This is the third and last instalment of How I Chose Preschool.  In Part I, I touched on how preschool hunt is a very subjective matter and discussed some factors that I considered very important to me.  In Part II, I continue with many other factors of consideration.  In this 3rd part, I will touch on the actual steps and method I used for my preschool hunt.

Exactly How I Did My Preschool Hunt

1.Get a Listing and some recommendations

A very handy tool to have for doing Preschool hunt is the Young Parents magazine's Preschool Guide.  It contains a listing of a lot of preschools (kindergarten, childcare centres and enrichment centres) organised by area.  If the Preschool Guide is not available, pick up any issue of the Young Parents magazine.  There is a less extensive listing of preschools at the back of the magazine.  Besides these two, you can also rely on the Yellow pages for a listing of preschools.  However, the listing is by alphabetical order, so you will have to go through the whole list to pick out those that are within the area of your choice.

Other than listings, you can also get recommendations from friends.  Not every school is listed in the Preschool guides and the Yellow pages.  A lot of the popular schools don't advertise because they already have a long wait-list and don't need to advertise.  You might just come across some schools through word of mouth which are not listed.  Other than all these, you can also refer to MCYS website for a listing of childcare centres, or MOE website for a listing of kindergartens.  Enrichment centres are not covered in both lists.

2.Shortlist a few based on my critera

After going through the listings, I shortlisted a few based on my criteria.  E.g. I dropped all the centres that were situated at the void decks of HDB flats, and those situated in commercial buildings.  This left me with a less daunting list to follow up on.

3.Note pad and Pen!

I got a notepad and a pen.  Don't rely on pieces of scrap paper because you will need to refer back to the information and you probably won't be able to remember the details clearly once you start calling a number of schools, so don't just rely on your memory.

I wrote the names of the preschools and their addresses and contact numbers, one on each page, leaving a page or two of blank pages between each school.  This was to give me extra space to jot down extra information.

It will be handy to have a notebook with pockets for loose items too.  You will get lots of handouts and notes from the schools so it will be great to have such pockets to keep everything together securely.

4.Start calling and asking

Next, I started calling every school that I shortlisted.  I asked all the questions that I needed to ask and jot down all the information in the relevant pages.  This made it easier for me to refer back to my notes later on, especially when I actually visited the schools.