One World International School (Nanyang) Review
The Nanyang campus of One World International School (OWIS) is one of the cheapest international schools in Singapore. This primary and secondary school may be located in what many residents regard as ‘out of town’, but its low fees and IB curriculum have certainly helped to make it a popular school with families seeking a quality, affordable all-through education.
OWIS Nanyang opened in January 2018 with places from EC1 to Grade 8, and has since rolled out Grades 9 – 12. It offers the IB programme at primary school level, followed by IGCSEs, and the IBDP. Annual school fees for kindergarten and primary school pupils start from $17,970 a year, rising to a maximum of $20,661 for secondary students. With many international schools charging $24,000 – $47,000, this makes OWIS a much cheaper alternative for an IB education.
The school says,
"We are not a ‘no frills’ school. We are technically offering everything that every other international school can offer, but at a moderate price."
It's an important distinction to make. OWIS may be a cheaper school in terms of fees, but is that at the cost of a quality education? We think not. Yes, the campus does not have the glitzy shiny facilities of some other international schools, but it does have huge amounts of outdoor space, large well-lit classrooms, a self-contained area for early years, and specialist areas for sport, music, art and science. It also offers a solid academic curriculum that gives students the popular option of taking IGCSEs and then the IB Diploma Programme; there's a small but broad enough choice of IGCSE subjects.
The school has a diverse cohort of students (its 30% cap on nationalities maintains this) which is championed through annual events and classroom activities. There's also a strong focus on the individual and kindness as part of OWIS' approach to student wellbeing. From kindness trees on the walls to students sitting on a Kindness Council, the school promise and teaches positive values across all age groups.
The school's recently launched bilingual programme for Grades 1-5 widens the appeal of this school, and offers students the option to study the IB PYP in both English and Mandarin (it follows a 60-40 model that's well suited for non-native Chinese speakers).
OWIS is part of a growing family of schools in Singapore, which includes the East Coast Campus offering an early years education for children 3 to 6 years of age and the Suntec campus, which opened in 2021 for KG to Grade 8. OWIS Punggol's Digital Campus, a new all-through school for 1,500 students in Singapore's digital district, will open in 2023 offering the IB, and GCSEs in Grades 9-10.
According to our Parent Survey, 34% of parents think that the fees represent good value for money given the quality of the school offering, 33% of parents think their child has a tremendous sense of belonging at the school, while 34% say they have no sense of belonging at all. 33% are satisfied with the level of academic performance, while 67% are unsatisfied
View our school tour here.
The curriculum
OWIS offers the popular International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP), underpinned by the National Curriculum for England, then IGCSEs (Grades 9 and 10), and the IBDP (Grades 11 and 12).
All students from Early Childhood through to Secondary school have access to specialist instruction in art, design technology, drama, and music. Music is taught as part of the core curriculum until the end of Grade 8. Students may also participate in one-to-one music tuition outside of the school curriculum, with the opportunity to learn piano, violin, guitar, singing, recorder, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and euphonium.
Mandarin is taught to all students from EC1 to grade 8 and involves verbal communication, literacy, and Chinese culture, with the goal of enabling all students to master Mandarin and to attain a substantial understanding of significant components of Chinese culture and cultural aspects of the Chinese language.
In January 2021, the school launched an English-Chinese bilingual programme. It's certainly an attractive option for those students who have increased ability or commitment beyond daily Chinese instruction.
The bilingual programme is available to students in Grades 1-5 and aligns with the IB PYP. Lessons in take place entirely in Mandarin and English and are taught at the native level. Maths and IB Units of Inquiry are delivered in both English and Mandarin. Specialist subjects like music, art and PE are delivered in English, which means that students are mixing with peers outside of the bilingual programme – an important way to build relationships with other children within the school.
Fees for the bilingual programme are slightly higher than the mainstream, but still considerably less than those at many other schools offering bilingual programmes – $19,485 per year compared to around $30,000 at EtonHouse Broadrick and $34,900-41,550.
However, there are reasons behind this. While many schools will have native speakers in both English and Chinese teaching immersion or dual-language classes, OWIS has bilingual teachers who are proficient in both Mandarin and English. The bilingual programme is still very much in its infancy so parents may prefer to opt for a school that has more experience of teaching bilingual English-Chinese, but its alignment with the IB PYP does offer families the best of both worlds.
In secondary school, whilst continuing with an inquiry-based approach to learning, students follow the National Curriculum for England, and study IGCSEs. Subjects include English, mathematics, science, Mandarin, humanities, PE, art and design, music, drama, business studies, ICT, economics, computer science, and Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE).
Michelle Dickinson, Head of School at OWIS, says that the school chose IGCSEs over the MYP because the certification holds the school to a defined standard. She explains:
“The standardised and externally moderated assessments provide a rigorous and consistent global understanding of each IGCSE qualification by universities across the world."
The OWIS model teaches students about their immediate relationships with their friends and family, as well as social development, health, and intellectual development. There is also a strong emphasis on building the ability to learn and to continue learning. The school describes the benefit of this on-going ability in terms of personal growth and expanded horizons, increased employability and improved career development prospects, a broader range of interests and a wider social life.
Achievement of these three main aims is supported through the connection of Collaboration, Service, and Being at One with the World. Whilst the benefits of the first two attributes are clear, the last one is designed to ensure the capacity to explore, to examine, and to go beyond expectations in a way in which thoughts and actions must be balanced, considered, and free from external influences.
