Manila - Post Report Question and Answers
Are preschools available? Day care? Are these expensive? What has been your experience with them, if any? Do the schools provide before- and/or after-school care?
Yes, preschools are available and affordable. Most expat families send their children to preschool and also have a nanny. - Jun 2024
Preschools are usually over by lunch time. Everyone has helpers who tend to the kids and make play dates for them. - Apr 2024
The embassy has a daycare on compound that we enjoyed. There are daycares throughout the city and are generally much more expensive, but can be closer to home. The private daycares were closed during the pandemic while the embassy one operated with much reduced hours. - Mar 2023
The embassy has a preschool for embassy families, that is running in a limited fashion at this time. It appears that local preschools have all shut down and I have heard that ISM's preschool has also been closed. - Apr 2021
There are numerous preschools available, including English, French, and German options even. Nannies are great and very inexpensive. The U.S. embassy has its own daycare for younger children, which is very inexpensive and has relatively small class sizes. The daycare providers are wonderful. - Oct 2020
Preschools and day care are available. I can't speak to the price or to before or after school care, but most people use their household helpers for small children. There are programs such as Gymboree, Little Gym and Kindermusik that are pricey for the area. - May 2018
ISM (and, as far as we know, the other schools) all have great after-school activity programs – see question below. For those with younger kids, there are many options for preschool. The Embassy has a well-organized preschool for the three- and four-year old Diplokid contingent, and there are a number of other preschools scattered around the expat neighborhoods. ISM and some of the other international schools also offer preschool programs, although these are very expensive. Tuition costs range wildly, depending on which program you choose. Day care programs don’t really exist, at least in the same way as the US, because yayas are so common. - Feb 2017
There's a preschool on the US embassy compound, no idea how easy it is to get into, as I have no experience. Yaya's (helpers/nanny's) are affordable and common. - Jan 2016
Yes, but I have no personal experience with them. - Jan 2016
Yes. I never used them. - Sep 2015
Yes! The Embassy has a preschool and there are others around, from Montessori to pre-school with an academic push. - Aug 2015
Yes, I think inexpensive. - Sep 2014
Seafront provides an excellent pre-school program to embassy personnel. - Dec 2013
Plentiful. Several daycares and prechool are around and reasonably priced. The Embassy community runs its own preschool at Seafront. Many family have a full or part time ya-ya (nanny) to help out. - Nov 2013
There is a preschool at Seafront. We have heard mixed reviews about it, but didn’t need one due to family dynamics. Most families who don’t want to care for their child firsthand hire a local nanny to care for their child. We’ve heard good and bad about this, but again, it not applicable at this point in our lives. - May 2012
There's a day care at Seafront compound for those embassy folks, but there are also day cares in every other block in Makati and the Fort. - Mar 2012
Everyone has a yaya (nanny).We lucked out with ours, but many families go through a few before finding a good one. Usually they are passed around the Embassy families. Amerikids is available when the child is 2, but it's only 4 hours a day. - Jan 2012
Amerikids at Seafront is cheap and good, though pretty academically-oriented for a preschool. Other parents have found Montessori schools or pay for their kids to go to ISM. - May 2011
The Seafront Compound hosts its own preschool, which has a waiting list to get in. It is very easy to hire a nanny (Yaya) for your children, live-in or live-out, for about $10 a day. - Feb 2010
Different options. At U.S. Embassy compound they have AmeriKids which is similar to a U.S. preschool, but takes 30 minutes to get there. This would be my first choice if my kids were in preschool here. There are Montessori schools I think in Dasmarinas village and also know people who have sent kids to Summit School near ISM that are happy. - Jan 2010
The U.S. Embassy has an Amerikids program for 2-4 year olds, which I hear is quite good. - Jul 2009
Lots of it, not cheap. ISM has a pre-school. The U.S. Embassy has its own preschool that is really good but once again, a 30 minute commute. The embassy preschool is really inexpensive. The other preschools range in price and programs. There will be plenty of people with strong opinions about the different schools here. Contact the local MADS (Mothers and Darlings) group when you get here. - Apr 2009
There are many excellent options for preschool in Manila. Local preschools are staffed with caring teachers and the children seem very happy. Families who are staying for several years and wish their children to attend the British School often apply to its Nursery program in spite of the fees, just to try to secure a place for primary. Families with very young children usually hire a yaya (nanny) to mind the children. - Jun 2008
