Last Updated: 14 May 2025
Understand how balloting works
Balloting can happen at Phases 2A to 2C Supplementary of the Primary 1 (P1) Registration Exercise. Learn when that happens, how it is done and who gets priority.
Allocation of places
To ensure continued open access to all schools in later phases, we are reserving 60 places in each school for Phases 2B and 2C at the start of the P1 Registration Exercise:- 20 places for Phase 2B
- 40 places for Phase 2C
- One-third of any remaining places is allocated to Phase 2B
- Two-thirds of any remaining places is allocated to Phase 2C
How balloting works
Balloting is conducted when the number of applicants exceeds the school vacancies, which can happen in any phase from 2A to 2C Supplementary.You can check the list of primary schools that require balloting at the end of the phase to see if your child needs to ballot for a place in your preferred school.
Computerised balloting will be conducted centrally by MOE. All applicants who are required to ballot are assured of an equal chance for admission into the school.
Priority admission to a school will be given to children in this order:
- Singapore Citizens (SC) living within 1km of the school.
- SCs living between 1km and 2km of the school.
- SCs living outside 2km of the school.
- Permanent Residents (PR) living within 1km of the school.
- PRs living between 1km and 2km of the school.
- PRs living outside 2km of the school.
Balloting examples
Refer to the following scenarios to understand which group of applicants will have to ballot:
Example 1: School B has 70 places, but 85 applicants in a phase
The 85 applicants are divided into SCs, PRs, and the distances between the school and their homes.
All SCs within 1km and between 1km and 2km will be admitted first (total 64). After that, SCs living outside 2km will be considered.
With only 6 places remaining, the 7 SCs living outside 2km will have to ballot for them. All PRs will not be able to get a place in this phase.
| Distance to school | SC applicants |
| Within 1km | 40 (admitted) |
| 1km to 2km | 24 (admitted) |
| Outside 2km | 7 (balloting required) |
| Total | 71 |
| Distance to school | PR applicants |
| Within 1km | 5 (unsuccessful) |
| 1km to 2km | 9 (unsuccessful) |
| Outside 2km | 0 |
| Total | 14 |
With only 6 places remaining, the 7 SCs living outside 2km will have to ballot for them. All PRs will not be able to get a place in this phase.
The 30-month stay requirement applies to these children:
- 40 SCs living within 1km.
- 24 SCs living between 1km and 2km.
- 6 SCs living outside 2km of the school who are successful in the balloting.
Example 2: School A has 80 places, but 95 applicants in a phase
The 95 applicants are divided into SCs, PRs, and the distances between the school and their homes.
All 75 SCs will be admitted first. The remaining 5 vacancies will be allocated to the PRs based on their distance to school.
In this case, the 10 PRs living within 1km from the school will ballot for the 5 remaining places.
| Distance to school | SC applicants |
| Within 1km | 60 (admitted) |
| 1km to 2km | 10 (admitted) |
| Outside 2km | 5 (admitted) |
| Total | 75 |
| Distance to school | PR applicants |
| Within 1km | 10 (balloting required) |
| 1km to 2km | 10 (unsuccessful) |
| Outside 2km | 0 |
| Total | 20 |
In this case, the 10 PRs living within 1km from the school will ballot for the 5 remaining places.
The 30-month stay requirement applies to these children:
- 5 PRs living within 1km from the school who are successful in the balloting.