P1 Registration: Information, Advice & Insights from 2023’s Balloting Data

It’s breaking news that we have heard countless times before: Singapore students come out tops in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Global Competence test for Mathematics, Science & Reading! In the 2022 edition, Singapore students also outperformed students from 63 other countries in creative thinking. The results solidify what many already know, that is, Singapore’s education system is undeniably one of the best in the world.  

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has done a very commendable job in making “every school [in Singapore], a good school”. That said, not all ‘good’ schools in Singapore are equal. Just ask any Singaporean parent. Or better yet, have a look at the balloting data for the Primary 1 Registration Exercise that MOE releases every year. You will easily notice that there tend to be more applicants for certain schools as compared to others. What this shows is that even though every school is supposedly a good school, there are clearly some schools which are more popular than others. The reason is simple: when parents choose schools, many take into account the distance of the school from home, the reputation of the school, and the family tradition of studying in the school.

As you can imagine, popular schools receive a lot more applicants than others but they do not necessarily have more available spaces. Therefore, not every applicant will get a spot. In other words, there is no guarantee that parents can get their children into any school they so wish. 

Maximising Chances of Getting into Target School

This is why the month of July, which is soon upon us, is a time when parents get jittery. During the Primary 1 Registration Exercise, parents have to decide which school to enrol their soon-to-be Primary 1 child in. There is no secret as to how parents can maximise their chances of getting their children into their target school. Simply, parents need to make sure they get as many bites of the cherry as possible. What do I mean? Children are admitted into primary schools through up to 5 phases. I say up to 5 phases because not every child can qualify for every phase. MOE has laid down a very strict set of criteria. I describe them as follows:  

Phase 1 [2 July (9am) to 4 July 2024 (4:30pm)]:

This is a sure-fire way of getting a child into a school if his or her older sibling studies in that same school

*Phase 2A [11 July (9am) to 12 July 2024 (4:30pm)]:

Be an old boy or girl of the target school and be a member of the school’s alumni association for at least 1 year before the P1 registration opens. Alternatively, angle your way into being a member of the school advisory or management committee, or be a staff member of the school. Finally, if your child is still in kindergarten, sign him or her up in an MOE kindergarten that is under the purview and located within the school

* This is the phase that creates the most confusion. Contrary to popular belief, to qualify as an old boy or girl, a parent needs to have attended primary school when he or she was a child. For example, a parent would not qualify as alumni of Raffles Girls’ Primary if she had studied at Raffles Girls’ Secondary but at Marymount Convent Primary School.   

Phase 2B [22 July (9am) to 23 July 2024 (4:30pm)]:

Join the school as parent volunteer for at least 1 year before the P1 registration opens, and give at least 40 hours of your time to the school. Alternatively, be an active community leader, or be part of a church or clan that is affiliated to the school 

Phase 2C [30 July (9am) to 1 August 2024 (4:30pm)] :

For a child who is not yet registered in a primary school. You do not need anything special. Everyone qualifies. But there will be only 40 spaces available plus whatever leftover space from previous phases (For a child who is not yet registered in a primary school after Phase 2C)

Phase 2C Supplementary [15 August (9am) to 16 August 2024 (4:30pm)] :

For a child who is not yet registered in a primary school after Phase 2C. You do not need anything special. Everyone qualifies. Unlike the earlier phases, MOE does not guarantee a minimum number of spaces. So chances are, by this phase, most schools would already be full. 

Why A Need for Balloting? 

You are probably getting a good sense by now: getting a child into a school is not so much a matter of choice as it is all about strategy. This is because every school has limited vacancies and the more popular a school is, the more applicants there will be. When applicants exceed the number of spaces available in each of the 5 phases, a ballot, which is basically a glorified lucky draw, ensues.  

To be clear, a ballot can happen in every phase as long as the applicants in that phase exceeds the number of spaces available in that same phase. In a ballot, children of parents who stay closer to the school hold the advantage. They get chosen first. The order of priority is as follows: 

(1)  Singaporean parents living within 1km of the school (Yes, 1km)

(2)  Singaporean parents living between 1km and 2km of the school (Yes, 1-2km)

(3)  Singaporean parents living outside 2km of the school (Yes, 2km)

2023 Balloting Results (Phase 2A)

According to last year’s balloting results, the following table shows all the primary schools that required a ballot in phase 2A:

Here are my thoughts on the results of Phase 2A, some of which I found surprising: 

1. Surprisingly, the most competitive schools are not your ‘branded’ schools but schools in the Punggol and Sengkang areas. Not only did they require balloting, but there was also no chance of even qualifying for a ballot if a child stays more than 1 km away from the school; 

2. Surprisingly, the relatively more sought after schools such as the ACS schools, Methodist Girls’ School (MGS), Singapore Chinese Girls School (SCGS), Pei Chun, Ai Tong, Henry Park, and Saint Joseph etc. did not require a ballot in Phase 2A. In other words, if you are an old boy or girl of the aforementioned schools,  your child would gain admission into the school even if you stay very far away; 

3. Popular schools like Catholic High, St Nicholas, Tao Nan, Pei Hwa and Nanyang etc were not as competitive as others. A ballot was only required for children who stay more than 2 km away. In other words, if you are an alumni and stay within 2km from the school, your child would have gotten in.

