The next five Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens to open next year will take in 540 children, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Saturday, revealing for the first time the locations of these centres.

Four of them will be located within primary schools: Frontier Primary at Jurong West, Punggol Green Primary at Punggol Walk, Sengkang Green Primary at Fernvale Road and West Spring Primary at Bukit Panjang. These will all offer 120 places for admission next year.

The fifth, to be sited at the void deck of Blk 318A Yishun Ave 9, will have 60 vacancies. After-school care services will be provided at these kindergartens.

Mr Heng said that the locations were chosen based on "projected demand". He reiterated that MOE was not chasing after intake numbers, but is using the kindergartens to develop "high-quality" learning resources and the best teaching methods.

He spoke to reporters after visiting the open house of a kindergarten in Dazhong Primary in Bukit Batok, one of the first five MOE-run kindergartens that opened this year.

Of these, four are located in primary schools, and the fifth is at a void deck in Tampines Street 45.

The ministry had announced last year that it would set up a total of 15 kindergartens over three years in Housing Board estates, in a move to raise the quality of pre-school education in Singapore.

These kindergartens aim to develop best teaching methods and practices in early childhood education and share them with other pre-schools.

Parents who attended the open house at Dazhong learnt more about the centre's curriculum and programmes, and had a tour of the kindergarten.

Parents who want to enrol their Kindergarten 1 children at any of the 10 kindergartens can do so on April 4 and 5.

The centres at Blangah Rise, Farrer Park and Tampines each have 60 vacancies while the one at Dazhong has 80 places. The centre at Punggol View has 120 places.