Recommendation for child care services near Tiong Bahru Plaza

hi hi

my babe has just turned 1. i'm sourcing for a gd playgroup and childcare centre(s) - can be separate - for her to attend when she turns 2. kinda kiasu but no choice. gd centres r all booked liao but i nd a convenient n gd school. i'm a single mum and she's my only child hence i would like her to grow up in an all rounded environment.

any comment greatly appreciated. thks in adv.
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Hi my son is currently at Sprankle tots at Telok Blangah.
So far I can comment is the school is so far the best on our area... But then I don quite like the teachers.. they always think we parents will auto know what to do and they wont make the effect to inform us any thing.... I complained 3 times about my son's teacher.. now she den realized that she need to inform or update parents of kids' matters
 
Hi all mums, I find this thread quite informative for those staying in Tiong Bahru area.
My gal started attending Learning By The Park (behind outram MRT) since last July. The centre has now been taken over by Little Skool House since Dec'08 (it is no longer Pat's curriculum). That explains why no vacancy and viewing as mentioned earlier.
B4 the takeover, the system was great. After Chin Chin left subsequent to the change in management, there has been no principal. So far my gal in toddler class (due to go N1 mid-year) is still ok, hopefull a principal will be appointed soon to stabilise the system.
The teachers there are friendly, the older children (in N2 or K1/2) also know my gal's name. They r v much like a family. But I'm still monitoring what changes will take place in the next few mths.
 
Hi,

I've just enrolled my son to NTUC child care at Henderson Road. He just started his Nursery class yesterday. He seems to be happy. Hopefully, the lessons conducted are good. :)

Fyi, the school takes only FD. The difference of FD and HD is only $11 for working mum. So I do not have much issue as the fees is considered cheap.
 
Thanks Wifey, I am thinking of enrolling my little boy who is turning 18 months soon in Feb to Learning by the Park. I went to visit the school, and there was a temporary principle. She seems quite friendly.
Hopefully, there will not be too much change on the teachers.

I am still considering my options.
 
Hi,

I thought of sending my son there when he is 22 months as my caretaker can onyl take care of my son till then.

anyone has comment on dardis childcare at Block 134 Jalan Bukit Merah? Its non air con, the environment is quiet. And the monthly fee after subsidised is quite reasonable at $250 after working mum subsidy. I also enquire with Moral Care at Jalan Membina but i was told its fully booked till next year. Anyone know the rate for Moral Care?

BUT, My MIL a bit particular cos the teacher looking after the children are not Chinese. The teacher ratio is 1 to 12 children.

Another question, there's a playgroup nearby at 109 Bukit Merah. Anyone has any feedback on this playgroup? Intending to send my son to this Playgroup to let him have a "taste" before going to FULL day course. The price of the playgroup is also reasonable. $130 per month.

Appreciated your comments!
 
Hi

I am looking at the Modern Montessori at Jalan Bukit Merah. Anyone has any experience / comment?

It seems like not many people go there..

I visited the place. It is spacious and clean and the teacher and student ratio is v good. 1 to abt 6. I am jus not sure about the teacher quality and cirrculum.

How much is the fees at the little skool house at sgh?
 
Hi Cloubhappy,

I did not visit MMI. But I did hear about other branches they have a high turnover rate. I visited Learning Vision at Surbana One, same location at Jalan Bukit Merah.

I did not like the place as I find it very small and cramp. They do not have classrooms instead they use pigeon hole cupboards to segregate the class and each class is very small area. And even the play area is very small. I think the full day kids there also have a small area to place their mattresses to sleep.

But 1:6 is a good ratio. My son's class has 2 teachers to 10 or 12, there is also a teaching assistant.

Little skoolhouse fees is about $600 monthly if I remember correctly. After subsidy its $450. I actually considered that. The area is very big and spacious and they have a nice outdoor, waterplay, sandplay and outdoor area. But the building itself is old, and the toilets are also old.
 
Hi Blueydoo

I just called little skoolhouse at SGH. They have no school bus facility that i need. In addition, they only have 4 places left open to public and it will be open for registration in Aug in their open house on a first come first serve basis.

I am having a hard time searching for a good nursery schools/kindergarten ard our areas.. headache! All of them have long waiting list... JHS Montessori, superland montessori,..
 
ya.. that is what the person in charge told me. okie.. maybe i will call again.
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What is your general comment on them? thanks!
 
how old is your kid?
Teachers and principals are very caring, so far no compliants, I was recommended thru forum as well
 
Hi

My gal is 3yrs old this yr. So she will be attendng N2 next yr. For the moment, i only bring her for weekend classes cos i don feel safe letting her take school bus at such young age especially she is a yr end baby.

Thinking about it, my gal needs afternoon nap cos she wakes up early. If not, she will be cranky. So PM session may not be ideal. V difficult to look for one suitable nursery school..
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Cloubhappy,

My son also takes afternoon nap. Usually morning sessions are better cos they teach more. In the afternoon I think not much activities and they also nap.