4. Interestingly, what we have seen from the results in last year’s P1 Registration Exercise is consistent with that in previous years as well. This means that you should be able to safely take the 2023 results as a reliable guide for any form of strategic planning that you wish to make. 

2023 Balloting Results (Phase 2B) 

You have to commit at least 40 hours of service to your target school for a shot at only 20 reserved spaces in this phase. Most schools, particularly the more popular ones, require balloting in this phase. On top of that, getting accepted into the parent volunteer programme of a school is not a walk in the park. In fact, it is akin to a job application. Many schools these days (you know who the usual suspects are) are not short of parent volunteers. To shortlist the best candidate for the ‘job’, there usually will be a formal application and decision process. You will be required to submit your CV and wait for a response that might or might not come. It can be an arduous process and that is why parents have to decide for themselves whether phase 2B is worth their while. 

In the following table, we have prepared for you a list of schools that required a ballot in phase 2B last year. If your target school is not on this list then it’s a no brainer. Apply to be a parent volunteer right away as it is historically very likely that your child, regardless of how far your home is from the school, will be bestowed a spot in phase 2B without a ballot. 

Here are my thoughts on the results of Phase 2B: 

Almost every (more popular) school in Singapore required a ballot in Phase 2B last year. This is the case even if parents stayed within 1 km of the school. Notably, when compared to the 2022 data, getting into schools through Phase 2B was more difficult last year in 2023. In 2022, for most schools, staying within 2 km allowed parents to avoid the ballot. In 2023, however, parents were still subject to the ballot despite staying within 1km of the chosen school.

The 2023 results are in line with MOE’s aim to make Phase 2B more restrictive. Hence, do not bank on Phase 2B, and given how restrictive it now is, parents would need to make a decision whether it is worth their time volunteering their services at their target schools.

2023 Balloting Results (Phase 2C) 

Phase 2C is the open window for parents with no alumni or grassroot advantage. The following is a table that shows all the primary schools that did not require a ballot. In other words, if you had applied to these schools, your child would have gotten in without any fuss. This table is relevant to those parents who are not picky on schools, not risk-takers and who do not want to leave the fate of their child’s education to chance.    

You have seen the fuss-free schools. Now I present you with the table of all the primary schools that required a ballot in Phase 2C. As can be expected from the more popular schools, children only qualified to have their names in the ballot box if they stayed within 1km of the school. In other words, if you do not stay within 1km of those schools, my advice to you is not to try your luck in phase 2C. This is because if your child does not get in (which he or she likely won’t), you are only left with Phase 2C Supplementary. As I will show you in the next section, there are not many schools available in this final phase, and there is a good chance your child will be posted to a school far away from home. 

2023 Balloting Results (Phase 2C Supplementary) 

My Final Thoughts

I believe if you are reading this, chances are, you are a Singaporean parent. If so, we think alike. I am therefore not going to give you the meaningless assurance that whatever school your child gets into, he or she will be in good hands. Doubtlessly, every school in Singapore is a good school. But not every school in Singapore is the same. There will always be schools more sought after than others because of factors like reputation, convenience and tradition. 

With that in mind, my advice to you is to study the 2023 balloting data carefully. This is because trends like the number of applicants to a school in a particular phase tend to be very consistent over the years. Hence, you can estimate your chances of getting your child into a school rather accurately just by looking at the balloting data. The other piece of advice I will leave you with is that distance is king! Even if you do not have an alumni association to your target school, you still have a very good chance of overcoming that by staying close to the school. 

On this note, I personally know many parents who have tried to get a leg up by renting an apartment near their target school or borrowing the addresses of their parents, relatives or even friends. What they do is to have one spouse (you do not need father and mother to have the same address) register his or her address to say their parents’ home, which is within 1km of the target school. This is technically possible but it does not come without risks and inconvenience. First, since that would be your registered home address, all your important mails from banks and the government will be sent there. Second, that has to be your registered address for at least 30 months from the date of the registration exercise. If you change your address before the end of this period, MOE will and has taken children out of their current school and transferred them to another. 

You have been advised and you have been warned. It’s now time to play the game.