Schools & Education in Singapore

Good to Know

• Quoted tuition is almost never the full cost: expect separate one-off application/registration fees (often SGD 1,000–10,000+), an annual capital/facility levy, and — if applicable — English-as-an-Additional-Language or learning-support fees on top of the headline tuition figure.
• Most schools now show fees inclusive of Singapore's 9% GST, but always double-check whether a quoted number is GST-inclusive or exclusive before comparing schools.
• Fees typically rise noticeably from primary to secondary years, and again for IB Diploma/IGCSE/A-Level exam years, which carry their own separate exam registration fees (roughly SGD 2,000–6,000+ per session, not included in tuition).
• American-curriculum schools such as Singapore American School often charge a lower 'Lane 1' rate for students/parents holding a US passport or Green Card, with a higher rate for everyone else.
• Sibling discounts and merit/need-based scholarships exist at a number of schools (e.g. GIIS, Nexus) and are worth asking about directly with admissions.
• Because Singapore has around 70 international schools, this list covers the most commonly referenced named schools with distinct curricula — always confirm current-year fees directly on each school's own admissions page, as tuition schedules are revised annually.
• For international school admissions, the realistic planning horizon is 9–18 months ahead of your target start date, not the 2–3 months many relocating families assume — especially for Kindergarten, Grade 1/Year 1, Grade 9/Year 7, and IB Diploma entry years where waitlists are longest.
• Gather documents (transcripts, birth certificate, passport, immunization records, recommendation letters) and get any non-English documents certified-translated well before you start applying — this is consistently the step that causes delays.
• Apply to multiple schools in parallel rather than sequentially, and don't sign a lease or resign a job assuming a specific school placement until you have a written offer — waitlists at popular schools can run 6–18 months.
• The Student's Pass (via ICA's SOLAR system) is a separate process from school admission and usually can't be started until after you have a school offer, so build its processing time into your move timeline.
• Homeschooling in Singapore works very differently depending on citizenship: expatriate families face no legal restriction and can homeschool freely, while Singapore citizen/PR children need a Ministry of Education exemption applied for in a narrow July–October window, plus mandatory checkpoint testing and PSLE.
• If you're a citizen/PR family considering homeschooling, MOE advises also registering your child for a national primary school place as a backup in case the exemption isn't granted, since both processes run on similar timing.