Local Schools - Popular Local Schools in Singapore

This report provides an overview of the top local primary & high schools in Singapore. The information on international schools in Singapore is not discussed in this report and has been covered in a separate report on this website (refer to Related Links at the end). It should be noted that local schools mainly cater to Singaporeans. Non-citizens are given a lower priority during admission to local schools in Singapore. Most of the expatriates living in Singapore send their children to international schools.

In its aspiration to become the regional educational hub, Singapore has nurtured an institutional landscape which is replete with a variety of schools to cater to the needs of students with diverse interests. The schools here range from primary, secondary, Junior College, centralized institutes, which are further diversified depending on their status such as independent, government or government aided schools, autonomous schools etc. All the schools aim to impart a holistic education to the students by focusing on a panoramic curriculum, yet certain schools top in terms of popularity, and academic performance.

Under the Compulsory Education Act of Singapore, it is mandatory for children born after Jan 1, 1996 to receive at least six years of education.

Primary Schools

Nanyang Primary School is a government aided primary school. NYPS is affiliated with Nanyang Girls' High School and Nanyang Kindergarten, and is part of the Nanyang Family of schools. The school's alumni boast of few famous people such as the current Prime Minister

Rosyth School - a government co-educational primary school was established in 1956. The school participates in Gifted Education Programme (GEP) a programme committed to nurturing intellectually gifted students to their full potential. The Gifted Education Programme began at Rosyth in 1984. The enriched subjects are English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and Chinese.

Henry Park Primary School - a primary school with relatively short history located in the Holland Road area has an overwhelming student population of 2,160. It is attributed to the reputation that the school has established through its consistent high performance. The school also offers a wide range of Co-curricular and enrichment activities. The twin pillars of the school are Excellence in Academic Performance and Excellence in Character Building.

Tao Nan School - a co-educational primary school is one of the five Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan schools, along with Ai Tong School, Chongfu Primary School, Kong Hwa School and Nan Chiau Primary School. Tao Nan School is among the 30 popular primary schools listed by the Ministry of Education. The school commands a history of over hundred years and is one of the primary schools participating in the GEP.

Raffles Girls' Primary School - an all girls primary school, which is also participating in the GEP partially (P4 to P6) though not related to the Raffles family of schools, commands an equal reputation because of its stellar performance both academically as well as in CCA.

Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) is the primary school of the ACS family, and a boys’ school. It is the third Gifted Education Programme Center since 1985. It has over 115 years of history.

Methodist Girls primary School, CHIJ St Nicholas Primary school and St Hilda Primary School are other top primary schools, which are much sought after by the parents.

High Schools

Of over 160 high schools in Singapore, seven schools participate in Integrated Programme (IP), which is a 6 year programme to prepare the student straight for the A levels exam or International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, bypassing the O level exam. The IP high schools are the cream of the institutions and admit the top 10 – 15% of the PSLE candidates. Unlike their other high school counterparts, the IP schools are not banded- a grouping system based on the O level scores of the schools.

Anglo-Chinese School (independent) - ACS(I) has commendable academic cultural and sporting excellence and has been winning several accolades the most distinguished being the MOE’s top most award, the School Excellence Award (SEA). It is one of the first autonomous high schools in Singapore. It is part of the family of Anglo-Chinese group of educational institutions. Currently, the school offers two main Education Routes - the Express Stream and the Integrated Programme a 6-Year Course leading to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. It was recognized as an IB World School in 2005. The recently released IB results place ACS (Independent) among the top three schools in the world. The IB students of ACS(I) appearing for the IB exam for the first time have excellent performance and 9 have bagged the perfect score of 45. The school boasts of several ace sportsmen in its pedigree.

Dunman High School - an autonomous co-educational high school has proven to be one of the top secondary schools in Singapore, both in the academic domain as well as in holistic development of students. It is also a recipient of the most prestigious School Excellence Award from MOE. The high school participates in the Gifted Education Programme. In 2005, the high school implemented a customized version of the Integrated Programme called the Dunman High Programme (DHP). Unlike other instituions offering IP, DHP facilitates students to pursue the whole 6 years of the IP in its own school. Dunman High School offers School-Based Gifted Education (SBGE) classes to cater for ex-GE students, and for a special few in the school, who are intellectually gifted.

Nanyang Girls High School - an all-girls high school that offers the Integrated Programme in conjunction with Hwa Chong Institution under the name Hwa Chong Affiliate Programme. It also offers an internal Gifted Education Programme (SBGE). The former first lady of Singapore is an alumnus of the school. The high school is also under Special Assistance plan offering English and Chinese as the first language subjects. The school has boarding facility as well.

Raffles Institution - an independent high school that was founded in 1823. It is one of the most popular and well regarded high schools in Singapore. Many national leaders and parliamentarians have studied in this school. Raffles Institution offers the Integrated Programme, also known as the Raffles Programme (RP), together with Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and Raffles Junior College. The Minister Mentor Mr.Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Mr. Goh Chok Tong are just two of the long list of distinguished alumni. RI is also a recipient of the School Excellence Award.

Hwa Chong Institution was formed in 2005 after the merger of the Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College. The school offers a 6-year Integrated Programme. The school has a tradition of attracting the cream of the students and also sends a significant proportion of the students to foreign universities. It has to date, produced 47 President's Scholars, the highest number among all junior colleges in Singapore. Hwa Chong Institution has a very active Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) programme, with a variety of sports, uniformed groups, musical groups, clubs and societies to cater to students' interests.

