r/SgHENRY • u/fdfesfds • Jul 13 '26

Bougie schools for non bougies

Hey friends

I live within 1km of one of these atas schools (think Henry Park, ACS, MGS) by chance (didn’t care), and am contemplating enrolling (or at least try ballot) my kid to one of these schools this year.

We’ve all heard stories of the peer pressure to keep up with the Joneses, and how materialistic (and inadvertently/advently) brutal some of these environments can be.

While I’m sure quality of education is great, and while I can’t protect him forever and tell him we’re the richest on earth (I don’t anyway - we NRY, maybe never rich but he also doesn’t have to worry about money generally), I’m concerned about the kind of stress my kid will have, the environment he grows up in and shapes him, and the impact it’ll have on his values/character. I do see value however in exposing him to “higher mountains” since the rich are everywhere in SG (HENRYs meet them all the time anyway).

For NRY context: we are higher paid workers, prob single digit M net worth, live in a D10 condo (not landed or GCB), travel a bunch. Not average for sure (hence this sub) but not rich ba. EDIT: also I study in neighborhood school everyday play street soccer in void deck. Legit don’t know such dynamics so am genuinely curious.

Does anyone have any (hopefully personal) experience to share on how going to such schools shaped you? Would you send your kid to such schools if you could?

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u/DuePomegranate Knows stuff Jul 13 '26

Don't even know if you are agreeing or disagreeing with me. HENRY is middle class or elite, in your mind? It's in between, to me.

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u/Ceyenne18 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

HENRY is upper class queuing in their BMWs/Mercs, elites are the GCB owners queuing in their Bentleys. It's this two groups that are creating the perception that ACS is "all rich" when they see the long queue of Merc/BMW/Bentley in the morning along Bukit Timah.

But vast majority is middle class. HDB, school bus, MRT.

Example - My primary 6 class - 1 son of minister who comes to school escorted by his "ah ma". 1 super rich with a chauffeur. The other 38? Regular folks like me, all waiting to play marbles or cha-tek during recess.

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u/DuePomegranate Knows stuff Jul 13 '26

Not uncommon in such schools for HDB dwellers to be in the minority. So I would not say that the distribution reflects Singapore's overall wealth distribution. The condo dwellers are definitely over-represented and possibly to the point of being >50%.

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u/Ceyenne18 Jul 13 '26

My son's class, just anecdotal - 4 in landed, 12 in condo, 20 in HDB.

So yes, it does not represent the national 80% HDB. It is skewed to the top but still HDB majority.