Thursday, September 3, 2009

More Preschools - and they look promising!

R visited a few more preschools on his own today, out of which 2 were quite promising :)

1. TELC at SIM
- good curriculum but no schoolbus, so it's out
- difficult for R to fetch Ai Ai to school in the mornings cos of different timings and traffic in that area could be heavy

2. Caterpillar Cove at Ngee Ann Poly
- similar to TELC, no schoolbus so it's out as well

3. MMI Railmall
- aircon settings
- I like the fact that they do not try to squeeze every subject into everyday - they have English on Mon and Wed, Maths on Tue and Thur, and Cultural/Botanical on Fri
- So everyday's structure is:
English or Maths or Cultural/Botanical depending on day
Montessori Activity
Snacks
Chinese (daily)
Practical Life
- Each of the above activities would be 30-45mins
- N1 is AM session: 930am - 1230pm
- Fees: $450/mth (no subsidy as it's operated as enrichment, not childcare)
- Schoolbus $120/mth both ways
- Centre manager is really friendly and encourages us to go for 2 trial lessons at $36/each so we can assess environment and teachers before committing ourselves. Very open and says parents should know what's going on in the class.

4. MMI Phoenix Walk (at CCK)
- operated by same franchise owner as the Railmall one
- 2-storey non-aircon bungalow
- similar structure as MMI Railmall
- N1 session 9am - 1130am
- Lunch provided at 1130am before kid takes schoolbus to go home
- Breakfast will be provided at 830am if kid goes early
- Cost: $675 - $150 = $522/mth after subsidy
- Only advantage is it's got a playground, but it's really just a slide on a concrete ground

Things are starting to look up.... :)

4 comments:

Van said...

http://www.seedlings.com.sg/index.htm

Have you checked out this Montessori at Bt Panjang's Fajar Shopping Centre?

BTW,according to B1, their teachers brought them to a playground in the Phoenix Esate quite often.

YM said...

Yep, read some review about this one being quite cramped, so decided to strike it out for now... very tired viewing preschools!
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1072&highlight=seedlings

Van said...

At least your hb is also actively helping,visiting the pre-schools,sharing some loads. :)

I remembered I visited all the pre-schools and childcare in Bt Panjang & CCK/Yew T alone.Only asked him to join when I shortlisted 2.

It's very tough finding one that we really like everything about the schools.Environment,curriculum,method,principal,teachers,food.... headache!

YM said...

Van,
Yep, hubby is pretty supportive, esp. at this time when I am so heavy and clumsy :)
Am looking forward to meeting up with you when I move to Bt PJ area! :P