Find an apartment or school first?

Taiwan Parenting
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Hello all - We are moving to Taipei on August 1st. We have not found an apartment yet and want to enroll our two kids in local public school. We’re aiming to live in Da’an or Xinyi districts.

My question is: should we find a school first then look for a nearby apartment, or should we find an apartment first then find a school nearby? We will have applied for our kids’ ARCs then but they likely won’t be issued until later. Our concern is that because are arriving in August, a lot of schools will be full. So ideally, we’d like to register for a school first, then find an apartment close by but not sure if this is possible. Any insight would be appreciated.

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to the best of my knowledge, schools require you to have an arc with an address on it before you can apply.

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here you may find a list of schools that are full, and alternative schools for kids who cannot be accepted in the school districts.

https://tpenroll.tp.edu.tw/Home/Announce/12

most kids are already registered for schools, except for kids who will move in Taipei. so, most of schools not full at this moment will be still avairable when you will move.

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We did this in January the other year. It’s more of a 3-step process:

  1. Call around to find a school that you like and has openings
  2. Rent an apartment near that school
  3. Officially register at the school (you may need updated ARCs for this depending on the school)

So generally, I’d say finding the school comes first. This also allows you to check out the school first to see if it’s something that will work out for your kids.

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Thank you so much! We don’t speak fluent Mandarin :sweat_smile: so is there a way for us to “check out” the school before registering? Do schools allow parents to tour?

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Super helpful, thanks! Can you explain what you mean by “alternative schools for kids who cannot be accepted in the school districts?”

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when a school is full, unaccepted kids in the school district are distributed to nearby other public school(s)· to which school(s) they will go is listed in the table too.

the table is for the 1st grade. if your kids will be in other grades, you may need to call around.

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Ah, yea unfortunately this is going to depend on the school, and is going to be more difficult depending on your Mandarin ability. The more you can use, the better :joy:

The school we ended up at was super helpful, and definitely allowed us to make an appointment and go visit during winter break since classes weren’t in session. I assume it would be similar during the summer.

We did call a couple other schools but didn’t end up visiting them other than looking from the outside.

Also, are your kids elementary age? That’s all I have experience with.

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Hi! I sent you a PM!

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Hello @yam. Could I ask what school did you end up choosing. I have a 9 y/o going to 4th grade.