Understand how balloting works

Allocation of places

To ensure continued open access to all schools in later phases, we are reserving 60 places in each school for Phases 2B and 2C at the start of the P1 Registration Exercise:

• 20 places for Phase 2B
• 40 places for Phase 2C

In addition to the reserved places, at the end of Phase 2A:

• One-third of any remaining places is allocated to Phase 2B
• Two-thirds of any remaining places is allocated to Phase 2C

At the end of Phase 2B, any remaining places are allocated to Phase 2C.

How balloting works

Balloting is conducted when the number of applicants 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 applicants 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:

1. Singapore Citizens (SC) living within 1km of the school.
2. SCs living between 1km and 2km of the school.
3. SCs living outside 2km of the school.
4. Permanent Residents (PR) living within 1km of the school.
5. PRs living between 1km and 2km of the school.
6. PRs living outside 2km of the school.

Balloting examples

Refer to the following scenarios to understand which group of applicants will have to ballot: