Primary One registration for 2016 has begun in phases since July 2.

Now, bearing in mind the oft-repeated mantra that "every school is a good school", six of them — Ai Tong School, Catholic High School, Henry Park Primary, Nanyang Primary, Nan Hua Primary, and Red Swastika School — were already oversubscribed at Phase 2A(2), which closed on Tuesday.

There are a total of three main phases for registration, with Phase 2 being split into five sub-phases.

The differences in phases are as follows:

Phase 1: For a child who has a sibling studying in the primary school of choice

Phase 2A(1): For a child whose parent is a former student of the primary school and who has joined the alumni association as a member not later than 30 June 2014; or for a child whose parent is a member of the School Advisory / Management Committee

Phase 2A(2): For a child whose parent or sibling has studied in the primary school of choice; or for a child whose parent is a staff member of the primary school of choice

Phase 2B: For a child whose parent has joined the primary school as a parent volunteer not later than 1 July 2014 and has given at least 40 hours of voluntary service to the school by 30 June 2015; or for a child whose parent is a member endorsed by the church/clan directly connected with the primary school; or for a child whose parent is endorsed as an active community leader

Phase 2C: For all children who are eligible for Primary One in the following year and are not yet registered in a primary school

Phase 2C Supplementary: For a child who is not yet registered in a primary school after Phase 2C

Phase 3: For a child who is neither a Singapore Citizen nor a Singapore Permanent Resident

Among the six schools that received more applications than available places for each phase, they had anywhere between two and 19 applications more than the number of spaces they had.

Are these schools "good-er" than others?

1. The most popular school was Henry Park Primary, with 42 registrations for only 23 spaces. This was so even though Raffles Girls' Primary School (RGPS), which is approximately 400m away from Henry Park Primary, was not over-subscribed. If you think it's because RGPS is an all-girls school which may explain why it is not over-subscribed, then what about Catholic High which is over-subscribed and an all-boys school?

2. Ai Tong, the second most popular school at Phase 2A(2), had 49 registrations for 36 spaces, despite being less than 600m from two other schools: Jing Shan Primary School and Da Qiao Primary School. To add on, Jing Shan is also closer to Ang Mo Kio MRT station than Ai Tong.

*Editor's note at 5.35pm: A reader has very kindly pointed out that Ai Tong Primary School will relocate back to 100 Bright Hill Drive in December 2015. RGPS will relocate back to 21 Hillcrest Road in December 2015*

Meanwhile, parents who fail to secure a spot at Phase 2A(2), and do not fulfill the criteria set in Phase 2B, will have to try for a spot for their children from Phase 2C onwards.

The Ministry of Education promises it  "will reserve 40 places in every primary school for registrants in Phase 2B and 2C to ensure continued open access to all primary schools. The 40 places will be reserved for Phase 2B and 2C (20 places for each phase) before the start of the P1 Registration Exercise."

It would mean that for over-subscribed schools like the six mentioned here, Phase 2B may only have 20 spaces for parents who put in 40 hours of voluntary service, or grassroots leaders who have to put in at least two years of service to fight for.

Still think every school is a good school? We think not all parents have bought into this. Yet.

Top image from NIE.

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