[Above: (left) Ms Cheryl Tan's children, Claire, 6, and Marc, 3, transferred from another preschool to Lorna Whiston Pre-School. (right) Mrs Irene Lee's son, Werner, is attending Pat's Schoolhouse.]

Parents in pursuit of branded preschools

Popular preschools have such long waiting lists that some parents are registering their kids even before they are delivered.

For some parents, success starts in the womb.

Her second child, whom she plans to name Isaac, will be born only next month, but Mrs Irene Lee, 33, has already decided which school he will attend when he turns 18 months old - even if that is almost two years away.

She chose Pat's Schoolhouse, which her four-year-old son, Werner, is already attending.

She intends to sign her newborn up when registration begins at the end of this year.

Speaking about her advanced planning, she explains that she believes children's formative years are crucial.

"At this age, they absorb beyond what you think they can. My son Werner came back one day and told me the sun is a star," she says with a note of surprise in her voice.

Housewife Daphne Chia, in her 30s, thought she was "well-prepared" when she tried to register her 11/2-year-old son, Aaron, at St. James' Church Kindergarten (Leedon campus) in 2009.

What she didn't expect was that the 11/2-year lead time was not enough to secure a spot in the popular kindergarten.

"They told me there were more than 100 people on the waiting list, and I realised that people go to the school once they have the child's birth certificate to register,"she says with a wry laugh.

Fortunately, her son, Aaron, now three, eventually secured a spot in the school's newly-opened third session, which runs from 2.30pm to 5.30pm on weekdays.

He started school in January last year.

The annual fees for St. James' nursery to kindergarten classes is about $3,080.

The experiences of these two mothers are not uncommon.

About four years ago, Ms Cheryl Tan tried to get her daughter, Claire, then two, a place at the Lorna Whiston Pre-School.

It was about four months before she was due to start pre-nursery, but the school had already run out of places, she says.

"My friends had already warned me I should have registered earlier, but I thought it was a little absurd,"she adds.

"When I didn't get a place, I thought, serves me right," she says with a chuckle.

Her two children, Claire, six, and Marc, three, have since transferred from another preschool to Lorna Whiston after being offered places some time last year.

For Mrs Lee, having Werner in Pat's Schoolhouse gives her priority.

Mrs Lee started looking at schools only around the time she wanted her older son, then 11/2 years old, to enrol in one, which typically would mean she was too late.

"But I got lucky," she says, noting that many parents were unable to get their kids in.

She had found out that Pat's Schoolhouse had vacancies at a weekly story club they operate - and this gave her priority in enrolment in the preschool.

So she signed up, and shortly after, secured a spot for her son.

The competition for a place in prestigious commercial preschools is fierce - 13 out of Pat's Schoolhouse' 15 centres are running at maximum capacity.

The larger centres can accept up to 300 students.

"The number of parents on the waiting list varies from month to month, but some centres such as the one located at Serangoon, typically have waiting lists of over 300 parents," says Ms Patricia Koh, founder of Pat's Schoolhouse.

During the year, places do become available for certain classes when children transfer out of the school.

At Etonhouse Preschool, the waiting time for a place in their pre-nursery and nursery classes, which cater to 18-month-olds to three-year-olds is one to two years.

It does not matter that the annual fees the school charges ranges from $13,400 to $23,590, depending on factors such as the location of the campus, duration of the school session and the children's ages.

"We have parents register even before their child is born to ensure that he or she has a place and so that they do not have to go through a waiting list," says Mrs Ng Gim Choo, founder of Etonhouse Preschool.

In contrast, attending a kindergarten run by the PAP Community Foundation costs about $1,200 a year for Singaporeans.

The steep prices do not deter parents, say "branded" preschools.

She explains that at Etonhouse, the child-to-teacher ratio does not exceed 15:1, ensuring that the children and their families get "personalised" attention.

In addition, teachers at the school hold bachelor's and masters degrees, and hail from all over the world.

The curriculum, designed in-house by the school, is also based on research on how toddlers learn best.

Impressed by the large playground and wide spaces available for children to run about, Ms Casey Yong, 33, registered her son, Enzo, for a place at Etonhouse last year, when he was just eight months old.

He will begin attending the school in August this year, when he turns 11/2 years old. Ms Yong expects to pay up to $24,000 a year when her son starts school.

"I feel it's not knowledge that I want to implant in him. It's about having him have an inquisitive mind for the rest of his life, and a thirst to learn, which I feel Eton does well to fuel," says the housewife.

This article was first published in The New Paper.

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