Over the past 13 years, 55 primary schools have been oversubscribed in Phase 2C every year since 2006.

These schools include popular names in Bukit Timah and Holland such as Raffles Girls’ Primary and Nanyang Primary, but also several in Housing Board estates, like South View Primary in Choa Chu Kang and Radin Mas Primary in Bukit Purmei.

Ten of the 55 schools have been oversubscribed for both Phase 2B and 2C since 2006. The 10 schools include Anglo-Chinese Primary and Tao Nan Primary. Phase 2B is for children whose parents have volunteered in the schools, have affiliations to churches or clan associations linked to the schools, or are active community leaders, while Phase 2C is for those with no links to the schools.

These insights were gleaned by The Straits Times after studying the Primary 1 registration data over the past 13 years and are aimed at helping parents make more informed decisions on picking schools for their children.

An interactive graphic, first released last year, enables parents to go online and input their choice of school and the phase under which they intend to register their child into a simulation widget.

Based on the number of applications the school received under the different phases in previous years, parents will get information on the chances of their child landing a place in the school.

The graphic includes advice to parents on what else they should take into account in choosing a school and cautions them against going for what they perceive as academically good schools.

Says senior Web developer Thong Yong Jun: “The data was increased from six years last year to 13 years this year. The expanded data allowed us to conduct an overview analysis.

“Some 50,000 clicks were registered on the simulation widget within the first three days of the graphic’s launch last year.”

Primary 1 registration for the 2020 cohort began on July 3 and ends on Oct 31.

Children registering this year should face less competition as fewer – about 38,000 – will be registering this year, compared with last year’s 40,600 Dragon Year babies born in 2012.

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