Superland Montessori provide schoolbus services, and I was also apprehensive abt letting my son take sch bus, but the teacher actually follows them on the sch bus, so I was OK with that. Its not like its a bus auntie who doesn't know my son or my son doesn't know her.

Superland usu take in only 1 or 2 kids per month if they have space, cos they want the new kid to get use to the class. If too many new kids in the same class it will be very disruptive to the class.
 
Blueydoo

I agree. Most imptly, the teacher and auntie must be responsible.
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Have you anyone of you heard of Bright Kids at Leng Kee community centre. Planning to go for a visit.
 
Hi mummies,

Just like to share this unquie preschool in Tiong Bahru CC named Art Kidz Preschool. They serve very interesting programs like violin(once a week), yoga(once a week), speech and drama, mandarin/japanese and so on. Their environment is in a CC, its peaceful and quiet. Their teachers are well trained(from my opinion)

I am planning to send my boy to this CC but currently they are having half day 9 to 12 noon and only having 9 to 330pm as their full day.

I have checked with them, they can extend their operating hours to 7pm if they have enough student.

If you need their brochure of the school and the profile of the teachers, i can send to you, just drop me a PM.

And also they are having a 50% discount on registration and $200 off monthly fee for registeration before June 2009.
 
Hi Vivian

Nice to see you here!

Yes. I would recommend Arts Kidz to mummies ard tiong bahru too! An interesting pre-school in our area. I chanced Arts Kidz Preschool thru recommendation from another thread and like the school too. Have registered my gal for N2 next year.

A nice and peaceful environment. Qualified teachers (to me too). Interesting and enriching curriculum.

The school meets my expectations well cos i am looking for a kindergarten with good enriching curriculum and of cos good, safe and clean environment. The teachers look euthusiastic to me in their teaching during my visits.

They are currently trying to attract locals cos majority of the current students are foreigners, mainly jap.
 
hi, Cloubhappy (cloubhappy) & Vivian (vivian_hsp),

I am interested to enrol my 2 years old son to this Arts Kidz too........hope they can extend their operating hours to 7pm with reasonable fees.
 
hi zhezhe

have u visited the school? did you highlight to them abt the extension of operating hours?

if you dun have the details u can drop me an email i can email you the programme circumlum and their fees whichi got it from arts kidz
 
Hi Cloubhappy,
I tried calling Arts Kids but nobody is picking up. Do you know the fees for full day and half day? Thanks
 
Hi mummies,

Any comments on "CS Montessori" at Tiong Bahru Plaza and/or "Read a Week" at Tiong Bahru Plaza"?

I intend to send my child(4 yrs) to phonics class but not sure which is good?

Please advise. Thanks. :)
 
hi,

thanks to all mummies for sharing. very informative. being new to this, I'm also looking for a childcare centre to send my daughter. Any church kindergardens near tiong bahru?

Anyone tried the Kindergarden at Faith Mathodist Church? what are the feedback? tks
 
My child is in Capstone Kindergarten since PN, the teachers there are dedicated and feedback our child progress regularly, even 1 day absent also call to ask, I notice my child vast improvement in vocal as well, at 3 yr old he can speak rather confidently even for long words like annoucement, terrible,....recognise all colours n count 1-100...i think the sch have done a good job. if there's cargiver at home, I think a 3hr sch is just rite
 
Hi treestar, I have 3 kids in Capstone, K2, K1 & PN Was recommended by a friend & we like the school when we visited so enrolled my 1st one. After that, decided to just put the rest in Capstone. My kids are always happy to go to school and I observed that they are learning well. I agree that the teachers are very caring. I also like it because it is Christian base.

Hi Serene, heard CS Montessori is good as it prepares the child for P1 and the standard is high. My friend is contemplating switching her 2nd child from St James to CS Montessori since she's living opp Tiong Bahru Plaza. She felt that SJCK didnt prepare her 1st child well enough for P1 and the child struggled in her 1st 6mth in P1.
 
Hi ladies,

I am new to the thread. I need some comment on two school, Cambridge @ Tanglin and Arts Kidz @ Tiong Bahru CC. Thks
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Hi, I'm planning to send my girl to SAM's Early Learning Center at 17 mutiara road(river valley).
Any feedback on this cc ?
 
Hi Shet & Treestar,

Kindly check how big is the capstone school is there any outplay ground? Do they prepare the kids well for Pri 1? Have any enrichement class? thanks so much ..
 
Any good infant care around Tiong bahru area to recommend? i have put my son in Bambini infant care at Kim Tian but he kept fall sick.
 
hi Corinne,

Can you share your experience with Bambini? I'm considering that infant care too. Not much choices in Tiong Bahru area. Even finding a nanny is tough. More choices in Tanjong Pagar area but all full.
thanks in advance!
 
