St. Margaret’s Girls’ Secondary School（圣玛格丽特女子中学）is Singapore’s first girls’ school: founded in 1842 by missionary Maria Dyer, it is today a government secondary school within Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) system. Its official website now styles the school as St. Margaret’s School (Secondary). Before you plan around this school, note the key structural fact: entry is through the national PSLE posting exercise or the DSA-Sec talent exercise, and the school publishes no separate admission channel for international families. Everything below is verified against the school’s official website as of 5 August 2026.
School profile and campus
St. Margaret’s Girls’ Secondary Schoolis a government school, not an international school and not a private school: fees, curriculum and admission procedures all follow Singapore’s public education system. It is an all-girls secondary school located at 111 Farrer Road, Singapore 259240, with Farrer Road MRT station (Circle line) as the nearest station and buses 48, 93, 153, 165, 174, 186, 855 and 961 passing by, according to the official contact page.
The school has a distinct Christian identity. Its mission, as published on the official site, is to provide an all-round education in a Christ-centred environment, nurturing confident, creative and caring young ladies; the motto is Charity • Patience • Devotion. Since 1 January 2023 the school has been officially renamed St. Margaret’s School (Secondary), aligned with its primary school counterpart St. Margaret’s School (Primary). For families weighing fit, the all-girls environment and the Christian values education are the two core considerations.
Programs and the co-curricular system
St. Margaret’s Girls’ Secondary Schooldescribes its curriculum as nurturing collaborative learners capable of critical and independent thought. Subject departments include English Language & Literature, Science, Mathematics, Mother Tongue Languages, Humanities, Aesthetics Craft and Technology, Physical Education, ICT, and Character and Citizenship Education; booklists are issued separately for the G1, G2 and G3 course levels.
Distinctive programmes listed under the official Learning Community section include a Critical Thinking programme embedded in the pedagogy of some subjects, with Secondary Two Project Work offered in competitive or non-competitive domains across Humanities, Science, Mathematics and English; an Environmental and Life Sciences programme partnering with NParks, with learning journeys and research attachments at Singapore Polytechnic and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology; and an Environment Education programme built around the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). On the aesthetics side the school lists an Arts Education programme, a GCE ‘N’ and ‘O’ Level Art programme and an Enhanced Music programme, while the Character Development section covers Values in Action (VIA), an overseas programme, a student leadership programme and the Bounce programme.
Co-curricular activities (CCA) are compulsory: every secondary student must take one main CCA in one of four categories — Sports, Performing Arts, Uniformed Groups or Clubs — with 75% attendance required across the secondary years and absences needing a medical certificate or a parent’s letter. CCA grading uses the LEAPS 2.0 framework covering Participation, Service, Leadership and Achievement. The official CCA list includes badminton, basketball, bowling, fencing, floorball, netball and tennis in sports; the Girls’ Brigade, Girl Guides, National Police Cadet Corps and Red Cross Youth among uniformed groups; choir, concert band, string ensemble, Chinese/Indian/Malay/Modern dance, English drama and the Creative Art Club in the performing arts; and the Debate Club, Agape Club and smARTS Media Club as clubs.
Entry requirements: PSLE posting and DSA-Sec
St. Margaret’s Girls’ Secondary Schoolpublishes two admission routes, both designed for students already in Singapore’s school system.
The first is PSLE posting. Students sit the Primary School Leaving Examination and are allocated to secondary schools through the S1 Posting system. The official PSLE Scoring page notes that a new Achievement Level (AL) scoring system has applied since 2021, and that the school’s cut-off points (COP) are published on the information site for Primary 6 parents and students.
The second is the DSA-Sec talent exercise. For the 2026 exercise (admission in 2027), the official timeline is: online application through the DSA-Sec Portal from 11.00am on 6 May 2026 to 4.30pm on 2 June 2026, free of charge, with no supporting documents required and prior experience not necessary; shortlisted applicants notified by email by 6 July 2026; auditions and interviews held in person from 9 July to 6 August 2026; outcomes emailed by 28 August 2026; school preference submission between 19 and 23 October 2026; and DSA-Sec allocation results in late November 2026. Talent areas at St. Margaret’s fall into two groups — Aesthetics and Sports — and details are best checked against the school’s CCA listings. Two cautions are stated on the official site: meeting all criteria does not guarantee being shortlisted or offered a place, and students admitted via DSA must sustain participation in the talent-related activity from Year 1 to Year 4.
Fees and payment arrangements
On costs, the honest boundary is that the official Financial Matters page of St. Margaret’s Girls’ Secondary Schooldoes not publish the actual fee amounts. What the page does state: annual school fees are spread over 12 months; students admitted on or before 5 February pay from January; those withdrawing on or after 5 October pay for October, November and December; GIRO is the preferred payment mode, with SGQR, AXS and cash/cheque/banker’s order also accepted at the general office; and Singapore Citizen students may use their Edusave accounts for second-tier miscellaneous fees and autonomous school fees. The fee schedule itself is referenced to the MOE website. As a government school, St. Margaret’s charges follow MOE standards, so the MOE fee tables are the authoritative source for actual amounts. The school also notes that every student is covered by Group Personal Accident (GPA) insurance for time in school, at school activities, and while commuting.
After admission: onboarding and practical notes
For the 2026 Secondary 1 intake at St. Margaret’s Girls’ Secondary School, the official pages set out a clear onboarding picture. Students eligible for Higher Mother Tongue or subjects at a More Demanding Level received their offer letters via Parents Gateway by 22 December 2025, and third-language application outcomes were sent through the same channel. Books and stationery have separate G1, G2 and G3 booklists; a uniform info sheet covers the school uniform; and PE t-shirts are bought in the student’s assigned House colour, announced in the first week of school, with purchases possible from 5 January 2026.
Scholarships published on the official site are awarded by the school’s Committee of Management and require no application: an Academic Excellence scholarship worth 500 Singapore dollars per year for top Primary 6 students posted to the school, renewable while the student keeps a ranking within the top 10% of her cohort; and a Sports Excellence scholarship also worth 500 Singapore dollars per year for students who excel in the school’s niche sports of netball, tennis, basketball and fencing. Awardees are informed by the school directly.
Planning checklist for international families
For families outside Singapore, the planning point is that St. Margaret’s Girls’ Secondary Schooldoes not publish a separate international admission procedure: entry rules point to the national public system, and student pass and eligibility conditions are matters for MOE’s official channels. The practical checklist is: confirm the school’s fit on single-sex education and Christian values; identify the PSLE posting or DSA-Sec route and work to the official timeline (DSA applications open roughly a year before the intended intake); plan fees from the MOE fee tables rather than estimates; and after admission follow the official onboarding steps for booklists, uniform and CCA selection. All information in this guide comes from the official website as of 5 August 2026, and arrangements may change. If you would like to map these steps to your child’s specific grade, strengths and budget, our advisers on this site can help you work through the details.