The Bub in the Belly

5. No stress. I initially wanted to write "less emphasis on academics". Then I realised that this wasn't really accurate because I do want Ryan to have whatever "academics" he is supposed to have for his age, although I'll admit that whether something falls under the term "academics" or not is up for debate. In any event, what we were looking for was an environment where the learning was not stressful. If he is learning hard-core academics, then if it is done in a positive way, without sacrificing other worthy pursuits, without stress, then I see no issue.
6. A good and established pedagogy. For us, the philosophical foundation and theoretical underpinnings of the methods used by the pre-school were very important. We wanted to see a conscious application of sound principles and we were interested to see how the teachers create a learning environment for the students. In particular, we were looking for a child-led approach which was based on respect for the child. I wanted to see a lot of hands-on activities and I was not interested in worksheets at all.

7. The curriculum. We definitely needed a programme that incorporated Mandarin and English. We also wanted a good mix of art, music, literature, ... the list goes on and on. Most pre-schools do provide a mix and a balance of worthy pursuits.

Again, whether the curriculum incorporates "academics" is, to me, not really the issue because "academics" is always going to be part of pre-school. More important is how the curriculum is delivered. For example, Ryan's pre-school does not have a single alphabet chart pasted on the classroom walls, yet the children know their ABCs.

Richard and I were surprised to receive this in our email inboxes a few days ago.

Dear Parents

We are pleased to inform you that we have a vacancy for your child for 2012 Pre-Nursery session 1(8.15am to 11.15am) at Harding Campus

Attached is the letter for payment for the book fee and school bus form (for transport please reply asap).

You are also required to pay the term 1 school fee for 2012 Pre-Nursery Playgroup which is $1284 together with the book fee amount of $749.

Payment can be made either by cash or by cheque. You may post the cheque.

Please make payment to St. James' Church Kindergarten by 19 December 2011 in order to confirm your Child's place.

If we do not receive any reply by 19 December 2011, we will assume that you are not taking up the vacancy and will remove your child's name from the wait list.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require more information.

We open Monday to Friday. ( except on Public Holidays)
Time: 9am to 4pm (during school term)
Time : 9am to 12 noon (during school holiday)

Regards,

Ruth Henry
Registrar
St James' Church Kindergarten
Tel : 6476 6026

I remembered that, while we were still living in River Valley, we made a visit to SJCK in April 2010 and, since we had made the effort to visit, we thought we might as well put Ryan's name down on the waiting list. Looks like Ryan has now got a place in the morning session at the Harding campus, which was apparently the most popular and coveted slot.

When we visited in April 2010, we were told that the Harding campus will have to move out in 2012 (possibly 2013 if they get a one-year extension on their lease), but they did not know where to. I assume this means that they'll be sticking around till 2013.

It didn't take us long to decide that we will not be taking up the spot. There are several reasons. First, now that we are living in the east, it does not make sense for Ryan to travel the distance to Dempsey everyday. Ryan goes swimming every weekend at the Aquaducks swimming pool which is adjacent to the pre-school so we are very familiar with the route and the distance. I am also uncomfortable with the uncertainty that the pre-school will have to move out from its present location after 2013 (although I have not followed up on this to check if this is still the case. Edit: The school has confirmed that the children born in 2009 will be able to finish their pre-school years in Harding Road).

Second, we are sticking to our decision to keep Ryan out of pre-school until he is four years old, at the earliest, which will be 2013. We do not see any added benefit to sending him to SJCK at this stage. At the moment, he is doing so well, he continues to amaze us all. (Last week, his nanny told us that he wrote his name out on a sheet of paper, unprompted and unguided.)

Third, there are so many better pre-schools in the east. When we visited SJCK in April 2010, it was the first pre-school we visited and we didn't have anything to compare with. Since then, we've visited a few which we feel are much better and have more to offer. So although SJCK was the first we saw, it is not our first choice. SJCK seems to us to be an average pre-school, offering all the usual things. Nothing specifically bad or great about it, nothing particularly worrying, nothing particularly impressive. A general all-rounder, I would say. Good enough, but nothing special.
 
