22 Popular S'pore Primary Schools May Conduct Ballot, As 63 Schools Get Zero Applicants In Phase 2B

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22 S’pore Primary Schools May Ballot After Phase 2B Thanks To Oversubscription

Many Singaporean parents hoping to score a place for their children in a dream primary school won’t have it easy this year, thanks to an imbalanced applicant to vacancy ratio for primary schools islandwide.

Despite 63 other local schools having about 3,800 slots available this year, applicants were oversubscribed for 22 other ‘popular’ primary schools instead.

22 primary schools filling fast

Places at popular local schools are filling fast, with 22 primary schools reportedly going into a ballot phase.

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One of the final phases, Phase 2C begins for children & parents with no connections to any school on Monday (29 Jul).

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of primary schools that were oversubscribed & likely subject to a ballot:

Anglo-Chinese School (Junior)
Fairfield Methodist School (Primary)
Nan Chiau Primary School
CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School (Primary)
Holy Innocents’ Primary School
Pei Hwa Presbyterian School
Catholic High School (Primary)
Maris Stella High School (Primary)
St Joseph’s Institution (Junior)
Tao Nan School

In comparison, the odds for 2018’s situation were similarly stacked — 27 primary schools had more applicants than vacancies, with 24 holding a ballot, reports The Straits Times.

63 primary schools received 0 applicants in Phase 2B

Sifting through the data on the site, we noticed that a large number of primary schools went unsubscribed in Phase 2B.

63 out of 185 to be exact — about 34% of all primary-level schools in Singapore. That’s like saying 1 in 3 primary schools in Singapore had no one register their interest for a slot in Phase 2B.

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Here’s the complete list of the schools that received 0 subscribers in Phase 2B:

Ahmad Ibrahim Primary School (92 slots)
Ang Mo Kio Primary School (45 slots)
Angsana Primary School (43 slots)
Beacon Primary School (72 slots)
Bedok Green Primary School (74 slots)
Bendemeer Primary School (56 slots)
Blangah Rise Primary School (36 slots)
Boon Lay Garden Primary School (90 slots)
Bukit Timah Primary School (66 slots)
Bukit View Primary School (61 slots)
Cedar Primary School (83 slots)
Changkat Primary School (44 slots)
Corporation Primary School (64 slots)
Damai Primary School (56 slots)
Dazhong Primary School (50 slots)
Edgefield Primary School (68 slots)
Eunos Primary School (26 slots)
Fengshan Primary School (46 slots)
First Toa Payoh Primary School (51 slots)
Fuchun Primary School (72 slots)
Gan Eng Seng Primary School (66 slots)
Greendale Primary School (106 slots)
Guangyang Primary School (46 slots)
Huamin Primary School (54 slots)
Junyuan Primary School (24 slots)
Jurong Primary School (33 slots)
Juying Primary School (33 slots)
Kheng Cheng Primary School (75 slots)
Kranji Primary School (61 slots)
Lakeside Primary School (64 slots)
Lianhua Primary School (68 slots)
Marsiling Primary School (54 slots)
Mayflower Primary School (63 slots)
Meridian Primary School (62 slots)
North Spring Primary (67 slots)
Northoaks Primary School (93 slots)
Oasis Primary School (57 slots)
Park View Primary School (52 slots)
Pei Tong Primary School (84 slots)
Peiying Primary School (58 slots)
Pioneer Primary School (66)
Princess Elizabeth Primary School (40 slots)
Punggol Cove Primary School (61 slots)
Qihua Primary School (48 slots)
Queenstown Primary School (60 slots)
Riverside Primary School (23 slots)
Sembawang Primary School (55 slots)
Seng Kang Primary School (87 slots)
Si Ling Primary School (54 slots)
Stamford Primary School (62 slots)
Tampines North Primary School (71 slots)
Teck Whye Primary School (73 slots)
Telok Kurau Primary School (67 slots)
Townsville Primary School (57 slots)
Unity Primary School (54 slots)
Waterway Primary School (83 slots)
Wellington Primary School (85 slots)
West View Primary School (64 slots)
Xinghua Primary School (63 slots)
Yio Chu Kang Primary School (65 slots)
Yishun Primary School (55 slots)
Yuhua Primary School (65 slots)
Yumin Primary School (46 slots)

In total, that’s close to 3,800 slots that went unsubscribed in Phase 2B alone. You may check the full results at this link.

This could also be due to the schools not having a parent volunteer scheme, as Phase 2B is for applicants who can enter for these reasons:

(a) Child whose parent is a parent volunteer and has contributed 40 hours service to the school.
(b) Child whose parent is endorsed by a church/clan member directly connected with the primary school.
(c) Child whose parent is endorsed as an active community leader.

Post ‘Dragon Baby’ cohort numbers

About 38,000 children born between 2 Jan 2013, and 1 Jan 2014 are due to enter primary school in 2020 — the cohort is a little smaller than last year’s number.

40,600 babies born in the Zodiac Year of the Dragon (2012) saw 2,600 extra places across 184 primary schools created to accommodate them in 2018.

To reiterate, Phase 2C – the next phase beginning on Monday (29 Jul) – is for all children who are eligible for Primary 1 in 2020 but aren’t registered in a primary school yet.

Preference remains for certain schools?

From the data, it can be observed that there Singaporean parents do seem to prefer certain schools over the less subscribed ones.

We recall that ex-Education Minister Heng Swee Keat once said in 2012,

Every school (is) a good school.

As for whether parents are truly comfortable with entering their children in any primary school, regardless of whether it’s newly opened, or is perceived as a ‘popular’ school, it still remains unclear.

But the numbers do give insight as to which schools still have vacancies remaining at later stages, for parents who just want to secure a place for their children.

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