$package+location+schools

[expat1]

To An Expat, If you read the original post, he says he is thinking of sending his kids to local school, so it is not an assumption.

In your first post, you said you had one child in local school and one in Intl. school, but that you later switched the local school one to the Intl. school.  If this is true, then I would guess that you are footing the intl. school bill yourself.  Would you care to elaborate on why you changed your local school child to Intl. school and how many years was your child in the local school system?

(Actually, I am not sure I believe your first post since you didn't have a very good idea of actual costs of a local school.  You also seem to be pretty loose with your calculations, 4kids=$5000 in bus fees seems like a bit of an exageration to me, unless you live in Woodlands and send them to school in Jurong).

[fifa]

stonie -

the independent schools are of a higher standard mainly because they are "elite" schools with a longer history and take in kids of old boys and old girls, which perpetuate the elite factor. The kids tend to come from a higher socioeconomic strata (just go to ACS or MGS around 5-6pm and look in the parking area).

Many of the "normal" government schools are fine academic institutions as well. They mainly just don't have the history of the mission schools.

As an expat, it will be more difficult to get entry into a good local school. However as I've mentioned in earlier threads, some of the elite schools are flexible if a small contribution to the school is made. My brothers and I got into good local schools that way.

[seeker]

How was being in a local school, fifa? (I assume you're expat...sorry if I'm wrong about this.) Do you think other expat kids could fit in, and at what ages?

[fifa]

Yes seeker, I was an expat kid. There were a number of expat kids in my school, a couple that in and out for less than a year. There really wasn't any problem with fitting in, the local kids actually liked making friends with the expat kids so I wouldn't worry about blond hair blue eyed kids being isolated or ostracised. I went through both primary and secondary school (different ones) - had other expat kids in my class and everyone got along really well.

That said, I would caution that there will be some local neighbourhood schools where kids are more comfortable speaking mandarin or malay and expat kids may not be able to fit in as easily. No point in painting some utopia which doesn't exist. Overall it was a positive experience - I don't hesitate to recommend it. But I do understand some of the common concerns expat parents have - sticking to the older elite mission schools will provide a friendlier environment for your kid. A word of warning - some teachers can play blatant favourites, and an expat kid often becomes one. If it becomes extreme, your kid may be ostracised for being a teacher's pet. I used to know a teacher that picked only the eurasian/caucasian kids in the class to be prefects. Though the local kids didn't turn on the expat/mixed kids as they were already good friends, it certainly could be a source of talk with other kids and parents.

[To expat1]

Considering we live 5 minutes drive from our school and pay $1200 per year per child for bus transport-by my calculations the previous poster has underestimated bus fees-however, the best way to check all these things is to check directly with the source (something like the yellow school bus company??).
Some more information for you from my point of view. If you want to look up electricity cost/consumption try the utilities site as it has a calculator. Living in Clememti/Upper Bukit Timah the estimate for a 4 bedroom condo is probably spot on in this renter's market, however we live in a low rise off Bukit Timah just before Clementi Road, so slightly closer to town and the price for 4 bedrooms in our complex is $6500-reduced price too!! taxis to town from Upper Bukit Timah Road will cost you less than $10 to Orchard Road-heaps of buses along Bukit Timah Road though. Preschool,kidergarten, gymboree etc are all pretty pricey compared with my country of origin and the cheapest is probably tumble tots at $70 per month (once a week session, kindy/preschool seem to be around $500 upward and only include a few sessions a week. Groceries-check e-mart, NTUC Fair price and cold storage on line to get an idea of everyday living and the costs of basics.We enjoy it here and are here to save money but the cost of living is quite high and we do not eat out at restaurants yet our monthly grocery bill is very high as we eat alot of dairy and meat-we also eat hawker food which is reasonably priced (for our family we spend about $20 up to $70 on hawker food, it depends if you buy laksa, duck and rice etc at $3 or if you buy sweet and sour pork, seafood etc). I would do a search on this site as this topic has been discussed many times and just as people's packages vary so do people's expectations-one person's idea of living comfortably can be very different from yours. As far as teaching goes-contact the international schools but to my knowledge there isn't much compensation given to a teacher as far as fees go, however getting a job wouldn't be difficult-employing a spouse saves them a bundle to start with!!

[stonie]

Fifa:
you might have missed out the report on the Straits Times about kids being send home from government schools for not having black hair. This has happenend several times in the past years and I'm not talking about coloured hair, just kids not having black hair. The teacher insisted that these kids colour their hair black. Things like this make me wonder where to send my daughter too.

