Port Moresby - 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?
The two main preschools attended by expat children are the ELC (Early Learning Centre, associated with but a separate campus from TEMIS) and Sweet Steps. The ELC had no openings when we came so we do not have experience with them. Sweet Steps was adequate for us and all the parents we know who currently have preschoolers there are satisfied. It is run by an American expat and is generally clean, safe and engaging. Lunch and snack are provided and they will accommodate vegetarians. Full-day options are available for working parents. Parents who do not opt for preschool generally have a haus meri or nanny (“pikinini meri”—in PNG, pikinini means children and is not an offensive term) who watches the children during the workday. There are After School Activities for TEMIS students on Mondays and Thursdays, but there are weeks at the beginning and end of terms when ASAs don’t run, so haus meris, nonworking parents, or neighbors are the childcare solution to bridge the gap between the end of school at 2:40 and the end of the workday at 4:30 (except Sweet Steps, which I think has pickup times as late as 5pm.) All local staff are expected to depart their workplaces by 5pm to be safely home before dark (parents needing evening hour childcare must provide overnight housing for the babysitter, or provide safe transport home after dark). - Aug 2025
Parents seem to love Ela Murray preschool. - May 2019
Preschool: The Ela Murray Early Learning Center preschool is fantastic and expensive (about $1200US per month, 7:30-2:30 full time). You can send just a few days a week. It is the only preschool with decent bathrooms and a very large shaded playground. It is purely a play-based curriculum. There is no formal learning of letters. There is a long waiting list, so you should contact the school ASAP. There are two other preschools used by expats - Southbridges and Peter Pan. Southbridges is not yet full-day and has a very small facility. Southbridges does focus on formal learning and is run by Filipino teachers. Peter Pan's curriculum is a mix between the two above, but it's facilities (especially the bathrooms and lack of shade) were problematic for me. - Jun 2016
Parents we know are happy with the Ela Beach preschool program, which starts at age 2. Haus Meris are readily available for in-home care. - Jun 2008
