nursery options

3 days ago, i started to do some research on schooling options for Joel. I got a shock even though i knew that international schools here are very expensive - more expensive than those in Singapore. From nursery/kindergarten level at SAS, it is already more than US$20,000/year (tuition fees here). Even the Singapore International School (SSIS) , the somewhat "local" international schools (YCIS) and the "better" non-international schools (Fortune Kindergarten) are very expensive!!! When i divide by 12 months, it ranges from S$1300-$1800 PER MONTH for international schools, and S$900-$1000/month for the non-international schools. I felt so disappointed... :(
(My friend who works at an International School Singapore says their nursery is cheaper at S$12,000/year)

The following day, i found a 2006 map of our Luwan district and saw a list of Nursery/Kindergarten inside. It was great coz it meant they'll be near our house, and i wouldnt have to spend extra money on school bus or cab fares (4 trips, if i were to fetch Joel to/from school). Hopefully, there was something within walking distance coz Luwan is so big. I called the 15 schools on that list. Some numbers were no longer in use...but it's ok since there's so many anyway.

It was then when i hung up the phone that i realized that schooling in Shanghai is indeed THAT EXPENSIVE!!! Such bad news! These neighbourhood nurseries are charging ¥3800-¥4800/month, approximately S$760-$960/month!!! And the prices goes up at every level - K1 & K2. All prices excludes meals (about ¥10/day) and school bus (about ¥400-600/month). For these schools, an English teacher will come in once/twice a week. Most of the teachers can speak English, but it's not in their job scope to teach that.

I've short-listed a few of the ¥3800 schools within 5-10 minutes walking distance from our house, and we'll go take a look within the next few months. 1 of the school is also offering a half-day nursery at ¥2300/S$460 (which i kinda prefer not becoz of its price)...but the class is full for now.

Ahyi also gave me the telephone number of her niece's school which she said is not bad too...and it's quite near our house. (She said she saw big & nice cars waiting outside the school. Haha!) I called...and it's unbelievably cheap (compared to the rest of the local schools i called)!!! It's like a ray of hope - ¥880/S$180 month for full-day nursery. (If you want to pick up your child earlier, it's also at the same price) We'll take a look at that too.

I hope we can find something that we like and also reasonably good. I'm at a lost what is a reasonable amount to pay for nursery.