Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) will be relocating to Tengah, more than 12km from its current home in Barker Road.

For parents who have bought or rented a property within 1km of ACS (Primary) at Barker Road to secure a place for their sons, don’t worry too much about this, as the move will only take place in 2030. Plus, there’s another ACS in Bukit Timah, which is ACS (Junior) at the nearby Winstedt Road.

Given the long distance to the new location, boys admitted in ACS (Primary) until 2029 will remain at the Barker Road campus until Primary 6. On top of that, the Barker Road campus will still accept new Primary 1 students, as long as they have older brothers studying there.

As the cohort size falls, the school will eventually be consolidated with ACS (Junior) at Winstedt Road tentatively in 2033. The school will operate under ACS (Junior) from both campuses, before shifting to the Barker Road campus in 2039.

Higher property prices in Tengah

Meanwhile, this is good news for those who have secured a unit in Tengah, mainly from the BTO projects or Copen Grand EC which is now fully sold. Given the popularity and “elite” status of ACS (Primary), property owners can expect an increase in property value and higher rental demand after the five-year MOP (huat ah!).

As living within a 1km radius gives priority in balloting for a place, demand for homes near popular schools has pushed up property prices.

In fact, Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content at PropNex Realty, noted that the average price of non-landed private homes within 1km of ACS (Primary) in Barker Road was $2,451 psf in 2022. This is about 13.3 per cent higher than the District 11 average of $2,164 psf.

The relocation of a good school can also affect property prices nearby. An NUS study found that private home prices within 1km of the relocated good school have declined as high as 8.5 per cent, and 12.2 per cent within 1-2km. At the same time, the relocations led to price increases in the new area.

Nevertheless, home prices near the Barker Road campus shouldn’t be too affected, since ACS (Junior) will eventually move there.

It will also take some time to see the impact on property prices in Tengah, since the area is still under development. Most of the residential projects are also HDB flats, with Copen Grand currently the only EC launched for sale in the new estate.

Not the first time a good school was moved to a new housing estate

While it’s said that the move to Tengah is to serve the wider community, it could also be a way to attract more families to set up a home in the new housing estate.

In fact, ACS (Primary) isn’t the first good school to move to a new HDB town.

“It was observed that the Government will relocate good schools to a new HDB town. For example, Nan Chiau Primary School was relocated to Sengkang in 2000, Mee Toh School to Punggol in 2004,” Lee Sze Teck, Senior Director of Research at Huttons Asia commented.

A Business Times article also pointed out that in the 1990s, Raffles Institution, and Catholic High School (Primary and Secondary) were relocated to Bishan, when the town was still being built up. Raffles Junior College later moved there in 2004, followed by Raffles Girls’ School in 2019 (remember the RGS spokesman’s comment about the move “to reach out more to the ordinary Singaporean”?).

(Given the timing of the announcement, maybe this is a way to divert some demand away from the Kallang/ Whampoa BTO at Farrer Park? After all, we’re in the BTO season, and the February 2023 BTO sales exercise should be launching anytime now.

Or is the relocation a way to boost the declining birth rate, especially for young couples setting up a home in Tengah? We note that next year will be the Year of the Dragon — the year when more babies tend to be born in Singapore. 2030 will also be the year these kids are registered for Primary One.) 

With the relocation, which properties will be within 1km of the new ACS (Primary) campus in Tengah?

From the 2022 Primary One Registration onwards, the home-school distance is now calculated based on the school boundary, instead of the centre of the school.

However, this will also depend on the design of the school. According to MOE’s press release, the actual distance will be confirmed and made available on the OneMap SchoolQuery function.

In the meantime, based on MOE’s press release, the URA master plan and OneMap, we’ve figured out some of the properties in Tengah that fall within the 1km radius. Aside from Copen Grand, these are all BTO.

• Parc Glen (TOP: 2024)
• Parc Clover (TOP: 2024)
• Parc Residences (TOP: 2025)
• Plantation Village (TOP: 2024)
• Plantation Grove (TOP: 2024)
• Plantation Grange (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2023)
• Plantation Acres (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2023)
• Parc Woods (TOP: 2025)
• Parc Flora (TOP: 2025)
• Garden Vale (TOP: 2024)
• Garden Vines (TOP: 2024)
• Garden Terrace (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2024)
• Garden Court (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2024)
• Garden Bloom (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2025)
• Copen Grand (TOP: 2027)
• February 2023 BTO (some blocks fall within 1-2km)

It’s not just properties in Tengah that are within a 1km radius of the school. There are a few projects in Bukit Batok that are within the radius as well.

• West Scape (TOP: 2022)
• West Edge (TOP: 2019)
• West Ridges (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2019)
• West Plains (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2020)
• West Hill (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2026)
• Le Quest (some blocks fall within 1-2km) (TOP: 2020)
• Bukit Batok West Avenue 5 EC
• Bukit Batok West Avenue 8 EC

This article was first published in 99.co.