NagMummy

M has now attended 3 months of the half-day programme and 3+ months of the full-day programme at Schoolhouse by the garden. With the exception that she’s falling sick more often, we are happy with the school so far. The class size has grown from 8 in Dec 2008 to 12 now. With two teachers, one local English teacher and one PRC Chinese teacher, class management still seems manageable.

Just a couple weeks back, we met up with the teachers during the annual Meet-the-Parents session and were presented with an evaluation of M’s developmental progress. One observation shared by the teachers is M’s positive learning attitude. She’s always keen on hands-on activities and very attentive during story telling sessions. However, both noted that she’s always distracted during flashcard sessions. Oops! I wonder if I caused that with all the Glenn Doman flashcards when she was younger.

According to the teachers, M is also generally cooperative and very aware of the good behaviour that is expected of her. For example, she’ll say “Teacher M, I never run”. With regards to interaction with her peers, she’s willing to share toys but does not like anyone to touch her bedding items. As for her likes and dislikes, she loves getting her hands dirty during arts and craft and cookery classes but dislikes rough play and getting water in her eyes during water play.

We’re happy with her development so far and we continue to like the school environment and community. The management updates parents with monthly newsletters, each term’s curriculum and documentation of class activities. M has been happy with school except for a short period of time when she had a change of teacher.

All in all, a good 6 months and its a thumb’s up for us!

Before I elaborate further on our final choice of childcare centre, let me just a few points on our eventual decision on a childcare centre over a kindy for M – which I briefly discussed in my previous post.

1) Half-day ‘freedom’. After 2.5 years of staying home with M, I do hope to get some time off finally to explore my own interests! If she goes to a regular kindy, I would prefer to cook her lunch and that will definitely ‘eat’ into my ‘freedom’ time.

2) Given the above point, I hope we can reduce the frequency we go over to my mum’s place for dinner (currently 5 days a week) to perhaps 2-3 days a week. Which of course means I’ll be cooking dinner!

3) One big plus point about childcare centres is they do not have term breaks like the kindergartens! I can imagine how ‘disruptive’ that can be for my ‘freedom’ plans.

4) Alternative care for my absence and recovery for my impending surgery. (This will need a separate post…)

So… Before we set out to visit the childcare centres we shortlisted, here’s my wish list:

1) No air-conditioning: Besides preventing the rapid spread of diseases, M has been living without it in the day so I thought it might be better to stay this way.

2) Private outdoor play area: Since we live in a high-rise HDB flat, M’s contact with nature has been somewhat limited so it’ll nice to let her explore the outdoors in a secure and safe environment.

3) No computers: This is one area I do not see a need for a headstart in life.

4) Clean, organised and pleasant environment: Almost a must-have, especially for young children.

5) Good curriculum: I hope I do not need to send M for ‘Primary 1 Preparedness’ classes in a few years’ time! But I think this is an extremely difficult area to assess, especially for non-teaching professional me. Anyway, I went to a bookstore to have a look at some P1 assessment books to get an idea of what the kids should know and got quite a shock – a ‘challenging’ maths assessment book! Do they really need this???

6) Good teachers: Another subjective area. After all, what is good varies from person to person. Besides passion and dedication which all centres claim their teachers have, I have a slight preference for younger teachers. Maybe it’s their energy level and ‘innocence’.

7) Hearty meals: An area I feel we have least control, it almost feels like ‘take it or leave it’. So I’ll be looking for balanced meals and nothing more.

Sufficient time for play: M is the sort that requires a lot of time to play and explore. So I definitely hope for each activity for be assigned enough time so she does not need to be rushed between activities.

Admittedly, there are some things which may be more easily assessed (physical environment) than others (teachers) and even then, one or two visits may not result in an accurate assessment.

Anyway, if you’re interested to read on, here’s a quick account of all the centres (Serangoon North area) we visited (and tried to visit).

