Local schools - they're OK, they're quite academic and many of the parents get very obsessed with grades and putting their kids in extra lessons after school and things like that, but you don't have to do that, it's purely optional.
going the local school route (really depends on which school you choose, as pp said for how 'competitive' and stressful' the experience may be) will put your child in better academic standing when he/she goes back to home country.
overall, even if you don't go into the top tier local schools (the most competitive and stressful ones even if they garner the best results in IB and O-A Levels); i feel the experience and standard in any local Singapore school is still definitely better than that in a public Western school.
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accountability on the part of the teachers for example. more structured expectations, better foundations laid, and bilingual expectations.
the academic standard, discipline and habits learnt in Singapore local schools seem definitely higher than most public schools abroad. comparing apples with apples.
most local students who go abroad find first two years of foreign university abroad a breeze = an easy, no brainer effrotless honeymoon.
What on earth are you talking about? "More accountability on the part of the teachers"? You mean that local parents expect to be able to call the teacher (at home or on their handphone) and abuse the teacher when their kids don't get the grades they want? Yes, this happens. I have been on the receiving end of it, and a few years ago it was an issue discussed in parliament here...
"Better foundations laid"? In which areas? The children I taught could spit out answers to complex maths problems without blinking an eye, could recite any rote-learned simile or metaphor etc but could not share with their peers. They thought laughing at someone's misfortune (like falling over, or getting a low test score) was absolutely fine. They blamed their maid for their homework not being done, or their bags not having the correct equipment etc. My colleagues often called students "stupid" or "salmon" (a fish that swims backwards...), and parents felt that the entire job of educating their children fell on the school. Parents also had a total lack of social awareness, and would interrupt conversations, ask their children not to sit next to certain races and openly compared children's scores. I hated my teaching time in this environment, needless to say, and I strongly disagree with your claim that "any local Singapore school is still definitely better than that in a public Western school"...
As for university being a breeze after local schools, that is just more nonsense. Most Singaporeans do not skip years at university (another common urban myth often touted in Singapore) and they do not laugh their way through it. Often, their once-high-scoring essays are considered virtually unintelligible, and they have great difficulty applying new knowledge.
Having said all this, OP, there are good schools here. The government is aware that the issues need addressing, and they have started implementing this into a number of smaller, progressive satellite schools. Look for multi-cultural schools with multi-cultural staff, and a range of parent-teacher activities. These will be in the outskirt areas, mostly. These schools will not simply drill your kids and have new 'initiatives' (like 'discovery' and 'student-guided learning' etc). They would be a good match for someone from a Western perspective of education.
School starts the year a child turns 7, so your kids will not even enter secondary school (which is an even bigger can of worms). For primary, you should be fine.