OWIS offers a 1:1 MacBook programme in Secondary School, to support and facilitate learning. This is designed to deliver improved academic achievement, enable students to use the Internet and computer media to communicate and work together, and use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, and solve problems. In addition, students are expected to understand and practise legal and ethical behaviour related to technology.
PE and sport is an important aspect of the curriculum. On-site, an enclosed sports pitch with running track and basketball courts is provided. Although the school lacks its own swimming facilities, all children benefit from the swimming programme held at facilities close to the school. An adventure playground, nature garden, and early childhood playground are available for younger students.
An affordable school?
The school quickly dismisses the idea that it is a 'no-frills' or 'affordable school', instead describing itself as a "thoughtfully priced international school with a modern campus".
Head of school Michelle Dickinson explains,
"If you compare the OWIS fee structure against other leading international schools globally, OWIS is actually at the top end of the traditional range. It’s only when the OWIS fee structure is compared against another international school’s charges in Singapore, that our fee structure appears low."
She adds,
"Higher fees do not ensure a higher quality education or better results. How a school decides to allocate its fees may be even more important than what the school charges."
School ownership
OWIS Nanyang is part of the Global Schools Foundation (GSF), a Singapore-based not for profit organisation that has historically focused on schools and curricula targeting Indian families – it is best known for its Global Indian International Schools (GIIS) brand.
International teaching staff
This campus is overseen by OWIS' head of school Michelle Dickinson, a Brit who has worked in India, China, and Ethiopia, as well as in other international school groups including Dulwich and Nord Anglia.
Teachers are from the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, China, and New Zealand. All have a degree or higher degrees and teaching certification from well-established higher education institutions. OWIS says that it looks for teachers who are dynamic, enthusiastic, caring, knowledgeable about education, internationally minded, and lifelong learners.
The students
The Nanyang campus in Jurong West Street enrols more than 1,200 students from a mix of nationalities. With at least 40 nationalities signed up to the OWIS Nanyang, it is a very international campus – something the school has planned for by placing a 30% cap on any one nationality. The school is nearly oversubscribed with students from India and Japan.
It says,
"At OWIS, we pride ourselves in building an international community where children embrace diversity."
School life
At OWIS Nanyang class sizes are limited to 18 students in Early Childhood and 24 students in Grades 1 and above.
In terms of homework, which is referred to at OWS as “learning at home”, it is very project-based in the primary years. Grade 1 is 20 minutes’ reading daily, which is described as the “backbone” to any solid education; from Grade 2 and above, students are given a project to complete over a two or three week period. The school says that “process is more important than the product”, so you can expect a project-based approach to homework rather than piles of worksheets.
Unlike the Indian curriculum schools owned by GSF, the academic calendar at OWIS runs from August to June, split into four terms, each of approximately 10 weeks.
The school has built a strong community – there is a Parent and Friends Association, parent reps for each class meet monthly with teachers, students are all assigned to a house system, and there's an active student council. Students and teachers use the Seesaw app to communicate with parents about their daily learning experiences.
2022 academic results
In the IB, there was a 90% pass rate and average score of 34.
In the IGCSE exams, 97% of the cohort of 36 students achieved A*-C, 58% achieved A*-A, and 85% achieved A*-B. Since 2018, more than 90% of the cohort have consistently been awarded A*-C grades.
The campus
OWIS Nanyang is built on the site of the former Pioneer Secondary School, a government secondary school that closed in 2016. As we’ve seen at other affordable schools in the region such as Invictus, lower fees typically mean lesser facilities. However, the 3.2ha OWIS campus does have state-of-the-art facilities for entrepreneurship, performing, and visual arts, and technology and robotics, as well as a ‘nature’ kindergarten for outdoor learning. It also has large classrooms, which had been designed for the higher class sizes in government schools. The school has saved money by converting a former school, which removes the need to construct new buildings.
There are several empty classrooms and unused spaces across this campus, so there is plenty of potential for OWIS Nanyang to expand and widen its facilities – if there is funding available, of course.
The entire school has spacious classrooms, which are well resourced for inquiry-based learning, equipped with iPads, Macbooks, and interactive Apple Tvs. The décor of the classrooms and modular furniture are designed to encourage teamwork and co-operative learning. There are specialist art and music rooms, an enormous multi-purpose hall, sports courts and pitches, a running track, library, dance studio, small rainforest, and play areas. There are plans to develop science labs.
OWIS is the third international school to open in Jurong, the other two being Canadian International School and Yuvabharathi International School Singapore. It opened during an exciting time for this corner of Singapore, as plans are underway to transform this backwater into a vibrant lakeside leisure destination and an up-and-coming neighbourhood. With new development will come families, and with families comes the need for schooling. So, OWIS Nanyang is just what this region was looking for.
Extra-curricular activities
That school has its own sports teams, and a programme of ECAs based on service, languages, the performing arts, sport, and academia. There is a fee for any ECAs, which is to be expected at a school with such low fees, as it gives “parents the choice to pay or not to pay”.
Admission and fees
Tuition fees for kindergarten and primary school are $17,970 a year, rising to a maximum of $20,661 for secondary students; this includes two sets of uniform. Unlike at many schools here, there are no hidden extras, such as a technology fee or building development fee.
The fees for the bilingual immersion programme in primary are higher than the mainstream programme, and cost $19,485 per year.
This school is in a Best School by parents ranking
One World International School (Nanyang) is a Best of school, a ranking determined by parent surveys on the site. It can be found in the following Best of rankings:
- #4 in Best Schools in Singapore
- #3 in Best British Schools in Singapore
- #1 in Best IB Schools in Singapore
- #1 in Best IB DP Schools in Singapore
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