Selection of Preschools- Dos and Don'ts

When we embark on the journey to hunt for preschool, we have quite a couple of checklist.

Our first school which we visited was in orchard. I brought along my parents-in-law, hubby and 18mth old boy along. Everything from the environment to lesson was perfectly fine except distance. Travelling from our home at Sengkang to Orchard is no joke for a 18 mth old baby, let alone feeling secure at the idea of letting him travel on the road via school bus. We dropped off the school because of the journey and safety. Of course, we went back to the school again when my boy turns 2.5 years old as this school was my ideal Montessori school which I have no regrets in sending my boy to.

The next school we visited was a private school that was located in the heartlands. Distance is not the issue anymore. However, my hubby was concerned about the safety measures especially when there were staircases leading to a 3-storey high classroom. For me, I was disappointed that majority of the Montessori learning materials are hidden or kept away from the tiny hands. I have always feel that it is a priviledge for young children to learn through activating as much sense as possible. This school is obviously too concerned about safekeeping their priceless Montessori materials than to stimulate the learning experiences of the children. Based on these 2 criteria on safety and learning environment, we crossed out this school from our list.

Schools that did not pick up my calls or answer my emails are crossed out of my list. Communcation is one of my utmost concerns when it comes to school selection. If a parent needs to contact the school urgently and yet no one picks up a ringing phone, this is definitely a big no-no for me. Furthermore, I’ll be worried sick if there is no one to tend to my call when emergency arises.

There was another school near my neighbourhood which I have permanently erased from my list. The visit proved to be most uncomfortable as I was not allowed to walk around the campus. I could only peek in from the entrance of the office to learn about the learning culture. Furthermore the person-in-charge was conversing with me at the entrance, without offering me a seat. In fact there was no sofa or chair around and I had to stand a solid 30min to learn about the school culture and environment. When some other parents came into the school, there was no one to tend to them so these poor parents had to wait impatiently for my conversation to end with the staff-in-charge. Customer satisfaction is definitely not their priority. The culture is too restrictive for my comfort too. Before this visit, I have contacted the other branches via text messages as requested by the school on their website. Till today I had no response from them. This lack of transparency and communication from the school has sure made me withdraw any plans to place my son in this school.

The  school which we finally settled for was just a 10min walk from my home. Though the school looked old and needed a good renovation, my son was enjoying his trial lesson under the tender, loving care of the playgroup teachers. He was happily navigating himself around the campus and joining in the activities with the existing students. It was then decided that the school is by far the best choice. Being in a cosy, safe and enjoyable environment, we are more rest assured in the school’s competency in offering the best experiences to any child who has yet to embark in their nursery education.  

When our boy turned 2.5 years old, we switched him to the school that was located in Orchard. Our expectations of an early child education had changed from being fun to more academic and lifeskills oriented. That is where our son picked up his language and potty training under the guidance of strict yet dedicated teachers and principal of this school. As parents, we are deeply impressed with the cognitive and holistic development of our child when he attended this school. The weekly communication between the teachers and parents, the semesterly based parent-teacher meeting, the fortnight excursion for the children and authentic Montessori learning environment plus the multiple ethnic groups in this school greatly assured us of a rounded education for our son in his nursery to kindergarten years.

 

As parents when it comes to selecting your child’s preschool, taking the time to visit, tour, observe and ask questions are vital ingredients to ensuring the success of your child’s education. Shortlist schools of your choice and contact them for trial lessons. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The more you learn about the school, the wiser the decision in selecting the preschool. Remember, there’s never an easy way out if you want quality yet affordable education for your child. All the best hunting!

Selection of Preschool

Preschool hunting like primary school hunting is part and parcel of the parenting woe. Building a strong foundation at a very young age provides a better head start, spearheads a holistical development of a child’s character and most importantly, unlocks his potential be it from cognitive to non-academic, which in turn will develop in him into a champion in any field of his interest.  

Upholding this belief firmly, my husband and I decide to send our boy to a school of substantial quality.  My husband and I have visited numerous childcare centers and Montessori schools in our neighbourhood. We even travelled to Bedok and Orchard to look at authentic Montessori schools. We finally decided on our final two.

At the age of 20^th mth, Issac attended playgroup at a nearby Montessori school. This curriculum is not completely Montessori based. The school incorporate other learning methods to teach their students. For a start, the duration of 3.5 hours was just right. The lesson started off with circle time, physical activity to Montessori time and ended off with lunch. All the parent-teacher conference enabled us to have greater awareness of his learning and development milestones. It was all fun till we realized our son was bored with school and showed little interest in attending his school this year in February 2012. We realized he was assigned to a smaller class whereby the students could not really focus and sit still. The friends, whom he used to hang out with were attending lessons separately. It was sad having to part with the school and playgroup teachers but guess it was time to move on.

On April 2012, Issac boarded the first school bus to Orchard Road for his lesson in his new school. It was a horribly long trip of 1.5 hours ride from Sengkang to Alexandra and finally to Orchard as it was showering heavily that morning. The teacher did a diagnostic test on his language and phonics awareness. There were a lot of songs with movement, stories and hands on session with the Montessori materials. It was a really enriching lesson as the children are constantly occupied in their tasks. The session ends off with a 30min mini-gym lesson with lots of free play and expression. By 12.30pm, all the children were famished and gobbled down their lunch hungarily. What really impressed me is the random seating arrangement of the children from different age group and level? One gal was sharing with me about the day of the week which her birthday fell on. The other children of different level quickly joined in this birthday “day” discussion. My boy got so inspired that he recited “Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday”. I was caught off-guard by his ability to do so. In fact, I was impressed with the students’ ability to generate interest and discussion among different age groups and ability. Nevertheless, the day ended really well for both of us.

He has settled down in his new environment really fast and we are thrilled to see him off in his school bus every morning. When he turned 3 in July, he was promoted to the workgroup which is nursery level. At this age, Issac’s speech development has gained unprecedented pace . He started forming sentences and asking more questions. Even his Mother Tongue, Mandarin, takes a different turn for the better. To me as a parent and teacher, the child’s eagerness to know, learn and ask is the greatest gift of all. Never undermine a child’s potential and ability to absorb information and apply them.

The general guide for choosing school is to physically go and visit the school. Tour around the campus, talk to the staff and teachers, observe the student's enthuasism in the class, get involved by opting a trial class. If the school culture fits your value and beliefs, most probably your hunt will be over soon.