More than 150 parents queuing for places in Xian ELFA Preschool

This is the scene in front of the Xian ELFA Preschool on the morning of 1 September 2015 where more than 150 parents had queued up the day before from 4pm to ensure they could get a place – one year ahead – for their children in the Sep-2016/Aug-2017 academic year. This is in spite of the fact that the preschool’s fees are among the highest in the northern district of Xian City.

The ELFA staff were on site to ensure orderly queuing and even served snack and drinks as a gesture of understanding and support for the parents and guardians who braved the chilly evening to wait in line to secure quality preschool education for their young children.

In China, where millions of children are enrolled into preschools every year the competition for a place in a good school is intense. ELFA has since the establishment of its first preschool there back in 2001, acquired a good reputation for its effective localised curriculum that prepares children for formal schooling, with English as foreign language option.

The preschool operated by the Crestar Education Group’s subsidiary ELFA China, has 16 classrooms with total capacity for 530 children but had only 170 vacancies when it opened in September for new enrolments for 2016/2017.

ELFA China has more than 30 ELFA preschools in 22 key Chinese cities.

Xian ELFA began operation in September 2010 with 13 classrooms. With the opening of a new extension three years later, another three classrooms were added to increase its capacity to 530 places. The preschool is located in the middle income area in northern Xian City near the Daming Palace (大明宫) National Heritage Park.

Known as Chang’an in ancient times, Xian in Shaanxi Province was the eastern terminal of the Silk Road and the site of the world-famous Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty. It has more than 3,000 years of history including over 1,100 years as the capital city of ancient dynasties. Endowed with amazing historical heritage Xian, which has a population of some 5.5 million, has become one of China’s 13 emerging megacities.

For more information, please visit www.elfa.com.cn