helinuk

Hi I'm new to this )
I'm happy to share my experiences living as an expat in Asia. 6yrs in Singapore with a hubby who travelled and 2 teenagers at international school there.
Hel

suebo

Hel
Go to the REC TRAVEL section, there is an asian section there where people go more to for advice.

Emm

Hi Hel,

I know you posted this thread a long time ago but I was trawling through the back log in search of Singapore related threads and I saw this one.

I was wondering what your experience of the International schools in Sing were. We may be relocating to Singapore and I have 2 girls aged 5 and 8 who need to go to school. I know there is a big age difference but your input would be helpful. I notice that you are from the UK, we are English and would prefer a British education for our kids.

Any info that you have that would make our choices easier would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Emm.

Englishmum

Ha ha Emm!

Believe it or not, I went to a coffee morning at Helen's apartment in Singapore re. dyslexia. and I lived in a condo very close to Helen's.

Helen's kids were at Tanglin Trust School too and my son and her daughter are the same age (but were in different classes). To the best of my knowledge, Helen was very happy with the education her children received at TTS....it really is a caring and supportive school.

You will find Helen on the 'Moving to Australia' forum mostly; she's back in the UK but hoping to move to Oz. You could try and send her a PM.

It really is a small world after all LOL!

helinuk

Hi there Emm and Englishmum
just popped on to check my mail and find this. Lovely to see you both on the site. Yes its a small world.
Yes I was happy with Tanglin school. The system worked for our kids fairly well. Our son took his GCSE s in Singapore and has finished his A levels back here.
Our kids were 7 and 10 when we arrived in Singapore. TTS follows the British system and is Ofsted inspected too. All the buildings have been rebuilt in the last 8 yrs. The ratio is good. If you have the chance to go and visit do. Here's the website.

http://www.tts.edu.sg/main/
If you have any questions regarding other schools in Singapore do ask, we probably have some idea of what they are like.
I was teaching in a centre for dyslexic children and taught expat children from several of the International school. (I did my teaching practice at Tanglin trust school yr 5)
Likewise if you want some ideas on housing, shopping, expat clubs, expat associations do ask us.
What does your husband do? Is he with a large company? Try to get a good expat deal. Its not that I'm money grabbing just that Singapore can be an expensive place to live so its worth getting as much of your living expenses, like electricity and telephone and rent paid for.
Better go my husband has just walked in the door. He's been in Florida this week at a work conference. Tough life when you have to play team building games on the beach
Helen

Emm

Thanks Helen,

The more I hear about Tanglin the better it sounds. Their website is very good and very informative too, I only hope that I can get the kids in there, it seems like there are pretty long waiting lists.

Nothing is fixed yet, it is all still very early stages in the negotiations and it still may all fall through, but it doesn't do any harm to do a bit of research. Just now I'm taking a look at what is there and what the choices are. Everything seems to revolve around the kids education so that seems like a good place to start.

Thanks again for your help, I expect I shall be posting again as things start to move and we know just what is going to happen (or not).

Emm.

NC Penguin

I don't know if this has been suggested already.

What about contacting the British Embassy in Singapore? Or maybe the British Council in Singapore (if it has representation there)?

Even if neither body can offer you assistance, they may be able to point you in the right direction...




NC Penguin

helinuk

The British High com. has info on Business contacts and actively develops /plans British Business meetings. The British High commisioner was very involved in Tanglin School, he often came to open the new buildings. HRH Duke of York also came to open the 6th form building and as you have probably read on the Tanglin school website he was in Singapore recently meeting the head teacher.
The British association, Anstralian and New Zealand Assoc. and the American Womens Assoc. were all excellent for info support and organising of meetings and coffee mornings etc.
The British council was mainly for Singaporeans to learn English and promote British universities.. When we were there they ran a video and book library but thats now closed. They also ran a nursery but that closed last summer.

Helen

toasty21

hi emm
I used to attend Tanglin Trust School from 1992 to 2000 and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I currently live in Australia and I am just about to start undertaking university study in February. I found that my education at Tanglin really formed the backbone for my academic achievement till today. Not only did I find Tanglin to be a great school academically, but in co-curricular activities I was exposed to all sorts osf music from around the world and the sporting facilities there are fantastic. Sadly, I have not had the chance to go back to Tanglin since I left in 2000 so I don't know how much the buildings have changed, but I remember when I was there, the campus was great. It was a combination of state of the art modern buildings and a beautiful tropical landscape. I strongly recommend Tanglin as a school for your children and I hope my comments could help you in some way.

Yorkieabroad

If you haven't found it yet, another place you could try for info is expatsingapore.com. lots of erm, expats, on there (surprise surprise) and a lot of brits so you're sure to find someone with a similar situation. It gets a high proportion of trolls though, so sometimes have to sift thru the garbage to get to the nuggets.....

johnbuoy

I went to school in Singapore 66 - 72 and it has stood me in good stead!!

What i would give to go back now