Small is beautiful in Singapore?s affordable new style international schools

One of the biggest headaches for expats relocating with their families is the cost of an international school education.

Taking on an important career move to an unfamiliar location and bringing the family along can be stressful in the extreme, even if an international school education for the kids is part of the relocation package. Apart from the enrolment and education costs themselves, the list of compulsory extras can smash a hole in the best-calculated budget, and choosing the right school is yet another headache.

If you’re heading for Singapore, you’ll already know the city-state is one of the world’s most expensive expatriate locations, but you may not yet realise there’s now a new crop of international schools charging a fraction of the fees set by the usual international education hubs. Fees for Singapore’s long-established international schools are now topping $40,000 a year, but the new schools are averaging out at around $15,000 and are offering first-class learning and teaching standards. Basically, the new schools are directly aimed at expats who want the best for their children at a reasonable cost.

The new arrivals are focused on reading, literacy and communication skills, secure in their belief that these three concepts lie at the heart of education itself. They’re able to offer lower fees by simply making their spaces serve as multi-use facilities and eliminating areas with no practical use, thus reducing their operating costs by a huge amount. In addition, there are no hidden module fees, with every specialist and core module included in the overall fee. Enrolment fees are around $3,000, and uniforms, a library bag and field trips are the only extras as regards payment. The Grange, newly opened and headed up by Ronald Stones OBE and its principal Jennifer Worthington, is staffed by experienced international school teachers from the UK and Australia. According to Ronald, every single child has strong powers of creativity just waiting to be nurtured in the right educational environment, with his staff giving just the right amount of attention to each child and his or her needs. He’s proud of his school’s village-like community and its ability to allow every pupil to grow academically, creatively and socio-emotionally.