16.Lease & Permit

This, unfortunately, happened to us the first time round.  The first school that we sent Dominic to lost the lease to the building that they were using right before Dominic started school and we were only notified of it on Dominic's very first day in school.  They had to move to another location, which is even further away from our house, and from a bungalow to a few units within a commercial building.  This meant a lot of changes, e.g., no more outdoor time and constant exposure to bad air circulating within the building's air-condition system.

We were, of course, extremely unhappy with the school for not informing us about the possibility of moving before we signed up.  A school in a commercial building was exactly what we didn't want, plus the fact that travelling time was going to be longer.

This was why we had to change school, and why I had to do a intensive course in Preschool Hunt within one month.  Because of this, I made sure I asked about the outstanding lease and permit of all the schools I checked out. 

If the school you are interested in is operation from a landed property within an estate, if it is possible, try to find out about the school's relationship with the neighbours.  A lot of people are totally against having a preschool right where they live due to the noise and parking issues.  If the scomplain enough, the school might just lose its permit to operate from that location.

17.Student-teach ratio and vacancies

No point picking a dream school if that school has no more vacancies!!  Some popular schools have a long wait list.  So if you are in a hurry and can't afford to be put on the wait list, you will have to find somewhere else.

The other thing is to ask about the student-teacher ratio, as well as the number of students currently in the class.  The ratio is stipulated by MOE/MCDS and I believe it could be different for different centres (as in enrichment centres vs childcare centres).  Check out the Ministries' website for more information on this.  As for the number of students in the class, it is important to know because the school may fulfill the student-teacher ratio but still have a large class.  E.g. 15 kids to 2 teachers could be the stipulated maximum, but there is nothing stopping the centres from having 30 kids and 4 teachers all in one room!  

Yet another thing you may want to take note of is the current enrolment of the school.    The fact is that a lot of childcare centres cease operation or change hands.  If the school enrolment is very low, I will have this nagging fear that it will not be sustainable, which means sooner or later, the school may close or go through a change of management.  I don't mean that a low enrolment school will definitely fold or change hands.  The enrolment may pick up later on.  But this is just one possibility that you may want to take into account, especially if you are not exactly keen on too much uncetainty and changes happening while your child is in the school.  When there is a change of management, be prepared for at least 6 months of chaos.  You may also find all the teachers changed - which could be quite a rude shock for your child - and the teaching methods and philosophy changed too.

18.Availability of trial class or trial period

Most schools will have trial class or trial period for a new child to try out the school.  Some charge for trial class while others don't.  Most of them will waive the fee for trial class if you eventually sign up with them.  However, there are some schools that do not have trial period.  This means that you will have to actually sign up at the class, buy all the uniform and such, and when you finally decide that the school is not the right one for you, you need to submit one month's notice of withdrawal.  This is troublesome and a waste of money.