Pinning down a school

[Mom and Dad with kids]

We are here this week doing a school search for our two girls. One is 9 in grade 4 and the other is 6 in grade 1. We are moving here in late January.

We looked at two schools yesterday. The first was UWC. Nice facilities but the waiting list was about 40 kids deep. The person we met with was nice but really didn't give a damn.

The second place we looked at was OFS. It kind of was the opposite of UWC. The facilities are a bit run down (on the outside anyway) but everything else seems nice.

We value the international environment and opportunity for our kids to learn about other culture and values. When we leave Singapore, we want our kids to not have the natural American centric values they have now. We are Canadian that have been living in America for several years.

What school advise is out there? Help!

PS. House advise is always welcome too!!

[spat]

Check out the Canadian International School.  We are a Canadian couple who will be moving  to Singapore next July and  heard good things about the school - great programs, hands-on activities, excellent teachers.  Their website is www.cis.edu.sg  
Good luck and maybe our ways will cross.

[SAS]

The Singapore American School is another option for you. The kids are certainly not all American - you really do get an International perspective there because the students are multi-national.
The teachers are from USA, Canada, NZ, Australia etc. I've always found that SAS has great facilities and great people who make you feel very welcome. Don't discount it until you've visited it (however it's closed this week for Thanksgiving!)

[uwcparent]

You could also try the search facility as there are many posts on this subject.

If you are really looking for a truly international education for your children then UWC is still the best option. Most ‘international’ schools in Singapore are international in name only. The Australian school follows the Australian curriculum and so on through the American, Canadian schools etc. These schools cater for their main market which is, of course, children of these nationalities who need to stay in the same system whereas UWC follows their own path leading up the  IB, which is the only truly international pre- university qualification available. UWCSEA’s results in IB ranks them as one of the best schools in the world especially as their initial selection is not academically selective.

I speak as a parent of two children who were fortunate to spend their entire high school years at UWC.

Sure, the waiting list is long, and yet the school continues to expand which surely is a sign that many parents value what they offer. Anecdotally I know of quite a number of parents who have placed their children at other schools whilst waiting for a place.

At the end of the day this is not a zero sum game, because most international schools offer quality education, it’s just that UWC offers a really unique educational experience.

[IB widely available]

UWC is not the only school offering the IB here in Singapore.  OFS, ISS and the Canadian School are just some of the others following this popular curriculum.
CIS is currently IB acreditted for Middle years and above and is in the process of implementing it's PYP programme.
UWC has a well deserved reputation in the higher primary levels and highschool but I don't think I'm alone in thinking that the early primary years need a bit of fine tuning..

As always it's horses for courses and your best bet is to have a walk through the schools and see how they feel to you and yours.  One thing worth noting if you pay your own fees is that UWC is THE most expensive school in Singapore..

[Mo3]

We're Americans that opted to have our kids at OFS for many reasons---strong foreign language program in elementary school, strong international environment and IB curriculum from kindy on through high school.  While UWC has been gradually adopting IB, it still has strong ties to the British system.  My kids had been at another IB school in Europe and OFS seemed like the most seemless transition.  Although I considered both SAS and UWC and have gone back to UWC to see if my initial choice of OFS was right, I have continued to be happy at OFS.
This is not to say that the other schools are not great in their own right and have impressive academic reputations , but  OFS offered the best for my needs.   Yes, the facilities are not as pretty as some of the other schools, but I've been very happy with the curriculum, the staff, the students and the friendly, high-energy atmosphere.
Look around---you're bound to find something that suits you perfectly.

[cynic]

I find it mildly amusing that UWC parents are all in agreement that their children are getting a "unique" or "special" or "particularly international" experience but not a single one has been able to clearly articulate what it is about UWC that is unique or special or whatever.

Just an observation. I've been trying to figure out the draw to UWC since arriving in Singapore. Parents do sing praises for the school but never seem to say anything specific - always very general and, well, somewhat meaningless comments. . .?

Please shed some light. . .

[cis]

I am American and have 2 kids at Chatsworth.  The kids are happy there and are learning alot.  The student body is very diverse, which we like, class size is small, teachers are good, and the administrators care.    

And Chatsworth is not an education mill like SAS and UWC, more interested in getting that giant tuition check so they can keep on expanding.

