Preschool with a long waiting list and looks good outside (i.e. SPARK certified, rich curriculum and students’ works) is not necessarily to be a good preschool.


It happened to me when I was there to register my son after 1.5yrs waiting for the vacancy. It was a weekday morning where most of the children were there. We were only allowed to visit the school on Saturday and the school’s impression to us was good when we’re briefed by the Chinese teacher and seeing our son playing so well with the Pilipino teacher.

However, it’s not the case in reality. Although I wasn’t allowed to go inside the classroom, I manage to peep and overhear what’s happening while waiting for the admin staff to check my documents and print me the receipt. At one room, the teacher was yelling at the crying toddler, while at the other room, the teacher was pulling the child from sitting on her chair and scolding him in front of the class (sound rude and insulting to me). The whole centre is chaos, full of unpleasant noise and the children look unhappy.

I just can’t believe what is happening in front of me. Therefore, after some thinking and discussion with my partner, we’d decided to withdraw from the preschool few hours later after I’ve left. Then, I get to meet the principal. I would expect the principal asking me more about her teachers when I told her that I’m not comfortable with their teaching method. But, she has disappointing me, her only concern is whether or not to refund full amount of money that I’ve paid to their school. She looks arrogant and never smiles to me at all when I tried to be nice to her and smiled to her. How can such preschool be so popular? I have no idea, but it’s definitely not for my cheeky boy.