Childcare in Singapore: What You Should Know

Before I enrolled Bee into childcare (also known as “preschool” in Singapore), I spent a lot of time researching about the curriculum, locating parent reviews of the school online, and went for many site visits before finally settling down on one. I considered many factors and tips from friends, family and from the online community, and when I finally decided on one, I genuinely felt I made the best choice available. 

7 months down the road, I found myself again conducting site visits, looking for a second option. I found myself not to be unique – having made an initial choice, then not liking it and having to go through the pain of looking for a new childcare center.

Henceforth I decided to share my thoughts here in this blog, with a list of factors that I wished I knew before enrolling Bee into childcare. However, not all was bad with my current choice; so I have included too, a list of factors to consider that have worked well for me and Bee so far.

I have collated the points into a Content Summary below, so you may jump to each point directly for details:

Content Summary

Childcare in Singapore: What You Should Know

1. Assume your child may only attend 50% of the time.

Bee was taken care of by Nannies and my in-laws when she was an infant. She was fairly healthy, having only about 3 major fever episodes in her first year. However, her enrolment into childcare, she has been sick every other week. If it is not a cold, cough or blocked nose that she has to contend with, then it would be HFMD infections that can persist up to a month, sometimes more, at the school. While I believe our school was doing its best to contain the cases, we couldn’t risk her poor health and opted to keep her at home whenever new infection cases were reported. This meant that her average attendance was about 60-70%, and when the school was suffering from HFMD cases, she only attended full day school for about 8.5 days out of 20.

And if you think this is unique, that’s not true. Nearly every parent, grandparent and PD I spoke to mentioned how common it is for our LO to fall sick, once they enter childcare. It takes up to 6 months to a year before herd immunity kicks in, depending on the child’s natural constitution and diet. 

2. Budget against one parent’s income, not two.

When we were searching for childcare for Bee, we assumed that I would continue working shortly after she entered preschool. Which did not happen, as Bee fell sick quite often and my in-laws were not available to take care of her. And now that we are searching for a new childcare center, my plan to return to the workforce is delayed even further. 

While I am generally happy with the teachers and curriculum, seeing Bee learning alot of new words and picked up many good habits, the inevitable absentism made me feel that it is not worth spending all that money on a private operator when she is barely able to attend. In addition, not working meant that my husband has to take on the full fees on his own, and of course he is not happy about it, considering the absentism rate and other issues we faced at the first school. 

In en economic climate where the “iron rice bowl” is but a dream, when our parents may be too old or too different in child-raising values, and helpers can’t exactly be depended on, I find it prudent to budget against a single parent’s income so that you will not need to feel compelled to change a school only due to economic circumstances. 

3. Speak with BOTH the teachers and the principal. You need to MINIMALLY like the Principal.

I can’t stress how important this third point is. There are many tips from parents talking about how important the teachers are. As they are ones looking after your child. But who looks after the Center, the curriculum, the staff and the teachers? The principal and management. And who looks after the teachers and your child when something comes up? Yup, the principal and management again. 

I do like the staff and teachers of Bee’s first school. They are mostly warm and welcoming, and I could see the effort they make especially when Bee first attended school and was trying to adjust (she bawled alot but managed to be ok after about two weeks). But without going through details, I did not have much affinity with the principal, even when I conducted the informal visit before Bee officially attends school. In fact, I did not even get to speak to the principal at all during the first site visit, although I was won over by the friendly and seemingly relaxed teachers! 

When enrolled, I also barely felt her presence, and at one point even felt that she did not care much for the students and teachers, until an issue surfaced and she had to personally attend to my case.

At minimum, you should feel comfortable enough with the principal and your perceived honesty of him/her to freely share your concerns and feedback, and thus trust that the school will work on your feedback in a positive and constructive manner. If you cannot feel that from the principal, my advice is to seek another Center that could give you that assurance, because issues will surface and you want to know that at minimum you can connect with the management, better yet if they share your values on topics like diet, pedagogy, language focus, communication, and conflict intervention. 

4. Factor travelling time.

Between the parents, grandparents and/or maid, at some point, someone is going to be the main sender/pick up person. Whether said person drives or not, I recommend picking the nearest possible Center to your home, esp you if are a SAHM/ SAHWM. 

In Bee’s current school, I spend about 30-40min  of travelling time, including waiting for the bus. While it is not tiring for my child (who enjoys bus rides), it gets VERY tiring for me, the person mainly responsible for sending and picking her up. I also can’t pick her up too late because she would be too hungry by the time we reach home. 

And if you work, you don’t need to get up too early just to make time to send your child to school. In the long run, little things like these matter alot. 

5. Know that both POP and private childcare centers will strive to meet the maximum possible child enrolment as per ECDA ratios.

Previously, I was told that teacher to child ratios in private schools tend to be lower. With perhaps the exception of some schools like Eton and Mindchamps, where they advertise a committed ratio, know that you could pay double the amount or more of a POP operator (Partner-Operator-Preschool, which are usually SPARKS certified and subsidised by the government) but still see the maximum child-teacher ratio, as every school will strive for maximum enrolment. This is very likely, especially if the school is in a very accessible area like at the MRT. 

