Properties & MOE Primary School Registration

Tomorrow is 1^st July 2020.  It is THE TIME of the year again!  The start of this year’s Primary 1 registration.  For parents who have a child or children starting Primary 1 (P1) next year, are you all prepared to go through the P1 registration process?  It is highly likely that you would already have the ideal primary school of your choice in mind and having one to two schools as backup.   

When we talk about MOE Primary School Registration 2020, the topic on where you do you live is often inevitably being brought up as part of the conversation.  Before I dive into that, here’s a recap of the P1 Registration process that can be found on MOE website:

https://beta.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-registration/ 

Primary 1 Registration process are conducted over several phases.  Particularly for first-time parents, this is a summary of the eligibility of each of the phases.  

Phase	Registration For Year 2020	Results	Eligibility
Phase 1	9am on Wed, 1st July to 4.30pm on Thurs, 2nd July	Your child is guaranteed places in the school	Your child has a sibling studying in your preferred primary school
Phase 2A (1)	9am to 4.30pm on Tues, 7th July	Mon, 13th July 2020	You are an alumni and has joined the alumni association at least 1 year before registration (i.e., not later than 30 June 2020, or You are a member of the School Advisory/Management Committee
Phase 2A (2)	From 9am on Tue, 14th July to 4.30pm on Wed, 15th July	Wed, 22nd July 2020	You or another child of yours have studied in your preferred school or You are a staff member of the preferred school or Your child is studying in the MOE Kindergarten under the purview of your preferred school.
Phase 2B	From 9am on Thurs, 23rd July to 4.30pm on Fri, 24th July	Thurs, 30th July 2020	You are a parent volunteer at your preferred school at least 1 year ago (i.e., starting before 1st July 2019 and has clocked in 40 hours of volunteer work by 30th June 2020) or You are a member endorsed by the church or clan directly connected to the school or as an active community leader.
Phase 2C	Via P1-IS From 9am on Mon, 3rd Aug to 4.30pm on Wed, 5th Aug Or Via Online Form From 9am on Tues, 4th Aug to 4.30pm on Thurs, 6th Aug	Monday, 17th August 2020	For all children who are eligible for Primary One in 2021 and are not registered in a primary school yet
Phase 2C Supplementary	Via P1-IS From 9am on Wed, 19th Aug to 4.30pm on Thurs, 20th Aug Or Via Online Form From 9am on Thurs, 20th Aug to 4.30pm on Fri, 21st Aug	21 August	For a child who is not registered in a primary school yet after Phase 2C
Phase 3	Need to register online interest from 2nd to 8th June. Register in October 2020	October	For a child who is an international student.  Only for non-Singapore Citizen and non-PR

For more details, please refer to 

https://beta.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-registration/registration-phases-key-dates/?pt=1

The popular phrase “Location Location Location”  

A home’s valuation can vary extensively due to its location.  When we talk about MOE Primary School Registration 2020, the topic on where you live is inevitably being brought up as part of the conversation.

For the sake of your child’s primary school registration, some of us (parents) will plan ahead (be it being a parent volunteer or making sure we join the alumni association by the eligibility timeline to the extent of uprooting ourselves from one part of Singapore to another just to be near to the Primary School of our choice.

Fact: The distance from your address you are using for Primary School Registration does affect priority admission.  However, this factor only comes into play if the school of your choice is oversubscribed and balloting is required.  Priority is given to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents who live closer to the preferred school when balloting. 

Basically, “closer” means your home-to-school distance is within 1 km.  From my own personal experience, that 1 km is crucial to increasing your probability of getting your child into your preferred primary school.  This is especially so if your child happened to be born in popular Chinese zodiac cycle such as the Year of the Dragon 🐲, Horse🐴 and Rat 🐭or bumper crop of Singaporean babies in 2015 during SG50! 

To be precise, if your chosen preferred Primary School is oversubscribed, then priority admission is granted in the following order:

1. Singapore Citizens (SC) living within 1km of the school.

2. SCs living between 1km and 2km of the school

3. SCs living outside 2km of the school

4. Permanent Residents (PR) living within 1km of the school.

5. PRs living between 1km and 2km of the school.

6. PRs living outside 2km of the school.

Because a Primary School of our choice means a big deal to most parents in Singapore, you would probably notice residential properties within 1km from popular primary schools are generally very sough-after!

