TWO pre-schools have moved into conserved buildings in Still Road with almost a hundred years of history after a combined $5 million makeover.

Pat’s Schoolhouse Katong is housed in a heritage building at 26 Still Road South while Odyssey The Global Preschool is opening a 21,000 sq ft concept campus at 25 Still Road some way across the street on July 16.

Both pre-schools are under the Busy Bees childcare group and are leasing the space.

Rabiatul Adawiah – director of business development, curriculum, audit and compliance at Busy Bees Singapore – told My Paper that renovations for both campuses cost “close to $5 million in total”.

“We took care to preserve the unique facade and features of the two conservation buildings while transforming them into aesthetic and safe pre-schools,” she added.

The buildings have a rich history. A spokesman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said both conserved buildings were once part of a large estate built by Moona Kader Sultan, a wealthy Indian cattle merchant from South India, shortly after he bought the land in 1917.

He named the estate Karikal Mahal after his home town.

The land was sold in 1947 to Lee Rubber, which converted 25 Still Road South into a hotel.

“The mansions, built in the ornamented Victorian style, are excellent examples of grand bungalows in the Katong area dating from the pre-war years,” said the spokesman.

He added that the buildings – important architectural and community landmarks – enhance the heritage stock of the Joo Chiat Conservation Area.

Asked what was special about the two pre-schools in terms of curriculum offerings, Ms Rabiatul said Pat’s Schoolhouse “is renowned for pioneering the Bilingual Immersion (English and Mandarin) core programme, and celebrates childhood and creativity in an art- and language-rich environment”.

Odyssey The Global Preschool applies an “innovative research-based curriculum specially aimed at exploratory and self-guided learning”, inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach and benchmarked against international best practices.

“For the first time, we are extending the Odyssey curriculum to infants with the launch of Bambino Odyssey, focusing on left- and right-brain stimulation in the early years,” said Ms Rabiatul.

Odyssey’s Still Road branch will also be home to an atelier, an indoor herb garden and an outdoor music garden.

The URA spokesman said it is “pleased that the two heritage buildings have found new life as childcare centres to ensure the buildings’ continued relevance in our present time”.

“Not only will they serve an important need of the community, especially for young families with children, but hopefully the beauty and charm of these grand old dames will also become a memorable part of the children’s formative years, helping to bridge this precious heritage to our future.”

lydialam@sph.com.sg

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BY 2019, roads outside almost all primary schools here will have flashing lights indicating a reduced speed limit of 40kmh during school arrival and dismissal hours.

More than 170 schools islandwide will have this feature, up from the 10 in the pilot programme introduced in January last year as part of the enhanced school zone scheme.

A spokesman for the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the initiative was being expanded as it had proven effective and garnered positive feedback from the public.

“Surveys conducted at the 10 pilot locations by the LTA show that motorists would slow down their vehicles when approaching these stretches of roads,” she said.

The signs are one of several features designed to boost road safety near schools.

Aimed at encouraging motorists to drive more carefully outside primary schools, other features include red textured road surfaces, chevron markings and road humps.

The safety of children in school zones came under the spotlight in 2013 after two young brothers died when they were hit by a cement mixer truck in Tampines.

A tender to implement the flashing signs at various school zones has been called.

It is expected to be awarded in the fourth quarter of this year, with works expected to commence in the second quarter of next year.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) transport consultant Gopinath Menon said the signs and other features of the enhanced school zones had worked well.

“Even visitors I bring from overseas are impressed,” added the senior research fellow at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NTU.

“A lot of work has been done by the various agencies to make school zones safe.”

Member of Parliament for Potong Pasir Sitoh Yih Pin, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, applauded the move to expand the scheme.

“This is certainly a good initiative. Safety is paramount and no stone should be unturned in ensuring the safety of our students,” he said.

Eric Leck, who has a daughter in Primary 2, said the move was an important one to ensure the safety of primary-school pupils when crossing the road.

“Some children have to cross the road without being accompanied by their parents or guardians,” noted the 43-year-old engineer.

azhaki@sph.com.sg

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MORE clinics are under probe for possibly cheating the Ministry of Health (MOH) when claiming subsidies for patients under the Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas).

Two dental clinics have already been suspended from the scheme starting this Friday.

The ministry told The Straits Times that it has asked the police to look into more questionable claims, made by an unspecified number of other clinics, under Chas.

The scheme lets private clinics treat patients who are eligible for a government subsidy, and claim the subsidy from MOH.

Last week, MOH announced the suspension of two dental clinics – Phoenix Dental Surgery clinics in Ang Mo Kio and Marine Parade – from Chas.

It had filed a police report against them for possible fraud on April 22.

It took action when told that the police had started formal investigations on the clinics.

Under Chas, the MOH has to give a clinic 15 days’ notice of termination so the clinics facing suspension are on Chas until July 8.

MOH said it has “also referred other clinics to the police for further investigation”.

But it would not say if the other clinics are dental or general practice (GP) establishments.

About 1,500 clinics are on the Chas scheme.

The possible cheating cases surfaced through regular audits by the ministry as well as from a patient’s complaints.

In the case of the two clinics facing suspension from Chas, the MOH spokesman said: “While we were auditing the clinics, we also received a patient complaint that Phoenix Dental had submitted claims for procedures which had not been done for the said patient.”

Patrick Tseng, Singapore’s chief dental officer, said: “MOH takes a serious view of fraudulent claims and unlawful practice behaviour, and we will take necessary action if we suspect any such activity.”

The audits have turned up cases of non-compliance but many are unintentional or administrative errors, such as entering the wrong date for a procedure or not getting patients to sign the consent form.

The ministry spokesman said the MOH will recover any subsidies paid out through incorrect claims.

Last year, Chas paid out $167 million in subsidies to general practitioners and dental clinics for treating 650,000 Singaporean patients.

salma@sph.com.sg

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