After attending #2’s kindergarten graduation ceremony, I felt the urge to share my children’s preschool experience. They had lots of fun, made good friends, prepared themselves for primary school and most importantly, received abundant tender loving care from their school teachers.
My two elder ones had earlier attended a newly set up preschool around Upper East Coast Road for 2 years (#2) and 3 years (#1) before we decided to switch to a more established one in the same neighbourhood.
For the first 2 two years, my son attended nursery classes. He made friends and had teachers whom he liked a lot. In fact, his first nursery teacher was a young boy who was very passionate about a career as a preschool teacher. When I saw my shy little boy who was only 3 years old then looking forward to going school every day, I knew he was in good hands.
Alas, the male teacher had to go for his National Service and could not continue with teaching the kids into the second year. In the second year and third year, my boy was still blessed with loving teachers whom I was comfortable with, but they never stayed for long. But the end of the third year, there was a constant change of teachers, and I was not satisfied with some of them. I found a few detached from the kids.
By the end of the third year, we felt that the teachers there might be no longer committed to looking after the little children in school. The frequent change in teachers also meant minimal continuity. We felt continuity is critical for children preparing to enter primary school. Thus, we decided to switch school.
We attended the second preschool for two years. #1 was there for a year while #2 spent two years there. Only one teacher left during this period, and he was there for more than 5 years or so before deciding to have a change of environment. The rest of the teachers were constant faces, and they worked well with each other. It felt like a big family there. The children seemed to be their children, though some of the teachers were and are still single.
Having gone through the entire preschool journey, the followings are what I think should matter most when it comes to selecting the right preschool.
Choosing the Right Preschool – It’s all about the Teachers
It should be evident from the paragraphs above that the quality of the teachers mattered the most to us.
Genuine love for children from teachers is the key criteria for us. With authentic love, teachers will be able to carry out their responsibilities in the best interest of the children.
I remember how #2’s teachers supported her tremendously when the twins arrived last year. They were worried that she would feel left out and tried their best to reassure her for the entire year. When the teachers met me, they would frequently remind me not to neglect #2. I also recall how well they handled the situation when my daughter complained that a boy touched her butt. See the post here.
Their love for #1 is not any lesser too. They gave him lots of hugs and words of encouragement, and they concerned themselves with many aspects of his well-being.
The school is their second home, a place where they felt loved and safe.
The Academic Aspects
To me, the academic part of the preschool journey is vital when the child enters Kindergarten. In Singapore, weekly spelling in English and their mother tongue starts from Primary 1.
Not only are they expected to learn the entire set of hanyu pinyin by the end of the first semester in Primary 1, but their English spelling also starts to get challenging too. Thus it is important for them to get their foundation (hanyu pinyin, basic grammar and phonics) right in preschool in order not to get stumped by the first semester of Primary 1. After all, they should not be getting too stressed up with learning at P1.
The school also engages external teachers in providing optional lessons in Waldorf, art and Mandarin speech and drama. Because these lessons were incorporated into lesson time, we did not have to send our children to additional enrichment lessons outside school.
In case you are curious, Waldorf in early education focuses more on play, make-belief and building social cohesion. Click on this link for an explanation of differences between Waldorf and Montessori.
Speaking in the language they specialise in.
I appreciate this. Their Chinese teacher spoke to them only in Mandarin, and she told the students that she does not understand English at all. This approach forces the children to hold two-way communication with her entirely in Mandarin. With more than half of the children in Singapore not liking and not speaking their Mother Tongue, pretending not to understand English is an excellent way for the children to hone their Mandarin skills.
Speaking of this, we had an unpleasant experience with another teacher in the earlier preschool. She loves children, and she took care of my children very well. In fact, she was my daughter’s favourite teacher then. However, this caring teacher understood very little English. Her favourite pop song then was “Love Me Like You Do” from “The Fifty Shades of Grey”. I don’t know how well she understood the lyrics, but anyway, she often shared the song with my daughter and her classmates.
One day, we were sitting on a public bus, and everyone was quietly resting. My little girl suddenly sang out loud in her cute innocent voice,
“Love me like you do, lo-lo-love me like you do
Touch me like you do, to-to-touch me like you do
What are you waiting for?”
I sure you get my drift.
Teaching the basic moral principles and healthy habits
Like most preschool (I presume), our preschool trained our children in basic hygiene practices such as washing their hands before and after their meals and brush their teeth after meals. They were also required to bring their plates to a centralised basin after they finished their food. They put their toys back to the original place before they were off for the day, and they were required to pack and unpack their school bags by themselves. These exercises helped to instil some form of discipline in them.
They had cooking lessons occasionally. They made mooncakes, pancakes, cookies, bread, etc. These lessons promoted their interest in cooking, which to me is essential in kindling their enthusiasm for healthy eating.
For parents with younger children, you may want to ask whether the school toilet-trains your child?
Does the school value outdoor play?
First of all, do you value outdoor play? I appreciate outdoor play a lot. As you can tell from the posts I wrote, I like to share playgrounds we love. Children will benefit tremendously from engaging in outdoor play, with tons of opportunity to develop their fine and gross motor skills. Never mind the sand and dirt. It is great for sensory work too.
You may be interested these:
Discovering Playground: Pasir Ris Park
Discovering Playground: Admiralty Park
Our children’s preschool has water-time, messy-time, 2 outdoor playgrounds and a backyard big enough for soccer games and exploring nature.
Other important considerations.
Will your child be safe there? Does the school take note of any food sensitivity that your child may have? Does the school ask for a list of names of people who may help you to bring your child home after school?
How clean is the school? How often is the occurrence of diseases such as HFMD?
Is the school close to home or to work?
Are the fees reasonable and affordable?
What are the snacks and food they serve? Have you tasted it before?
No Cons at all???
It may seem unnatural to be praising the school throughout my post. There were indeed a few occasions that the school irked me, but these were few and far between. In fact, I can only recall that on one occasion, I expressed my displeasure that the spelling words were too complicated for a 6-year old child, but they explained that they intended to get the children to learn the phonics rather than the meaning of the words.
I had the same issue with the difficulty level of their Chinese spelling and showed them the P1 syllabus. The school is open to discussion and adjusted where necessary. I believe parents also play a big part in ensuring that the kids have a pleasant preschool journey and maintain a positive attitude when communicating with their children’s teachers.
Anyway, they changed the content in the subsequent year, so #2 did not go through the same path. I have forgotten the rest of the issues and these must be not important enough to remember.
Oh, there is a compromise too! The school is not located beside the main road. In some of my earlier posts, I complained that I had to wear an 8-kg baby and walked over a hill twice a day (under the hot sun!) to send and fetch my daughter to and fro school.
These are the earlier posts:
How I keep my sanity with 4 kids at home – post-confinement
We are trying hard to prevent the Middle Child Syndrome
Referral
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