I did say in my April 2010 post that the staff at SJCK didn't seem very warm or welcoming when we visited them then. I have to say that this email from them is certainly far from warm or welcoming. I would have appreciated a short sentence or two saying how much they look forward to having Ryan join them or something like that. Instead, it's just - 'pay up or we'll kick you out'! I guess it doesn't matter to parents who have been waiting anxiously for a spot. For parents like us, who are less than half-hearted about the pre-school, it's a teeny bit of a turn-off. Never mind the sloppy grammar and punctuation.

We received it on 14 December so we were given 5 days to respond, never mind that the pre-school is closed on two of the five days. I would have appreciated a telephone call? Somehow I get the feeling that they're not that bothered.

Ok, don't get me wrong, SJCK is a decent pre-school and I'm not bothered about the friendliness or unfriendliness of the office staff.  It's just not right for us or Ryan at this point in time, so we're going to pass.

So, as mentioned, I went to visit NAFA Arts Kindergarten last Friday morning. I called up on Wednesday, two days before, to make an appointment and Friday morning was the earliest that they could have me. Richard couldn't make it, so I went with Ryan and my mum.

I was greeted upon arrival by Laura, who gave us the tour of the school. She was very good, managed to answer all my questions (although I suppose every parent asks the same questions).

The unique feature of the school is that it offers music, drama and dance classes as part of its main curriculum (in addition to the usual academics) and instructors from NAFA's School of Young Talents (SYT) conduct the classes. If the child shows potential in music/drama/dance, he/she will be recommended to SYT.

I think most parents do believe that music, (speech and) drama and dance (and movement) are valuable components that should be incorporated into their children's daily or weekly routine. Certainly, most parents we know place their children in enrichment courses for music/drama/dance, hoping to either stimulate any potential talent that their children may have or to simply provide a well-rounded education.

I know there are some pre-schools who get third-party professionals to conduct music/drama/dance courses but, usually in such cases, they are structured as "extras", i.e. you have to pay extra for your child to participate in them and the classes are held after school hours. NAFA actually builds all these classes into its main curriculum, so the children's experience of music, drama, dance and academics is seamless. The children come to regard music, drama and dance as part of their learning experience in school, as opposed to an extra enrichment class.

Yes, there are also some pre-schools that offer music/drama/dance as part of their main curriculum, but in the words of Chief Kiasu at kiasuparents.com, "If you want to learn kung fu well, would you go to Planet Fitness or go to Shaolin Temple?"

Hence, in 2008, this school was described on the forum board at kiasuparents.com as "next to impossible to get into unless you plan years ahead. It's pretty much one of the hottest, if not the hottest, in Singapore. Main reason is their focus on artistic and physical enrichment, at a very good price point. You can probably get similar services at other pre-schools, but the treatment may not be as holistic or will cost much more."

Since that time, the kindergarten has raised their fees, which I understand has eased the waiting list a little.

As for the school programme, there is the usual academics everyday (maths, science and language), including one hour of Mandarin. For English, they use the Ginn Lighthouse Series and Jolly Phonics / Jolly Grammar. For maths, they use Growing With Mathematics. Then there is one session of music or drama or dance everyday. In one week, they will have two sessions of music, two sessions of art and one session of dance.

There are the standard facilities - three playgrounds with a tricycle park, a dining area and classrooms. Then there is the art room, the dance room and two music rooms. We managed to pop in on the classes as they were being conducted and checked out all the different classrooms. Nothing fancy, but completely acceptable.

Two teachers accompany the class all the time, one speaking in English, the other in Mandarin. The same teachers follow the class throughout its three years from enrolment to graduation. I like that very much. Laura said that the turnover of teachers is relatively low, with some teachers having been with the school since the day they started operations.

