The Great School Hunt

I have neglected this blog. The month of December was taken up by the holidays, preparing the house for house viewings, my birthday celebration and trip.. whilst January was filled with school hunting, Chinese New Year and preparing for the move.

I am still taking a day off work each week such that I work a four-day week, but I feel barely rested. Looking for a suitable school for Christian near my mum's house (where we'll be staying temporarily until we decide on primary school and shift near that school.. which is another headache altogether) is more difficult than i imagined.

I spent weeks researching the forums online, checking out schools' websites before formulating my own shortlist...it was time consuming because you can't really know how good a school is unless you go down for yourself.. and some really good schools were way out of my budget (they would cost more than what I paid for university, which is ridiculous!).

I was getting tired of hauling myself out of bed on my 'rest day', navigating the roads and driving down to unknown locations to view schools and talk to teachers / principals. I was also becoming tired of hearing myself talk to friends and colleagues about preschools. However, i knew that i owed it to my children (hopefully we will still stay in the East / around my mum's so Calista can go to the same school i picked for her brother and i don't have to continue hunting for schools when the time comes for her to go) to be thorough and put in the effort to suss and assess.

I shortlisted 9 schools, struck two off the shortlist based on phone interactions and word-of-mouth, and visited 7 schools. Just for my personal records (i think i'll most probably forget all this in 2 years), I visited -

1) Kids n Kids
2) Twinkle Stars Montessori
3) Little Sparks Montessori
4) Raffles House Preschool
5) Hungry Caterpillar
6) MRC Katong
7) Little Big Creativity Centre

After viewing so many schools, I formed a better idea of what I was looking for in a preschool. Well-spoken, dedicated and patient teachers. A school that prepares the children well for primary school in a fun and engaging way. An individualised reading program so that my son can go at a pace that is suitable for him, be it faster than average or slower. Well-qualified teachers with small class ratios, where the children are respected. A cheery environment where my son will enjoy going everyday. A reasonable set of criteria, ain't it? Well, it was so tough finding one that fit the bill. As P said, there's no perfect school.. so I decided to focus on the items which were most important to me.

I came to the conclusion that the good teachers are usually in kindergartens, and that the teacher turnover rate is lower in kindergartens, probably because it is less tiring than taking care of children. I also feel that centres where the owner is directly involved, or better yet, teaching themselves, were the best.

I am really grateful for tips i picked up from the forum, such as viewing the work done by the graduating class of each school. Looking at the workbooks / journals kept by K2 children helped me cut through all the marketing spiel and assess the standard of the school, as well as how they taught the children.

At the end of this long long hunt of many weeks, I am glad that I finally managed to decide on one school, feeling assured that I had done my best and that Ch will enjoy learning there. Now I can't wait to start, although we are only relocating end April! :)