Our faculty have spent years engaged in research and development work to improve the curriculum and its delivery to students. During that same time over 150 faculty members worked in design teams to help outline what they needed from a new building to support delivery of the improved curriculum to best meet the needs of students. SAS Reimagined is the result of significant work by our faculty. 

The new buildings will be designed to provide flexibility for classroom configuration. The new buildings will be able to be divided into single classrooms, shared classrooms, or a mix of the two. The building architecture will not dictate what classroom configuration we will offer, and will be determined based on the needs of our students. 

We know how important it is for our athletics programs to have access to the quality and size of field space we have now. The newly constructed West Fields will be able to host large athletic events like IASAS and our student athletes will be able to continue training throughout the construction phase. The new fields will result in a net increase of field space for our athletes.

In the first phase of the plan, from May 2021 to the second quarter of 2023, the following facilities will be impacted. SAS will ensure that students have alternative spaces.

Baseball Field: Unaffected throughout construction. However, it will remain closed during the summers of 2021, 2022, and 2023 to ensure safety

Climbing Wall: Unaffected throughout construction. However, a new travel route will be implemented for access

Ropes Course: Unaffected throughout construction. However, a new travel route will be implemented for access

Central Grass Stadium Field: Unaffected throughout construction. However, it will remain closed during the summers of 2021, 2022, and 2023 to ensure safety

Gym 5: Unaffected throughout construction

Baseball Store Building: Unaffected throughout construction

West Fields: Open in August 2021

North Field / Softball Field: Closed starting May 29, 2021 

Middle School Field: Closed starting May 29, 2021

Track: The track will be subject to occasional lane closures

Gym 4 - Apex (1A): Closed during summer of 2021 for renovation works. It will reopen for use during semester one of the 2021-22 school year with a partial wall enclosed for safety.

Gym 3 - Apex: Closed starting summer of 2021 and will reopen for use starting January 2022

Stadium Grandstand: Current grandstand will be demolished with preparations starting May 29, 2021. The new one will be open for use starting January 2022

25-metre Swimming Pool: Closed from May 29, 2021 through January 2022 to ensure safety during construction work in proximity

50-metre Swimming Pool (and Pool Grandstand): Open for use from April 2022

Apex Extensions (Levels One and Two): Open for use starting February 2022, subject to Singapore government approval

Our strategic focus can be found here. We believe that an upgraded campus will allow us to better fulfil our vision and mission and will help us continue to expand the offerings provided to our students.

No students will have to be moved off campus or to different parts of the campus during construction. We are making every effort to minimize disruption to our students. This includes phasing construction to keep it as separate as possible from classrooms. For example, the new elementary school will be built 400+ meters from the existing elementary school, minimizing disruption during the building process.  

We will seek to have most disruptive work done in the summer or during non-school hours. Likewise, we will invest in high-quality, acoustically designed fencing to reduce air and noise pollution. (We will set up designated areas and dedicated routes to/from those areas to separate construction traffic and work from our students.)

As construction work is carried out in an active school environment patronized by young children, extensive safety measures will be put in place to ensure proper segregation of site works, site machineries, and workers from daily school activities. 

A hoarded fence will segregate the construction activities from school activities areas and will be inspected regularly to ensure it is not damaged or tampered with. Access gates to construction areas will be guarded by security guards with controlled access and/or locked with keys controlled by the contractor. The hoarding and gates will ensure there is no unauthorised or uncontrolled crossing between construction vehicles and school students.

Unobstructed pavements will be provided around site hoarding to ensure community safety, and these pedestrian paths will be kept clean. Directional and precautionary signage will be put up along the site hoarding to direct and safeguard pedestrians.

Dust pollution may be produced from the demolition works, earthworks or other construction activities. Several measures are in place to ensure minimal dust:

• Hacking and demolition works in existing buildings are scheduled for weekends and off-peak periods.

• Exposed bare earth surfaces will be minimised and will not be left to dry out in order to reduce airborne dust particles. 

• A dust netting will be installed in areas where demolition works are to be carried out.

• A washing bay will ensure that all vehicles leaving the site boundary will have their tires washed to reduce the airborne dust particles.

Noise generated from the construction is inevitable regardless of the construction phases. Noise levels will be continuously monitored via a real-time noise monitoring system in order to ensure that it does not affect students and the public.

These systems will be installed at HDB Block 429 Woodlands Street 41 (subject to permission from the HDB); the early learning center at SAS; block 4 gym; the APEx; and the performing arts center. Noise levels will be controlled against permissible noise levels and allowed working hours as stipulated by the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Localized shielding devices will be provided to localize control of noise-generating machinery. Hoardings with acoustic barriers will also be installed to further reduce noise from construction activities.

All construction workers and traffic will be processed through the West gate and construction gate one.  To facilitate smooth on-campus traffic flow during peak hours, access to West gate will be opened to school buses and vehicles during peak hours. 

Multiple construction gates will be set up at the construction site hoarding area. All workers and site staff will be allowed to enter the campus and construction site only after a thorough security check, and will be contained within the hoarded site area at all times. The construction site is self-contained and fitted with offices, toilets, resting areas, canteen, etc. Security guards will be deployed at these gates to restrict construction workers’ movement.

Our current plan is to begin construction in 2021 and end in 2026.  Click here to learn more about the phasing plan and timeline.

The budget for the campus upgrade is SGD $400-425 million. The range reflects some of the uncertainty about construction costs as a result of the effects that COVID-19 has had on the construction sector.

We are fortunate to be in a strong financial position.  The facilities fee that we have collected and continue to collect from families—combined with the investment earnings on those funds—have allowed us to build up a capital reserve of approximately $370 million. Going forward every year, we will have additional revenues from the facilities fee to help pay for construction costs.  In addition, to provide for additional financial resources and financial security, the school recently took out a 20-year loan of $100 million. 

As a result, we have been clear that we will not ask for any special tuition charges or increases in tuition beyond our annual inflation-based increases that have averaged 3.5 percent a year over the last decade. (Next year 2021-22, tuition and fees on average will be 2% above what they are this year.) 

Note that we do not plan on using any of our “rainy day” fund reserves. These operating reserves currently total approximately $75 million (representing six months of operating expenses), and we want to ensure we continue to have this fund available should we encounter any severe economic challenges. 

Please see below for a graph of our capital reserves currently and what we project for the end of the project in five years’ time. Note that changes in economic conditions, particularly in the value of our invested assets, may impact these projections. 

We started the 2020–21 school year with a total enrollment of 4,052 students. As we continue to expand the Chinese immersion program, we anticipate that our enrollment will grow to about 4,225 students, an increase of around four percent, over the next four years.

We are pleased to say that our re-enrollment numbers for next year are the highest they have ever been, at over 3,400 students. In addition, we have the largest number of applicants that we have had in more than a decade. We have waitlists at just about every grade level, and we are confident that we will continue to see steady enrollment.

Some other schools that have undergone a campus upgrade or rebuild include Seoul Foreign School, UWC Dover, American International School of Guangzhou (currently in design), NIST International School, and Tanglin Trust School.