Planning to buy a Property within 1 km from your child’s Primary School of your choice?

“May I have your home address please?” while I handed over my NRIC to the staff of the Primary School that I was registering for my child.  During my child’s Primary School registration process, I recalled how the staff went through seemingly countless pages of stapled papers with rows of addresses as she looks for my home address.  This is just to ascertain if my home address fall within the 1km home-to-school distance!  "Okay.  I found your address."  She smiled at me as I heaved a sigh of relief.  😊       

Even within a certain condominium development, there will be occurrences where your neighbour’s block will meet the 1km home-to-school distance from your child’s preferred primary school while your block may not!  

Do check your address or postal code for schools within 1km and 2km of your home via MOE website.

https://beta.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-registration/distance/

An example of how the generated result will appear after you have keyed in your address or postal code.

Alternatively....... to determine the distance between your school of choice and residence, you may also refer to OneMap. 

https://www.onemap.sg/

OneMap is an integrated online map system for all government agencies to deliver location-based services and information.   MOE uses OneMap to determine the home-school distance categories used in the annual Primary One (P1) Registration Exercise.

I have bought a new launch condominium unit that has not TOP yet.  Btw, my friend’s BTO is not ready yet!  Can I use the property address for Primary School Registration?

Yes.  You may do that as long as the vacant or delivery possession date of the property is within 2 years of your child’s entry into Primary 1.  And you also need to move into your new property within the mentioned 2 years.  

This means that if you are planning to buy a brand new condo unit, do ensure TOP or CSC of the condo project by the developer must not be later than 31st December 2022 (by the end of your child's Primary 2) if we take this year 2020 Primary One Registeration Exercise as an example.

Do ensure you have the supporting documents ready as well as the following need to be e-mailed to the school that you child is registering for:

• A copy of the original Sales and Purchase agreement for the private property.
• A print out of the ‘New Flat’ page from MyHDBPage, if applicable.
• A Signed Letter of Undertaking to move into the new property within 2 years of your child’s entry into Primary 1.

How about a Resale Property that I have bought?  Can I use the property address for Primary School Registration?

Yes!  However, you need to move into the Resale Property by 2nd January of your child’s admission year.  In the upcoming registration process, this means that you need to move into your resale property by 2nd January 2021.   Likewise, supporting documents such as a Letter of Undertaking that you will need to move into your new property by 2nd January 2021, an exercised Option To Purchase (OTP) with the buyer’s Certificate of Stamp Duty from IRAS or the Resale HDB Flat status need to be submitted to the registered primary school of your child.

https://beta.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-registration/home-address/

What if I am staying at a rented place at the moment?

Rental addresses are accepted for Primary School Registeration as well.  However, please make sure that you meet the 30 months stay requirement.   This means that your child has to reside at the rental address for at least 30 months from the commencement of the P1 Registration Exercise on 1 July 2020. If this condition is subsequently not met, MOE reserves the right to transfer your child out of the school to another school with vacancies.  This is because the basis for priority admission to the first school was the declared address used for registration.

Where can I get the latest updates on vacancies and balloting information for Primary 1 Registration exericse?

Finally, this is the MOE link that parents can obtain the latest updates for Primary 1 Registration exercise to check for vacancies in your preferred schools and the schools’ balloting status at the end of each registration phase.

https://beta.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-registration/vacancies-and-balloting/

Before I end off this blog post, just a gentle reminder...

Congratulations!  

If your child has secured a place in the primary school of your choice via the home-school distance category priority, please ensure you meet the 30 months requirement.  You would need to stay at the new address for at least 30 months from the date your family move into the property. 

🍀🍀🍀 All the best to all parents who are registering for their children in the upcoming Primary School registration!! 🍀🍀🍀

Hope you have found this blog post useful!  

📬Let's chat about property.  

Whatsapp Karen Woo @ 9159 2692 for an non-obligatory chat

Source: MOE