I also like that they only enrol children starting with Nursery at age 4 (in some pre-schools, this is known as N2). I feel that they are on the same page as me, as I only intend to enrol Ryan at 4 (or later). They do offer pre-nursery for children aged 3 (N1 in some pre-schools) but this is only for siblings of current students.

I wouldn't say that the teachers are all huggy-feely but the children were happy so the teachers must be doing the right thing. They definitely know how to handle each child, to get the child to participate in the class activity, when to laugh with the children and when to be strict. The teachers know each of the children's names (I heard them calling the children), and I was pleasantly surprised that even Laura (who is not a teacher) was able to tell me the children's names. She even knew their personalities - she told me this particular child was very shy, etc. So, that is definitely a plus point.

In fact, I got the impression that the school looks after the children very well. For instance, they have a strict rule that the child, when arriving at the school, must be sent by his/her caregiver all the way to the classroom (or waiting area, if early) and the caregiver signs a log book each time. The child cannot simply be dropped off and be expected to walk into the classroom by him/herself. The principal is in school by 7.30 am and early comers can be sent to the principal's office to wait there. I like that, it shows a great amount of concern for the child's wellbeing.

There is no parking within the compound except during the start of the session when the children are being sent to school. At all other times, the front gate is locked and guarded and no cars are allowed in because sometimes the children are allowed to come out onto the driveway to do activities like drawing on the sidewalk/driveway. I read someone's comment in a forum that she was shocked that the children were allowed to have outdoor activities in the driveway as they might fall and hurt themselves on the rough ground. Umm, ok, I guess I'm not that sort of parent. I actually like the idea of my son being outdoors, whether it is on the driveway, on the artificial playground turf, on the sand or on the grass.

Another thumbs-up for the school - walking from our home, I can reach the back gate of the school in five minutes!

Overall, I got a very warm feeling while I was there. I felt that the teachers were genuinely interested in the children's development and all-round education. I felt that a lot of thought had been put into not only the programme, but also the simple things like how your child arrives in school everyday and how he gets to the toilet (the nursery classrooms are the nearest to the toilets and the nursery children are always accompanied).

I had a discussion with Richard on it, and we agreed that this is definitely a strong candidate for our final choice of pre-school.

(Edit: In October 2012, NAFA offered us a place for Ryan in their Nursery level starting in Term 2, March 2013, afternoon session. We turned down the place and asked to be put on the waitlist for a morning session.)

If a dream kindergarten exists, I think we visited it today.

We dropped by our new unit today to check on the renovation. On our way home, Richard mentioned that, when he was driving through Mountbatten Road yesterday, he noticed a new pre-school there although he did not manage to get a good look. We decided to drive past again and see. It turned out to be "EtonHouse International Pre-School and Research Centre", otherwise called EtonHouse Mountbatten 718.

Although there are a number of EtonHouse branches in Singapore, Etonhouse has not been our first or even second choice as we've always felt that it was more of an "expat" school which meant that students would come and leave as their expat parents got posted in and out of Singapore. We were concerned that this would have a negative impact on Ryan's ability to form lasting friendships. Second reason was that it was not apparent to us what value the school or its curriculum offered compared to other schools and this is important because their fees are not cheap. The various EtonHouse branches charge different fees (the fees are stated on their website). For pre-nursery at the branch nearest to us at present (Etonhouse International Pre-School at 2 Orchard Boulevard), it costs S$7,000 plus GST per term (for full day programme). For nursery levels, it costs S$6,600 plus GST for the full day and S$5,500 plus GST for the half day. There are three terms a year. We would also have to pay a non-refundable registration fee of S$1,500 plus GST and place a deposit of one term's fees. Chiltern House and Nanyang Kindergarten are charging around S$1,000 per month. Therefore there had to be a lot of "extra" value for us to feel justified about spending a lot more money at EtonHouse. (Edit: these figures may no longer be accurate at the time you read this post, please check with the individual schools.)

