Singapore is certainly regarded as a great place for education for both local and overseas students. The admission process in different International School Singapore could be different for obvious reasons. The below-described details will provide you with the right information regarding this.
Admission process
Formal education starts at the age of 6 years in this country. Pre-schools, as well as Kindergarten, both are considered to be widespread. The academic year generally follows the standard calendar year, i.e., January to December,
Age Requirements
The age requirement is different for different levels or classes. For example, primary 1 needs a student to be 6 or 6+ years old whereas Primary 2 needs 7 or 7+, Primary 3 requires 8 or 8+. Similarly, Primary 4 needs a pupil to be 9 to 9+ whereas Secondary 1 needs a student to be 12 or 12+. In this way, Secondary 13 needs a student to be 14 or 14+ and Pre-university needs 16 or 16+ year old students.
Admission to Primary 1
If an international student aged 6 or 6+ (as of January) wants to take admission to Primary 1, he/she needs to register at primary school with the vacancies through Phase 3 of the yearly Primary One Registration Exercise. This registration process is to take place in the year before the admission. This process starts in June, but the application process for international students is generally made till Aug. Once the citizens and the permanent residents of Singapore are done with the admission, the international students get their chances.
Admission to Primary 2-5 and Secondary 1-3
International students aged 7 who want admission to mainstream schools need to sit for AEIS (Admission Exercise for International Students) to get admission in the following year or S-AEIS (Supplementary Admission Exercise for International Students) to get admission in the current academic year. AEIS is held in Sep-Oct. This standardized test is designed to get admission to Primary 2-5 and Secondary 1-3. This test tests proficiency of a student in Maths and English. A student is supposed to apply for this test through the website of the Ministry of Education. After the test, a student is to be given a seat in a public school as per his marks and availability of seats available.
Direct Schools Admission
Some of the schools in Singapore allow students to get direct admission without taking any admission test. This DSA or Direct School Admission puts more emphasis on non-academic talents than academic grades. If a student is good in sports and other extra-curricular activity, has higher chances of getting admission in this way.
More on Registration Procedure
Each student is only supposed to be registered with one school only at a time. If a student violates this rule, she is to lose a place from other choices of schools. The vacancies and admission requirements may vary in International School Singapore for obvious reasons. You are supposed to do detailed research about the registration and admission process in a school in Singapore.