Parents upset by impending closure of school's Suntec space

They say they were unaware of temporary nature of international school’s campus

- Gabrielle Chan

Several parents of pupils at One International School's World (OWIS) Suntec campus were "shocked and disappointed" by the news of its impending closure in June, just three years after it was set up.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesman for OWIS said on March 26 that it had to relocate its Suntec campus, which was granted permission by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to use the space only till June 2024. It was not given an extension.

OWIS currently has 170 pupils from the ages of three to 11 at the Suntec campus. It has two other campuses Punggol and Nanyang, which is in Jurong West.

The school offers the International Baccalaureate Primary Years and diploma programmes and the Cambridge IGCSE - the equivalent of the O levels.

The school was informed of the temporary arrangement at Suntec, said a URA spokeswoman in response to queries from ST. OWIS had signed a letter of acknowledgement that the use of the convention and exhibition facilities to house the Suntec campus would be from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2024, she said.

On Aug 29, 2023, OWIS had inquired about renewing the temporary permission, said the URA spokeswoman. However, URA informed OWIS on Oct 5 that the school would not be allowed to continue to use the space.

The spokeswoman said URA initially granted OWIS the three-year temporary permission to use the Suntec premises due to reduced demand for meeting spaces during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as delays in OWIS' Punggol campus construction.