Most primary schools will raise Phase 2C reserved places to 60 from 40 starting with the 2027 Primary 1 registration exercise, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday (10 September 2026). Smaller-intake schools with fewer than 180 Primary 1 places keep 40 reserved spots.
What Phase 2C is for
Phase 2C is open to children without a prior connection to the school. MOE said the larger reserved block should widen access for that group. Phase 2B stays at 20 reserved places. Children in Phase 2B and earlier phases keep priority admission ahead of Phase 2C applicants.
In this year’s exercise, 27 of 179 primary schools had an intake under 180 places and will stay on the 40-place Phase 2C reserve. The larger Phase 2C allocation can shrink the remaining pool for Phase 2A once Phase 1 and Phase 2B seats are set aside.
Two-track scheme at 12 schools
Twelve schools in neighbourhoods where public housing makes up less than 40 per cent of homes within 2km will split their 60 Phase 2C places into two equal tracks: one for applicants living within 2km, and one for those living beyond. There is no home-school distance priority inside either track.
The 12 schools are Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), Anglo-Chinese School (Primary), CHIJ (Katong) Primary, Methodist Girls’ School (Primary), Nanyang Primary School, Ngee Ann Primary School, Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School, Raffles Girls’ Primary School, Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary School, St. Margaret’s School (Primary), Tanjong Katong Primary School and Tao Nan School.
How balloting works on the two tracks
Singapore citizens keep priority over permanent residents across both tracks. If citizen applicants exceed places in a track, that track ballots. Unfilled places in one track move to citizen applicants in the other. MOE said it will review the list as housing profiles change, and noted Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) would leave the scheme after its move to Tengah in 2030.
