Which preschool would you choose?

[Dawnie]

Which one would you choose?


School 1
- walking distance from your house
- ratio is 1 teacher to 8 children
- no meals provided, need to bring own snacks
- no toilet, only uses potty
- small setup, only 2 classrooms, no playground
- $810 per term
- son has been in this school for more than a year and is familiar with the teachers
- class timing is 9AM - 12:30PM (3.5 hrs)

School 2
- need to take bus (abt 20mins)
- ratio is 2 teacher + 1 assistance to a class of 15 children
- 1 meal provided
- big setup, music room, computer room, big playground etc.
- $630 per term
- class timing is 8:30AM - 11:30AM (3hrs)

[janet88]

Hi Dawnie,

I will choose option 2.
The child is (will be) trained to use a proper toilet. School feels are cheaper but of course have to factor in school bus.

I put my 2 kids in a kindergarten which is 10 min drive away. I could have put them in the kindergarten walking distance. But the principal’s poor attitude put me off. My 2 kids (younger one K2 this year) love the kindergarten they are currently in, bcos the principal is caring and the school has a learn-thru-play concept.

[sunset_dae]

what is the purpose of sending yr child to presch in the lst place? purely for interaction or to expose him to various curriculum?

sch 1 seems more expensive somemore no meals provided

For me, i would choose sch 2. When DD went to his new sch, they had a computer classroom, DD was like "WOW!" when he saw so many computers and was so excited!

[UncleLim]

I would choose option #1. But not having a toilet is a big negative.

[wildboys]

I would choose School 2.


My reasons:
1. School 1 seems to be lacked of enough facilities to provide sufficient stimulation (unless teacher is sooooo creaitve???). They don’t have outdoors, just w classrooms?? Being in an enclosed room for 3hrs everyday without being able to go outdoors or change environment, I myself hate that! And I dun like children to be in such environment too. 2 hours is the max maximum I would go for such enclosed environment.

2. What level is your child in? For Nursery/playgroup, I prefer to have more than 1 adult in the class even if it means more kids. Because if one child needs urgent attention, what happen to other young children??

3. I don’t think I want my child to still use potty at K1 or K2 loh…

I like bringing my own snacks for School 1 though because own snacks usually healthier, schools like to provide simple things like biscuits/cornflakes which I dont like my child to eat so frequently. But I don’t think School 1 is thinking along this line, more like they are lack of facilities to prepare food.

[jedamum]

is potty only for yr 2007 kid?


toilet aside, small set up may not be totally bad; everything still boils down to the quality of teacher.
choice 2 is $630/term, and if bus fare is $100/mth, it will be almost $930/term.

[Dawnie]

Thanks all for your replies.


School 2 is a good choice if not for the distance. I checked on the school bus, the price is $90 for 1 way, $110 for 2 ways. But my boy will be the 1st to board the bus and last to drop. Which means a 20mins ride will become an hour ride. Another option would be, I drop my boy to school before I go to work and have my maid take public transport to fetch him back from school.

My boy is with school 1 since he was 18 mths only, now he is 30mths old. This school is alright, except for the limited facilities. This school is in a mall, the children can use the public toilet, but from my observation, the teachers don’t use the public toilet as it’s difficult to bring so many of them there. There is 1 chinese teacher, 1 English teacher in the school and they currently only have N1 & N2 classes.

Most people advised me to go for school 2. But I can still in dilemma, I have up till end of this month to decide.

[foreverj]

u dun u explore alternative schools? which area r u staying at? might as well change from school 1 now given that u stil have to look for alternatives when your son reach k1.

[Dawnie]

I’m in Seng Kang. Plenty of choices for full day childcare or N2, but for N1 not much choices for me.

[foreverj]

if u not particular over whether its kindy or cc, maybe u can wait until n2 to go for the many kindergartens available in seng kang like st anne’s or nativity church kindy. maybe some even have n1 programs. have u checked?