P1 Registration 2027

thebottomsupblog

P1 registration is changing from 2027

MOE has announced changes to Primary 1 registration from next year’s exercise. Here’s the new framework at a glance, the link to the full story, and a round-up of what people are saying online.

Our full P1 Registration guide →

In short: Phase 2C rises from 40 to 60 reserved places at most schools, and 12 schools get a new two-track split (families within 2km vs beyond 2km). The extra Phase 2C places come out of Phase 2A, the alumni phase.

The P1 phases from 2027

Phase	Reserved places	Who it’s for
Phase 1		Siblings studying in the school
Phase 2A		Parent is a former student, staff member, or school advisory/management committee member; or the child is in the school’s MOE Kindergarten
Phase 2B	20	Parent is an eligible parent volunteer, a church or clan member connected with the school, or an active grassroots leader
Phase 2C	60 for most schools	Open to all, regardless of prior connection. NEW: two-track scheme at 12 schools
Phase 2C (Supp.)		For children not yet registered in a primary school

The new two-track scheme: At 12 schools, Phase 2C places are split equally between families living within 2km and those beyond 2km, with no home-school distance priority within each track. Citizens still come before PRs. (Source: Ministry of Education)

Read the full story on CNA

The 12 two-track schools

Anglo-Chinese School (Junior)
Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)
CHIJ (Katong) Primary
Methodist Girls’ School (Primary)
Nanyang Primary School
Ngee Ann Primary School
Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School
Raffles Girls’ Primary School
Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary School
St. Margaret’s School (Primary)
Tanjong Katong Primary School
Tao Nan School

Mostly in Bukit Timah, with a few in Marine Parade. MOE will review the list over time; ACS (Primary) drops off when it moves to Tengah in 2030.

What others are saying

Reactions gathered from online discussions, grouped by theme + lightly edited for length and language.

Property jitters near the top schools

“Property prices within 1km of these schools are falling with the stroke of a pen.”

“Those who bought or rent near Stevens Road must be having heart pain.”

“Next year’s property listings: within driving distance of two of the Magnificent Twelve.”

Why keep alumni and grassroots priority at all?

“Just get rid of the alumni scheme. Job done.”

“Why should kids get priority just because their parents are alumni? Isn’t that the opposite of meritocracy?”

“On the other hand: alumni ties preserve a school’s heritage and community, and you can be a poor or a rich alumnus. Grassroots and religious groups also helped found and run these schools, so they’re the hardest to remove.”

Does opening up beyond 2km actually help?

“Extending beyond 2km may just attract privileged families again, since you’d need a car to drive your child there.”

“It makes no sense for a child living right next to the school to lose their place so someone far away can attend.”

“The other view: social mixing matters most when children are young. By the time they reach university, friend groups are already set.”

What it means for the 12 schools

“Some of these schools didn’t even ballot at Phase 2C, so the impact could be small.”

“For alumni living within 1km of the more popular ones, the odds just got tougher.”

“Every school is a good school, but now everyone aims for the 12.”

🧭 The bigger question: is PSLE the real issue?

“This P1 race won’t go away until we ease the pressure from PSLE.”

“Or make every school genuinely equal, same resources and materials, so there’s no better school to chase.”

We’d love to hear from you: Does the two-track scheme make these schools more inclusive? And if your preferred school is on the two-track list, how do you feel about this?

kiasuparent123456

@thebottomsupblog any thoughts on this too?
https://www.propkaki.com/singapore-property-news/p1-phase-2c-two-track-12-schools-2km-2026-10-08

thebottomsupblog

CNA published an analysis on 21 October on how the Primary 1 changes could affect Phase 2A places. In case parents found it a dense read, this thread has a walkthrough of the article, with the numbers exactly as CNA reports them.

Read the thread →

thebottomsupblog

At a glance · P1 registration

CNA Big Read: What it would take for a fairer P1 registration system

CNA's Big Read (by Amanda Yeap, 23 Oct 2026) looks at what bolder P1 registration reforms could look like after MOE's latest changes, and why they are easier said than done.

The changes it starts from (from the 2027 registration exercise)

Most primary schools will reserve 60 places for Phase 2C, up from 40. Schools with fewer than 180 Primary 1 places will continue to reserve 40.

At 12 schools where public housing makes up less than 40 per cent of homes within 2km, Phase 2C will use a new two-track system. Half the places go to children living within 2km and half to those living farther away, with no home-school distance priority within either track.

Parents in two minds

Mr Sharif, an alumnus of Tanjong Katong Primary, does not think getting a child into a school based on parents' connections is fair. He would still seriously consider the alumni route: "Since this is the system we have, I'll take advantage of it."

