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Primary schools · Novena

Anglo-Chinese School (Primary): P1 balloting, and buying a home nearby

For parents thinking of moving so their child can apply as a near-school resident. Below: how many places there were, how many children applied and who had to ballot in the last three registration exercises, then what MOE requires before you can register from a home you've just bought.

Address50 Barker RoadSingapore 309918 · boys' school
P1 places240in the 2025 and 2026 exercises
Phase 2CBallotedevery year from 2019 to 2026
Who balloted in Phase 2CChanged in 2026within 1 km in 2025; beyond 2 km in 2026

The last three years

Places, applicants and balloting by phase

Each cell shows the places available in that phase and the number of children who applied. "Balloted" means there were more applicants than places. Where MOE published which group had to ballot, it's shown.

Swipe the table sideways for 2025 and 2024 →

Phase202620252024
Phase 1A brother or sister is studying at the school 180 places · 56 appliedEveryone admitted180 placesEveryone admittedNot published
Phase 2AA parent or sibling studied there; parent is on the school's advisory or management committee, or works there; child is in the school's MOE Kindergarten 124 places · 76 appliedNo ballot120 places · 81 appliedNo ballot108 places · 80 appliedNo ballot
Phase 2BParent volunteers (40 hours), parents endorsed by a church or clan connected with the school, or active grassroots leaders 36 places · 45 appliedBalloted: citizens within 1 km33 places · 61 appliedBalloted: citizens within 1 km33 places for 45 children in the ballot29 places · 34 appliedBalloted
Phase 2CEvery child not yet registered: this is where buying near the school counts 72 places · 84 appliedBalloted: citizens living more than 2 km away66 places · 96 appliedBalloted: citizens within 1 km66 places for 74 children in the ballot59 places · 74 appliedBalloted
Phase 2C SupplementaryChildren still without a place after Phase 2C Not held: no places leftNot held: all places filled in Phase 2CNot published

2025: MOE's published vacancies and balloting data. 2026: MOE's final figures for the exercise (July–August 2026), from SGSchoolKaki's tracker; MOE adds 2026 to its own archive in January 2027. 2024: MOE's figures from SGSchoolKaki's ballot history; the group that balloted wasn't available for 2024. Phase 1 applicant numbers are shown where they were published.

What this means if you're moving for ACS (Primary). Phase 2C has been balloted every year since 2019. In 2025, 74 Singapore Citizen children living within 1 km balloted for 66 places, so about nine in ten got in, and children further away didn't get a Phase 2C place. In 2026 there were more places (72, for 84 applicants), and the ballot was among citizens living more than 2 km away: every citizen within 2 km who applied in Phase 2C got a place.

That changes from the 2027 exercise. ACS (Primary) is one of the 12 schools in MOE's new Two-Track Scheme. Its Phase 2C places will be split equally between children living within 2 km and those living further away, with no distance priority inside each track, so a family 1.9 km away is in the same pool as one next door to the school. Citizens still come before Permanent Residents. What the Two-Track Scheme means for property.

Moving to Tengah in 2030. MOE announced in February 2023 that ACS (Primary) will relocate to Tengah and become co-educational when it opens there in 2030, starting with a Primary 1 class only (MOE says opening dates are tentative). Pupils already at Barker Road stay until they finish Primary 6, and from 2030 Barker Road will still take boys into P1 if an older brother is studying there. So for a child starting P1 from 2030, a home near Barker Road is near the old campus, not the new one: check MOE's details in the 2029 exercise before you buy for this school. MOE's announcement.

From the 2027 exercise (for children starting P1 in 2028), MOE reserves 60 places for Phase 2C at schools with a P1 intake of 180 or more, and ACS (Primary) takes 240. As one of the 12 Two-Track schools, those 60 places are split into 30 for children living within 2 km and 30 for those beyond 2 km, with no distance priority inside each track; places one track doesn't use go to the other. More on the 2027 changes.

Phase 2C since 2019

The phase where living near the school counts, year by year. More than one applicant per place means a ballot.

YearPlacesAppliedApplicants per placeResult
202672841.2Balloted: citizens living more than 2 km away
202566961.5Balloted: citizens within 1 km
202459741.3Balloted
202353681.3Balloted
202255691.3Balloted
202125401.6Balloted
202026461.8Balloted
201927421.6Balloted

2026: MOE's final figures, from SGSchoolKaki's tracker. 2025: MOE's published data. 2019–2024: MOE's figures from SGSchoolKaki's ballot history (which group balloted wasn't published for those years).

About the school

Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) at a glance

The school

Type
Government-aided school
Students
Boys only
Mother tongue
Chinese, Malay and Tamil
Levels
Primary 1 to 6
Fees
Singapore Citizens pay no school fees, only $13 a month in miscellaneous fees. Permanent Residents and international students also pay school fees: see MOE's fee checker.

