Feedback on international schools in Singapore?

Depends what you are looking for - Singapore has some excellent international schools for all types of nationalities - you list most of the best ones with English and American curriculums and there are also good local schools. A couple of schools have just opened over the border in Malaysia: Marlborough College and the Raffles International School (American Curriculum I think).

I am pulling my child out of the Canadian International School despite their recent relocation to a nice new campus in Jurong. I would NOT recommend this school to anyone who cares at all about academic achievement. The school declares random days off (eg "organizational day"), almost whole days of no-teaching (eg "energy explosion day!" and "Open Minds 4-day full day to the zoo trips!". My child ended Grade 1 lagging behind all her peers who attended other schools. Her class teacher often absents himself during class hours for "meetings", leaving a local assistant or supply teacher in charge. There is unchecked bullying and unsupervised recess. The school barely teaches - back to my main point- they have 2 recesses and 1 lunch break and lots of free time in between. Stay clear.

Hi folks

Be sure to download (free!) the Expat Arrivals Singapore Schools Guide - newly launched - for an overview of what to expact from the Singapore school system.

We have had our child in the Canadian international east coat. I would not recommend it, after 1 year, we have had 2 cases of bullying and an incident of a teacher striking our 7 year old. The bully's seem to be safe to continue and grow into big bullies and it seems encouraged.

To clarify a response above by anonymous, one of the schools recently opened over the border in Malaysia is Raffles American School with an Outcome Based American Curriculum and an American/Western Faculty and Administration.

We have been bitterly disappointed with Stamford American International School (SAIS). My children's teachers have been good, but the management is awful. All about the money, not the children. And if you're child doesn't fit their mould expect them to bully you into leaving. Steer clear.

I agree with the earlier negative comments about the Canadian school. We experienced the bullying, the slack 'curriculum,' the cookie-cutter approach, etc. We withdrew our child from the school and our boy is much happier doing grade one elsewhere. Our son's teacher was cold and downright cruel, completely unsympathetic and unqualified to be there in the first place. We have heard many other complaints about this school...

I was a student at the Canadian International School and I strongly disagree with the comments that have been posted. The Canadian International School had fun days like energy explosion days to have fun. Yes we go to a school to learn but a little fun never hurt anyone. I went to the Canadian International School since the age of four and left at the end of the first semester of sixth grade. The school had open-minds so that we go outside and learn and so that we are not just stuck behind a desk. The recesses and lunches are supervised. At the Lakeside campus everyone had to eat in the canteen and you were not allowed to go anywhere where there was not teacher supervision. At the Canadian International School bulling is not tolerated. If a teacher sees such behaviour it is immediately reported and taken care of. At the Canadian International School their core values include, respect, commitment, integrity, collaboration, and responsibility, and they are strongly upheld. The Canadian International School has success after success, they won silver and bronze at the national readers cup competition and last year a seventh grader's book got published! One of the many things that I loved about the Canadian International School is that they are not only about academic learning. The have speech arts where students recites a poem or a speech to help with public speaking. They also have what they call excursion week which is where all students (each grade travels to a different location) of the middle school and high school go on a trip to another country where they stay for around five days doing activities. If you are concerned about your child traveling they can stay in Singapore and do activities during the day and then come home and sleeps at home. Another reason that I love the school is because they also care about music, drama, and sport. The school also is full of surprises. When I was in fifth grade for the first hour and a half of the school day all of the teachers were acting weird. We were going to start our new unit on leaders and leadership so all the teachers acted like different leaders during the hour and a half. They acted as a democratic leader, a leader who doesn't care and a dictator. Like the Canadian International School follows the IB program so students have too think for themselves. They have to be creative. The Lake Side campus also has amazing facilities and classrooms. They have proper science classroom as well as art rooms. All classes have more than enough space for all of the student. Some of their facilities include an Olympic sized pool, a theater with 500 seats, a gym that is 40metres wide x 50 metres long, and many others. The security is also phenomenal. The security workers are very polite. If you are leaving school early one day you have to show them a permission slip given by the office to be allowed to leave. You also have to have a sticker on your car given by the school to be allowed entry immediately. Yes, the Canadian International School is not perfect but it's a great school. On my last day I could not stop crying because I was so sad that I was leaving. I would definitely recommend the Canadian International School.