Canadian International School Singapore

The short version

The short version

The Canadian International School (CIS) teaches over 3,100 students from more than 80 nationalities, aged 2 to 18, on its Lakeside campus at 7 Jurong West Street 41 in Singapore’s west.

It offers the full International Baccalaureate continuum — Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programmes — and is one of the few schools in the country that does. Its signature extras are a Chinese-English bilingual programme from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 6 and a French-English programme from Grade 1, each with two native-speaking teachers per classroom.↗↗

For an expat family, the practical summary is this: CIS is a big, warm, genuinely international IB school with an unusual bilingual strength and mid-premium fees.

Two things deserve attention before the tour: the school consolidated onto one campus in 2023 after its east-side site closed, so any older research describing “two campuses” is out of date; and the school is owned by a Chinese education group, which is worth understanding as part of your due diligence.

What the school is

From six students in 1990 to a single Jurong West campus

CIS was established in 1989 by Canadian-Chinese investors and opened in November 1990 at Toh Tuck as the Canadian Overseas College, a university-preparatory school under the Ontario system with six students; it took its present name in 1992 and grew downward into a full Nursery-to-Grade-12 school. It is registered as Canadian International School Pte.

Ltd. (PEI Registration 199002243H, current period to 7 June 2027).↗↗

The ownership question has a documented answer: in June 2020, China Maple Leaf Educational Systems — China’s largest private education provider — acquired CIS in a deal valued at S$680 million. Maple Leaf is still listed as the owner by independent reviewers in 2026.

For a parent, the practical read is that CIS sits inside a large commercial education group, unlike Singapore’s not-for-profit schools; the day-to-day school, its Canadian ethos and its IB authorisations are unchanged by that, but it is a fair topic for the admissions conversation.↗↗

Leadership turned over recently: Jared Nolan is Head of School from 2026, succeeding Dr Allan Weston, who joined in 2022 from Taipei European School. New heads matter at schools this size; ask what his stated priorities are.↗

The campus story

Two campuses became one: the 2023 consolidation

Older guides describe CIS as a two-campus school — Lakeside in the west and Tanjong Katong in the east. That is no longer true.

The Tanjong Katong campus, opened in 2008 on a heritage-listed site, closed in June 2023 when the Singapore Land Authority did not renew the lease; its students transferred to Lakeside in August 2023. Any source still selling you an east-side CIS campus is working from stale information.↗↗

The consolidation was softened by investment: in January 2023 CIS opened a purpose-built Junior Wing at Lakeside for Kindergarten to Grade 6, with a 2,600-square-metre Outdoor Discovery Centre, an indoor 25-metre and learn-to-swim pool complex, a gymnasium, a learning bakery and a 200-seat black-box theatre.

The wider campus — a 43,000 sqm site that opened in 2012 — also holds a 500-seat theatre, an Olympic-sized pool, STEAM maker spaces and a two-storey library.↗↗

The location consequence is real for East Coast families: Lakeside sits near Chinese Garden and Lakeside MRT in Jurong West — a long cross-island run from Katong, Marine Parade or Siglap. CIS runs bus services, but if you live east, model the morning journey before falling for the bilingual programme.

Academics in practice

The full IB continuum, plus Singapore’s deepest bilingual bench

CIS’s academic core is the IB continuum end to end, benchmarked so students can transfer to other systems.

The differentiator is bilingual depth: the Chinese-English programme (Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 6) and French-English programme (Grades 1–5) place two native-speaking teachers in the classroom with subjects taught in both languages — a genuine 50:50 model that only a handful of Singapore schools attempt. Bilingual streams carry a fee premium over the English programme.↗↗

Results are respectable for a non-selective school of this size: the 2025 IB Diploma average was 35 points, with the top 30% of students averaging 39 and 35 students earning bilingual diplomas.

In 2025 the school also launched an “Extended Pathway” mixing Advanced Placement courses with DP courses — a sign it is building flexibility for US-bound students inside an IB framework.↗↗

The school reports that over 500 universities worldwide have offered places to its graduates, and holds IB, WASC, COGNIA and EduTrust accreditations.

Support exists for English-language learners and mild learning needs — historically billed separately at S$2,500–3,000 per semester on the last public schedule — but CIS considers SEN case by case and is not the city’s specialist provision; families with significant needs should read our Dover Court profile as well.↗↗↗

Fees and the real cost

Fees for 2026/27, and what sits around them

CIS publishes a full fee schedule with all figures inclusive of 9% GST.

For 2026/27 the one-time charges are a S$1,000 application fee (applications without it are rejected), a confirmation fee of S$5,500 for the first child and S$4,500 for the second — waived from the third child — and a one-time facilities fee of S$4,500.↗

Published 2026/27 English-programme tuition runs from about S$30,280 in Nursery through S$40,760 in Kindergarten, S$41,840 in Grades 1–3, S$45,520 in Grades 4–6 and S$51,240 in Grades 7–10 to S$53,500 in Grades 11–12; bilingual programmes sit above these figures.

Tuition is billed in two equal semester instalments payable before each semester begins, and mid-semester joiners are pro-rated by whole months.↗↗

Two family-friendly mechanics: the confirmation fee falls for the second child and disappears from the third, and a sibling discount applies to tuition from the third child onwards (it cannot be stacked with other discounts).

One unfriendly one: students who leave CIS and later wish to return must apply — and pay — again from scratch.↗

Admissions and the family experience

Rolling admissions — with hard cut-offs in the exam years

CIS admits year-round on a rolling basis, which makes it one of the more approachable premium schools for mid-year arrivals — with firm limits: entry into Grades 9 and 10 is only possible before February of that school year, Grade 11 closes two weeks into the school year, and Grade 12 takes no new students.

Waiting lists operate in full year groups. The reason is structural: nobody wants a child landing mid-way through a two-year examined course.↗↗

For families without a parent resident in Singapore, boarding can be facilitated for students aged 12 and above through an arrangement with a local boarding house, in small numbers.

The community itself is the draw reviewers consistently mention: a “Canadian” warmth, over 100 languages spoken in the student body, and strong music and outdoor-learning programmes anchored by the Open Minds and STEAM initiatives.↗

Take these to the school

Questions that move beyond the tour script