Contact & getting there

Address
50 Barker Road, Singapore 309918 · Map
MRT / LRT
Newton MRT Station
Phone
6250 1633
Email
acps@moe.edu.sg
Website
acspri.moe.edu.sg

CCAs (28)

Sports

Artistic Gymnastics · Artistic Swimming · Badminton · Basketball · Bowling · Fencing · Floorball · Football · Golf · Rugby · Sailing · Swimming · Table Tennis · Taekwondo · Tennis · Track and Field · Wushu

Performing and visual arts

Choir · Modern Dance

Uniformed groups

Boys' Brigade · Scouts

Clubs and societies

Art and Crafts · Audio Visual Aid · Debating and Public Speaking · Infocomm Technology (Computing) · International Chess · Physical Science · Robotics

Signature programmes

Every primary school runs an Applied Learning Programme (hands-on learning, often in science or technology) and a Learning for Life Programme (character and life skills, through sport, the arts or community work).

Applied Learning Programme

Dream it, Do it

Languages

Learning for Life Programme

Building Character Through Sports

Sports & Outdoor Education

School details, CCAs and programmes from MOE's school directory on data.gov.sg (updated by MOE in April 2026). Schools add and change CCAs from time to time, so check the school's website for the latest.

Buying near the school

Registering from a home you've just bought

MOE uses the parents' NRIC address to place a child in a distance category. It also accepts the address of a home you've bought but haven't moved into yet, under these conditions.

A new launch (not yet completed)

  • The home's vacant possession date in your sale and purchase agreement must be within two years of your child starting P1. MOE doesn't accept the probable completion date.
  • You undertake to move in within two years of your child starting P1, and send the school a copy of the sale and purchase agreement during the phase.
  • If the address gets your child priority, you must live there for at least 30 months from the day you move in.

A completed home (resale)

  • You can register while the purchase is going through: for a private home, send the exercised option to purchase and the buyer's stamp duty certificate; for an HDB flat, the resale application status from HDB.
  • You undertake to live there from the start of your child's P1 school term.
  • You must then live there for at least 30 months from the start of P1.

If the 30-month stay isn't met, MOE transfers the child to another school of its choosing. MOE also checks for addresses used only for registration. Rules from MOE as at October 2026; always check moe.gov.sg in your registration year.

Which registration year can use a new launch address?

Worked out from MOE's own example (children registering in 2026 need a vacant possession date no later than 31 December 2028).

P1 registrationChild bornStarts P1Vacant possession by
20272 Jan 2021 – 1 Jan 2022January 202831 Dec 2029
20282 Jan 2022 – 1 Jan 2023January 202931 Dec 2030
20292 Jan 2023 – 1 Jan 2024January 203031 Dec 2031
20302 Jan 2024 – 1 Jan 2025January 203131 Dec 2032

Homes within 2 km

New launch near Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)

The Serra Residences arrival courtArtist's impression Two-Track school · within 2 km

The Serra Residences

7 Bassein Road, Novena. OneMap's school query for this address lists ACS (Primary) between 1 and 2 km (shown in the developer's sales kit); it's about 1.5 km away in a straight line on the map. It's a single tower, so all 133 homes share the same address and distance category.
  • Vacant possession: expected 1 September 2031 (developer's information)
  • So its address can be used from the 2029 registration: children born 2 Jan 2023 to 1 Jan 2024, and younger
  • A citizen applying in Phase 2C from a 1 to 2 km address would have got a place in 2026, but not in 2025. From the 2027 exercise The Serra is in the Two-Track Scheme's within-2 km track.
The Serra Residences location & schools →

Within 1 km of The Serra Residences: Hong Wen School and St. Joseph's Institution Junior. Also 1 to 2 km away: Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), Bendemeer Primary School, CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh), Farrer Park Primary School, Kheng Cheng School, Pei Chun Public School and St. Andrew's School (Junior). MOE's official distance category is measured from the school's boundary to the building's outline on OneMap, and can change from year to year. Check it with the unit's postal code on onemap.gov.sg/school in your registration year. The vacant possession date that counts is the one in your sale and purchase agreement.

WhatsApp me about homes near ACS (Primary) How P1 registration works

Questions people ask me

How hard is it to get into Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)?

In 2025, 74 Singapore Citizen children living within 1 km balloted for 66 places, so about 89% got in. In 2026, 84 children applied for 72 places: every citizen within 2 km got in, and the ballot was among citizens living more than 2 km away.

Does living within 1 km of Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) guarantee a place?

In 2026, every Singapore Citizen living within 2 km who applied in Phase 2C got a place, so a home within 1 km wasn't needed that year. That can change from year to year with the number of applicants. From the 2027 exercise, Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) is one of the 12 Two-Track schools: its Phase 2C places are split between children living within 2 km and those beyond 2 km, with no priority for living closer inside each track.

How many Primary 1 places does Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) have?

240 in the 2026 exercise. 72 of them were left for Phase 2C, the phase where living near the school counts.

Other primary schools nearby

Sources. Ministry of Education: P1 registration (phases, distance priority, balloting, home address and 30-month stay requirement, and the changes from the 2027 exercise) and its 2025 vacancies and balloting data. SGSchoolKaki for 2024, the earlier years and the 2026 figures. Distances measured by Melissa on the map. School details, CCAs and programmes from MOE's school directory on data.gov.sg. This page is general information, not advice on your child's eligibility: check your phase and distance category with MOE and OneMap.