To choose a preschool in Saigon, decide your priorities before you look, map what a realistic school run is from home, shortlist three to five schools across the types you are open to, visit them within the same fortnight with the same questions, then score them against your priorities. The process takes a few weeks and saves months of doubt, because the decision rests on what you saw rather than on reputation or a website.
Ho Chi Minh City has a very large and varied choice of preschools, which is a blessing and a source of overwhelm. Families new to the city often start by asking other parents for the “best” school, then find that the answers contradict each other because every family values different things. This guide offers a structured way through, in seven steps, with a simple scoring method you can adapt to your own family.
Step 1: decide what matters before you look
Before opening a single website, sit down with your partner and agree on what you are choosing for. Writing it down prevents a beautiful campus from overriding a priority you would otherwise have kept.
- Language goal: what balance of English, Vietnamese and your home language do you want your child to experience over the next two or three years?
- Time horizon: how long do you expect to live in Saigon, and where might your child go to primary school?
- Day structure: what hours do you need, and how many days a week?
- Approach: do you have a strong preference for a particular style, such as Montessori or a play-based national programme, or are you open?
- Budget: what range of monthly cost, based on fees as published by schools, can your family sustain for several years?
- Deal-breakers: name two or three things that would rule a school out, for example a commute over thirty minutes or no outdoor space.
Rank the first five from most to least important. That ranking becomes the weighting for your scorecard later, and it gives you something to return to when two schools look equally good.
Step 2: map the school run honestly
In Saigon, the school run shapes daily life more than almost any other factor. A school that is five kilometres away on a map can take fifteen minutes on a quiet morning and forty-five in rush hour or a downpour. During the rainy season, roughly May to November in the south, heavy afternoon storms can slow pick-up dramatically. For toddlers, long journeys twice a day are tiring, and for parents they eat into work and family time.
Before shortlisting, test the journeys that matter. Drive or ride from home to a candidate school at the time you would actually do drop-off, and back at pick-up time. If one parent will usually do the run from work, test that route too. Note the time and how it felt. Many families decide on a maximum journey time, such as twenty or thirty minutes, and drop any school beyond it, however appealing. Questions about choosing where to live around a school belong to a different stage of planning, covered elsewhere on this site, but if you are still deciding where to live, the school run and the home search are best done together.
Step 3: build a long list, then cut to five
Start broad. Gather names from other parents, community groups, school websites and the neighbourhood guides on sister sites in this network that cover specific areas of the city. Aim for eight to twelve names within your journey limit. Then use quick checks to cut the list: does the school take your child’s age group, does it have places for your start date, does its language model broadly match your goal, and do its published fees fall within your range, confirmed with admissions?
Include more than one type if you are open to it. A shortlist with one international, two bilingual and one Vietnamese school, for example, gives you a much clearer sense of what each type offers than four schools that are all similar. If you are certain about the type, include schools that differ in size, approach or setting, such as a large campus and a small one. The aim is contrast. By the end of this step you should have three to five schools, each of which you could genuinely imagine choosing.
Be wary of cutting schools only on the strength of a website or social media page. Some excellent small schools have modest online presence, while some polished pages describe ordinary classrooms. A short call or message to admissions, asking about age groups, places and the language model, is often enough to decide whether a school deserves a visit.
Step 4: do your homework before visiting
A little preparation makes visits far more useful. For each school, note its stated approach, language model, age groups, hours and published fees, and write down anything that is unclear. Look for the operating decision or licence information, the qualifications the school says its teachers hold, and any accreditation or authorisation it claims, so you know what to confirm. Read what the school says about settling in, health rules and communication with parents.
Then prepare a single list of questions you will ask at every school, drawn from your priorities. Keep it to around ten, covering the people who will care for your child, the daily rhythm, the language hours, group size and staffing, and the fee structure. Using the same questions everywhere is what makes comparison possible. If you are interested in a particular approach or have a child with additional needs, add the questions specific to that, and other guides on this site cover each in more depth.
Prepare a short description of your child as well: age, languages, temperament, sleep and eating habits, and anything that may need extra attention. Sharing it at the start of each visit lets staff tailor what they show you and gives you a fair basis for comparing how each school responds to the same child.
Step 5: visit within the same fortnight
Book visits close together, ideally within two weeks, and at similar times of day, preferably during morning activities when you can see children and teachers at work. If possible, both parents should attend at least the visits to the top two or three schools. One can ask questions while the other watches the room. Take brief notes during the visit if the school is comfortable with it, and fuller notes immediately after.
Pay attention to things that do not appear in brochures: how staff greet you and the children, the sound level in the rooms, whether children seem absorbed and relaxed, how adults respond to a child who is upset, and how clean and calm the spaces for eating, sleeping and washing are. Ask to see the room your child would be in, not only the showcase spaces. If your child comes with you, watch how staff interact with them, but do not judge the school by whether your child enjoys the visit; many toddlers are cautious in new places. Before leaving, ask what the next step would be if you were interested, and how long the school can wait for your answer.
