While my child is not in Yishun, I had put him in Small Wonder, Punggol at Blk 211A. The principal is running 2 centre, both yishun and punggol centre. And likewise there had been a case of HFMD and I face similar situation in the punggol centre. My child was even injured with cut on the face and no one notify us. We only managed to find out when fetching him. Safety wise, similar cases. now the last draw happen on 23 Dec 2014. They lost my child and was not even aware of it until someone brought him back to the centre.
Below is the email I wrote to the authorities on this matter:
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Attn to:
Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) (
[email protected])
Ministry of Social and Family Development (
[email protected])
CC: Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Social and Family Development (
[email protected])
Dear Sir/Mdm,
I am writing this email to lodge a formal complaint over the serious lapse of supervision by your licensed anchor childcare centre operated by KNOWLEDGE UNIVERSE SINGAPORE PTE. LTD., located at 211A, PUNGGOL WALK, #01 - 623, SINGAPORE 821211, Centre Code: PT9066, under the brand name of Small Wonder, for which I wish that the department in charge can launch a formal investigation.
On 23 Dec 2014, I was notified by Small Wonder Formal Teacher through mobile phone at around 1230hr that my son (2Yr 2 Mth Old) was unaccounted for a period of time when the teacher brought out the kids for outdoor activities. According to the account from the teachers, the two teachers are carrying crying kids, which caused them to overlook to do proper head count while outdoor. The teachers in charge are total unware that my son was not with the group after they brought him out together. A kind parent in the vicinity of my son brought him back to the centre when the parent found him unattended and unsupervised. It is only then that the centre realised that my son was unaccounted, unsupervised.
The centre is unable to provide me with a satisfactory answer and they unable to show me the CCTV recording to show the actual time that my son was brought back to the centre. Hence the period of time that my son is unaccounted for is not backed by evidences. Furthermore, they are not willing to reveal the name of the parent whom brought back my son back to the centre for us to understand the situation better. It appears that the teachers are not well trained in handling kids outdoor even when the centre claimed that the teacher/child ratio is sufficient.
The incompetence of the centre to ensure the safety of the children under their care is a cause for alarm. This is especially so when they can have a child unaccounted and unattended and only realised it when a parent bring the child back. If someone with ill-intent is nearby, there is this possibility that the child might be kidnapped, sexually abused etc, causing long term harm to the child.
I hope that the authorities can investigate if the centre had violated any policies set out by the ministry and mete out the necessary penalties such as suspension of license for the safety of children. The ministry may want consider to implement additional measures on the teacher/child ratio for outdoor activities due to the higher risk involved.
(Attached letter from Principal acknowledging the incident without further details of events leading to incident)
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And guess what, the officer in charge of investigation called me yesterday, saying that they had mete out the punishment but what action taken cannot be revealed to me!! She even mentioned to me that childcare places are tight in punggol. So it seems that due to demand issue, centre can afford to be lapses.