Nursery (play not school)

[piperboy]

Hi. I'm currently negotiating terms for a job in Singapore. I'll be bringing my wife and my 16 month old daughter out with me.
We were doing some initial investigations into places to live, etc and we noticed that most of the options for nurseries for our daughter are very focused on a curriculum. We're big believers in her just playing and interacting at this age. Does anyone have advice on places that are a bit more laid back?
Thanks.

[Thaiclan]

Eton House at Mountbatten Rd was the best example we found of a very child-centred and play orientated facility. We looked extensively when we first arrived at nurseries that were part of larger schools, stand alone nurseries and montessori nurseries too. In the end we chose Eton House at Mountbatten Rd and our daughter was very happy there and never experienced a curriculum, test, learning outcome or schedule yet was constantly intrigued and engaged with the program. She learned numbers, letters and words and a very good amount of Mandarin which we were most surprised about. When she moved up to primary school she went off Mandarin instantly as it was "boring", which only highlighted how good her Mandarin instructor at Eton House was.

[piperboy]

Thanks for the info. I think i'm gravitating towards an East Coast condo, so that would be good. Still a uniform though. Seems a bit extreme for 2 year olds!

[dbenne22]

Hi,

We sent our 2 year old son to Colombus, which is a Chinese run school very close to Bayshore Park / The Bayshore / Costs Del Sol on the East Coast for about a year. The schooling was pretty good I have to say, they wore their bright yellow & blue uniforms and he learned to count to 10 etc.

Their fees were a problem though: they are focussed on your child (of any age) attending school 5 days per week from 8am to 3pm. We signed up for 2 mornings per week and after 6 months they hiked their fees by 70% to around $450 per month. We have now pulled him out and he's about to start Big School at One World International School now he's 3 years old.

Our second son is about to turn 18 months old. This time we are going to send him to a playgroup held at our local Community Centre in Bedok. It costs just $150 per month, no uniforms, just a group of children playing together under supervision. Hours are 9 - 11, 5 days per week (but we'll just send him 2 or 3 days and see how he goes).

Hey if you are considering East Coast condos may I suggest a cluster house at Summer Gardens or D'Manor ? You get a 5 bedroom house over 4 levels, a 2 car garage area and a wonderful community atmosphere. Rents have dropped back to about $5,000 per month. If you are interested PM me and I can put you in touch with an agent. We lived at Bayshore Park on the 29th floor for 18 months and found the place quite lonely and antisocial. In contrast Summer Gardens has proven to be the friendliest and most welcoming place we have ever lived.

[piperboy]

I need to post some more before i can send a pm but thanks so much for the advice, both about the housing and playgroup. That sounds like the right kind of accomodation for us and the right price.

We'd probably only looks to send or daughter to playgroup 2 or 3 days per week so that may be the best option.

I'll probably have a lot more questions once package negotiations and dates are firmer.