The Primary 1 (P1) birth date cut-off runs from 2 January to 1 January. By MOE’s birth-date windows, a child born from 2 January to 31 December starts P1 in the year they turn 7: one born from 2 January to 31 December 2022 starts Kindergarten 1 (K1) in 2027, K2 in 2028 and P1 in 2029. A child born on 1 January starts a year earlier than others born that calendar year.

MOE states exact windows for only some cohorts, so the chart below separates what MOE says from our arithmetic with the same rule. Confirm your child’s year with MOE’s own birth-date checker before you plan around it.

At a glance

  • The rule: MOE’s deferment page (updated 23 June 2026) says a child born on 1 January 2020 was “due for P1 in 2026 as they will be 6 years old as of 1 January 2026”. Our reading of that: a child is due for P1 in the year they are 6 on 1 January, which fits the windows in MOE’s releases below.
  • Next: the 2027 P1 exercise, for children starting P1 in 2028, is the first under MOE’s revised framework. No dates for it, or for the next MOE Kindergarten (MK) exercise, appeared on the MOE pages we read on 3 October 2026 or when we rechecked them on 17 October 2026. Our inference: the birth-date windows stay the same; the pages we read do not say either way.
  • Covers: Singapore Citizen (SC) and Permanent Resident (PR) children. International students follow a different timeline on MOE’s P1 registration page.

What is the rule behind the birth-date windows?

Age is counted on 1 January, so a child born on 1 January is already 6 on 1 January of their P1 year and belongs to the earlier cohort. Each window therefore runs from 2 January to 1 January, both dates inclusive. MOE’s releases move it forward one year at a time:

So the cohort born 2 January 2020 to 1 January 2021 has an MOE-stated K1 year (2025) and P1 year (2027), two years apart, with K2 (2026) between. The chart extends that spacing forward.

Which year does my child start K1, K2 and Primary 1?

Find the row containing the birth date. “Stated” means MOE gives that window and year on a page or in a release we read; “derived” means we applied the same rule. Registration falls in the year before the start year.

  • Born 2 January 2020 to 1 January 2021: K1 2025 and P1 2027 (stated); K2 2026 (derived). MK registration was in 2024; P1 registration in 2026.
  • Born 2 January 2021 to 1 January 2022: K1 2026 (stated); K2 2027 and P1 2028 (derived). MK registration was in 2025; P1 registration is the 2027 exercise.
  • Born 2 January 2022 to 1 January 2023: K1 2027 (stated); K2 2028 and P1 2029 (derived). MK registration was in 2026; P1 registration is the 2028 exercise.
  • Born 2 January 2023 to 1 January 2024: K1 2028, K2 2029 and P1 2030 (all derived). MK registration is the 2027 exercise; P1 the 2029 exercise.
  • Born 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2025: K1 2029, K2 2030 and P1 2031 (all derived). MK registration is the 2028 exercise; P1 the 2030 exercise.

The chart follows MOE Kindergarten and mainstream primary school registration; MOE describes its Kindergartens as for children aged five to six (11 February 2026 release). We have not checked private kindergartens or childcare centres, so ask the centre for its own age rule.

How do I work out a specific birth date?

  1. Find the cohort year. A birth from 2 January to 31 December of year Y is in cohort Y; a birth on 1 January of year Y is in cohort Y minus 1.
  2. Add 5 for K1, 6 for K2 and 7 for P1.
  3. Take 1 off the K1 or P1 year for the registration year.

Illustrative birth dates (not real children) show where the edges fall:

  • 31 December 2021 and 1 January 2022: both K1 2026, K2 2027, P1 2028. MOE’s MK page states K1 in 2026 for a child born on 1 January 2022.
  • 2 January 2022: K1 2027, K2 2028, P1 2029. One day later than the line above, a year later at school.
  • 1 January 2023: the same as 2022 births, K1 2027 and P1 2029.
  • 2 January 2023: K1 2028, K2 2029, P1 2030.

Our free K1 and Primary 1 year finder does these sums from a date of birth and marks each result as MOE’s statement or our inference.

When does registration happen, and what is my child’s next exercise?

MK registration has moved between February and March. The three exercises we checked ran 16–20 February 2024, 7–17 February 2025 and 23–31 March 2026, announced on 18 January 2024, 16 January 2025 and 11 February 2026. MOE’s MK registration page shows no date for the next one. From three years only, our inference is that January to March is when to look, with the announcement in January or February. Fees and hours are in our MOE Kindergarten guide.

P1 registration for SCs and PRs is online “from June to August”, according to MOE’s P1 registration page (updated 11 September 2026). MOE’s releases gave the overall registration period as 1 July to 31 October 2025 (announced 14 May 2025) and 30 June to 30 October 2026 (announced 29 April 2026). The 2026 SC and PR phases have ended: MOE’s key-dates page (updated 11 September 2026) shows the last one, Phase 2C Supplementary, closing at 4.30pm on 18 August 2026, and its vacancies page (updated 31 August 2026) says the exercise has ended for SCs and PRs. For the phases and balloting, see our Primary 1 registration explainer; the 2027 framework change is in our guide to the 2027 changes.

