Can the moderator pls explain why the entire thread is being deleted? Is this at the request of Mindchamps?


Viewers of the forum are all mature individuals who are capable of own judgment and take responsibility for their own comments. Why the removal of this long running thread which has a lot of information and feedback?

From the forum posts, it looks like pats and mindchamps are all raising fees very soon. I’m sure parents who believe that paying the most equals to getting the best will continue to support the business owners of mindchamps and pats.


For those parents who are going for value-for-money quality childcare services, which i think most cherie hearts parents are, are there any specific centres which are raising fees next year?

Even if the govt steps in today and say we will pay for all rents and salaries of childcares, will their fees be drastically reduced overnight?


Economics 101 says not a chance.

The company has shareholders and investors. They expect the company to grow and generate increasing profits. Since the company has already demonstrated that its childcare services can command a premium in Singapore (and there is no lack of demand) why will their shareholders give up any rental/salary savings and return it to the parents?

This is just basic capitalism at work after all. Nothing right or wrong. The same will apply for all other childcares.

You will be surprised. Many of these jobs are sourced through manpower or job agencies. Do you think they will bump up their salaries just because the hiring is for the expensive schools?


Think of it the other way. If the super premium schools are indeed paying significantly higher than market rates, then every preschool teacher will want to work for them. Being profit maximising, given huge supply of teachers these schools have access to, they simply need not bid high (salaries to teachers they offer), and their offered salary can come down.

So laws supply and demand will naturally ensure that the pay differences are not much, if at all.

A large proportion of fees parents pay goes to paying for the \"brand\", which explains why some childcare/preschools can charge significantly higher than their competitors. Their cost accruing to teachers salaries and rentals are largely similar across the industry.

micollh:

is there a difference btw a pat's school teacher and say Cherrie heart teacher's pay ?

Dear fellow parents, for this coming year end concert that are held at external venues, how much are your kids’ preschools charging per ticket?


Does the ticket cost includes food, photos and videos?

Do you feel it is value for money?

Thanks for sharing!

My colleague was shopping around for nursery in the bishan area. At one branded childcare centre, he was casually asking if they had infantcare services(he has a baby in 6 months time but he didn’t mention this). The teacher told him that infant care is not as profitable and only childcare can make money for the owner, so focusing on childcare only is more worthwhile.


Isn’t infantcare charging much higher in fees already? So is the lower profit the reason why few childcare centres want to provide infantcare? Notwithstanding the owners need to make a living, I kind of find it disturbing that profits and not passion is almost the sole objective that motivates the private operators.

The other air conditioned cherie hearts nearby is at midview city.

My boy in fact started learning letterland when he was only in play group 1. I was actually very impressed by letterland because the system is very interesting and worked very well for him. When I was younger, I never learnt phonics this way. We bought the letterland cd too as he loved the songs and we wanted to continue reinforcing the phonics teaching at home. It was actually very fun to watch him sing and dance, reciting the phonics at that very young age.

For parents who have already been through the pre-school days and with kids now in primary schools (Singapore schools), can you share your comments on your kid's previous preschool and their curriculum - specifically if they have prepared your child properly for the Singapore education system? (not discussing the international or foreign schools system here)


Nowadays, there are so many pre-schools and childcare centres with many learning methods. Parents currently at the pre-school stage will benefit greatly from those parents who have been through the process and seen the results when your kids reach primary school. For many of us, it can be too late by the time our kids reach primary, so advance sharing/opinions can really matter a lot.

For example, for children previously in an environment which is \"child-led\" and focused mainly on play and little on structured curriculum, do they adapt well in primary school? If given a choice going back in time, would you have sent your child to the same pre-school?

Open house for CherieHearts this weekend. I saw they are offering 15% discount on fees, but pls check out directly with their school as I cant be sure.


http://www.facebook.com/cherieheartsnurtureloft

Tea session? They are providing free tea, treats, goodie bags and children activities. Hmmm, looks like Patricia Koh their new CEO is injecting some interesting ideas.