
Day care centres provide full-day and half-day care programmes to children below the age of 7 years. Some centres offer flexible child care programmes to cater to the diverse work arrangements of parents who work part-time of flexible hours. If you have to put your child at the child care centre, it is important that you choose the right one for him/her. Here are some tips to help you.
1) When finding a centre use your search engine with optimal keywords such as Day care centre Singapore, Child care centre Singapore to locate a child care centre that is most convenient for you. Some search engines will even help you find the ones nearest to your location.
2) Pick a centre near your home or workplace.
3) Enquire about the meal plans that are being served in the day care centre and make sure it provides healthier food options that meet dietary requirements and teaches your child the importance of healthy eating. Also make sure that the cooking staffs are trained on healthier methods of preparing meals.
4) Make an appointment to visit the centre to recce first hand where you are putting your child to school. This way you can also observe the interactions between the children and the teachers, as well as the structure of the centre.
5) Speak to other parents who are picking up their children from school and ask them for their personal review and experience with the school thus far.
6) Check out the curriculum framework as well as the lesson plans the schools will be using to educate your children.
7) Check the school's license and credibility. A 24-month licence means that the centre has a high standard of care while a 12-month licence means that the centre has met the minimum standard. Centres which have attained the Singapore Pre-School Accreditation Framework (SPARK) offer kindergarten programmes with high quality standards endorsed by the Ministry of Education.
All the best!