Singapore Expats

Hello All,
We are a planning to move to Singapore in a couple of months from Australia, looking for a good Indian International School, i have come across a few on the internet, GIIS, NPS, DPS , Yuvabharathi etc. Would you be able to give your feedback on any of these schools, school your kids are attending, pros and cons and the curriculum, if anyone of you have moved from AU, it would be great to hear your story too.

Thank you.

Cheers,
Simith

https://www.globalindianschool.org/ This would be the first on the list!

I see some students from here move to the local University (based on my cohort back in 2008) They follow CBSE and very Indian.

P.S: I didn't go for any of the International Schools here being a local. Just knowledge sharing

GIS is the only "indian" school as a far as I know in Singapore.

nuances wrote:https://www.globalindianschool.org/ This would be the first on the list!

I see some students from here move to the local University (based on my cohort back in 2008) They follow CBSE and very Indian.

P.S: I didn't go for any of the International Schools here being a local. Just knowledge sharing

CBSE is the worst curriculum ever! i'm so glad my had the sense to not put me in to that syllabus.

rajagainstthemachine, can you say any more about CBSE? We are Australian but I am very interested in the GIIS for my boys aged 8 and 11. I don't know anything about the CBSE but I like it that in the younger years they use a Montessori approach.

lagimoana wrote:rajagainstthemachine, can you say any more about CBSE? We are Australian but I am very interested in the GIIS for my boys aged 8 and 11. I don't know anything about the CBSE but I like it that in the younger years they use a Montessori approach.

Someone like GIIS because it's "cheap". I'm not saying it's a bad schoool but it's 100% indian.

At GIIS, about 10-20% of the students are non-Indian for the lower grades. More nationalities are enrolling there because of the lack of spaces in the local school system.

I like the focus on holistic education at GIIS - the fact that it is seemingly values-driven as well as academic.

I would prefer my children to be immersed in a different culture while in Singapore. It would be great for them to learn an ancient language like Tamil while surrounded by peers who might be using it in the playground at lunch time.

The cost is what initially piqued my interest - especially as I think the International Schools are for the most part extremely overpriced. A few, like UWC, do seem worth the money. But then we are middle class, and our kids would probably be surrounded by the uber rich.

GIIS seems to save money by spending less on their facilities - I think it's money well saved. Schools like Stamford have over-invested in facilities and the reviews from parents seem to suggest the quality of the teaching doesn't match those same high standards, and that it is basically being run as a business rather than a school.

lagimoana wrote:rajagainstthemachine, can you say any more about CBSE? We are Australian but I am very interested in the GIIS for my boys aged 8 and 11. I don't know anything about the CBSE but I like it that in the younger years they use a Montessori approach.

what can you say about a system that encourages you blindly learn stuff by heart and regurgitate the stuff back into a question paper?

ah ok. Wow, that doesn't sound very good at all

Which syllabus did you learn through?

lagimoana wrote:I would prefer my children to be immersed in a different culture while in Singapore. It would be great for them to learn an ancient language like Tamil while surrounded by peers who might be using it in the playground at lunch time.

Pardon Moi, who art said Tamil is Speaken in playground in lunching times ?

Ah, really, I have nobody in GIIS, but the common notion is it is NOT tamil !

Really? Hmm. I don't know where I got that idea from, to be honest. I thought I read somewhere on the website there was a focus on Tamil but I must have been mistaken as I can't find it now...would most Tamil speakers be in local schools, do you reckon?

lagimoana wrote:ah ok. Wow, that doesn't sound very good at all

Which syllabus did you learn through?

obv not CBSE ? I did the ICSE which was based on the GCSE

ah OK. I note that GIIS offers this too.

I am disappointed that there is no option to learn Tamil. Hmmm. I think I'll do a tour anyway and see what I think. The east campus offers a good cricket programme, which my boys would love.

lagimoana wrote:Really? Hmm. I don't know where I got that idea from, to be honest. I thought I read somewhere on the website there was a focus on Tamil but I must have been mistaken as I can't find it now...would most Tamil speakers be in local schools, do you reckon?

The Indian International Schools cater to the majority expats, from what I know - Hindi focussed.

If GIIS has real emphasis on Tamil, would love to know.

Of late, the local schools are placing more emphasis on Tamil, and unofficially those new migrants aren't pretty happy about it. True story. From trying to make Hindi another national language, they have toned down. That push for Hindi has led to few petitions to protect Tamil. And that's a big change of direction from the then slowly gathering push to promote Hindi in Public schools here.

That's what I see it govt push now with more funding for speak Tamil campaigns gaining attention.

That's local politics, FYI.