Through the Eyes of a Preschool Centre Director

“I can confidently expand because I know our standards for each child will stay exactly where they need to be” — Ms. Rahmah Dzakiroh’s thoughts on school growth

There is a quiet shift that happens every year around November. It is not something I can immediately point to, but I always feel it before I see it. My days fill up instantly, my mind has to hold every detail - names, timelines, reminders even every note from parent requests. I remember thinking to myself, it’s starting again. Enrolment season.

This experience came from opening a new centre, where everything was being built from the ground up. While more established schools may have more stable systems in place, starting fresh meant we were managing everything at once - which made the enrolment season feel even more intense.

From the outside, it is an exciting time for parents and children. As they walk through the doors, with children exploring the classrooms, there is a sense of growth and achievement that feels new and rewarding as children take a step towards their next milestone in life. But inside the school, it feels very different. It feels like everything is moving at once, and you are trying to hold it all together without letting anything slip.

From November through March, schools usually put a great deal of energy into enrolment - through marketing activities, pop-up classes, and events - so every day feels busy. While many schools focus on a single start date, Circle Time accepts enrolments everyday. We still experience a significant surge in demand between January and March. During these months, the pressure builds as we manage a constant stream of new trial classes and parent meetings. By May and June, if there are still places to fill, the pressure intensifies further, and everything becomes more urgent, condensed, and stressful.

I used to carry this quiet tension during that period. Even at the end of the day, when things looked like they were under control, I would find myself thinking, “Are we missing anything? Did we update everything properly? Did I forget anything? Have we responded to all the parents?” 

Looking back, I often felt the need for a complete picture to make the right strategic decisions - but the information was never all in one place.

When Everything Lived in WhatsApp and Excel

At that time, we relied on WhatsApp and Excel. Every conversation with parents lived in chat threads, sometimes long and difficult to revisit. Every update was recorded in Excel spreadsheets that kept changing, especially as deadlines got closer. I remember opening different versions of the same file and pausing for a second, thinking, “wait, which one is actually right?”

As the Center Director, I needed to see the full picture. Admissions was speaking to parents, HQ had to be involved for special cases, and decisions needed to be made quickly. Everyone depended on the same information, but it never truly existed in one place. There were moments when I would sit back and think, “why does something so important feel so fragile?”

We spent so much time checking and rechecking. Confirming payments, updating class lists, making sure approvals had gone through. It was not about a lack of trust in the team - it was the system itself and our own processes that demanded constant verification just to stay accurate.

When Everything Started Moving Too Fast

Enrolling a single student at Circle Time is a high-touch process that starts long before the first day of school. It begins with a parent walk-in or an inquiry to admissions, followed by a trial class. We take these trials seriously - every child receives a detailed trial report so parents understand our observations. Because every family has a unique approach, we spend a lot of time understanding their specific needs through school tours, events, and individual meetings if necessary.

In my previous experience, enrolment was defined by a highly structured and intensive interview process for both parents and students. This was followed by consolidating results, coordinating with HQ when necessary, checking class capacity, confirming payments, and carefully capturing any requests or concerns shared by parents. The most challenging moments were always the last-minute waves, when parents made decisions just before the school year began. They would come in waves - some deciding late, others having missed out on their first choice and hoping to secure a place. During these periods, everything moved much faster. We were updating data while responding to messages, confirming payments while checking availability, all while trying to ensure nothing fell through the cracks.

At Circle Time, the challenge is even more complex because enrolment happens every day. There isn’t a single deadline we can work towards - instead, we are constantly moving to settle in new students everyday. This requires a much higher level of operational speed. We are constantly in motion - conducting trials, generating reports, and onboarding families - while the school is already running at full capacity.

On those days, I could feel it physically - that constant tension in the background. I remember thinking, we are keeping up… but just barely. It was not broken, but it was not smooth either.

The Fear of Missing Something Important

Mornings carried a different kind of weight. They looked calm on the surface - greeting children, exchanging a few words with parents, helping them settle in. But behind that, there was so much to capture. Teachers were noting temperatures, taking photos, observing behaviour, and listening carefully to every small update parents shared.

Sometimes a parent would say something quickly before leaving, and our teachers would immediately think, “I need to remember this. This is important.”

But without a proper system, those details lived in too many places. Some stayed in conversations, some in notes, and some only in memory. And that was the part that stayed with me the most - not the work itself, but the constant thought at the back of my mind: “What if we miss something that matters?”

Over time, that feeling became hard to ignore. I found myself thinking more often, there has to be a better way to do this. That was when we started looking for a system that could actually support the way schools operate - not just store data, but help us stay aligned as a team. That was how we eventually came across LittleLives.

Today, things feel different. Not quieter, not less busy - but more grounded.

When Things Finally Felt… Steady

We still greet every child, we still listen to every parent, we still take the same care in observing and recording. But now, everything has a place. Information is captured as it happens (photos, temperatures, notes, requests) and it becomes part of a shared system that the whole team can see.

I no longer carry that lingering question with me, “did we miss something?”

If a parent shares a concern, it is there. If a child needs something specific, it is there. It does not depend on one person remembering or passing it along. And that changes everything.

Even small things, like being able to quickly filter and see exactly the information you were looking for, make a meaningful difference. In early childhood education, details are not small. They are the work. Having clear, personalised information for each child allows us to respond with more intention and care.

Communication with parents has also shifted. In the past, it took effort just to stay aligned. Messages were spread across platforms, and we were constantly piecing things together. Now, communication feels more natural. Parents share updates, and we capture them instantly. Teachers can see them, understand them, and act on them together.

There are moments now where I pause and think, “this is how it should have always felt.” Parents feel it too. They are more at ease, knowing their concerns are not just heard in passing, but properly recorded and followed through.

What surprised me most was how this changed the feeling of peak season. It is still busy. New students still join almost every week. But the stress feels different now. Before, I felt like I was holding too many moving pieces at once. Now, I feel like the system is holding those pieces with us. 

And that gives us something we did not have before. Space. 

Space to focus on the children. On their transition. On making sure they feel safe, comfortable, and ready. Because LittleLives now handles the tracking and coordination in the background, we are able to focus on what matters most and why we all do what we do: the children.

I often remind myself that a child’s first experience at school stays with them for a long time. It shapes how they see learning, how they build trust, and how they settle into a new environment.

Now, even during the busiest months, I feel like we can truly give that moment the attention it deserves. In the end, the work has not changed. We are still doing everything we did before - speaking to parents, supporting children, managing enrolments. But the way it feels has changed completely. The noise, the friction, the constant second-guessing - it has quieted down.

And even when everything is moving at once, I no longer feel like I am trying to keep up. I feel like we are moving forward, with clarity, and with confidence. 💞

"The system has given me the confidence to expand our capacity this coming May. I no longer feel lost in the details of every child, yet I can monitor everything through the app without micromanaging the teachers. It allows me to stay connected to what’s happening in every classroom while focusing on the big picture.

​With this setup, I feel ready to scale without losing the quality of our service. Even as we grow, the app ensures we maintain the personalization that is so important to us. I can confidently expand because I know our standards for each child will stay exactly where they need to be." - Ms. Rahmah Dzakiroh, Center Director of Circle Time Hampton Serpong (Preschool and Daycare)

Did Ms. Rahmah’s story sound familiar to you? Keen to save your time and energy? We are here to help you get back to what you do best - focusing on the children and providing them with the quality education that they deserve. Contact us at sales@littlelives.com for an exploratory discussion and we can see how we can collaborate.