Anyway, we drove to Mountbatten and, as luck would have it, the pre-school was having an open house. The banner outside stated that they would be operational in January 2011. So this branch is newly set up and, in fact, we could still smell the newly painted walls when we went inside.

Of all the EtonHouse branches, I think this is the largest. The school is mainly housed in two fairly large buildings. There is ample parking space within the compound (no parking charges apply!) and the outdoor compound is huge.

At the first main building, we were greeted by one of the teachers who would be our tour guide. We first went to check out the classrooms. The pre-nursery and nursery classrooms are on the ground floor, while the kindergarten classes are on the upper floor. The classrooms were absolutely beautiful. Of course, everything is new - all the furniture and all the materials are new, but that wasn't all.

There were distinct and dedicated areas for different activities. There were low tables for doing jigsaw puzzles or playing games. There were little dolls in their beds, teapots and cups for pretend tea parties, toy fruit, food and animals for more pretend play and for other learning activities. There were bookshelves with inviting books, materials for writing and drawing and creating. There was a mat with a large train set on the floor and there were low shelves with containers of blocks, cubes, shells, buttons, etc. There were children's artworks on the walls alongside replicas of famous art pieces. There were different types of tables for the children - some large tables for group interaction, some smaller tables for individual work, some tables had mirrors for tabletops, some could be lighted up from under the tabletop for the children to do tracing. There were easels set up for drawing. The classroom was spacious and bright. Everything was just so adorable! I wanted to stay there and slurp it all up.

Ryan was very comfortable in the classroom - he investigated the materials laid out and even picked some up. He went over to the train set on the mat and played with the trains and blocks. He even did some pretend play at one of the tables - pouring pretend tea from the teapot into the cups.

Apart from the classrooms, there was a separate library area outside the classrooms where the children could read while they waited for their parents to fetch them from school. This area was beautifully decorated with paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. Ryan went "wow" when he saw them. There was also a Chinese cultural section with Chinese calligraphy on the wall and Chinese books on the shelves.

Of course, most other pre-schools have books and toys and other materials. The difference was the way everything was laid out here and how bright and spacious the classrooms were. I've seen classrooms in other pre-schools that are full of stuff but things get stashed to one side, the classrooms are usually small and there is usually just one or two main tables or areas for the children to work at.

Ok, to be honest, if that was all, I would still not have thought that this pre-school was that much better than some of the pre-schools I've visited to justify parting with double the money. But that was not all.

We went outside. There is a shaded play area for children to dress up in different costumes and fool around with musical instruments and other noise makers. There was this huge triangular structure that Ryan could walk through and he loved it because there were mirrors all over the inside of it and he was so intrigued at seeing so many Ryans.

In a small building between the two main buildings there is a small canteen where the older children can have lunch. All the buildings are connected by covered walkways.

The outdoor areas were not finished yet but according to our tour guide, there will be:
A sand play area (this is finished) for the children to dig and construct structures
A garden for the children to plant their own plants and vegetables (this is finished) to cook in their own kitchen
A tricycle park (and we saw all the little tricycles!)
A herb and sensory garden
A water play area where the children can splash about and do little water experiments
A playground area where the children can run about and bounce a ball around.
Climbing equipment for climbing and co-ordination challenges.

Can you imagine? At this point, I had to pick my jaw up off the ground. I cannot think of any pre-school in Singapore that has such a wide, and I would say complete, range of outdoor facilities. All this time we were thinking, oh this or that pre-school has a large compound and a large playground area, that's very good. Boy oh boy, what we saw today beats the rest hands down. It's not just providing some slides and monkey bars and plastic houses for the children to burn off energy. Here, the outdoor areas are well thought out and planned carefully so that the children continue learning when they are outdoors. Everything is available for the children to touch, to feel, to sense and to experience to the fullest.

And you know what? That was still not the end.

