Primary One Registration: Distance Priority

For parents registering their child in Primary School for admissions in 2012, being a Singapore citizen takes precedence over being a Permanent Resident (PR) or foreigner.  The next benefit is distance priority – how close do you live to the school?

Below is the reply from the Ministry of Education (MOE) in response to Kiasuparent – the foremost web resource for parents on primary school registration that will answer the following questions:

1. How close to the school should I move to?
2. Can I rent a property close to the school instead of buying one?
3. How long must I stay in my rented property before I can register for the school?
4. How long after my child gets into the school of our choice can we move out of the property (rented or purchase)?
5. Is it legal to rent a property just to get into the school?

————————————————————————————————————————-

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for writing to us on 12 November 2010.

We wish to clarify that parents using address of rented apartment will not be at a disadvantage if the school should conduct balloting.

We would like to share with you that the registration is done based on the NRIC address that is reflected on the parents’ NRIC at the time of registration and the address used for the registration of a child (assuming Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident) during the Primary 1 registration exercise is based on the family’s permanent address i.e. staying at this address on a long-term basis.

Parents are also expected to be truthful when they use a different address during registration. They should use their long-term address for registration. There is no minimum period that the family is required to stay at the address before they can use the address for registration. However, if the address in their NRIC is a short-term one i.e. the property is rented on a temporary basis due to upgrading or renovation, they should inform the school of this at the point of registration. If the school is required to conduct balloting, parents using temporary addresses should not take part in the ballot so as not to deprive those living in the immediate vicinity a place in this school. They should register their child in another school.

Children who gain admission to a school through distance priority should be living in the address used for registration during their Primary school education. This is because the distance priority takes into consideration the benefits for young children attending schools nearer their homes. We expect parents who prefer their children to benefit from going to a nearby school to continue to reside in that address.

We do recognise that some families may need to move due to various valid reasons, and will give due consideration in such extenuating circumstances. However, should any family be found to have intentionally used an address for P1 registration just to benefit from the distance priority and subsequently move out of that address shortly after, then MOE reserves the right to reallocate the school place. In such cases, MOE would facilitate a transfer for the child to a school near to the family’s current residence with remaining vacancies.

Related Articles

• Elite Schools vs Neighbourhood Schools
• Singaporean Parents’ Spurn Neighbourhood Schools?

Tags: Child, Life in Singapore, Ministry of Education, MOE, NRIC, Primary education, Primary school, Registration