Cambridge Child Development Centre (Poh Huat Cres): The asst. supervisor brought us around on a quick tour of the place, no presentation of timetable, meals or curriculum. No air-conditioning. Place seems noisy, perhaps it’s the traffic from the major road next to it. We heard one teacher screaming ‘SIT DOWN’ at the kids. Reasonable outdoor play area. Incidentally, I had read quite a few good comments about this centre so wasn’t sure if what we saw was a true reflection of the place.

School House by the Garden (Philips Ave): Non air-conditioned common areas (living room, dining area, bathrooms) with air-conditioned classrooms. As their website described, a ‘tranquil’ environment with a one-way road in front. Reasonable outdoor play area – a permanent wall for ‘graffiti’ and saw a  tortoise and some small plants. Teacher who brought us around took her time to explain timetable, meals, curriculum. Teachers came across sincere and children contented. (Felt good leaving the place – must be the air of my childhood! My Primary School (which has closed down) is just around the corner.

Treasure Box (Parry Ave): Called 3 times between me and Matt but was not able to reach Principle who shuttles between centres. Refused to provide mobile number. Gave a final call when we left School House by the Garden but staff insists no visit without appointment with principle. Did not take down our contacts in those 4 calls. Anyway, place looks to be fully air-conditioned (closed doors and windows), we could not even take a peek into the house. No staff or children in sight. Outdoor play area seems reasonable. Put off by attitude of staff. Dropped from our list.

Preschool by-the-Park (Li Hwan View): Before we entered the place, we were already ‘awed’ by the property – a huge three-storey detached house with a swimming pool. Staff who took my call and brought me around was very professional – agreeing to show us around even though they do not even have an available place at the moment. Air-conditioned classrooms. Quite an international crowd – with expat kids. Brief presentation of timetable. Curriculum includes Kindermusik and offers enrichment programmes like violin and swimming classes. Pretty impressive outdoor play area (which comes at a price of course). Put M on their waiting list.

Preschool by-the-Park (Carmichael Rd): We were referred here by the staff from their Li Hwan centre. Principle brought us around, came across experienced, took time to explain their objectives and approach. Air-conditioning in classrooms not switched on. Ceiling fans in classrooms seemed to cause lighting to flicker. Quite an old property, will do good with some sprucing up. Met two Filipino teachers attending to the younger kids. Don’t mean to discriminate but I’m not too sure about M acquiring an Filipino-American accent. Distance from our place a little too far.

It’s not difficult guessing what’s our final choice. Crossing our fingers it’ll work out for M!

Now that M is 2.5 years old, she is beginning to show more willingness to play with other children. Hence, we feel she might be ready for independent classes. The obvious choices we have are the Playgroup (or Pre-Nursery or Nursery 1 – N1) programmes offered by kindergartens (governed by MOE) or childcare centres (governed by MCYS). It’s interesting that the ‘market leader’ in kindergarten education – PCF – offers this programme only in selected centres.

After studying the lists available from the two ministries, we confirmed our observation that there are more childcare centres than kindergartens around our place. Childcare centres generally offer full- or half-day services. On top of the ‘school’ portion, they throw in meals and child minding services. Even before the start of our search, this was already my preferred choice, since it would free up more time for me. But cost wise, it seems more pricey than kindergartens, mainly because we are looking at half-day care. We visited four centres and our top choice costs $410  per month after a $150 subsidy for their half day service (8.30am – 12.30pm).

As for kindergartens, those we sampled were 3-hour (eg. 8.30am – 11.30am) in duration. Because it was my less preferred choice and there was only one nearby that we liked, we did not visit it in the end. However, we did find out that it costs $216 per month, based on a 10-week term of $540. (Note: none of the PCF kindergartens in our area offer N1.)

After some consideration, we decided we’ll just go with the childcare centre and see how things turn out. Being relieved of taking care of M for half a day (including cooking lunch) will open up so much more opportunities for me to explore.

And hence, our search is officially over (I hope)!