Singapore's IB Cohort Grows 8 Percent as British-Curriculum Schools Lead the City

Singapore's IB Diploma cohort expanded by 8.2 percent in May 2026, with more than 2,250 students receiving results across 30 IB World Schools offering the Diploma Programme in the city, according to WhichSchoolAdvisor. The city-wide average settled at 35.67 points, nearly five points above the global mean of 30.88, extending a run of above-average performance that has held for several consecutive years.

The growth in student numbers reflects several recent campus expansions and new sixth-form programmes that are now producing their first or second IB cohorts. Schools that opened or significantly expanded between 2021 and 2024 are beginning to move students through the Diploma years, broadening the overall candidate base without diluting the city average.

British schools at the front

Tanglin Trust School, Singapore's largest British-curriculum institution, produced a class average of 38.7 with a 100 percent pass rate. Five students achieved the maximum 45 points and 67 percent of the cohort scored 38 or above. North London Collegiate School Singapore posted a 38.16 average, also with a 100 percent pass rate and four perfect scorers. Both schools primarily serve families who value a British educational ethos and A-level-adjacent subject depth within the IB framework, and both sit comfortably among the top IB performers globally.

UWCSEA, which operates one of the world's largest single IB cohorts with 642 students across its East and Dover campuses, averaged 36.3. The result is notable given the school's open-enrollment philosophy; unlike most of the city's high-performing IB schools, it does not select primarily on prior academic attainment.

What the numbers signal for the market

Singapore's IB data are watched closely by expatriate families deciding between the international school circuit and the Ministry of Education government track. A city average nearly five points above the global mean, held steady across an enlarging cohort, reinforces the sector's case at a time when fees at the top end of the market are approaching SGD 50,000 a year. XCL World Academy's Class of 2026 alone received 635 university offers and more than US$25 million in scholarships, according to the school, illustrating the university-placement outcomes that families are, in effect, purchasing when they commit to Singapore's international track.