Category Archives: Children

Halloween Celebration@PAP

Amelia PAP Kindergarten will be celebrating Halloween tomorrow, 31 Oct 2008. We are spending time to dress up Amelia with a bit of Halloween taste.
The PAP Kindergarten will entertain them with tricks and food. It will be fun for the children as Asian do not celebrate this popular festival which origin from USA and Europe. The Kindergarten want the children to have fun and aware of this special occasion.
I wish all my blog readers a Happy Halloween Day.

Kuriya Dinning No Kids Policy

Kuriya Dinning is the latest restaurant on the list in Singapore that does not welcome kids under 6 to the restaurant. The reason cited is it want to provide comfort and good environment for it's dinners.
I am able to understand their concern as kids do create noise at dinning places. As a father, I like other parents will try to pacify our kids while dinning out. It still cannot be prevented as kids are very active and are excited when dinning outside.
All parents you do not need to worry as many restaurants still welcome kids to their places. Remember, families spending are much more than couples or other dinners. They also liven the atmosphere of the dinning place.

PAP Kindergarten Graduation Concert

Another major event, the Graduation Concert where Amelia will be performing on stage. Today and next Tue will be her final rehearsal together with the rest of the Woodlands PAP Kindergartens.. Every Parents has to pay $35 for their children to participate in the event.
She and others students has been practicing for the past few months and is looking forward for the performance. The whole Woodlands PAP Kindergartens will take part in the performance and it will be held at Woodlands Causeway Point.

Singapore Discovery Centre Outing

Amelia PAP Kindergarten will be bringing the students for an outing today. The outing cost SG$22 and many students has sign up for the trip.
Amelia work up early and is very excited about the trip. She will turn up at the Kindergarten as usual and will return at 2PM.
She has spend a wonderful day with her friends. This will be her last outing with the Kindergarten as she will be moving to the primary school education next year. The next function will be her graduation performance at the end of next month.

House near to Primary School

Many couples who buy house do not consider whether the house is within 1km to the nearest Primary School. It is an important criteria especially for couples who plan to start a family. It is only when I was enrolling my daughter for her Primary School that I realise how important it was.

My house was within 1km radius of her primary school. It was lucky that she got a position after going through the balloting. In this case, all applicants outside 1km of the school were disqualify. The unsuccessful applicants will have to look for another school which has vacancy. Only 5 Primary School need not go through the balloting process this year. There will be more pressure in the next few years. There are parents who buy resale flat within 1km of the school to boast their child chances of entering the school.

Hand, Food and Mouth Disease Spreads

The Hand, Food and Mouth Disease(HFMD) has started to spread and the Ministry of Health has ordered Two Pre-School Centre and Five Child Care Centre to closed for ten days. In addition, a further seven preschools and six childcare centres with sustained transmission will be advised to consider voluntary closure for 10 days. Closure of a centre will assist in breaking the transmission of HFMD cases and allow the centre to thoroughly clean the premises. It is most likely to affect working parents who have nobody to look after their kids.

We have called all parents to have contingency plans previously and I hope most of you are prepared for this crisis. It have happen in the Year 2000 and now it has resurface in year 2008. Together with the Ministry of Health, Parents, Pre-School Centre and Childhood Centre working together, we can break the spread of HFMD again. For more details, please visit the Ministry of Health website.

PAP Kindgarden Fees Raise

PAP Kindergarden will be raising their fees structure with effect from 1 July 2008. My daughter centre will be charging S$110 as it is an Air-Con Kindergarden. There will be no changes to the material fees cost.
The reason for the fees raised given by PCF are

  • rising operational cost
  • retaining qualified staffs
  • funding training programs for staffs
  • acquiring resources and equipments

Families who have financial diffiulty can apply for the KIFAS(Kindergarden Financial Assistance Scheme) to offset the kindergarden fees. This scheme is available for Singapore Citizens or children who are permanent residents of Singapore(PR) with at least one member of their immediate family a Singapore Citizen.

Hand, Food and Mouth Disease

PAP Kindergardens and other Child Care Center are on high alert now as the number of Hand, foot and Mouth disease (HFMD) is on the rise. All PAP kindergarden has always has temperature check before admitting the students for lesson.
More than 1,000 children fell ill last week, the highest number of weekly infection since 2001. HFMD is endemic in Singapore with children catching the virus almost daily. Symptoms include fever, a headache, sore throat and a red dash – usually on the limbs and in the mouth – that gives the illness its name.
All parents has also put contingency plan into action should child care center or kindergarden need to close down due to the HFMD. Previously, it happen and parents were at a loss of where to send their children to when Ministry of Health decided to close down a child care center to disinfect the place. So if parents are both working, you must have a plan should this happen again so that it will not affect your work schedule.

Drawing Contest

There was another funfilled function organised by the RC Committe today. My daughter attended a drawing contest. She also get free coupons from her PAP kindergarden to attend the events. You get free food, goodie bags and play games. It is to help residents to bond in the Admiralty area. Prime Minister Lee also visited this community event and my daughter was lucky enough to shake hands with him. A rare and special moment. My son, Brian shook hands with our MP, Ellen Lee.
Admiralty RC and PAP Kindergarden has always team up to organise major community events. If you attracted the children, then the parents and neighbours will all be coming. A good strategy as employed by MacDonald.

Abacus Course

Amelia attended his first Abacus Mental Arithmetic class at the Admiral Garden Community Center. The course cost about S$98 and it was fully booked. An additional S$17 is charged for the materials and an abacus.
The abacus system of mental calculation is a system where users mentally visualize an abacus to do calculations. No physical abacus is used; only the answers are written down.
This system is being propagated in China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan. Mental calculation is said to improve mental capability, increases speed of response, memory power, and concentration power. Many veteran and prolific abacus users in China, Japan, South Korea, and others who use the abacus daily, naturally tend to not use the abacus anymore but perform calculations by visualizing the abacus

Religious Sites Tour

My child, Amelia Jang PAP Kindergarden is organising a tour around the Woodlands area to visit the four main religious sites on next Tuesday, 19 Feb 2008. The objective of the field trip is to further extend their teaching on the different types of religious places/buildings where people worship according to their beliefs/religions. The children are given the opportunity to understand and see the different places and structures of religious building. It cost S$5 and covers snack and transportation.