MOE Kindergarten

[GN01]

eu-ern:

No difference. All childcare n preschool provide kindergarten services. They can offer their own curriculum, so long as all need to know by end k2 are taught.


Many childcare and or preschool differentiate themselves by offering extras, just different extras. Parents choose what they want for their children. Sometimes, it may not be what program the childcare and or preschool offer, rather how the teachers engage, guide and inspire the children.

Thanks for clearing my doubt: )

[eu-ern]

No worries, just sharing what I can. Was equally lost last time.

[lyra]

eu-ern:

My ds2 is in MOE kindy in Sengkang Green from beginning of this year. He was from private childcare/preschool with only 7 children in the class.


Class size is 20 max. My ds2 is also in the K-care run by PCF. MOE kindy gives English & Chinese bite size assignments for parent-child to complete once a fortnight. Thus far, ds2 appears happy to go to school.

Perhaps you have specific aspects that I can try my best to share what I can.

Thanks so much for your reply!

The MOE Kindy near my house has limited vacancies so I'm not sure if we can get in. Do you stay very near the kindy? I heard they give priorities to families within 1km or something.

Does your child take very long to settle in? My child does not have school experiences prior to this kindergarten so I'm rather concerned about him settling in the kindy since the class size is quite big.

Does the school teach reading, phonics, han yu pin yin?

You mentioned that you still need to send your child to enrichment lessons. What kind of enrichment lessons do they need to be ready for pri school?

A relative shared with me that she is very stressed up with her LO (Pri 1) not being able to catch up with his english, math and chinese han yu pin yin, and her LO is being sent to remedial lessons and special classes to help students who are slower in reading during school time. She said she regretted not sending her LO to enrichment lessons before primary school because he was in a very expensive and good preschool, and she thought that school should be sufficient to prepare him. Actually I'm thinking since kindergarten curriculum is so insufficient to prepare for primary 1, why not we just send our kids to enrichment lessons everyday, rather than sending them to kindergartens? Just thinking lah... haha.

[eu-ern]

Lyra


MOE kindy gives priority to Singapore citizens within 1km. They also got some traits like the P1 registration. So it helps if you are staying within if there are limited vacancies. You can also increase your chance by stating on the registration form that you are ok with the alternate session which means you register for either session instead of die die can take am only. Appears that am session is more popular.

Does your child go for any classes at all? If so, he/she should be able to adapt to group learning. My ds2 came from preschool/childcare with class size of 7. I was afraid that he will not fit in but he did. Really depends on child. We can also prep him/her by reading books on going to school and discussing about it. Be patient and encourage him/her. Afterall, it can be a rather stressful event for the child. Most of the time, children can manage well without us so don’t worry too much.

I am the kind of parent who prefer to expose children to different things before they get bogged down with school. They are introduced to different sports, art, music, English and Chinese. I believe that foundation for languages and learning are essential. They must understand why they are learning so that hopefully, they kind of auto pilot earlier.

[lyra]

Thanks for the quick reply, eu-ern!


So far he only goes for yamaha music lesson which is parent accompanied. He has not started lessons that requires him to attend by himself.

Does MOE Kindergarten allow parents to accompany them to classes for the first few days?

If on the first day, the child cries badly, the teacher will ask the parent to bring them home early?

[eu-ern]

Lyra


On whether sending to enrichment is enough and skip kindergarten altogether? Er… my view is… you got to know what classes to do and sift out from many providers, have the time and money. All adds up.

By going kindergarten, children are conditioned to a same place n period, on a daily basis. This may help prepare them for P1. Plus, P1 class size is 30. By P3, class size will be 40. So unless you have the resources to send child to international school for smaller class size, or home-school, we can’t really choose.

Hope this helps.

[eu-ern]

Lyra


I recall first two days were only 2hr for kindy and 2hr for kcare. Parents are allowed in but encouraged to observe outside classroom instead. The teachers can generally handle the child if he cries. As parents we got to be mindful that we affect them. So do not prolong the goodbye too. Hug, kiss and say "Have fun! See you later." No worries. You will be proud of how a big kid your child is by then.

So your child is in JMC too? Fun journey. When he reaches JXC, he will also have to do it without you. Can one lah! Cheers.

[lyra]

Thanks for the reply! Is the KCare located within the kindergarten or does the teachers need to bring the children to the PCF centre?


If they allow first two days for kids to settle in, it should be fine

He's in Music Wonderland and will go to JMC at the end of this year. They accept students according to the actual age and he turns four end of the year.

[floppy]

eu-ern:

MOE kindy gives priority to Singapore citizens within 1km. They also got some traits like the P1 registration. So it helps if you are staying within if there are limited vacancies. You can also increase your chance by stating on the registration form that you are ok with the alternate session which means you register for either session instead of die die can take am only. Appears that am session is more popular.

In terms of priority, the MOE K has been tweaked to 500m to 1km, 500m to 1km, >1km.

lyra: you should consider attending their open house this Saturday (14 April). Most of your queries could be answered by their representatives and you can also check out the environment of the kindergarten.

[eu-ern]

Yup, best to go briefing and ask all you want. Go to http://www.moekindergarten.edu.sg to get moredetails.