Catholic High School (Primary) vs Nan Hua Primary School

At a glance

Differences to explore

P1 Phase 2C

Catholic High School (Primary): 2026 · Vacancies: 41 · Applications: 64; Nan Hua Primary School: 2026 · Vacancies: 41 · Applications: 123. Read the exercise years separately; these are not individual admission probabilities.

CCA

The records share 0 CCA listings. Catholic High School (Primary) also lists Basketball (Boys), Chinese Orchestra (Boys), Choir (Boys), Concert Band (Boys) and more, which do not appear in the other school's records. Nan Hua Primary School also lists Art and Crafts (Girls and Boys), Badminton (Girls and Boys), Chinese Dance (Girls and Boys), Chinese Weiqi (Girls and Boys) and more, which do not appear in the other school's records. Listings may be incomplete; confirm availability with each school.

Programme tags

Catholic High School (Primary): IP / SAP; Nan Hua Primary School: SAP. Check the specific programme your child would enter.

The daily journey

Nearby MRT stations listed for Catholic High School (Primary): Bishan Mrt; for Nan Hua Primary School: Clementi. Compare the full journey from home, including transfers and the walk to school.

P1 registration records

How to choose between them

Both schools carry serious pedigree — Catholic High with its boys-only bilingual tradition and IP pipeline, Nan Hua with over a century of Chinese heritage and a remarkably broad CCA programme. Either will give your child a strong foundation, but the fit depends heavily on whether a single-sex environment and the Catholic tradition matter to your family.

Consider Catholic High School (Primary) if…

• Boys-only environment suits children who thrive with less social distraction
• IP pipeline to Catholic High secondary removes O-Level pressure early

Consider Nan Hua Primary School if…

• 20 CCAs versus 9 gives a wider canvas to discover genuine interests
• Over 100 years of alumni community means deep school culture and strong networks

Zone eligibility will likely be the deciding factor before anything else — check your Phase 2B and 2C distances before falling in love with either school.

Get to know each school

Catholic High School (Primary)

Catholic High was founded by Father Edward Becheras in 1935 at the Church of St Peter and Paul in Queen Street. It moved to Bishan in 1992 and admits Catholic and non-Catholic pupils. Bilingual education is a founding principle. This account concerns the primary section: the secondary school's Integrated Programme, subject choices and DSA information should not be treated as descriptions of primary learning or a guaranteed route for a primary pupil.

The primary SAP page organises cultural learning around six areas: music, chess, calligraphy, art, literature and history, and martial arts. The Chinese department gives more concrete examples, including Mother Tongue Fortnight, holiday language or cultural camps, and a parent-child Mandarin speaking competition. Its school-wide Mandarin initiative rewards pupils who collect speaking stamps with a personalised poetry mug. These are ways the school encourages language use and family participation; they do not establish how much individual support a child with weaker Chinese will receive. Ask separately about that support rather than judging fit from the SAP label alone.

• Our History
• Special Assistance Plan (SAP)
• Chinese Language

Nan Hua Primary School

Nan Hua Primary traces its origins to the Chinese-medium Nan Hwa Girls’ School established in 1917. The Bencoolen Street branch separated from the main school in 1961, became Nan Hwa Primary and co-educational in 1964, and moved to Clementi as an English-medium school in 1983. It received SAP status in 1989 and moved to Jalan Lempeng in 1998. MOE’s history records its Thinking Programme ALP in 2015 and From ME to WE LLP in 2019. These are primary-school milestones, distinct from Nan Hua High’s subsequent programmes.

The LLP gives a level-based service sequence: P1 Food Bank Singapore, P2 Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital’s nursing-home wing, P3 SPD, P4 waste management, P5 MINDS and P6 Willing Hearts, followed by class-initiated VIA in Term 4. It also includes explicit learning about gratitude, growth mindset and positive relationships. Leadership progresses from managing oneself to classroom responsibilities and selected roles beyond class. Identified leaders receive workshops on time management, budgeting and conflict resolution before taking larger responsibilities. Families can ask which published experiences remain in their child’s coming-year plan.

• Nan Hua Primary School
• Learning for Life Programme 生活教育项目

CCAs and programmes

Catholic High School (Primary)

• Basketball (Boys)
• Chinese Orchestra (Boys)
• Choir (Boys)
• Concert Band (Boys)
• Infocomm Technology (Computing) (Boys)
• Modern Dance (Boys)
• Modular CCA (Sports) (Boys)
• Scouts (Boys)
• Softball (Boys)
• Table Tennis (Boys)
• Volleyball (Boys)
• Wushu (Boys)

Nan Hua Primary School

• Art and Crafts (Girls and Boys)
• Badminton (Girls and Boys)
• Chinese Dance (Girls and Boys)
• Chinese Weiqi (Girls and Boys)
• Choir (Girls and Boys)
• Football (Girls and Boys)
• Girl Guides (Brownies) (Girls)
• Guzheng Ensemble (Girls and Boys)
• Infocomm Technology (Computing) (Girls and Boys)
• International Chess (Girls and Boys)
• Journalism (Girls and Boys)
• Percussion Ensemble (Girls and Boys)
• Physical Science (Girls and Boys)
• Robotics (Girls and Boys)
• Scouts (Girls and Boys)
• Speech and Drama (Girls and Boys)
• Table Tennis (Girls and Boys)
• Track and Field (Girls and Boys)
• Volleyball (Girls and Boys)
• Wushu (Girls and Boys)

Questions about these schools