in primary years. So worth putting in an application for the long term and taking the place elsewhere now.
Have you considered the canadian. Very good primary years programme.

Just to add to the other comments - if you end up at Dover or OFS, any expat-centric location (other the right out on the East Coast) is going to be OK in terms of travelling distance.

Don't rely on cabs - use a school bus or budget for a private car, as cabs can be a real headache at school pickup when it tends to be raining!

Most schools are central enough to be manageable from almost anywhere you are likely to end up living, but be aware that the new Canadian School campus is out west (Jurong) and the school bus can take a little over an hour to get back to Orchard area, which makes for a long day for little ones - and even if you drive, it's not a pleasant journey along the PIE (look at the map ) in rush hour as it is a main artery across the island and very busy. If you end up in the Canadian School you might want to consider accommodation on the 'other' side of Holland Village to Orchard, so towards Clementi - still central & expatty & very manageable to the CBD if that is where work is, but just that bit closer to the Canadian School.

I agree that either Dover or the Canadian School are the better options out of those schools that are likely to have places (i.e. once you take UWC, Tanglin and SJI off the table) - both absolutely fine for a 7 year old so don't worry about not getting your 'first' choice of school.

Most useful, expat and harpy, thank you.

Plans almost finalised for DH's new contract, all very exciting and scary. My short-list for schools - having browsed maps, t'internet, emailed friends and done all of that is currently: Dover, ISS and OFS (curriculum needs to be either British or IB).

It's a shame that in terms of timings, we will have to choose a school before we can get out for a proper reccy; just how it is. In terms of where we live we'll get a serviced apartment for a month and scout out places once there.

Not looked into Canadian School yet but I think the shortlist we have is adequate - I really like the sound of ISS and the feedback from them, so far, has been warm and thorough.

Thank you, ladies, SO much for all this. I realise such questions have been asked ad nauseum, apologies for making you all go through it again and again. It has helped hugely, if just for adjusting my expectations.

Hello all. I've been reading all the posts with great interest.
We're relocating to Singapore from the UK in time for the August School term. DD is 6, DS is nearly 3 and third one due in about 8 weeks!We recently went on a look see visit to Singapore and I'd pretty much decided on Dover Court prior to the visit.
We went to Dover court, Canadian and OFS. It was pretty much a no-brainer for us as Dover Court ticked all the boxes, Canadian was too big and commercial and OFS even more children and not very appealing generally. So we paid the deposit and secured places for both kids. However , having done that I spotted what seems like a Massive communications tower pretty near the school. Does anyone know what that massive Sing Tel tower is because I am in a major panic thinking its a massive mobile phone transmission base station and therefore not very healthy for the kids. Am really quite upset because it seems like my school search nightmare will have to be re-started.
I ideally wanted a British school as we will most likely return to the UK in a few years. Am I right in thinking DC and TTS are the only british schools? Waiting list at TTS is 100+ looked at Eton House website and they say they use a large component of the British national curriculum however when I spoke to them they said thats not true anymore. Is the IB very different to the British system, silly question but what spellings do the teach children in IB schools is it British English or American? So many questions sorry but am in a bit of a panic at the moment ... pregnancy hormones dont help either :) Would welcome any advice thanks.

Ooh, no idea about health v phone transmitters but I'm afraid unless it was a nuclear power station it probably wouldn't dissuade me.

Have signed on line for Dover Court and DH going for visit some time soon. Nice to hear all your good feedback about it.

See you over there, hope rest of preg goes well!

M xx