Abacus is the ESF kindergarten, and one of the big attractions is kids who go there get priority to the ESF school. At least kids who get admitted this year will. The curriculum is play-based and the teachers are all qualified. I applied this year for my son, did the parents orientation and "play date" (their version of interview). I was impressed, even more so that they didn't interview my child but let both of us play. that said, their curriculum is very oriented towards learning through play, so you should be okay with that. I also like that their admission process is random, after you are put in the native english category, it's based on lucky draw which I think is fairer than scoring a child based on some perceived intelligence. Even though this resulted in my own kid being put on a waiting list. In the end, I chose another kindergarten for my child as it looked like he'd only get a PM session, but if it had been AM, it would be my top choice.