[fifa]

stonie - hope you weren't stoned when you read that article, because it was referring to kids who dyed their hair over the school holidays and not about asking a blond haired expat kid to show up in school with hair dyed black.

I went to school with many blond and brown haired kids, nobody was sent home.

[pbt]

I have 3 kids.
The older one goes to local school. The government charges only 30 SGD per month plus 80 SGD per month for bus.
Local schools are excellent. He was at Swiss Cottage primary school for the first 2 years and now he is at Ballestier Hill Primary. We think to move him to Anglo-Chinese Junior next year.
The second is at Newton Kindergarden. Because it's Kindergarden and it's privately running by the Newton Church, school fee is about 2000 SGD per year plus 80 SGD per month for bus.
The youngest one goes to a local Montessori and it costs us roughly about the same, but for only 2 half days per week.
Most of the schools in Singapore accept children from EP's holder.
My oldest son doesn't have to attend mother tongue class as other locals have to do. My wife goes to his school during the mother tongue class to teaching him french (as we are french speaking) and helping him doing his homework
You can obtain the school directory in Singapore at the Ministry of Education for 2 SGD.

[gpr]

Teacha is saying that if the wife works at UWC the childrens Fees will be nothing.

Some international schools here offer free tuition for the children of the teachers.

Check out their websites for jobs available

[This message has been edited by gpr (edited 03-09-2002).]

[fifa]

Yes, Newton Kindergarten is very expat friendly - I went there too! I really liked it there, the principal was really nice as were the teachers. I can still remember play-dough playtimes, naps in the attic level, break time cookies and milo... I wonder what it is like there now!

[teacher at sas]

Have your wife apply NOW for teaching positions at the international schools.  If she is hired she will get FREE tuition at the school for your kids.  (this is sas anyway).  In the mean time your wife can sub.  I think that pays 90 a day or so.  Good luck...  

[An Expat]

To Expat 1: The bus fares I quoted were conservative. I pay $700 per child, per semester...also for a short trip. That would be $5,600 per year for 4 kids.

My employer pays for my kids int'l schools so I transferred my daughter from a local school. The local school is the SAF school, which charges $500 a month to expats and far less to locals. It was worth it though, my daughter loved the school.

[seeker]

What's the SAF school? Anything to do with the armed forces? $500 doesn't sound right to me, even for expats...

fifa - right then. Agree on sending expat kids to English-oriented 'elite' schools - they'll probably fit in better. Problem is, it seems difficult to do this if the kid starts in primary school and has to take the PSLE - he may not get to one of the 'better' schools.

Back in ACS I didn't see that many expat kids around. (Not counting the Viets, Thais, mainland Chinese etc.)

[KatyF]

The fees charged by buses used by kids at international schools astonishes me.  I sent two of my children to a local kindy and was charged $80 a month.  Rather than whinging about it here, perhaps take your concerns to your school?  You are being SERIOUSLY ripped off.  And I think that they get away with it because ... the company pays.  Except in my case.  Which is why I get mad.

[fifa]

Really seeker? I went to MGS and had expat classmates. I then went to RGS and also had expat and "mixed" classmates (1 expat parent). Of course I'm talking only a handful of maybe 5 expat kids in the whole school. I must admit that times have changed since my days. Back then Asian expat kids were rare, mostly caucasian. Asian expats were mostly Japanese and would go to the Japanese school.

As for PSLE, if you go to schools like MGS & ACS, the cut-off is pretty generous and they try to retain their primary students into secondary. And if your kid stays after O levels, ACJC also gives priority for ACS/MGS alum. Granted my knowledge of the school is rather out of date by now, but were I an expat with kids contemplating a local school, I would definitely go MGS/ACS.

The only problem could be that the kids that go to MGS/ACS are very priviledged, and are often very spoilt & bratty. Some of the parents are very pushy as well, trying to make sure that their precious one gets the best. I still remember back in my days, some rich parents would offer to buy air-cons for their kid's classroom so they needn't suffer in the heat! Of course the school never accepted.

Am also curious about SAF school - never heard of it.

KatyF - you are spot on. I thought I was just totally out of it hearing the bus fees mentioned. It would almost seem cheaper to just hail a taxi every day!

[This message has been edited by fifa (edited 03-09-2002).]