2024 P1 Registration: Overview

[Posted on 2 July 2024]

The 2024 P1 Registration is upon us! Phase 1 starts on 2 July 2024, and the official results date in on 10 July 2024.

Kranji Primary was the only school decommissioned this year. There is a total of 39,518 seats available compared to last years vacancies of 39,948. So this has fallen slightly by 430 seats. I guess Singaporeans need to work harder at increasing the fertility rate, instead of fattening their wallets!

Here’s a quick look at the schools’ standings for all the primary schools participating in the exercise this year. We now have 2 years’ worth of data from the “new” scheme of just Phase 2A, 2B and 2C. We have combined and found the average of applicants for each stage over the 2 years and it should be indicative of what we will get for the coming registration period.The numbers on the chart below refers to this average. Numbers that are below 1.0 means that the school is unlikely to encounter any oversubscription in that phase. Numbers that are above 1.0 means that the school has been oversubscribed and is likely to continue to be oversubscribed again this year. In fact, the higher this number, the more likely it is going to be oversubscribed. For example, if you look at the table below, CHIJ St Nicholas’ Girls has been oversubscribed in Phase 2B at 2.30 times on the average. This level of oversubscription will basically only involve that those registering less than 1km away from their homes; anyone living further away will be excluded. As another example, Dazhong Primary in Bukit Batok was oversubscribed by a whopping 14.89 times in Phase 2C(S)! Based on this information, it is important to try to get into the school as early as possible, instead of waiting till the last stage.

It’s hard to gauge the balloting distance from looking at the numbers, but in general, as a rule of thumb, schools which are at least 1.4 times oversubscribed will require balloting for homes <1km away. That is not to say that anything less than 1.4 only require balloting <1km away. As an example, Catholic High in Bishan, which averages only 1.26 for Phase 2A, did require balloting <1km. Essentially this tends to be the case for the well known “elite” schools, where parents are mostly well informed and targeted in their selection. It is necessary to use this chart together with the actual 2022-2023 data to make your call.

Many schools were fully subscribed by Phase 2C, so they have no Phase 2CS, as indicated by a “-” sign in the Phase 2C(S) column. You will note that certain schools like Canossa Catholic Primary in Geylang and Sembawang Primary in Sembawang are appear to be oversubscribed both in Phase 2C and 2C(S). This is because it was under subscribed in one year, but oversubscribed in another. What this means is that these schools WILL be oversubscribed by Phase 2C(S), so try to get your kid in by an earlier Phase.

We hope this data can help bring some comfort/certainty to the very stressed parents going through this year’s Exercise. The point to note is this: it is better to have a bird in hand than 2 in the bush. Many parents feel that it is ok to “tikam” their way into prestigious schools. However, we should consider the potential impact this can have on our kids. Also, while the phrase “All schools are good schools” has become a cliche many years ago, perhaps a more realistic phrase is “There are no bad schools in Singapore”. So the wise parent will simply choose a school that is guaranteed to be available for the child, and work together with its educators to groom the kid to his/her full potential.