Review: Sunflower preschool at Clementi (Sep 2021)

I had withdrawn H from Sunflower at Clementi in Sep 2021.

Contrary to the positive experience that I had when he was in IFC, the horror started when he was doing the transition to PG (aka moving upstairs to the toddler class).

The negative experience was probably due to the resignation of both his teachers who had been with him throughout his IFC days, and it prompted him to display anxiety while in school. The teachers informed that he was crying at the doorsteps every day when the IFC teachers brought him to transit to the PG class.

Regrettably, he started to bite his classmates. We were told of this when he first bit the little child and were encouraged to talk to him and explain that biting is bad.

The days went by and once in a while, we would hear of the biting issues. However, the issues were only flagged out when my mum went to fetch him and there were communication issues as my mum couldn't understand much English. It didn't help that I had fractured my foot during that period and H was separated from me for quite a period of time.

One day, I suddenly received a whatsapp msg from the principal and was informed that there was a complaint and H would be suspended for 2 weeks with immediate effect. *Claps* This is the first time that I have heard of a suspension of a 1.5 year old kid.

My hubby was very pissed with the way they had delivered the news and how they had expected us to look for alternative arrangements. On the other hand, I was secretly looking forward to spending some much needed time with H even though I know the logistics was going to be tough.

To be honest, I think the 2 weeks break did help to break his habit of biting and there were almost no more complaints after that break. However, what they did was a little unacceptable to us as it defeated the purpose of us putting H in school. Allegedly, H was put under the care of the cook so that he would not bite the other kids. Otherwise, he would be in the older children's class if the cook is unavailable. This was in line with what they had informed us as the interim arrangement.

We were concerned about H's development as being taken away from the class is akin to punishment and H couldn't even voice his opinions/views because of his speech delay, and we made the decision to switch him to a private pre-school.

There was also the fact that his then teacher kept telling us that H couldn't identify the colours and numbers and asked us to reinforce the learning at home. However, there was this glaring gap where they failed to share what they have learnt in school, and that the communication booklet was empty ever since he was promoted to PG.

In summary, pick Sunflower pre-school if your kid is obedient and easy-going, on a budget, and if you do not have much expectations from the teachers.

To sum up:

Pros:

Very affordable (under POP scheme and do not charge GST)
Convenient location
No extra enrichment fees required
Aircon environment
Low student intake (less chance for Covid exposure)

Cons:

Inexperienced teachers with high turnover rate (tho the chinese teacher for the PG class was better than the main teacher at that point in time)
Staff shortage
No school on Saturdays
Ineffective management

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