We walked over to the other large building. There were some more classrooms there, but the highlight was the "art gallery", which was a large classroom for art and crafts. In there, there were all sorts of painting and drawing equipment, all sorts of crafting material on the low tables and shelves and lots of display panels showing off the children's masterpieces. One entire wall of the classroom is a floor-to-ceiling glass window which looks out to green grass and beyond that, to Mountbatten Road. Easels are set up next to this glass window for the children to paint and draw. It was pure delight.

Ryan walked right up to one of the tables, pulled one of the pencils out (from a container on the table) and started drawing on the paper laid out on the table. There were also some soft foam cubes (probably for painting) on the table and he was quite interested in them so he sat down and got some out to play with.

This is the first time that we brought Ryan with us to visit a pre-school but I think I can safely say that he loved it.

We asked about the curriculum. The curriculum is bilingual - there will be an English speaking teacher and a Mandarin speaking teacher at all times, plus there is a dedicated Mandarin session everyday. The programme is child-led and heavily based on Reggio Emilia philosophies, although according to our tour guide, it does draw on other teaching methods, including Montessori. According to her, they "take the best from other methods" and integrate these into their curriculum.

Interestingly, our tour guide told us that she had been a Montessori teacher for 6 years prior to joining EtonHouse, so I managed to ask her a few questions to get her perspective on Montessori teaching and the method at EtonHouse. (We did visit Brighton Montessori a while back, I will post an entry about it soon.)

So, the big question - what are the fees? Well, the fees are not cheap. But I can see where all my fees are going, I can see what I'm paying for and I can see the value that I'm buying. If you could apply a hotel-type rating, I would say this is a six or even seven-star pre-school in terms of facilities and equipment.

So what do we think? Well, we can certainly imagine Ryan being very comfortable there, he would be eager to go to school everyday and reluctant to leave. We can picture him pedalling a tricycle during outdoor playtime and splashing about in the shallow pool. We can see him sprawled out on the floor reading a book in the library and musing over his art as the sun shines through the giant glass window in the art gallery. Whatever he feels like doing, he will be able to. There will be ready materials and there will be a conducive workspace.

The issues of concern for us are the fact that it is so new, the teachers and the "expat" factor. If we decide on this pre-school, we'll definitely wait one or two terms at the minimum and let it iron out any teething problems before enrolling Ryan. Time will also show whether the teachers are good or not and also whether the students are mostly from expat families or otherwise.

Of course, the fees are not cheap and, even if we can afford it, the question is whether we should. The other night, over mahjong, one of our friends was telling us how crazy it was that Nanyang Kindergarten was charging about S$1,000 per month. The response from one guy was, "Nobody is going to ask you what kindergarten you come from when you apply for a job." So true.

So do we buy Ryan the childhood that we all dream of or do we save the money for other things? What do you think?

Richard and I visited Schoolhouse by the Bay last month as I'd heard good things about it.  We came away with a good impression of the place so I thought I'd pen a report on it.
 
This pre-school is located in Katong Community Centre, which is a relatively short drive from the CBD.  It started as an experimental project set up by the Learning Society and its partners, in collaboration with some Canadian researchers. It is affiliated with the Canadian International School, Singapore.  The school’s Advisory Council consists of the ex-Principal of Raffles Girls’ Primary School (who is also the Chairperson of the Parents Advisory Group for the Internet), the President of the Association of Early Childhood Educators, Singapore, and the Head Principal of the Canadian International School, Singapore.

The first thing that struck me was how friendly and welcoming the staff were.  They were happy to have us drop in anytime for a visit.  When we got there, we were given a personal tour of the place.

The facilities are quite impressive.  It has a library, learning rooms, a dance studio, several playgrounds, a canteen, a huge gym and an auditorium. A relatively new school, the facilities and equipment are still in good shape, clean and well-maintained.  Most of the classrooms are located in a ring and in the heart of the ring there is an observation room with 2-way mirrors through which parents and educators can observe the children while they learn and play during class.  The children were allowed to be free-roaming in the classrooms and they looked happy and relaxed.

