Nanyang Primary School is right in the middle of Crazy Rich Asians territory – the prime District 10 Bukit Timah neighbourhood. Think massive houses, swanky condos and cars everywhere.

In fact, this area is basically a stretch of elite schools: Nanyang Girls’ High School, Methodist Girls’ School, Chinese High School, Hwa Chong Institute and National Junior College are all in the vicinity.

The advantage of this area is that the residential properties around tend to be landed homes and condominiums with not too many units. This means fewer residences which means the odds that there’re young parents living in the area fighting for a spot at Nanyang Primary School are lower.

The bad thing about this is that property prices tend to be quite high here. Again, this whittles down the competition but it also makes things costly for you.

Tao Nan School is a school that steeped in the Chinese culture. A member of the Hokkien Huay Kuan, an SAP (Special Assistance Plan) school with Gifted Education Programme, it is considered to be one of the best schools in the East.

Its campus is located in the Marine Crescent neighbourhood, so if you gunning for a property near Tao Nan School you will also be living near to Marine Parade, Katong, and the East Coast Park. Such a prime location translates to expensive properties, but still, not as crazy as the Bukit Timah area.

Ai Tong School is also a member of the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan and an SAP school like Tao Nan, and is one of the top schools in Singapore. The school is flanked by HDB blocks and landed properties.

The nearest major mall is at least 2 km away, either Bishan Junction 8 or AMK Hub. In several years, though, you’d be able to enjoy staying within a walking distance from Bright Hill MRT station (TE7) on the Thomson East Coast Line. The TEL will connect to Orchard, Outram Park and Marina Bay.

Maha Bodhi School is founded by the Singapore Buddhist Federation, and so largely regarded as a “Buddhist” school.

Nonetheless, despite the big Buddha sitting right in front of the parade square, it’s actually considered a good school to many parents (Buddhist or not) as it manages to churn out high PSLE scorers year after year.

As far as properties near good schools go, the Ubi area around Maha Bodhi is relatively affordable as it’s not really near any major MRT station or major mall. There is a Ubi station within walking distance on the Downtown Line, but the surrounding areas are still mostly industrial parks and manufacturing factories.

In fact, there are only 2 notable condominiums within walking distance: Euhabitat at The Navian along Jalan Eunos. If you are looking for a landed property, you’d have to look to Kembangan.

Like Nanyang Primary, Henry Park Primary School is located in another District 10 neighbourhood of landed properties, landed properties and more landed properties.

HDB flats – heck, even condominiums – are pretty hard to come by within the 2km radius. This property mix means high prices but less competition. That’s either very good or very bad news, depending on how rich you are.

Nan Chiau Primary School is in the Sengkang area. The nearest thing to civilisation is Sengkang MRT, a 10-minute walk away.

This is primarily an HDB estate area so there are mostly flats and ECs with a smattering of condos. Because there are so many HDB flats around the school, your best bet is to get those as close to the school as possible if you want to beat the competition.

Jurong’s top primary school, Rulang Primary School, is located less than 10 minutes from Lakeside MRT. Apart from lots of HDB flats and a few condos, there’s not much around the school.

Fairfield Methodist School Primary at Dover Road is considered one of the good schools, so good that there is a Parent Volunteer (PV) programme where parents volunteer just so they can register their children in an earlier phase. They need to contribute 40 hours of their time for at least one year.

The school is affiliated to Fairfield Methodist School Secondary School, located right next to the primary school.

The nearest MRT is one-north and the campus is flanked by INSEAD Business School, Grade A offices at one-north, ACS’ campus and a few HDB blocks. Available HDBs for sale are located further than available condominiums. With HDBs fetching up to $925 psf and condos fetching $1,560 psf, this area is definitely not an everyday man’s hood.

The Dover/Buona Vista neighbourhood is a good place to be based at as there are many tertiary education institutions around. By some version of osmosis, your child may get influenced to go to nearby NUS as well.

Nan Hua Primary School is located in the heartland area of Clementi. Actually, it’s temporarily located at West Coast Road, but it’ll be moving back to 30 Jalan Lempeng in Dec 2019.

Because you need to have lived within vicinity of the school for at least 30 months, we’ll be looking at the area around the original location of the school instead of the holding site.

All around the school are HDB flats, though there are a few condos and landed homes. This mix of property types means quite a big range of prices as well.

Methodist Girl’s School is definitely one of the top schools, just by the virtue of the network you will be plugged into when you register your child here. The school is surrounded by condominiums and landed properties.

Approximately 2km down Bukit Timah Road from MGS are a number of secondary schools and tertiary institutions for your child’s next steps after primary school: Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls’ High School, and National Junior College.

Anglo-Chinese School Primary is located at the periphery of Bukit Timah, at the end of Bukit Timah Road that is closer to Novena. As such, the private property prices here are not as crazy as what you’d find surrounding Methodist Girls’ School, but they easily fetch at least $1,400 psf. Living in this area, your child is conveniently located to secondary and tertiary schools.

Don’t confuse ACS Primary with Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), which is located at Winstedt Rd. Both schools are known to be prestigious, but the main technical difference is that ACS Primary has a GEP programme.

As for HDB flats near ACS Primary, most of the available flats now are at Ah Hood Road, but that would put you out of the 1km radius and just within the 2km radius.

River Valley Primary School is at the edge of Orchard Road, so it’s no surprise that it’s one of the most expensive primary school to live near. It’s mostly atas condominiums here, with a few clusters of HDB flats in old estates.

Honestly, it’s pretty hard to avoid bleeding money if you’re trying to get your child into River Valley Primary. You can see from this list that the properties closest to the school are all condos priced at $3mil and up for a single unit. Ouch.

The old HDB flats may be cheaper, but they’re also much farther away.

Proximity is one big factor when balloting for a primary school spot, but there are other factors involved. Take note that you don’t necessarily own a house near the school, a rental address will do as well. We’ve heard people who would take extreme measures such as rent an empty apartment just to have an address near their desired school.

If you already have one child in the school, you can register under Phase 1, which almost guarantees your child a spot.

If you are alumni at the school, your child will stand a higher chance as you can register under one of the earliest phases, Phase 2A(1). Thank your own parents for this!

Affiliations to churches, temples, associations or parent volunteers also matter.

Unsurprisingly, citizenship is also a major card. If it’s an oversubscribed school, Singaporean citizens will be admitted first ahead of PRs, no matter how near you live to the school.

(Text: MoneySmart / Additional reporting: Natalya Molok)