10 Best International Preschools Singapore (October 2026)

Fees are the lowest published figure, for 2026-27 at the through-schools and 2026 at EtonHouse, and usually mean fewer days or half days. The full ranges, and the one-off charges, are in the fees table further down.

The first kind is the early years section of an international school that runs all the way up. Stamford American, Dulwich, CIS, Tanglin, Nexus and UWCSEA all do this. Your child starts in a nursery or kindergarten class and, if it suits, moves up into Year 1 or Grade 1 on the same campus without a second round of school hunting. Fees are set per academic year and come with application, enrolment and levy charges. The school day is a school day: 8am to 2pm at UWCSEA, 8:30am to 3:30pm at CIS. Ask each school whether a nursery place carries a place in the next stage, because the rules differ.

The second kind is a standalone international preschool. EtonHouse, Odyssey, Blue House and Rain Trees on this list take children from 8 or 18 months to six, charge by the month or the term, and then send them on to a primary school you choose, international or local. EtonHouse and Odyssey open from 7am to 7pm, which suits two working parents far better than a 2pm pick-up.

The law treats them differently too. Under the Early Childhood Development Centres Act 2017, anyone who regularly cares for or teaches five or more children under seven for a fee is running an early childhood development centre, and needs an ECDA licence to do it. The Act's Schedule then excludes "any institution registered under the Private Education Act 2009 which provides a foreign or an international educational curriculum covering both pre-primary and full-time primary levels". In plain terms, the nursery of an all-through international school can sit outside ECDA licensing, while a standalone international preschool needs a licence like any other preschool. That one line decides whether SPARK accreditation and the government subsidy are on the table at all.

These are the published fees for the 2026-27 school year, or calendar 2026 where a preschool bills that way, checked on each school's own site in October 2026. GST is included where the school says so.

Spread over 12 months, KG2 at Stamford American works out to about S$3,860 a month and Kindergarten at Nexus to about S$3,100, so the standalone preschools at S$2,500 to S$3,550 a month aren't as far apart as the yearly figures make them look. The bigger gap is the S$6,000 to S$15,000 in one-off fees the through-schools charge in the first year, and the hours.

• IB Primary Years Programme (PYP). The International Baccalaureate's programme for children aged 3 to 12. It's built on inquiry: instead of separate subjects, children work through big themes such as "Who we are" and "Sharing the planet". Only schools the IB authorises can teach it. On this list that's EtonHouse Newton and Nature, four Odyssey campuses and Nexus, with Stamford American and CIS teaching within the PYP framework. It leads on to the IB Middle Years and Diploma programmes, and my guide to IB schools in Singapore covers the schools that run the whole sequence.
• Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). England's framework for children from birth to five. It's play-based, with early learning goals in areas such as language, literacy and maths, and it feeds into Year 1 of the English National Curriculum. Dulwich, Tanglin and Rain Trees use it. That route runs on to IGCSEs, and my IGCSE schools guide covers the British-style schools further up.
• Reggio Emilia. An approach rather than a syllabus, named after the Italian town where it began. Projects grow out of the children's own questions, teachers document what children say and make, and the room itself is treated as a teacher. Odyssey and Blue House build their whole programme on it, while Stamford American, EtonHouse and Tanglin borrow from it.
• Montessori. Mixed-age classes, child-chosen work with specially designed materials, and long uninterrupted work periods. None of my picks here is a Montessori school. If that's the approach you want, Brighton Montessori is in my best preschools guide.
• Nurturing Early Learners (NEL). Singapore's own framework from the Ministry of Education, for children aged four to six. It guides MOE Kindergartens and is shared with preschools across Singapore. Local preschools build on it, and some international ones draw on it too.

A bilingual preschool in Singapore usually means English and Mandarin. Dulwich, Odyssey, Rain Trees and Stamford American build a second language into every day, EtonHouse Zhong Hua teaches entirely in Mandarin, and CIS adds French as an option.

If you're looking to enrol your child in an international preschool or kindergarten in Singapore, these are the checks I'd make before paying a registration fee.

