Anyone know of bilingual daycare/preschool options in Xinyi?

Hi everyone, my wife and I are preparing to move from the U.S. to Taipei in less than a month, and our daughter is 1.5 yrs old right now. While she’s currently too young to be enrolled in anything, we figure that once she hits 3 yrs old, we’re going to place her in daycare/preschool options. My wife and I would like to live in the Xinyi area, since that’s where my office will be and having a short commute would be rather nice. However, we understand that TAS (Taipei American School) and TES (Taipei European School) are out in Tienmu. TES apparently offers daycare/preschool programs that eventually transition directly into the school’s standard curriculum, which makes it attractive (not sure whether TAS has something similar). While the high tuition fees of TAS, TES or other international schools are eye-popping, that’s just how it goes - nobody ever said that being a parent meant living a life free of sacrifice, and my wife and I are prepared to do what we need to do.

So my question is, if we were to live in Xinyi for the first year or two, and relocate to Tienmu when our daughter reaches kindergarten age (around 5 years old, I suppose), are there suitable bilingual daycare/preschool facilities in or around Xinyi? While I’m hopeful that there are, we haven’t been able to find any yet, and I suspect that we won’t find these bilingual daycare/preschool facilities until we actually move to Taipei and start exploring some more.

Any recommendations on specific facilities, advice, and guidance from Forumosa parents would be most appreciated.

There are plenty of options other than the international school system. At Xinyi and Dunhua there is an excellent little school called [favurl=http://www.happykidsschool.com.tw/]Happy Kids[/favurl]. My daughter is in her second year there. They offer relatively small class sizes (about 10-12 kids/class,) and American preschool/kindergarden curriculum, English-only instruction from certified, native English speaking teachers, excellent clean, safe facilities, a wonderful, caring English-speaking staff, and lots of happy kids. Their philosophy is learning through play and experiential activities. It sounds like what you are looking for. There are a lot of expats’ kids at the school. Their program also continues after kids graduate and go to grade school. The school has after-school language arts classes for grades 1-6.

Check out the website, or give them a call when you are ready to start checking out schools. Their youngest class is for 2.5 year-olds.

“Mencius mother moved 3 times.” (To find better schools). You might find a compromise location, depending on exactly where you work, and on how you plan to get around. The schools offer van/bus pickup for a fee. Or will you have your own car or car with driver? Or will you take bus or subway, which are excellent here? Check the subway map and check google maps. Sorry there was not more response. There are only about 25,000 full time foreigners here, and a significant percentage, particularly at Forumosa, are young single English teachers from Canada or USA. See also Taipei American School (TAS) You don’t have to go all the way to Tienmu… too many hills, too many dogs, and too much dogdirt.

jwbrunken - thanks very much for your post, and thanks for the link as well. I checked out the Happy Kids website, and the facilities and curriculum seem to fit what my wife and I are looking for, plus the school wouldn’t be too far away from the 101 area. We just arrived in Taipei, so we’ll give them a call once we’ve settled in and adjusted to our new surroundings.

Toe Tag - we’re going to have a car, but no driver, so that opens up our options a little bit. and yes, the bus and subway system here is generally excellent. (hopefully the xinyi subway line will be completed in the very near future…doubtful though)