What that means by cohort:

  • Born 2 January 2020 to 1 January 2021: the SC and PR exercise for P1 in 2027 has ended (above). The message text of MOE’s P1 checker for a missed exercise says “Contact us to learn about your next steps”; we read that text in the page data and did not run the checker. Families already placed can use our first-day routine guide.
  • Born 2 January 2022 to 1 January 2023: MK registration closed on 31 March 2026. For a K1 place now, MOE’s release says to contact the MK directly to check vacancies, and the MK registration page says to contact your preferred MK directly for 2027 K1 admission from September 2026.
  • Born 2 January 2023 or later: MK registration is in the year before K1. For the 2023 cohort that is the 2027 exercise (our inference: January to March 2027, going by 2024 to 2026; MOE has not announced it).

What if my child was born on 1 January, and can they defer?

MOE says a child born on 1 January 2020 was due for P1 in 2026, which “will mean that they will attend P1 or J1 one year earlier than their peers born in the same year”. The MK registration page says the same for K1 and a child born on 1 January 2022: due for K1 in 2026. To start K1 in 2027 instead, contact your preferred MK directly; the checker’s message text adds that admission is subject to the availability of places.

For P1, MOE says to apply for deferment “between January and May one year before” the child is due, and every application needs MOE’s approval. Its 29 April 2026 release applied this to a child born on 1 January 2021: due in the 2026 exercise, with deferment to January 2028 sought by 31 May 2026. That date has passed. For a child born on 1 January 2022, P1 is due in 2028, so the window by MOE’s rule is January to May 2027. That 2027 window is our application of MOE’s rule, not an MOE announcement. The last two deadlines MOE gave were 31 May 2025 (14 May 2025 release) and 31 May 2026 (29 April 2026 release); none is announced for 2027.

For SCs, P1 is also a compulsory-education matter: MOE’s overview page puts compulsory school age at above 6 and under 15 for Singapore Citizens living in Singapore. The overview gives no year-by-birth-date table and does not say how that age maps onto the windows. MOE’s 29 April 2026 release gives the 2026 window: Singapore Citizens born 2 January 2020 to 1 January 2021 must either take part in that year’s exercise or enrol in the Junior 1/P1 programme of a SPED school. The release gives MOE_CEU@moe.gov.sg for queries on compulsory education.

What should I check before relying on this chart?

  • Write down the exact birth date and note whether it is 1 January.
  • Enter it in the “When was your child born?” checker on MOE’s P1 registration page and MK registration page. We did not run these interactive tools, so MOE’s answer beats this chart if they differ.
  • Confirm the category: the chart is for SC and PR children, and MOE says Singaporean children living overseas may have additional considerations.
  • Diary the announcements: mid-January to mid-February for MK (releases of 18 January 2024, 16 January 2025 and 11 February 2026) and late April to mid-May for P1 (29 April 2026 and 14 May 2025), and January to May for any deferment, the year before. These are patterns from past years, not MOE commitments; the 2027 P1 exercise is the first under the revised framework, so its timing may differ.

Recheck this page after the MK announcement (our inference: January to March 2027), after MOE’s P1 announcement (our inference: late April to May 2027) and before the end of May 2027, since the last two deferment deadlines fell on 31 May. Once your child has a school, our guide to the Learning Support Programme in primary schools covers the support MOE lists from Primary 1. More school-planning guides are in our learning section.

Common questions

How old must a child be to start Primary 1 in Singapore?

MOE’s deferment page treats a child as due for P1 in the year they are 6 years old as of 1 January. A child born from 2 January to 31 December therefore starts in the year they turn 7, so a child born on 14 June 2022 starts P1 in 2029 (derived from MOE’s windows).

When does a child born in 2022 start K1 and Primary 1?

Born 2 January 2022 to 1 January 2023: K1 in 2027 (MOE’s stated window), K2 in 2028 and P1 in 2029 (our derivation). Born on 1 January 2022: K1 in 2026 (MOE’s MK page) and P1 in 2028 (our derivation).

My child was born on 1 January. Do they start a year early, and can I defer?

By MOE’s windows, yes, they fall in the earlier cohort. For P1, apply between January and May the year before, subject to MOE’s approval. For K1, contact your preferred MOE Kindergarten, and admission depends on places.

When is registration for P1 and MOE Kindergarten?

P1 registration for SCs and PRs is online from June to August; the 2026 exercise opened on 30 June 2026. MK registration ran in February in 2024 and 2025 and in March in 2026. No dates for the next exercises appeared on the MOE pages we rechecked on 17 October 2026.

Sources

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