Step 6: score the schools against your priorities
A simple scorecard turns impressions into something you can compare. Use your ranking from Step 1 to set weights, score each school from one to five on each priority straight after the visit, then multiply. The weights and scores below are an invented example, not a recommendation.
| Priority (example weight) | School A | School B | School C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachers and care (5) | 4 × 5 = 20 | 5 × 5 = 25 | 3 × 5 = 15 |
| Language model fits our goal (4) | 5 × 4 = 20 | 4 × 4 = 16 | 3 × 4 = 12 |
| School run (4) | 2 × 4 = 8 | 4 × 4 = 16 | 5 × 4 = 20 |
| Daily rhythm and space (3) | 4 × 3 = 12 | 4 × 3 = 12 | 3 × 3 = 9 |
| Cost within budget (3) | 3 × 3 = 9 | 3 × 3 = 9 | 5 × 3 = 15 |
| Total | 69 | 78 | 71 |
The total is a guide, not a verdict. If the highest-scoring school leaves you uneasy, notice why: a scorecard can miss something important, such as how a teacher spoke to a child. If two schools are close, revisit both at the same time of day before deciding. The real value of the exercise is that it forces you and your partner to discuss each priority explicitly.
Common traps that skew the decision
A few patterns lead families to choices they later regret. The first is letting facilities decide. A rooftop pool, a robotics room or a large playground are attractive, but for a child under six the daily experience depends far more on the adults, the group and the rhythm of the day. Facilities are a tie-breaker, not a foundation. The second is relying on reputation alone. A school that suited a friend’s confident four-year-old may not suit your cautious two-year-old, and reputations often lag behind changes in staff or leadership.
The third trap is choosing under time pressure. Schools sometimes say places are limited and ask for a deposit on the day of a visit. Places can genuinely be scarce, but a decision made in a reception area is rarely your best one. Ask how long a place can be held while you finish your visits. The fourth is deciding on behalf of a future child rather than the one you have: picking a school for its primary pathway when your toddler’s immediate needs point elsewhere. Preschool years are worth choosing for their own sake. The last trap is ignoring your own unease. If something about a school bothered you, write it down and ask about it; unease that cannot be explained away deserves weight even when the scorecard looks good.
Step 7: decide, then check the fine print
Once you have chosen, ask the school for the documents you will rely on: the fee schedule as published, the enrolment agreement, the policies on deposits, refunds, withdrawals and holidays, and the details of any trial or settling period. Read them before paying. Check that what you were told on the visit appears in writing, especially anything that influenced your decision, such as group size, language hours or the teacher for your child’s group. If something important was said but is not in writing, ask the school to confirm it by message or email so you both have the same record.
Then commit and give the choice time. The first weeks at any preschool are an adjustment for children and parents, and early tears or tiredness are not proof that you chose wrongly. Stay in regular contact with the teacher, ask specific questions about your child’s day and give it at least a term before reconsidering, unless something is clearly wrong. Keep your scorecard. If you need to move again, because of a family relocation or a change in needs, the priorities you wrote down will make the next search much faster.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How far in advance should we start looking for a preschool in Saigon?
Starting two to three months before your intended start date gives time to research, visit and decide without pressure. Popular schools or specific age groups may fill earlier, especially before the September start of the Vietnamese school year. If you are moving from abroad, begin research online before you arrive and visit soon after.
Is it worth choosing a school far from home for a better programme?
Sometimes, but long daily journeys in Saigon traffic are hard on young children and can make even a good school tiring. Many families find that a good school close to home serves their child better than an excellent one far away. Test the journey at real drop-off and pick-up times before deciding.
How do we choose between two schools that seem equally good?
Revisit both at the same time of day, ideally during morning activities, and focus on the teachers your child would have. Ask any remaining questions in writing. If they still seem equal, practical factors such as the school run or hours often settle it. Either choice is likely to work well.
Should we ask other expat parents which preschool is best?
Other parents are a good source of names and first-hand impressions, but their priorities may differ from yours. Ask what they value about their school and what they would change, rather than which is best. Then check what they say against your own visits and scorecard.
What if we choose a school and it does not work out?
Give the first weeks time, since adjustment is normal, and talk with the teacher about specific concerns. If problems persist after a reasonable period, discuss them with the head of school. If the fit is still wrong, a planned move is better than staying in an unhappy placement. Your scorecard will speed up the next search.
Do we need to pay a deposit to hold a place?
Many private preschools ask for a deposit or registration fee to confirm a place. Policies differ on whether it is refundable and when. Ask for the written policy, as published by the school, before paying, and confirm the start date and any trial period it covers.