Which school?

[PhuketBlue]

It is quite likely that our family will be moving to Singapore from
June 2011. We therefore need to find suitable schooling options for
our 3 children currently aged 4, 8 and 12. They are all presently enrolled in an International School in Thailand.

I am a native English speaker and my wife is Thai so our 2 youngest children have grown up speaking both Thai and English (though Thai is their first language). They seem to be around the middle of their class and so I have no real worries about their ability to do well in any school.

Our oldest child is my step son and as he has only recently come to live with us he had no exposure to the English language and his English is quite limited. His lack of English causes him to struggle in more academic subjects but he thrives in more creative areas such as art, music, drama etc. Therefore I believe he would really benefit from some kind of intensive English program.

Getting to the point, can anyone make any recommendations of schools that would be suitable for all 3 children?

[scarbowl]

This question is endlessly discussed on this forum. Before we all weigh in on this matter, I suggest you search the forum archive for any of the dozen or so threads on this subject.

Ultimately, you need to find out for yourself by visiting the schools and making an evaluation and, generally, ignore the opinions of those you don't know.

[elbi]

in addition to schooling, you may also want to check if your step son will be entitled to a dependant's pass if he is not legally adopted by you. if not, then you must apply for a student pass for him.

[cairnhiller]

Hi PhuketBlue,

Hopefully this message doesn't come too late to be of use to you, given that your original message was from early August.

From what you've described of your stepson, it sounds like a school offering the International Baccalaureate curriculum might be a good option, as it focuses more on hands-on and experiential learning.

Some of the International Schools in Singapore offering education at your children's age groups, the IB curriculum and ESL programs include:

Australian International School
Canadian International School
Chinese International School
German European School Singapore
International School Singapore
Overseas Family School
United World College of South East Asia

Hope this is helpful!

This post has been sanitized by moderator to remove solicitation.

[scarbowl]

Yes, you can find a lot of information in previous queries about schools. But your best best is to go visit them, review the curriculum, and talk to parents who are attending and don't have an ax to grind about that (or another) school.