Raffles Kidz International | Best Preschool Singapore | Gallery
Raffles Kidz International | Best Preschool Singapore | Gallery

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

If you have any questions that are not covered here, please contact us or book a school tour!

General

We started in 2014 and we are currently operating 7 branches. Our first branch is at Yio Chu Kang, followed by Bukit Panjang in 2015, Punggol in 2016, and Jurong West (Yuan Ching) in 2018. In 2023, we opened 3 new branches at Ang Mo Kio, Yishun and Jurong West (Surbana Jurong Campus).

Our centre locations:

Find a Raffles Kidz preschool near you today.

Yes, we operate all our centres under the same management team with the same curriculum and programmes. We are not a franchise.
Our centres are open from Mondays to Fridays, 7am to 7pm. Classes are held from 8.30am to 5pm.

We have two preschool programmes: Early Dismissal (7am-5.30pm) & Full Day (7am-7pm). Fees are before GST.

For Singaporean children, a basic subsidy of $300 is given to working mothers/single fathers who work a minimum of 56 hours per month and a subsidy of $150 for non-working mothers/single fathers.

For infant care, it is only available at our Jurong West (Yuan Ching) centre and we have two programmes: Early Dismissal (7am-5.30pm) & Full Day (7am-7pm). Fees are before GST.

  • Early Dismissal: $2,200 
  • Full Day: $2,100

For Singaporean children, a basic subsidy of $600 is given to working mothers/single fathers who work a minimum of 56 hours per month and a subsidy of $150 for non-working mothers/single fathers.

Only our Jurong West (Yuan Ching) centre offers Infant care. For details, please contact us or book a school tour.

Yes, we are licensed to run the centres by ECDA, the regulatory body for child care businesses in Singapore.

SPARK is a quality framework used to assess and award preschools, but it is not required by all preschools to undergo SPARK certification. Having a SPARK certification is not a mandatory process for all preschools in Singapore. A school can, however, voluntarily apply for SPARK certification. Our centres, although not all SPARK certified, already far exceeded SPARK requirements, i.e. teacher-student ratio, Montessori and project curriculum, learning environment, outdoor playground, and centre equipment. Our Yio Chu Kang centre is SPARK certified and we are undergoing certification for the rest of our centres.

Yes, foreigners relocating to Singapore may enrol their children at Raffles Kidz. If required, we will initiate the process with the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority of Singapore for the Student Pass application. Thereafter, a Registration Acknowledgement Letter will be emailed to the applicant for online application.

Admission process involves 3 basic steps:

 

  1. Book a school tour to find out if Raffles Kidz is the perfect fit for your child;
  2. Complete the registration by making a deposit equivalent to one-month school fees, paying a one-month advanced school fee and registration fee, and submitting the enrolment form and required documents;
  3. Receive a welcome letter and invitation detailing things you need to prepare for your child’s first day in school.
    For more details, please contact us.
Enrolment is open all year round, depending on availability. Registration may be done up to 12 months before your child’s intended enrolment date.

As per ECDA regulations, programmes for different age groups must have sufficient provision of qualified teaching staff to meet the minimum teacher-child ratios as follows:

  • Infant: 1:5
  • Pre-Nursery: 1:8
  • Nursery 1: 1:12
  • Nursery 2: 1:15
  • Kindergarten 1: 1: 20
  • Kindergarten 2: 1:25

At Raffles Kidz, we operate with more favourable teacher-child ratios for better attention to and teaching quality for our children. The ratios for different age groups are on average as follows:

Our class size always follows the teacher-child ratio for the age group and is generally capped at 20+.

For example, if there are 18 children in the Pre-Nursery age group and our teacher-child ratio is on average 1: 6, the class will be staffed with 3 teachers.
Yes, there is a waitlist for every centre. In order to be put on the official school waitlist, you will need to pay the waitlist fee. When an existing child withdraws, the school will contact the next parent on the waitlist. We will, however, give priority to siblings or enrolled students who have requested to commence school earlier. If you choose to reject a slot given to you within three months from your desired start date, the waitlist fee will be forfeited. If we are unable to offer you a slot within three months from your desired start date, we will refund the waitlist fee in full.
Yes, we provide breakfast, lunch and snacks. All our meals are prepared by our in-house chef who has undergone a basic food handling and hygiene course. We do not serve pork, lard, beef and nuts, and we try our best to source halal ingredients. We rotate our menu every quarter.

Curriculum

We offer a comprehensive curriculum that uses the Montessori and Inquiry-based approaches and caters to the holistic development of the whole child. Read more about our pedagogy here.

For the Montessori Method, it is applied to our English and Math classes in which every child has a checklist of skills which they will master. Once the child completes the level, the child will move on to the next checklist. (i.e. your child might be at N1, but doing N2 work.) The Montessori lessons are conducted 1-1, while the rest of the class will be doing other activities with the other teachers.

As for the Inquiry-Based approach, we focus on teaching our children critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Children are given a theme and they engage in discussions as well as ask questions. Teachers then use these questions to provide materials for children to self-explore and find answers through the teacher’s guidance. At the end of each project theme, children will have a showcase (exhibition/auction/performance) where parents will be invited to see their final products.

Our curriculum is a bilingual programme with equal emphasis to both English and Mandarin through an Immersion Model. Our interactive and immersive bilingual environment, where teachers interact with children in both English and Chinese, paves the way for children to become naturally bilingual.
We introduce this in the last quarter of Kindergarten 2 as they will fully master reading through the English phonetic approach by Term 3. Hanyu Pinyin has letter sounds that do not exist in English Phonics e.g. “zh”. Children tend to get confused if Hanyu Pinyin is introduced before they are fluent in Phonics.
Yes, we currently have 4 enrichment classes: Talented Performer, Creative Artist, Gourmet Chef and Project Explorer. All are included in the Full Day/Early Dismissal programme fees.
Yes, we have a Fun and Fitness programme that takes place daily for all levels, held indoors and outdoors, and typically lasts between 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on their level.
Children who join us from the younger age group will have a strong foundation and progress to Primary One seamlessly. We also have a transition preparatory program for our K2s to ensure they are ready for Primary School. For children who join us late into the school programme, i.e. at 5 years old, we will do our best to help them get ready for primary one.

Teachers

Our teaching staff are certified by ECDA and qualified early childhood professionals holding Degrees or Diplomas in the Early Childhood discipline. 
Chinese teachers are a combination of local and foreign teachers from China and Malaysia. English teachers are a combination of local and foreign teachers from the Philippines & Malaysia. All of them are ECDA-certified with early childhood professional qualifications.