Protecting Little Fingers

We occasionally hear horror stories of children getting their fingers caught in closing doors. Fortunately most of these accidents do not result in permanent damage, but the experience itself is accompanied by extreme pain and distress.

To minimise the possibility of such accidents, we installed Finger Alert strips on the doors. Finger Alert protects little fingers from being pinched at the hinge side of doors.

Mrs Poh marks out the point where the Finger Alert strips are to be installed.

With Ms Wong's help, the strip is affixed to the door and door frame.

Finger Alert is made of a flexible PVC strip that encloses both sides of the hinge ends of doors, so that young children do not inadvertently place their fingers where they might be caught by a closing door.

Finger Printed

We placed an order for a Biometric Access System a while back, so with the premises ready, we called in the vendors to do the installation.

The technicians lay the wiring and accessories for the biometric access system at the main entrance to our first level.

We asked the technicians to install the external fingerprint reader at a height that is as low as practicable without making it awkward for adults. This is because we also wanted to let children have fun using the fingerprint reader, if possible. The playgroup children though, will have to be carried so that their fingers can reach the reader.

On the inside though, the exit release button is installed above the stipulated child-safe height, so children cannot release the magnetic lock and run out on their own.

Once the installation is completed, the technicians guide our staff to store their fingerprints in the system memory. Xiao Laoshi helps Aunty Chai Hong in getting her fingerprints recorded.

The Biometric Access System will help us to ensure that only authorised people are able to enter the interior of the premises on their own, and is one of the measures that we have put in place to enhance the safety and security of children under our care.

Display Boards

With the furnitures unpacked, the teachers began working to transform the space into the learning environment that we are more familiar with. We decided to start decorating the display boards, in accordance with the educational theme of Plants for the months of April and May. With Ms Wong back, we are now operating at full force based on our initial staffing plan.

The teachers started conceptualising the design of the display board on Monday afternoon, ran out quickly to Popular to acquire the necesssary materials, came back and immediately got to work.

Even then, it took them till Tuesday afternoon to complete the two boards for the Nursery 1 class, where the focus will be on the things that we find "in the garden". Once we have children enrolled, the display boards will then have a larger component of children's work.

And with Xiao Laoshi here, we have the Chinese language represented on the boards too. So it's one class display board completed, and four more to go!

Over the weekend, with Ms Kiang's assistance, we managed to unpack and assemble all the furnitures, and distribute them to the various classrooms. They include toy shelves, cubbies, shoe racks, tables and chairs, book display shelves, teachers' cupboards, a selection which we can see here.

The big shoe rack is one of the heaviest items, but even the smaller one was backbreaking.

New cubby shelves for the children to put their bags and all sorts of barang-barang that they bring to school.

Good news teachers. You get new cupboards too!

It Takes a Village 1

Mrs Jen Hoult, mother of William, Edward and Lachlan, described Mothergoose as a "community for those of us with children who attend it." Looking back, we were really fortunate at Mothergoose to be able to rely on the goodwill and network of relationships with parents and families, that have been built up over a period of 26 years.

Orion Preschool, while inheriting a large chunk of the Mothergoose DNA, will now embark on a journey to build a name for ourselves. As we tread along a path that is unfamiliar and at times daunting, it gives us great comfort and encouragement when old friends turn up along the way to cheer us on, be it in terms of material, physical, or even just words of support.

Even before the dust has settled on the renovation works, we had an impromptu morning visit from Mrs Khee and Evann. Evann was previously attending Nursery One at Mothergoose, before the school ceased operating. Making their way carefully between piles of construction debris and tins of paint, they thus became our first visitors to tour the school premises!

Evann posing for a photo with mummy in front of the school building. Like many parents, Mrs Khee has always kept in touch with messages of support and encouragement throughout this time.

A few parents have informed us that they will be contributing used toys, books and even kitchen equipment to the new school. Mr Yong, father of Ryan and Keith, patiently waited more than a month for our premises to be ready, and then personally delivered the materials to the school last week.

Mr Yong brought a whole carload of things that Ryan and Keith have outgrown, including furnitures, toys, books and DVDs. It'll take us some time to sort through these stuff!

Fortunately (or unfortunately), Mr Yong arrived just before the lorry came to deliver our new school furnitures, and was therefore unwittingly roped in to help unload the packages from the lorry. As the delivery was confirmed at short notice, we had only managed to find another gentleman to come and assist with the heavy lifting. Interestingly, Wee Siong, who readily answered the call for help, also has links with Mothergoose. He is the uncle of two Mothergoose alumni.

BEFORE: Our unloading crew, posing quite happily before the lorry came. They still don't know what's to come! From left: Xiao Laoshi, Mrs Poh, Mr Yong, Wee Siong.

AFTER: Spot the difference. The same team, after unloading 46 packages from the lorry.

These are just part of the 46 packages. How did preschool furnitures become so huge and heavy?

There will be many more parents and families to acknowledge and thank by the time we get our licence to operate. But, even if you just happen to be in this area, do pop in and say hello!

