Mrs Gwendolyn Tan, 39, who does freelance work in the education industry, has three children, one of whom is a two-year-old currently in pre-school. She says she chose Star Learners, a partner operator, for its focus on character building, such as learning to share and resilience. She pays about $800 a month after basic subsidy.

The environment has helped her youngest child, who now picks up life skills, such as telling her mum when she needs to "go potty", or picking up a spoon to feed herself, much earlier than her two older daughters, now 14 and 10, who had gone for only three-hour kindergarten sessions.