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Thomson Reserve | District 20

The 1km school check, run block by block

Almost every Thomson Reserve listing publishes the same school list. Most of the names on it give your child no Primary 1 priority whatsoever. Here is what the 1km rule actually covers at this site, verified per block rather than averaged across the project.

Verified 27 August 2026

One primary school, all six blocks

Ai Tong School is within 1km of every block at Thomson Reserve. It is also the only primary school inside that line. I ran the OneMap Primary School Listing check separately against each of the six registered addresses rather than taking a project level average, and all six returned the same result.

BlockPostalAi Tong within 1km
1 Bright Hill Drive579580Yes
3 Bright Hill Drive579587Yes
5 Bright Hill Drive579594Yes
7 Bright Hill Drive579599Yes
9 Bright Hill Drive579600Yes
11 Bright Hill Drive579608Yes

Source: OneMap Primary School Listing Service, Singapore Land Authority, queried 27 August 2026 against underlying data dated June 2026. The service returns whether an address falls inside the 1km band. It does not return a distance in metres, so no metre figure is quoted here.

The part most listings get wrong

Primary schools count. Secondary schools do not.

The 1km rule belongs to Primary 1 registration. It applies to primary schools, full stop. A secondary school across the road from your future home gives your six year old exactly nothing at P1 registration, no matter how good the school is or how close it sits.

Counts for P1

Ai Tong School

Within 1km of all six blocks. A SAP school on Bright Hill Drive, the same road as the site. This is the only primary school inside the 1km line, and therefore the only one that affects Primary 1 registration priority here.

No P1 priority

Catholic High, Nanyang Girls, RI, RGS

All secondary schools. They carry no Primary 1 priority at any distance. Catholic High is additionally between 1km and 2km from every block, so it falls outside the line on both counts.

Also outside the 1km line

Ang Mo Kio Primary, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls, and Marymount Convent all sit in the 1km to 2km band. They are genuine primary schools, so they remain relevant in later registration phases, but they do not give the within-1km priority.

How it actually works

Priority is not a place

Being inside the 1km line improves your position. It does not reserve a seat. Where a registration phase is oversubscribed, the ballot is run among Singapore citizens living within 1km, and the outcome varies from year to year depending on how many families apply and how many vacancies exist in that phase.

Two further points worth knowing before you plan around this:

School boundaries and MOE policy can change. This check reflects the position as at August 2026 and is worth re-running closer to the year you register.

Common questions

Thomson Reserve schools, answered

Which primary school is within 1km of Thomson Reserve?

Ai Tong School, and it is the only one. Confirmed within 1km of all six blocks at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 Bright Hill Drive, checked separately per block on OneMap in August 2026.

Is Catholic High within 1km?

No. It sits between 1km and 2km from every block. It is also a secondary school, so it carries no Primary 1 priority regardless of where it sits.

Does within 1km guarantee my child a place at Ai Tong?

No. It gives priority in Primary 1 registration, not a guaranteed place. Where a phase is oversubscribed the ballot is run among Singapore citizens living within 1km, and outcomes vary year to year.

Do Nanyang Girls, RI, or RGS count?

No. The 1km rule applies to primary schools only. Those are all secondary schools and carry no Primary 1 priority at any distance. They appear on many Thomson Reserve listings, which is where the confusion starts.

Is the 1km measured from the project or from my block?

From the address, which means your block. In a six block development the answer can differ between blocks, which is exactly why the check should be run per block. At Thomson Reserve all six came back the same, but that had to be checked rather than assumed.

Can you run this for a specific stack I am looking at?

Yes. Send me the block and stack you are considering and I will run the check and send the OneMap output across. No cost and no obligation.

Per stack check

Want this run for your shortlist?

Send me the blocks and stacks you are looking at and I will run the OneMap check and send the output over before you commit to anything.


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