Hi Tulip,

Yes I agree that not much choices in Tiong Bahru. Tried to find nanny but couldn't too. You live around this area?
So far my experience is that my son keep fell sick after he went in. Not sure if it is due to my son low immunity or wat. My son also don't sleep well there. Most of the time whole day he only slept max 2 hrs and when I picked him home he will be very tired. Maybe due to he is a light sleeper.
My other feeling is that they are more of neighbourhood kind of child care. Saw more aunties around instead of teachers.
 
hi,

Thanks for sharing. I do like the environment at Bambini, very clean. And Anna the person-in-charge seems nice ? Also it's not as crowded as other places I've visited. I live in Kim Tian, hence the convenience.

Actually when I visited Bambini, the babies were all asleep and the other kids were playing, not noisy.

hmm..I'm not sure what other choices are there. I've called nanny agents and no luck too.

As for the teachers at Bambini, I was told that they all have montessori certs.

There is Del-care at Tanjong Pagar..but my friend took baby out after 3mths cos always fall sick too. Then there's Little Skool House at Chulia Street (long waiting list) and Learning Vision at Aviva building.

Do you know of any other places?
 
Hi,
I'm looking around for a CC in the area for my girl next year.

Browsed MCYS website for a list of CC in the area. Artkidz was my 1st stop last week.

School fees (Monthly)
* Half day (until 1230): $850 nett before subsidary
* Full day (until 1530 only despite the school's with MCYS): $ 950 nett before subsidary.
+ School bus service (2 ways) abt $200 if live nearby.

Likes abt the place:
+ Safety: doors to stairs are latched (not locked) from the other side of gateway out of reach from kids.
+ Clean environment and washrooms
+ per teacher to child ratio: 1 to 6. Some classes have even lower ratio like 1 to 4
+ Has indoor/outdoor play area
+ Well vendilated with fans. Aircon for music room only. Class areas/nap zone/ art n craft zone/ meals zone etc are all in open area and non aircon.
+ Attentive teachers and orderly classes. Kids are well behaved.
+ Classes are conducted in English only. Mandrain/Japanese are spoken only during Mandrain/Japanese classes by the teachers. (English teachers on duty at the time are mostly angmos)
+ Variety of meals served in bland taste/low salt. Teachers share the same menu as the kids. (See their website for more details)
+ Structure timetable for exercises "Yoga" class /outdoor play/ music "Violin" class
+ Socialise with kids from different race/nationalities. 70% of the kids are Japanese. 30% are locals.
+ Was told that it's mostly free play/learn thru play activities there. Definately not the PCF worksheets and worksheets type of place.

Dislikes abt the place:
- Unable to view/review the curriculum while I was there. The person in charge is not quite sure on this aspect so I cant get a feel what normally is being taught in class
- Required to purchase a violin despite that kids will not be taught how to play on a violin but just to hold onto the violin during music "violin" class. Waste of money. Why purchase something that is for show only? :p
- Full day is only until 3.30pm. (Mostly foreigners and SAHM send their kids there. Got the impression that they are quite 'upclass') So this means that I made a wasted trip there. Nothing was informed by the person in charge on this aspect before I go down. I also did not confirm on this aspect as I have found this school thru MCYS website and saw that opening hours is listed as 7am to 7pm. Maybe I shld inform MCYS to update their website info for this school


Hence with the elimination of the above school, I'll need to explore other alternatives in the area. Haiz. Lets see how things go.
 
Hi lonerunner,

I chanced upon this thread while doing my research on CC. I must really thank you for sharing such a detailed feedback for Artkidz cos i ask around for comments these few months but didn't get any detailed ans. They have good comments from other threads sometime last year but recently i saw a bad comment so i was wondering how really good are they.

Did u try out Superland Montessori? I read mixed comments abt them online but 3 of my neighbours who send their kid to this CC have good comments. Called them up to make an appt but they didn't get back to me...i think i will make a surprise visit sometime soon. Very tough searching for CC, hope this is not due to my high expectations
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Hi,

My son is in Superland now. Its not bad, the only thing is they don't teach chinese everyday if your child is on half-day, since they teach Chinese only in the afternoons. But K1 & K2 its compulsory full day for all children. So classes end at 5 pm/ 7 pm.

Shin Yan - You should make an appt before you go down because they are quite busy. Try calling at about 3+ during weekdays because thats when they have settled the kids and are "more free". I can pm you the name of the teacher to talk to.
 
Hi Blueydoo,

Thanks for your feedback. I actually called them up to make appt and it seem like only if i wanted to pay a visit during weekdays, then i would need to make appt, so that the teacher in charge can arrange for some time to talk to me. On sat, i can do walk in, this is wat my neighbor told me too. I leave my contact with them but they didn't get back to me. It is okay, i can call them back again.
 
Hi Shin Yan,

No problem. Last time I made an appt on Saturday. They are more free on sats, cos there are very few kids there at that time, so might have more time to talk to you.
 


shin yan:
sorry for my late reply! I think I saw ur name in kiasuparents too? :p Hows ur search for CC so far? I still get no conclusion.
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Superland Montessori - I din actually find out more info cos the location is abit far off leh :p But from the review, the place looks good. Maybe I should consider checking it out
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