• A licence, or a clear reason there isn't one. ECDA-licensed preschools care for children from two months to below seven, as infant care, childcare or kindergarten. A standalone international preschool should hold one. A through-school nursery may not need one, so ask which registration covers it.
• SPARK, where it applies. SPARK is ECDA's quality accreditation for licensed preschools, at two levels, Certification and Commendation, and ECDA publishes the list of accredited centres. A through-school nursery outside ECDA licensing won't have it, which isn't a mark against it.
• Real IB authorisation. Any school can call itself inquiry-based. Only schools authorised by the International Baccalaureate can teach the Primary Years Programme, so ask whether the preschool itself is an IB World School, and since when.
• The first-year total. Add the application, enrolment or confirmation fee, any levy and the deposit to the tuition. At Dulwich that turns S$37,520 of full-day Nursery into S$47,520 in year one.
• Hours that fit your week. A 2pm finish works with a parent or helper at home, and my guide to maid agencies for childcare covers that route. Two working parents usually need the 7am to 7pm days of a standalone preschool.
• Ratios in writing. Nexus, Blue House and Rain Trees publish theirs. If a school only gives a whole-school average, ask for the numbers in your child's class.
• Where it leads. A through-school is a decision about primary school too. If a local primary school might come later, my AEIS preparation guide covers how international students move into the local system.

I started from the international preschools and school early years programmes that come up most on Google for this search and in parents' guides on Sassy Mama, Expat Living and WhichSchoolAdvisor. Then I read each school's own curriculum, admissions and fee pages on 27 and 28 October 2026, and checked the licensing and subsidy rules on ECDA's and MOE's sites and in the Act itself. Every fee comes from the school's own website or fee schedule; where a school doesn't publish one, I've written "on request" rather than use a directory's figure. I left Google ratings out, because a school's rating mostly reflects its older years, not its nursery.

The Australian International School came close. It takes infants from two months at its Lorong Chuan campus, and its 2026 fees start at S$20,136 a year for three days of Pre-Nursery, and it's worth a visit if you're touring Stamford American's Early Learning Village nearby in Serangoon. Both are in my international schools guide. I'll update this list when the 2027-28 fee schedules come out.

An international preschool in Singapore costs about S$2,500 to S$3,550 a month at the standalone preschools that publish fees, or S$20,420 to S$46,330 a year at the early years sections of the big international schools for 2026-27. The through-schools add S$6,000 to S$15,000 in one-off application, enrolment and levy fees in the first year.

Fewer days cost less. Three days of Pre-Nursery at Stamford American is S$20,420 a year, and five half days at EtonHouse Newton are S$2,539 a month in 2026. Buses, uniforms and holiday care come on top, and my holiday camps guide helps with the long breaks.

Choose an international preschool if your child is heading to an international school or you may leave Singapore within a few years. Choose a local one if a Singapore primary school is the plan: local centres build on MOE's NEL framework, and Singapore Citizen children get up to S$300 a month in ECDA subsidy at licensed childcare centres.

The line isn't sharp. EtonHouse's preschools teach an international curriculum but are ECDA-licensed, so they take the subsidy, while local operators run Reggio and Montessori programmes too. My best preschools in Singapore guide covers the local side.

Children in Singapore can start preschool at two months in infant care, or at 18 months in childcare or kindergarten, and ECDA-licensed preschools take children up to just below seven. International schools start later and vary: 18 months at Stamford American and CIS, two at Dulwich, three at Tanglin and Nexus, and four at UWCSEA.

MOE's NEL framework covers ages four to six, the kindergarten years. Many families begin with two or three days a week, and Stamford American and EtonHouse both offer three-day options for younger children. Weekly swimming lessons and enrichment classes can fill the other days.

Some do. ECDA's Basic Subsidy, S$300 a month for full-day childcare when the main applicant works, goes to Singapore Citizen children at ECDA-licensed infant and childcare centres. Licensed international preschools such as EtonHouse take it. The nurseries of all-through international schools can sit outside ECDA licensing, and only Singapore Citizen children qualify.

Families with a household income of S$12,000 a month or less can also get the means-tested Additional Subsidy, up to S$467 a month for childcare, and ECDA raises that ceiling to S$15,000 from 1 January 2027. Ask the preschool which licence it holds before you count on either.