Rivervalley High School was the first Chinese secondary school set up by the government. River Valley High School, being a Special Assistance Plan school, has a very strong Chinese environment. Chinese language, culture and history are profoundly emphasized in the School. The high school is famous for having one of the toughest examinations in the whole of Singapore. The school being an autonomous institution is able to set its own standards in terms of teaching and testing. It commences its IP programme in 2006.

Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) an independent girls' secondary school was awarded the top most award of MOE - School Excellence Award in 2006. RGS high school offers the first four years of the Integrated Programme in the Raffles Programme, together with Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College. It was also one of the first few schools to offer the Gifted Education Programme. The high school focuses on imparting a top caliber, holistic education by focusing on academics, Sports and arts and boasts of having produced many sporting talents.

Anderson Secondary School was ranked "Top Neighbourhood School" in 1992 by the Straits Times, a national daily of Singapore. The high school is also a proud recipient of the Singapore Quality Class Award and the Best Practice Award for Staff Well-being. To top it all, the school has continuously made it to the Band 1 of secondary schools since 2005. Anderson Secondary is an autonomous, coeducational government high school.

Cedar Girls' Secondary School an all-girls government high school established in 1957 gained autonomous status in 1996. All classes are in the Express or Special Stream. According to the new school banding system, Cedar is a Band 1 school, making it one of the top schools of Singapore. The school has won the topmost award for educational institutions - School Excellence Award from the MOE, in 2006. The School has produced Singapore's top scoring student at O level Exam in 2005.

Xinmin Secondary School is an autonomous secondary school. In September 2005, the school won the School Excellence Award, the first neighborhood school to win the most coveted award. In the same year, the school was accorded the Singapore Quality Class accreditation, the first of many of its more significant achievements. The school attracts many top scorers in the PSLE and provides an all round development opportunity for its students.

Singapore Chinese Girls' School - a full school with both primary and secondary is one of the oldest schools in Singapore with over 100 years of history. The secondary division was among the first schools in Singapore to be accorded the status of an independent school. The school has a balanced focus on CCA and sports along with academic excellence. It prides itself on the strong debating talents that it has nurtured.

CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls' School - an all-girls' full school was founded in 1933. It has earned and sustained its reputation through its consistent stellar achievements in both sporting and academic arena. It participates in the Special Assistance plan SAP.

Special Mentions

Catholic High School an all-boys Catholic school needs a special mention because of the the current Prime Minister Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, who is an alumnus of the school. The Primary School offers the Gifted Education Program (GEP). The School also participates in SAP.

Saint Joseph's Institution - a Catholic boys’ secondary school is the 3rd oldest educational institution in Singapore after Raffles Institution and St. Margaret's Secondary School respectively. SJI is recognized as one of the top schools. Economic Development Board of Singapore urged SJI, to open an international school, thus paving way to SJI International, which commenced classes in January 2007.

Specialized Independent Schools

Among the Specialized independent schools are National University of Singapore High School of Mathematics and Science, Singapore Sports School and The School of The Arts.

The National University of Singapore High School of Mathematics and Science offers a 6 year Integrated Programme (IP) leading to the NUS High School Diploma, which is recognized by the National University of Singapore (NUS), its parent institution. Students in their senior years, also take Advanced Placement and Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) examinations for credits for admission into foreign universities. Advanced Placement examinations may allow students to get exemption from studying Year 1 university courses.

The high school offers an accelerated curriculum of mathematics and science. Students are also exposed to humanities and the arts, where the flexible modular system allows for a sampling across this discipline. The curriculum of the NUS High School is built on a 2-2-2 structure, with the first two years being the Foundation Stage, the second two the Advancement Stage, and the final two the Specialization Stage. After each semester, students are awarded a preliminary Cumulative Average Point (CAP) score based on their semester results, with a final CAP score at the end of every stage. Modular curriculum is followed with compulsory core and electives module and optional enrichment module.

The Singapore Sports Schoolwas initiated by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), and caters to sporting talents. The school's S$75 million premises located on a 70,000 square meter site in Woodlands. It provides good academic and training environment for talented young athletes. This was set up to nurture the sporting aspirations of gifted teenagers who are otherwise forced to abandon their sports under stressful academic environment.

The Singapore Sports School along with facilities such as science labs, libraries, specialized home rooms and music labs, also sports top notch sporting facilities, such as 2 all-weather Olympic size swimming pools, 12-lane bowling alley and 700-seater indoor multi-sports auditorium among others.

Junior Colleges

There are 17 Junior colleges in Singapore and going by the MOE’s Special Awards from 2004- 2007, Raffles JC, Hwa Chong JC, Anderson JC, Temasek JC, National JC, and Victoria JC are the top JCs. These JC attract the top 15% scorers at O Level Exam. Like the IP secondary schools, the MOE has decided to exclude the JCs from the school achievement table because there is greater convergence in performance among the JCs as compared to secondary schools. MOE now makes public a range of information on these JCs, including each JC’s cut-off scores for entry in the latest year and the academic achievement awards and other achievements that are recognized under the MOE Honor Rolls.

Role of Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE)

The Ministry of Education appraises the performance of the educational institutions, and honors them with several distinctive awards. MOE has stopped ranking schools based on the exact O level scores and has introduced the banding system, where in schools with similar scores at O level are grouped into bands. Schools in Band 1 are the top most performers. Apart from the banding system parents can also consult the School Achievement Table, published by the MOE. It is an appraisal of schools on their academic and non academic performance. The table, together with the other sources of information in the form of Honour Rolls, web-based interactive system, and individual school websites will provide valuable information for the students and parents.

Popularity and performance of school gives a sensible start when parents asses schools. However, it is ultimately the student’s aptitude and attitude towards education and over all personality development that play a key role in selecting the right schools for the student.

Other Related Topics

Singapore Immigration | EntrePass | Employment Pass