The joy of labour

After cleaning the rooms yesterday, we turned our attention to the toys, which have been sitting in their boxes for the past sixteen months, patiently waiting for the day when they will see the light again. Today is the day!

It is a bit unusual to see someone so delighted to be sitting in a children's toilet, washing box after box of toys, but that's Mrs Poh. The toys are soaked in a disinfecting solution, and then laid out to be aired.

Aunty finished up her kitchen work with Xiao Laoshi, and came to help out with the wooden toys, which cannot be soaked in water and hence needed to be wiped piece by piece. Fortunately we had a visit from Ms Leong, who came over immediately after work and proceeded to help out with the toys.

Even the chairs had their layers of dust washed off - ready to be called into service.

But work is never done, and there's still a mountain of stuff to sort through, with more still to come from the "remote holding area".

Oh well, let's not be too greedy. We did get a whole load of toys cleaned up by the end of the day. Well done, ladies!

Caution - Cleaning crew at work

We really wanted to start cleaning up earlier, but there were still too many workers moving in and out on a daily basis. Fortunately, the renovation work is starting to wind down, so our preparation begins in earnest from this day.

Our three "cleaners", all of whom are Mothergoose stalwarts, made their long way from Punggol to the school nice and early in the morning, and set about sweeping, mopping and wiping - with loads of enthusiasm. Slow down, ladies. It's only Day One!

The staff who will get the school going from the beginning. From left - Xiao Laoshi, Mrs Poh and Aunty Chai Hong (Ms Wong is absent, will be back next week).

Show Me A Sign

The completion of the fire escape staircase brings us to the tail end of the renovation works. Now we're left with minor touching up works, as well as painting and cleaning by the contractor. It is thus appropriate that we announce our presence to the neighbourhood by putting up our (temporary) banner.

From our past experiences, childcare facilities invariably get a mixed reception, with some considering it as a boon, while others view it as a bane to the neighourhood. We'll just have to work hard to be good neighbours!

Our new logo is experiencing prolonged pains of labour. As such we will have to make do with a temporary banner, until the logo design can be finalised for a permanent signboard to be made and erected.

The external painting work is progressing nicely. On this side, we can see how our chosen colour combination is panning out.

Another view from the back of the building.

A song about colours

Earlier we were given a colour chart to select the colours of the exterior and interior walls, as well as some of the other elements such as doors, windows and the steel staircase. We decided to go with a blue theme for the exterior walls, while the interiors will be predominantly white.

It's so hard to make a decision when there are so many options, but once we narrowed down to the blues, things became a little more straightforward. It's impossible to go wrong with colours named Smooth Sailing, Winning Streak and Great Outdoors.

The painters have been working on the interiors over the past couple of weeks, but now it's time to start painting the external walls. Before that, the years of accumulated dirt and grime are washed away with a jet spray.

And in place of the old creamy/beigy combination, we'll soon have refreshing blue!

Even the classroom doors are blue! And they come with a small viewing panel so that anxious parents can take a secret peek into the classroom to check if their children are doing fine.

In most of the indoor areas, we are using the existing marble/homogeneous floor tiles. However, due to the poor condition of the flooring in the N1 classroom, it is necessary to lay another layer of vinyl over it.

This time, we resisted the temptation to add another splash of blue. Instead, Ms Wong suggested selecting a colour that will create a "warmer" environment for the N1 children, so we examined the browns and beiges, and in the end decided on the rather intoxicating-sounding Carthamus Champagne.

And so this is Carthamus Champagne, fully installed. It's a bit dim now, but we'll see the true colour once the lights are turned on.

Staff Visit

We had a visit from Orion Preschool Staff #002 and Staff #003 today to check on the progress of the renovation works (#001 is reserved). Mrs Poh has visited a couple of times previously, but today is the first time that Aunty Chai Hong has the opportunity to view the inside of the premises.

Of greatest concern to Aunty Chai Hong is the kitchen, which will be where she spends most of the day preparing delicious meals for the children and teachers. After sweating for 23 years in the tight and stuffy confines of the kitchens of our old premises, we hope that the spacious kitchen here will meet with her approval. Mrs Poh, on the other hand, will now go home and dream of the layout for her classroom.

But our focus this week is getting the premises ready for fire safety certification. This means that the fire hosereel must be tested, and work on the fire escape staircase must be completed.

Yesterday, the workers finished up the fire hosereel installation by adding the hosereel box, thus completing the full works.

So today, under the watchful eyes of our architect, we conducted a test of the fire hosereel to verify that the water jet is able to meet the requirements laid down by SCDF. Success!

On Monday, the parts of the fire escape staircase were finally delivered to site. The metalwork people immediately proceeded to put them all together.

The upper section of the staircase is hoisted up inch by inch using a pulley.

The lower section is then carried over to its location by brute force.

Lots of alignment and welding later, we have a respectable-looking staircase with railings done up, and the staircase is more than halfway completed. Now the guys will just have to fix up the roofing overhead, and we can then get the entire premises certified for fire safety compliance.