P1 Registration Phase 1: The Sibling Phase, Explained

Every Primary 1 registration exercise starts with the same phase, and it is the simplest one. MOE’s criterion is a single line:

• For a child who has a sibling studying in the primary school.

Phase 1 of the 2026 exercise ran from 30 June – 2 July 2026, 9.00am on the first day to 4.30pm on the last. Results were released on 8 July 2026.

Why Phase 1 matters even if it doesn’t apply to you

Phase 1 runs before anything else, and every place it takes is a place that never reaches the later phases. At a school with a large, settled parent body, Phase 1 can absorb a meaningful share of the intake before an outsider can apply at all. This is the mechanical reason a school can look “impossible” in Phase 2C without anything dramatic happening: the cohort was already spoken for.

It is also why the sibling route compounds. Getting the first child into a school buys the second child a guaranteed place, which is a real consideration when you are choosing between two schools that otherwise look similar.

What to check before you rely on it

• The sibling must be studying at the school. A sibling who has already left, or who is enrolled elsewhere, does not create Phase 1 eligibility. If your older child is in their final year, confirm with the school how MOE treats that in the exercise you are registering for.
• Register inside the window anyway. A guaranteed place is guaranteed only if you register. Missing the window drops you to the next phase you qualify for, which may well be Phase 2C.
• Timing within the window is irrelevant. Registration is not first-come-first-served in any phase. Day one at 9.00am and day three at 4.29pm are treated identically.

If Phase 1 doesn’t apply

Work down the phases in order and register in the earliest one you genuinely qualify for: Phase 2A for alumni and school-connected families, Phase 2B for parent volunteers and church, clan or community-leader routes, and Phase 2C for everyone else. From Phase 2A onwards, an oversubscribed phase goes to a ballot, and that is where home-school distance starts to matter.