What 250,000 searches reveal about how parents choose schools in Singapore

Singapore is one of the most competitive international school markets in Asia: dozens of schools, an enormous amount of choice for parents, and a landscape where standing out gets harder every year. And yet, for all the money and effort schools put into reaching families, very little is known about how parents really go about their search.

Most schools work from a mix of assumptions, anecdotal feedback and the occasional small-sample survey. The real picture has stayed more or less out of view.

We wanted to change that. Our new report draws on the behaviour of more than 250,000 users who searched for schools on doris between July 2025 and March 2026. Instead of asking parents what they remember doing after a school has been chosen or ruled out, it looks at what they did at the time: the criteria they set, the profiles they opened, the sections they spent time on, and the actions they took next.

Here's a taste of what it found.

Demand is far more global than most schools assume

If you picture your prospective families as mainly British, the numbers might give you pause. The single largest source of searches for Singapore schools came from the United States, at more than a third of all traffic. China was next, then the UK, and after that the spread was remarkably broad, with a dozen more countries each making up a few per cent.

Fee tolerance grows with children's age

Fee tolerance widens as children get older, and so does the market that meets it. In the early years the typical fee sits at around SGD 13,000 to 15,000, increase gradually, and double the size by the upper year. 

Parents care about the practical stuff

When parents open a profile, fees draw the most attention, which is no surprise. But not too far behind come the day-to-day realities: where the school is, how the day is structured, whether there's a bus route that works, and what support is on offer for children who need it.

Most of this is happening on a phone

Close to 60% of searches took place on a mobile device. If your website, virtual tour or tour booking flow is awkward on a small screen, you risk losing families well before they ever reach you.

What's in the full report

The report goes considerably deeper than this summary. It covers the full source-country breakdown, fee ranges by age group, curriculum demand set against supply across more than 35 frameworks, the profile sections parents spend the most time on, and what they do immediately after viewing a school. It closes with a set of questions every school should be asking off the back of the data.

It's free to download, and as far as we know it draws on one of the largest datasets of its kind in the sector.