Visited bishan MapleBear twice. The school has two places, A and B. A is for the younger ones up to n1, and B is for the rest. There is an indoor swimming pool in A and a indoor playground in B. Bother A and B are very spacing.


The site is managed by the daughter of Ms Pan's sister, a very friend young woman, a mother of two kids (not very sure). She worked in the logistic industry and shifted to education recently. In place B most of teachers have experience in Pat's schoolhouse.

The school is in the industry park, and the floor height is about 6+ meters. Since there is no false ceiling, I could see the connection of air-cons, which triggered my concern on ventilation in the school of my DS. After a short study and consulted with an expert, and confirmed with the director, there is no ventilation facility in this school. This is the main reason I declined this school. You can refer to my post for details. https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=89955

You can check the school's aircon. If it looks same as this picture, you should pay more attention. This is called Cassette unit. A few of this model have an options to intake outdoor air.



https://s1.postimg.org/4xkop6ov8f/what-type-of-aircon-should-i-get-for-my-office2.jpg\">

If the aircon is as the one used at home, then there is no ventilation function.

If you find something like these in the classroom, then most likely the preschool is using the central air-conditioning system, which has the ventilation function.

https://s1.postimg.org/4litbcryxb/images.jpg\">

https://s1.postimg.org/1y64f5xidb/images_1.jpg\">

https://s1.postimg.org/5020gdzx5b/images_2.jpg\">


https://s1.postimg.org/5i4tj5cb1b/F7_VUAVSGINORM92.RECT2100.jpg\">

Here are some free materials from ASHRAE. Indoor Air Quality Guide, free but registration is required. I did not download it, so I dont know whether it is the standard.

https://www.ashrae.org/resources--publications/bookstore/indoor-air-quality-guide

Here is a copy of the standard by google.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2016
http://www.1pe.ir/%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AD%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B5%D9%84%DB%8C/%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%86%DB%8C/%D9%85%D8%B1%DA%A9%D8%B2-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AF/category/1-mechanical-engineering.html?download=23:replace-the-standard-air

I attached the page 13 of 62.1-2016 here for quick reference.
https://s1.postimg.org/1qov7qr34v/62.1.jpg\">

ss 554/ss 553 are not available on the website. You can read it at the reference library (need to book it online). You can also buy it from the website.


ss554:2016
https://www.singaporestandardseshop.sg/Product/Product.aspx?ID=8ee48ab1-38f5-4dae-a469-b8612a05876f
https://s1.postimg.org/1ldgb5njin/ss554.jpg\">

ss553:2016
https://www.singaporestandardseshop.sg/Product/Product.aspx?ID=112b67fc-8c96-4dd4-8d8a-e71a5b4d4df8


https://s1.postimg.org/7llmfwckr3/ss553.jpg\">

My dd was in a preschool located in an industry park. The school is fully air-conditioned. Just recently I found the center has no ventilation facility. All the air-change is via the main door and an rear door, which are closed at most of time.


I feedback this issue to the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and got a reply in about one week. Currently MEWR started an investigation on this with The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), and will find the plan to advise preschools.

Here are some points I got:
1 Singapore has two standards for air-conditioned indoor air quality. (ss 553 & ss 554). This standards are same as ASHRAE 62.1 (latest version 2016), which is from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
2 In Singapore indoor air quality is not regulated. The standards serve as a guideline.
3 The MEWR will work with ECDA for a guideline for preschools.
4 The MEWR may consider to regulate the indoor air quality later.

Per ASHRAE 62.1-2016 page 13, the minimum ventilation rate for classroom (ages 5-8) is 5 L/s-person, which is 5 liters per second per person. Suppose the child has 3 m^2 are in the classroom and the height of the classroom is 4m, the time for all the air to be replaced (suppose no mix-up) is 431000/5 = 2400 second = 40 minute.

I visited a few preschools, per my memory, most of them do not have ventilation consideration except one located in a shopping center which served by the shopping center air-con.

Since the outcome of MEWR is just a guideline, it may depends on each preschool to decide whether to follow or not.

My post is just reminder for parents to check whether the preschool of your dd/ds has this issue.

Went to the open house at upper Thomson about two weeks ago. Patricia Koh had a presentation about the philosophy of the preschool. Really impressed by her idea. The center opened at April this year and have about 20+ kids. Most of kids are in PG. Have one outdoor play yard with a plastic water pod. There is a roof top garden and a roof top swimming pool in the building which are shared by all tenants. The swimming pool is about 1+ meter, and may not suitable for kids to play around. The pictures in the Facebook are quite misleading, which just show a small portion being suitable for kids.


The nearest bus stop is about 10 minute walk, which is a bit far if not driving. The principle has about 15+ year experience, the boss has one music school. The school has an inter-layer, which is not used yet.