Moving to Singapore

[Nic]

We are currently weighing up the pros and cons of a move to Singapore.

We have a 2.5year old who is due to start pre-nursery 5 mornings a week in September in a full Mandarin programme. To us it is very important that if we move that she also attends a Mandarin medium pre-nursery in Singapore. Long shot but..... does anyone have any recommendations??

Equally would be VERY grateful for any advice on where to live.

There seems to be plenty of schools etc in Singapore, I feel a little overwhelmed as to where to start.

Thanks in advance

 

[southside852]

we moved to singapore last september from hong kong with our then 20 month year old. it's an easy transition as singapore is much sterile, low key and less hectic than hong kong. it's healthier living as the air quality is much better. the schools systems are very strong, but i've heard from other locals that the international stream is indeed stronger. the local system tends to be very bureaucratic, a bit disorganzied and the administration is not as strong as the international ones. My 2.5 year old will be starting a bi-lingual nursery this fall in central on grange road. it's a mix of local and international children.

for us, we miss hong kong a lot as we are originally from manhattan. we love city life, the pace and energy which at times singapore lacks. living in singapore is like living in the suburbs - it's spread out and is not as densely populated as hk is.

if you have any other questions, feel free pm me.

 

[weishy]

u can try julia gabriel its a enrichment school where my girl used to attend n she enjoys their programme loads.better than those in hkg

 

[yonge]

Our elder son was attending Newton Kindergarten which is supposed to be 50/50 English/Mandarin, but it's definitely a more well-to-do student body, so much of the children came from English-speaking homes. We opted when we moved back to put them both into a more local community kindergarten run by the Metropolitan YMCA. As we are an English-speaking household ourself, we were more concerned with putting them into a Mandarin speaking environment. The MYMCA offers full-day as well as half-day from 18 months onward. For the full-day session, they'll take care of teaching the children to potty-train, bath, eat, nap, etc. I think they're a complete God-send they really helped to create a structure/routine for my younger son. The MYMCA has branches all over the island, but the student body reflects the local community, so if you want more Mandarin, bring them to one closer to the heartland!