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P1 Registration Changes for 2027: A Chance Beyond 2 km

Sep 11, 2026·7 min read Share

Living 5 km or even 30 km away will no longer put a Singapore Citizen behind every nearer SC applicant in Phase 2C for some schools. A new policy, a new direction: living farther away now gives you access to a separate allocation of places.

Half the Phase 2C vacancies at these 12 schools (including Nanyang Primary, ACS and Tao Nan) will initially be allocated to children living beyond 2 km. That’s the biggest shift in the changes announced by MOE on 10 September 2026, starting with 2027 registration for P1 entry in 2028.

What changes?

• More Phase 2C places: most schools will reserve 60, up from 40. Schools with fewer than 180 places keep 40. Phase 2B keeps its 20 reserved places.
• Two distance tracks at 12 schools: all Phase 2C vacancies are split between children living ≤ 2 km and > 2 km away. There is no further distance priority within either track.

With 60 vacancies, each track starts with 30.

SC applicants retain priority across both tracks before permanent residents are considered. Spare places can move between SC tracks, so the final intake needn’t be exactly half from each distance group. Our balloting guide explains the details.

This split applies only to Phase 2C at the 12 schools. Their Phases 2A, 2B and 2C Supplementary keep the existing citizenship and distance priority rules.

Why these 12 schools?

Public housing makes up less than 40% of dwelling units within 2 km of each school. MOE says proximity priority in these neighbourhoods can lead to a narrower socioeconomic mix of students.

Simply adding Phase 2C places could still give most of them to families in the same nearby neighbourhoods. Allocating places beyond 2 km opens access to families farther away, while keeping an allocation for nearby children.

The farther track is open regardless of income or housing type. It isn’t an HDB-only quota.

Nearby SC families now have first access to only the nearby allocation, rather than the full Phase 2C pool. The aim is to reduce concentration from affluent surrounding neighbourhoods and bring in a broader socioeconomic mix.

Additional 20 places for 2C

The extra 20 reserved Phase 2C places come at the expense of Phase 2A. With the same total intake and Phase 1 admissions, Phase 2A has 20 fewer places available wherever the reserve increases.

Phase 2A covers children whose parent or sibling attended the school, children of school staff or advisory/management committee members, and children attending its on-site MOE Kindergarten.

Here’s the effect using the same 2026 Phase 2A applications, with 20 fewer places. The model holds intake, Phase 1 admissions and demand fixed; it isn’t a prediction of next year’s figures. 100% means one applicant per place; above 100% means oversubscribed.

School	2026 2A applicants	2A places: 2026 → model	Demand / places: 2026 → model
Anglo-Chinese School (Junior)	124	143 → 123	86.7% → 100.8%
Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)	76	124 → 104	61.3% → 73.1%
CHIJ (Katong) Primary	45	106 → 86	42.5% → 52.3%
Methodist Girls’ School (Primary)	93	95 → 75	97.9% → 124.0%
Nanyang Primary School	176	125 → 105	140.8% → 167.6%
Ngee Ann Primary School	40	83 → 63	48.2% → 63.5%
Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School	83	59 → 39	140.7% → 212.8%
Raffles Girls’ Primary School	55	153 → 133	35.9% → 41.4%
Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary School	78	76 → 56	102.6% → 139.3%
St. Margaret’s School (Primary)	27	93 → 73	29.0% → 37.0%
Tanjong Katong Primary School	78	73 → 53	106.8% → 147.2%
Tao Nan School	129	108 → 88	119.4% → 146.6%

Nanyang’s demand rises from 140.8% to 167.6% of available places in this model. Its 176 applicants would compete for 105 places instead of 125, increasing the number without a Phase 2A place from 51 to 71.

ACS (Junior) and Methodist Girls’ become newly oversubscribed too. This reduces the Phase 2A advantage: eligible families still apply earlier, but more places are reserved for the open Phase 2C route.

Schools with fewer than 180 places don’t get the additional 20 reserved Phase 2C places. Their reserve stays at 40, so this measure doesn’t reduce their Phase 2A capacity. The 27 schools below fall into this category based on their 2026 intake.

View all 27 schools and their 2026 intake

School	2026 places
Beacon Primary School	150
Blangah Rise Primary School	120
Boon Lay Garden Primary School	150
CHIJ (Kellock)	150
CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel	150
Canossa Catholic Primary School	120
Cantonment Primary School	120
Casuarina Primary School	150
Corporation Primary School	150
Elias Park Primary School	160
First Toa Payoh Primary School	150
Gan Eng Seng Primary School	120
Greenridge Primary School	150
Jing Shan Primary School	150
Jurong West Primary School	150
Mayflower Primary School	150
Montfort Junior School	150
North Spring Primary School	150
Pasir Ris Primary School	150
Seng Kang Primary School	150
Si Ling Primary School	120
St. Gabriel’s Primary School	150
West View Primary School	150
White Sands Primary School	150
Yangzheng Primary School	160
Zhangde Primary School	150
Zhonghua Primary School	150

Our take

P1 balloting has long favoured children living closer to the school, within each citizenship group. These 12 schools will now set aside places for children farther away. That’s a significant change in how neighbourhoods influence school access.

An SC child living 30 km away competes on the same terms as one living 5 km away in the farther track. Meanwhile, living 500 m away no longer gives priority over living 1.8 km away in the nearby track.

This policy directly addresses the link between residential neighbourhoods and socioeconomic mix. Where private housing dominates the surrounding area, proximity priority can concentrate that neighbourhood’s profile inside the school. The new allocation opens access beyond it.

Together, the changes reduce the weight of Phase 2A connections and residential proximity. More places go to open registration, and at these 12 schools, families don’t have to live nearby to compete for a defined share of them.