[ofs]

My daughter  is on  Tanglin Trust's waiting list.
She had to start to OFS.I was quite unhappy and I felt same like you.But later I ve seen that my daughter was very very happy at the school.I still have to send her to Tanglin Trust next year because of its British Curr.But She learns a lot and is very happy in her school now.

[uwcparent]

I am not sure how much this is helping the original poster but anyway let me throw in a couple of points into this thread.

As I mentioned this is all past tense for me, my children having graduated from Singapore and moved onto overseas universities.

Surely when you are choosing a school for your children there are more important issues as to whether the teachers have happy smiling faces and the admin staff are caring or not. Sure, for the tiny tots it helps, but for a high school it’s pretty irrelevant.

When your kids are in grade 11/12 and stressing out with Uni applications, personal statements, and the upcoming exams it helps if their school has a track record of success to help them through.

I would be (and was) a lot more hard nosed. I checked out the academic record of the school against its peers, and if possible against the world average (in the case of the IB)

I checked out the Uni acceptance record of the students. The percentage that got into their first or second choices. The school’s record seems to make a difference.

Make a visit to the school an hour after lessons have finished. How much activity is going on. What percentage of the senior kids are engaged in some sort of school sponsored activity. Would you rather you kids be constructively engaged with the school or hanging out in Orchard road?

As a general point Expat kid’s lives seem to be more school centred than at home.

As I said, my children were fortunate to go through high school at UWC and benefited greatly from the experience. Of course there are other terrific international schools in Singapore and my intention is not to get into a peeing contest with other posters with kids at other fine schools. But, at the end of the day not ALL schools are equal, and not all school produce the same results.

To correct a statement made by another poster, UWC is NOT the most expensive school in Singapore. A quick check around the fee page on other schools will verify that.

UWC is also a trust. Having paid them around $270,000 to educate my children for seven years each, I am happier that any surplus has gone into developing the school for future generations, rather than into the pockets of directors or shareholders.

[Chatsworth may be]

The type of school that you are interested in.
Why not pay a visit and have a look around the school.
They have done a lot of rennovations since they have moved premises.
Oh , I forgot to mention that the uniforms are really nice !!!.

[clf]

This reply may be too late but....

To throw in some further information...

ISS is the only fully accredited IB World school in Singapore.  All the others are only partially accredited on this programme.  You should consider this school for your kids - it has a lovely small homely environment where all the teachers truely care for your kids.  

I think that is a good judgement call for any school - How does it feel when you walk in??  ISS feels good - there are only small numbers in the school which means all the teacher know all the kids.  The staff are great - friendly and helpful -
Make sure you really look at the teachers - and talk to them - when you visit a school - after all it will be the teachers that your child sees every day - not the admissions man/lady.  Look a little further past the the first port of call...

[Mo3]

Off-topic, but if you want to know about IB accreditation, visit the ibo website.  You'll find out which schools are accredited for which programs (PYP, MYP and diploma).  According to the site (and I believe the site is maintained by the accrediting organization), only two schools in Singapore are accredited from kindy through high school---ISS and OFS. Nice site as I was able to find out which public schools back home also offer IB.

[UWC2]

Yup, UWC does the International GCSE programme (leading to exam qualifications) in the middle years before going back to the (hugely successful) IB in the last two years of high school.

[uwcparent]

As a number of posters seem to be impressed (quite rightly) with the IB system, I wonder if  they could post the IB diploma scores of the school they are recommending to others. UWC has always posted their scores in the school newsletters, usually the august addition. I have had a look around the OFS, ISS, sites and can’t seem to find theirs on public view.

From the august 2003 newsletter:

“In May 2003, 272 UWCSEA students took the exams for the IB Diploma. Of this group, 99.3% achieved the Diploma and the average diploma score was 35.1 points. One student achieved the maximum score of 45 points, 18% of the students achieved 40 or more points and 83%, 30 or more points.”

This was up slightly from the 34.9 achieved by the class of 2002.
Of course academics aren’t everything for a school, but in the scramble for Uni places it sure helps. For those not familiar with the IB points system a score of 35 wouldn’t get you into Oxford or Harvard, into Law or Medicine, but it would get you into many Uni’s for most courses.
As I have said a couple of times already, the purpose of this thread is to help people unfamiliar with these school make some type of value judgment on their worth. Of course the old ‘happy smiling face’ routine is nice (and I never found UWC unfriendly) but surely at the end of the day a good track record has some value too. After all, your children only get one chance.