Last Updated: 23 May 2023
Understand how balloting works
Balloting can happen at Phases 2A to 2C Supplementary of the Primary 1 (P1) Registration Exercise. Learn when that happens, how it is done and who gets priority.
How balloting works
Balloting is conducted when the number of registrants exceeds the school vacancies, which can happen in any phase from 2A to 2C Supplementary.You can check the list of primary schools that require balloting at the end of the phase to see if your child needs to ballot for a place in your preferred school.
Computerised balloting will be conducted centrally by MOE. All registrants who are required to ballot are assured of an equal chance for admission into the school.
Priority admission to a school will be given to children in this order:
- Singapore Citizens (SC) living within 1km of the school.
- SCs living between 1km and 2km of the school.
- SCs living outside 2km of the school.
- Permanent Residents (PR) living within 1km of the school.
- PRs living between 1km and 2km of the school.
- PRs living outside 2km of the school.
Example 1: School A has 80 places, but 95 registrants
The 95 registrants are divided into SCs, PRs, and the distances between the school and their homes.
All 75 SCs will be admitted first. The remaining 5 vacancies will be allocated to the PRs based on their distance to school.
In this case, the 10 PRs living within 1km from the school will ballot for the 5 remaining places.
| Distance to school | SC registrants |
| Within 1km | 60 (admitted) |
| 1km to 2km | 10 (admitted) |
| Over 2km | 5 (admitted) |
| Total | 75 |
| Distance to school | PR registrants |
| Within 1km | 10 (balloting required) |
| 1km to 2km | 10 (unsuccessful) |
| Over 2km | 0 |
| Total | 20 |
In this case, the 10 PRs living within 1km from the school will ballot for the 5 remaining places.
Example 2: School B has 70 places, but 85 registrants
The 85 registrants are divided into SCs, PRs, and the distances between the school and their homes.
All SCs within 1km and between 1km and 2km will be admitted first (total 64). After that, SCs living outside 2km will be considered.
With only 6 places remaining, the 7 SCs living beyond 2km will have to ballot for them. All PRs will not be able to get a place in this phase.
| Distance to school | SC registrants |
| Within 1km | 40 (admitted) |
| 1km to 2km | 24 (admitted) |
| Over 2km | 7 (balloting required) |
| Total | 71 |
| Distance to school | PR registrants |
| Within 1km | 5 (unsuccessful) |
| 1km to 2km | 9 (unsuccessful) |
| Over 2km | 0 |
| Total | 14 |
With only 6 places remaining, the 7 SCs living beyond 2km will have to ballot for them. All PRs will not be able to get a place in this phase.
To ensure continued open access to all schools in later phases, we are reserving 60 places in each school for Phases 2B and 2C (20 places for Phase 2B and 40 places for Phase 2C).
At the end of Phase 2A, one-third of remaining places will be allocated to Phase 2B, and two-thirds to Phase 2C.
If there are vacancies left at the end of Phase 2B, the remaining places will be carried forward to Phase 2C.
At the end of Phase 2A, one-third of remaining places will be allocated to Phase 2B, and two-thirds to Phase 2C.
If there are vacancies left at the end of Phase 2B, the remaining places will be carried forward to Phase 2C.