The curriculum is generally child-led, which is what I like.  They practice alternate English and Mandarin days, meaning everything is done in English the first day, then in Mandarin the next day, and then back to English the following day.  I found their programme to be well-rounded, with a good mix of reading, writing, dramatic play, music and movement, physical activities, creative art, mathematics, computers, etc.

The fees are quite affordable and I think it is great value for what you'd pay, something like getting an international school flavour at local school prices.

Next up on the list - pre-schools with very strong emphasis on Mandarin.  We didn't have to think long before deciding against these pre-schools. The chief reason is that, apart from the Mandarin emphasis, we did not hear many comments about the rest of the curriculum. We are looking for a pre-school that offers a well-rounded experience, so these pre-schools got crossed off our list pretty quickly. Anyway, this is the report.

First target of scrutiny was, what else, Nanyang Kindergarten.  Relatively near our home, it is extremely popular due to its sizeable alumni.  Parents with no ties to the school are attracted to the school for two reasons: first, the exclusive medium of instruction for its nursery years is Mandarin and second, the insanely long queue for a placement (ie. the longer the queue, the more I must make sure I don't miss out).

If you attended Nanyang Kindergarten as a child, or if you live on its doorstep, then I can understand why you want to send your child there. If not, then it is hard to understand why you would want to join the hordes of parents in the neverending queue. It seems that the only "outstanding" trait of the pre-school is its exclusive Mandarin nursery and I am not convinced that this is something that should be so highly coveted.

From my reading on learning languages, I don't think that being taught exclusively in Mandarin in nursery is going to make a huge impact on Ryan unless Mandarin is regularly spoken with him outside of school. Having a non-Mandarin home environment as we do, I would be concerned that my son might be uneasy, scared even, at being plunged into a complete Mandarin environment. Of course he will adjust and adapt, but why would I want to send my son to a Mandarin bootcamp when I can provide him with a less stressful introduction to school life? Although Richard and I recognise the importance of learning the language, we certainly do not intend pre-school to be a way to have Mandarin drilled and tortured into him, whether he likes it or not.

My view is reinforced by my understanding that Nanyang Kindergarten follows a regimental routine, driven by worksheets and results.  This very much reminded me of the typical Chinese high regard for paper qualifications. I would prefer a method where Ryan is given more freedom and is allowed to develop without the stress of being compared against other children. I believe that learning should be a process where the child is himself motivated to learn rather than a situation where he is forced against his will.

Reading the forums, one comment in particular bothered me: the high staff turnover. Apparently, the teachers go through a revolving door and even the principal and the vice-principal left without replacements last year. I would prefer a more stable environment where the teachers and the students form strong bonds and relationships.

Generally, the comments I received were to the effect that Nanyang Kindergarten leaves much to be desired (especially K1 and K2) although Nanyang Primary School is a very good school. Unfortunately, there is no formal affiliation between the two - a child in the kindergarten does not gain automatic admission into the primary school. Having said that, as a parent of a child in the "Nanyang family", you get to attend Nanyang gatherings and functions and can get to know lots of "Nanyang parents", which may better your chances of being selected as a parent volunteer for Nanyang Primary School (oh, the politics of primary school admission in Singapore!).  We have no ambitions to get Ryan into Nanyang Primary School so that put the matter to rest.

I'm sure there are lots of parents who have different and equally valid views and whose children are very happy at Nanyang Kindergarten.  It all boils down to a matter of preference. The long and short of it is that Nanyang Kindergarten is not for us.

Also up for consideration was Newton Kindergarten, also quite near our home. Founded by Newton Life Church, it is also very popular and has a long waitlist. Compared to Nanyang Kindergarten, I hear the students from Newton Kindergarten learn more difficult Chinese characters and have a higher proficiency in the language.  However, as with Nanyang Kindergarten, apart from the Mandarin emphasis, we did not hear many comments about the rest of the curriculum, so there was no firm attraction for us.

