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School Placement Exercise & Enhanced Support for Returning Singaporeans

Published Date: 03 July 2017 12:00 AM

News Press Releases

School Placement Exercise

1. The 2017 School Placement Exercise for Returning Singaporeans (SPERS) will be open for application from 4 July 2017 for Singaporean children who are returning from overseas and wish to join our secondary schools, junior colleges (JC) or Millennia Institute (MI) at the start of the 2018 academic year. The application can be done via the following links:

2. SPERS is a centralised placement exercise held at the end of the year for Returning Singaporeans (RS) who have lived and studied overseas and do not have a place in a local school. With SPERS, Singaporean parents working abroad can look forward to easier re-entry into the mainstream school system for their children when they relocate back to Singapore. RS children will only need to sit for one set of centralised SPERS tests for admission.

3. RS children seeking admission to Secondary 1 to 3 in 2018 can take the SPERS-Sec tests scheduled on 20 September 2017. RS seeking admission to Pre-University 1 can take the SPERS-JC/MI tests on 16 November 2017. As Sec 4 and Pre-U 2 are national examination years, RS generally would not re-enter the school system at these levels. Applicants will receive their school placement results in December 2017 and will be able to join our secondary schools and JC/MI at the start of the school term in 2018.

Supplementary Placement Exercise

4. For RS who are unable to return in time to sit for the SPERS-Sec tests in September 2017, MOE will conduct a Supplementary Placement Exercise to facilitate their admission into our secondary schools. The centralised tests for the Supplementary Placement Exercise will be held in mid-December 2017. Applicants will receive their school placement results in early February 2018 for admissions from February 2018. Application for the Supplementary Placement Exercise will open in October 2017.

5. While RS can choose to take part in either the SPERS-Sec or the Supplementary Placement Exercise, RS are advised to apply for SPERS-Sec if they are able to return in September, as their children would benefit from starting the 2018 academic year in January together with their peers.

Information/Application Website

6. Details of the 2017 SPERS-Sec and SPERS-JC/MI exercises and the Supplementary Placement Exercise can be found in the Annex. For more information and to submit an application, please refer to the MOE RS website at https://www.moe.gov.sg/admissions/returning-singaporeans/ or contact us at:

MOE Customer Service Centre
1 North Buona Vista Drive
Email: MOE_Returnhome@moe.gov.sg
Tel: 6872 2220
(Mon-Fri: 8.30am - 5.30pm / Sat: 8.30am - 12.30pm)

7. RS who are unable to participate in the centralised placement exercises may wish to refer to the MOE RS website or contact MOE for other options for school admission.

8. As for those of primary-school age, RS seeking admission to primary schools may approach MOE at any time of the year for assistance. MOE will offer the RS a place in a primary school with vacancies which is also near the child’s home, at a level appropriate for the child’s age cohort. The RS will not have to sit for any placement test for admission, although the primary school may conduct assessment tests after admission to ascertain the child’s current attainment level and provide the appropriate assistance to help the child settle into the school.

Enhanced Support Measures

Waiver of SPERS fees

9. Currently, the test fees for Singapore Citizens (SC) are $125 and $130 for SPERS-Sec and SPERS-JC/MI respectively. To further support SCs relocating back to Singapore and their children who are returning to the mainstream school system, the test fees for SPERS-Sec and SPERS-JC/MI will be waived from 2017 onwards. Applicants will only be required to pay an administrative fee of $12.

Subsidy for Boarding Award Scheme

10. The Boarding Award Scheme (BAS) was introduced in 1998 to allow Singaporean children to remain in Singapore to study and reside in MOE’s school hostels, while their parents work overseas. This serves to ease the concerns of Singaporean parents over their children’s continuing education in our mainstream schools while they take up overseas assignments.

11. Currently, BAS awardees receive a 50% subsidy for their boarding fees. To provide more support, the BAS subsidy quantum for Singapore Citizen (SC) awardees has been increased to 80% from the start of Semester 2 of the current academic year.

12. More information about the BAS is available at https://www.moe.gov.sg/admissions/returning-singaporeans/support-schemes.