All About Primary Schools' Balloting History

[Luanee]

chikoteng:

How the balloting been done ? Can anyone explain in details . Should the school go for the nearest distance 100m,200m,300m... from the school, that will be fair I think . Cos I stay 200m from the school. Can I witness the balloting .

Haha, no... whether u are 1m, 100m, or 500m doesnt make a difference as all would be considered under 1km. MOE not so free eh..

[qms]

To add on to what Tankee said, it doesn’t matter whether you are staying 100m, 200m or 999m from the school. As long as you fall within, say the 1 km category, all applicants are treated equally.

[Poohbear]

Hi all,


Thks for the reply.

Actually what i meant was, if the school has 50 places, and the no. who applied is 55. if all 55 are within 1km, how/when does the school decide to accept all ( ie cut off at 1km) or decide to ballot<1km> the vacancies? Or is it a situation where u stick to the allocated no. strictly.

This question arose, cos i saw from the balloting history, where APP > 100% but cut off at a certain distance? Is my understanding rite?

[qms]

Poohbear:

Actually what i meant was, if the school has 50 places, and the no. who applied is 55. if all 55 are within 1km, how/when does the school decide to accept all ( ie cut off at 1km) or decide to ballot<1km> the vacancies? Or is it a situation where u stick to the allocated no. strictly.


This question arose, cos i saw from the balloting history, where APP > 100% but cut off at a certain distance? Is my understanding rite?

Let's take your scenario. If the school has 50 places and there are 55 applicants all within 1 km, it's a straightforward case of balloting.

You mentioned APP > 100%. That is because the decision to ballot takes place only after the end of the third day of registration. So, people staying beyond 1 km also applied (that's why you have APP > 100%). So, if there are 50 within 1 km, 30 in 1-2 km and 20 staying beyond 2 km, the APP is 200%. However, since there are already 50 applications in the 1 km category, there will be no balloting because all these 50 get in. The other 50 staying beyond 1 km will be rejected.

[Poohbear]

thks qms for your detailed explanation…


so do i also understand correctly that if it is 50 places, even with 51 applicants all withint 1km, 1 person has to be out? there is no flexi in the system to take in a +/- no of places??

also, at the point of registration, esp Ph 2C, is there anyway, we can know if the registrants ahead are within 1km or >1km? I m just thinking if we know tat no of applicants within 1km is < places, then we shld just go for it esp since we are within 1km. Is this the right way to apply??

[qms]

Poohbear:

so do i also understand correctly that if it is 50 places, even with 51 applicants all withint 1km, 1 person has to be out? there is no flexi in the system to take in a +/- no of places??

Hi Poohbear!

Yes, you are right! If there are only 50 places with 51 applicants, the extra person has to be out. It can get quite complicating if you talk about flexibility. What about 52 applications? Once you talk about flexibility, it is no longer transparent, right?

Poohbear:

also, at the point of registration, esp Ph 2C, is there anyway, we can know if the registrants ahead are within 1km or >1km? I m just thinking if we know tat no of applicants within 1km is < places, then we shld just go for it esp since we are within 1km. Is this the right way to apply??

You should be able to check with the staff there how many applicants are within 1 km. Such information is useful for those staying further to gauge their chance.

Which school are you targetting at?

[jedamum]

qms:

Hi Poohbear!

Yes, you are right! If there are only 50 places with 51 applicants, the extra person has to be out. It can get quite complicating if you talk about flexibility. What about 52 applications? Once you talk about flexibility, it is no longer transparent, right?

Yes. If i remember correctly, Princess E had balloting for <1km last year cos of 2 'excess' demand. If the school had given a leeway to accept the 2, the 3rd person in other batches that was denied entry will end up complaining.
However, if there are 50 places with 51 applicants, one pair of which is a twin, the school will need to open up the extra seat for all 51 applicants - i think that happens to Beacon at Phase 2C last year.

[qms]

jedamum:

However, if there are 50 places with 51 applicants, one pair of which is a twin, the school will need to open up the extra seat for all 51 applicants - i think that happens to Beacon at Phase 2C last year.

Hi Jedamum!

If it is a pair of twins, they will be considered as \"one applicant\", right?

[jedamum]

qms:

jedamum:

However, if there are 50 places with 51 applicants, one pair of which is a twin, the school will need to open up the extra seat for all 51 applicants - i think that happens to Beacon at Phase 2C last year.

Hi Jedamum!

If it is a pair of twins, they will be considered as \"one applicant\", right?

Yes. i think that was touched on somewhere around here - i just found out from there too
so i correct my sentence - there may be a case of 50 places accepting 51 students (instead of applicants) cos 1 pair is a twin - i heard from a Beacon mummy that they all 'cheered' in relief after the school inform them that that 'extra' student is one half of a twin :celebrate:

[Poohbear]

oh i c.. thks all for your detailed explanations...


I m within 1km from Henry Park n Fairfield... Based on history.. both schools would require ballot for Ph 2c <1km... so i m actually trying to gauge where is my better bet

If you were in my shoes, what would u do??