The search continues.

Pre-schools are generally free to devise their own approaches to teaching and learning for their nursery years. Hence, there is a diverse variety of styles, philosophies and methods available to cater for every need or fancy. To narrow the selection, we shortlisted one or two pre-schools from each “category” based mainly on location (proximity to our home or our workplaces).

First category - pre-schools set up by churches. On our shortlist were St. James Church Kindergarten (SJCK) (Harding Road branch) and Barker Road Methodist Church Kindergarten, both of which are near to home.

The attraction of these church pre-schools was the idea that our son would be in a Christ-centred environment. However, after some inquiries, I found out that the pre-schools accept children of all religions and neither actually emphasises Christian practices or beliefs, apart from saying grace before meals. So, the church factor is not a true plus-point.

Barker Road Methodist Church’s nursery classes for Ryan’s year were not yet open for registration when we called up in March (only open in April 2011 for 2009 babies) so we put that on the backburner [edit: we've since lost interest in Barker Road Methodist Church due to the non-emphasis on Christianity and upon hearing that the traffic congestion is so bad around there that it can take up to an hour to fetch your child from school]. As for SJCK, I was attracted to them because their grounds at Harding Road look quite inviting for little children. However, upon closer inspection, the rabbits in the small rabbit run are always sleeping and the water in the fish pond is so green that I can’t see the fish. I’m not convinced that the children are actually given time and license to go out and play with the rabbits and fish (how do you play with a rabbit/fish anyway?). More likely, the children will just play with the playground equipment in the playground next to the classes. The swimming pool on the grounds does not belong to SJCK (it belongs to Aquaducks).

Reading the forums, I was not able to find any specific “plus-points” about SJCK.  Happy parents just say "no complaints". Negative comments? One parent complained that the teacher spoke English like an “aunty”, whatever that means (I’m not too bothered about this). One parent mentioned that the K1 and K2 classes can go up to 30 children in one class (this comment does worry me a bit).

Anyway, I had good feelings about the school so Richard and I went down to its office. The people at the office were polite but not welcoming. We got the impression that it didn’t matter to them whether or not I signed my son up. I suppose this is understandable given that, for their 2012 nursery class, the waitlist was already in its fifties for the morning session and in the late twenties for the afternoon session (the total cohort is 70). However, I would really like to believe its motto that “every child matters”, so the polite but cool treatment was a teeny weeny bit disappointing.

Ok, I’m not too fussed about that. I was more interested in finding out more about the curriculum. From what I read on the forums, SJCK fulfils the academic requirements, but no star students here. The core curriculum seems to be a mish-mash of different models of teaching and learning, with no consistent and holistic approach. Their "selling point" is not their core curriculum but the enrichment programmes conducted by various outside parties for their students (Kinderart, Helen O’Grady Drama, Ednovation, The Mapping, etc). I find that a little bit strange, that the enrichment can overshadow the core curriculum but I guess that’s a matter of perspective.

More importantly, the branch at Harding Road will have to move out in 2012 (possibly 2013 if they get a one-year extension on their lease). At the moment, they do not know where they will move to. Plus they can't say whether they'll take the sleeping rabbits and the mystery fish with them.

The Leedon Road branch is still under construction and will be ready in time for Ryan but it's a bit further away than we would like. Also, given that these will be new and improved premises, I expect the school fees to be "improved" as well.  After all, they are non-profit.

Well, from an outsiders’ point of view, I think that this is an average pre-school. I think it fulfils the basic requirements of a pre-school, as all pre-schools should, but nothing more. It’s a pleasant place, and certainly a one-stop centre for enrichment courses. A significant negative factor for us is that the campus at Harding Road will expire in 2012/2013, so we’re quite hesitant about betting on this horse.

The search continues.