So if you are enrolling in a private childcare center in hopes of a lower class-teacher ratio; know that this isn’t always the case. In my case, I chose a private preschool, and paid close to double of a POP/ Anchor operator, but the total number of children in her class was still at 16 (with 2 teachers present at each time). If your child is like Bee, more of an introvert than a rawring extrovert, you would find that your LO would much prefer a school with a quieter location i.e. likely lower enrolment numbers. An alternative is to look for a more spacious center, where there are more areas for your child to roam and explore – which in my case, made the full ECDA ratio enrolment more acceptable for Bee.

6. Enquire on the Center’s Hygiene Regime and Policy Regarding HFMD/Flu Outbreaks

When I went for a site visit, I observed that the center looked very new and clean, and had their own in-house cleaner. I also observed some cleaning machinery outside the center, implying that external vendors may have been engaged. So I was satisfied with my observations and left it at that.

However, as mentioned earlier, my preschool had an epic HFMD outbreak that persisted for more than a month throughout the school. Although there is consistent reassurance from the management that teachers have been rigorous in checks, and that appropriate cleaning measures had been taken, the persistent cases forced to me take Bee out of school for nearly two weeks. To say that I was “annoyed”, is only lightly putting it!

Eventually the outbreak ended, but not without the school being ‘forced’ to using ‘shaming tactics’, such as sharing in public broadcasts that they have ‘caught’ children with symptoms (without giving names) and thus sent them home, or rejecting them at the center’s door.

From this experience, I would strongly advise parents to enquire more details on the school’s sanitisation and cleaning routines, particularly during outbreaks. You should definitely enquire too on the staff’s hygiene practices and the center’s stance on parents sending in obviously sick children.

While I am not a fan of “shaming tactics”, I believe every center should be firm about not allowing-in obviously unwell children, and let it be known to parents that the school reserves the right to reject entry, to protect the rest of the children and the staff.

What I Considered and Worked Out Well:

Having shared these points, I still think I did score well in other points of evaluation, leading to Bee’s current positive development. Here are some other points to consider when looking for the right childcare center for your LO, and my advice on how to go about them:

7. Consider a balanced pedagogy.

Children are like tiny sponges and learn well in almost any methods, although they clearly will excel in some over others. The best way to know which is to expose them to an approach that combines both play and academic. So I personally find that preschools that adapt from a Montessori or Reggio Emilia approach will help you discover what your child is best at, as these styles typically involve sensory play and concrete object discovery, which also introduce numeracy and literacy concepts.  

Children need sensory play to explore as well as manage their own senses, as well as life skill activities such as feeding and dressing and social skills. Sensory play also have the benefit of supporting focus development in small children. 

But I won’t go for a fully play based approach. I feel it is better than from young they understand going to school means they need to learn how to understand pictures and symbols from papers, cards and books, and activities involving brushes and pens help train their fine motor skills. Bee enjoys any kind of play, from music to toys to sensory, but she also enjoys reading, learning about alphabets, playing games related to numeracy concepts, playing with stickers and holds her stationary really well. To small children, anything and everything is play! Better to let her believe that books and worksheets are part of play too, it will help w her studies later in primary school. 

8. Consider gross motor skill facilities.

Bee’s gross motor development has been terrific, and I attribute to her being able to play daily at her current school’s indoor playground. At age 22 months she can scale HIGH bouncy castle steps slide ladders with ease, and get herself up and down beds, sofas and chairs like a ninja. If there are toddler parkour classes, I’d sign her up! There has been correlation studies between cognitive and motor skill development, hence this is something that should be included in the child’s daily program. 

9. Consider the school’s environment and natural light exposure.

One thing great about Bee’s environment is that not only is it bright, neat and beautifully renovated, there are large windows that allow natural light to peek in, creating a bright and welcoming environment. In addition, the teachers do bring them out for walks, for some Vitamin D. 

It is important for small children to have adequate sun exposure so as to help them regulate their circadian rhythm. Bee generally sleeps well and at around the same time in the evening on days when she goes to school.

The ideal preschool environment would be one that lets in plenty of natural light. Or, at least brings the children out for walks or supervised play in neighbouring playgrounds! So, do check if the teachers bring the children out for walks or play, and the time dedicated for them. It benefits both the kids and tired parents at night! 

10. Observe the teachers.

On site visits I observe how the teachers interact with the children, and generally their overall well-being as well. After all, tired and stressed out adults are not going to be good care givers! 

Some people also look at the median age of the teachers, as it signifies experience. Personally I do not find it as important, more important is their attitude to visiting parents even while managing a bunch of rowdy school children. At minimum, the professional ones will smile and acknowledge you, while making sure their charges are being looked after. 

But what I really don’t fancy are permitted visits during the children’s nap times. Firstly, you don’t get to see interaction between teachers, the principal and children; secondly it is disruptive to their charges’ rest. I have been to a Center where the teachers were talking loudly while the children were having a nap; I personally find that very distracting for the children and wonder if that is really a good idea for the tired LOs. (Many of the tots were not sleeping too).

Conclusion

Looking for the right childcare center is like looking for a life partner. There are many factors to consider, from the warmth and capability of the center’s staff, shared values and preferred pedagogy/ curriculum, to economic and physical considerations such as cost, distance, facilities and teacher-child ratios.

That’s a wrap for my sharing of my childcare/preschool experience today! Feel free to add on to my thoughts, or send me a comment/ message if you like. Till the next post!