Supplementary Admissions Exercise for International Students

(I) School Admission for IS without Dependant’s Pass (DP), Immigration Exemption Order (IEO), or with neither parent who is Singapore Citizen (SC) nor Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR)

From 2012, MOE will hold a Supplementary Admissions Exercise for International Students (S-AEIS) in February / March every year. This means that there will be two exercises for admissions into a particular school calendar year, for example, in September / October 2011 and February / March 2012 for admissions into Academic Year 2012. This initiative will provide better facilitation and convenience to international students (IS) as well as streamline the administrative processes for our schools.

Since 2008, IS wishing to seek school admission to mainstream public primary and secondary schools, and who will be age 7 and above as of 1 January in the year of school admission, may take part in an annual AEIS during the September / October period every year. Under AEIS, IS enjoy the convenience of a centralised test on English and Mathematics, and an offer of a school place if they pass the test. An applicant who passes the test is offered a place in a suitable school, based on available vacancies and his performance in the centralised test. These successful applicants can start school at the beginning of the academic year in January.

Previously, IS who were unable to participate in the September / October AEIS may sit for and must pass the Qualifying Test (QT) before approaching individual schools for further school-based admissions tests. Many approach more than one school to increase their chances of admission and are often required to sit for different admission tests by the schools they are applying to. Our schools also need to cope with the additional administrative load to conduct such tests.

With the availability of the S-AEIS in February / March, there will be no more QTs from July 2011 onwards. Applicants who pass the S-AEIS will be offered a place in a suitable school with vacancies based on their S-AEIS results. IS should not approach our schools for admissions as it will be centrally managed.

International students who wish to start school at the beginning of Academic Year 2012 are encouraged to register for the 2011 AEIS.

(II) School Admission for IS with DP, IEO, or with either parent who is SC or SPR

These IS are encouraged to take part in the AEIS / S-AEIS for the convenience of centralised testing and posting. If they are unable to participate in AEIS / S-AEIS, they may continue to apply for admission at their schools of choice directly. Admission is subject to the school’s admission criteria and the availability of vacancies.