Mr Adrian Wong and his wife did about 40 to 45 hours of parent volunteering over three months, and his son got a place through Phase 2B after balloting. He found volunteering worthwhile but thinks it should not be tied to admission priority.

What experts and advocates suggested

EveryChild.SG wants to eventually replace much of the phase-based system with centralised, automated admissions. An algorithm would also take into account factors such as socioeconomic background and race.

SMU's Asst Prof Jacqueline Ho sees merit in the government having a greater role in allocating pupils, while parents rank their preferred schools. She cautioned that diversity on paper did not necessarily guarantee meaningful social mixing.

NUS's Assoc Prof Vincent Chua argued that curtailing alumni priority without touching the distance rules would "simply shift and 'electrify' the competition in Phase 2C". He suggested eventually going further than the new 50:50 two-track system, with ratios such as 40:60 or 30:70 that give those living farther away a larger share. He also proposed capping the posting-score advantage for affiliated pupils at two or three AL points.

Mr Kelvin Hong suggested phasing out alumni priority gradually while simultaneously reducing competition for a small number of sought-after schools. He also proposed letting parents rank several schools according to their preferences rather than requiring them to apply to one school in each phase.

Assoc Prof Eik Leong Swee of the University of Melbourne said "There are a lot of good schools that parents are missing out just because they don't know that they are good". He suggested MOE could influence demand for places at other schools by giving parents more information about what they offer.

Alumni views differ

Ms Natasha Zhao, president of the St Margaret's Ex-Students' Association, noted that only 27 of 93 Phase 2A places were taken up in the 2026 registration exercise, and 24 of 91 the year before. She said "The alumnae places in that phase have not been filled in recent years, so reducing them is unlikely to affect alumnae families at St Margaret's".

Mrs Helen Abidin, vice-president of the Tao Nan alumni association, noted that former pupils have expressed unhappiness at the prospect of further reductions in the number of spots for children of alumni.

Why change is hard

NIE's Assoc Prof Jason Tan expects incremental change to continue in the short term, saying "Once you have put in place certain privileges, it's not always easy to take them away."

Asst Prof Ho said P1 registration gives parents "a feeling of control", which could explain why parents may recognise inequalities yet still use the advantages available to them.

Some affected parents wished for more time to adjust. One said the change is "a curveball". Another parent believes the current system is broadly fair.

Read the full article →

thebottomsupblog

I think the CNA Big Read article provides food for thought, so do chime in!

For those in strong alumni communities (including myself)… I think it’s not always easy to appreciate what it might feel like to not have this.

For my son, my husband was from Assumption English School, where the primary school closed and students were absorbed into St Anthony’s.

We had Catholic ties so we still managed to apply in Phase 2B, where we lived beyond 2km but secured a place. We also had a nearby school in mind if that fell through. So yes, thinking that we had a chance beyond 2km helped us. But we were not dealing with great demand in our year, perhaps.

On the point that there are good schools that we just don’t know about: this is also true. It’s hard to get information on less “famous” schools, or to find a friend who knows something about it.

For the point that diversity on paper doesn’t guarantee meaningful social mixing: it could be that when kids are younger, parents still determine who they spend time with after school and during weekends/school hols. So the diversity might start to have a real impact in secondary school or poly, but perhaps less so in primary school.

The other thing is that we’re all very different in how we make connections. Both my son and daughter attended schools where many people lived in condos and landed property, while we live in a 4-rm HDB. Again, whether one feels comfortable making friends, inviting people over, and trading stories about how you spend your vacations and so on — there’s no foolproof method to this. We often gravitate to people who share our interests and values. For me, it’s about sharing intellectual interests and having a sense of adventure to try new things, and that’s how I made really good friends in these circles, that I still continue to meet and talk to. (This also has to do with the privileges that I’ve enjoyed in life, so everyone’s mileage will vary.)

Will let others weigh in too!

Wonder-ful

Thank you for summarizing this post, this is really useful for parents registering their child during next year P1 registration.

thebottomsupblog

@kiasuparent123456

On this point: Five of the 12 have no HDB flat within 1km at all: both ACS schools, Methodist Girls’, Raffles Girls’ and Singapore Chinese Girls’. Under the old rule, the closest Phase 2C band at those schools could only ever be filled by private homes.

I have personal experiences with two of the schools mentioned above. Diversity would likely come from the alumni population, rather than Phase 2C.

As I have not considered moving into private housing to get closer to certain schools, will let others share thoughts on that.