Choosing Student Care Centre

Registration to Primary School, done.

That is not the end of the story.

As we are full-time-working parents without helper, and we do not want to trouble our parents, one big challenge we face is to look for student care service for our children after school hours.

Initially, one of the factors for the choice of primary school was the availability of school-based student care centre. However, after speaking to a supervisor of one of the school-based centres, I realise that it is not on first-come-first-serve basis. Students from low income families or with challenging family situations would have the priority. In addition, the centre can inform the applicants whether the application is successful only by late November. So if our application is not successful, then it would be too late to look for another student care centre, since the few centres near our place may not have any more vacancies.

So we decided to look for student care centres outside the school. Now then I know that there are centres that are community-based, operated by Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWO). I was thankful to find one near the school our child is going to attend. 

Though the fee it charges is higher than the school-based one, the whole centre is air-conditioned, and has bathroom facilities. Being operated by VWO, the students may get to go on outings with organisations that offer community involvement service.

We brought Pei Pei there recently, it seems that she enjoyed her interaction with the teachers and potential classmates. 

Factors for the choice of student care centre for our children:

Proximity from school

Note that the centre may not offer to fetch the child from the school if the school is too far from the centre. Then the parents would have to arrange school bus.

Teachers

Loving and caring teachers are the pillars to a good school / student care centre. 

Environment

Since the children would be doing their school homework there, the classrooms must be bright enough. It is also preferable to have shower facilities, so that the children can freshen up after hours of lessons in school, especially if there is physical education lesson in the morning. 

School Fee

Our wallets are "private limited", not able to afford school fee that is too high.

If you are sending your children to student care centre, what are the factors that affect your choice?

Our Primary One Preparation Series:

• 10 Tips for Preparing Children for Primary One
• Primary School Registration
• Handling / Counting Money
• Telling Time
• High Frequency and Sight Words

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