What Phonics and English Classes Cost in Singapore (2026): Fees and Extras

21 October 2026 · 12 min read

A 90-minute English class for a 5-year-old costs $48 at Learning Journey in Serangoon North and $102 at United Language Centre at City Hall. A 40-minute phonics lesson at Berlitz in Orchard costs $90 to $105. All three take 4 and 5-year-olds. The dearest is also the shortest.

The bigger surprise is how few schools tell you. Of the 19 schools on Jungle that teach phonics or English to children aged 3 to 7, ten publish a class fee. The two chains parents most often weigh up, I Can Read and LCentral, publish none, so this guide sets out what each does publish and what to ask.

How we checked. On 20 October 2026 we read the fee pages, terms and conditions, online shops and course calendars of every school Jungle lists for English, reading or language classes, 68 in all. Nineteen run an English, phonics or reading class for ages 3 to 7. Every price below is quoted as the school prints it, with the lesson count where the school gives one. Community centre fees come from 115 onePA course listings read the same day.

If you are choosing a class rather than a budget, our guide to English and phonics for 3 to 6 year olds compares the schools by age and method.

Phonics and English Class Prices at a Glance

Fees as published on 20 October 2026. The per-class figure divides a package by the lessons it states, and never otherwise.

Community centre courses are booked through onePA, not Jungle, so we give them as a benchmark only. The 115 phonics course listings we read cost $44 to $280 a course and $11 to $35 a session, with a median of $17.50. Where a listing shows two prices, we used the lower. Seventeen add a material fee paid to the trainer, from $2 to $60, and 16 take existing students only.

Three things stand out. Private centres cost about three to six times a community centre course for a similar length of class. Within private centres, length and group size explain most of the gap, not the method. And three of the biggest chains, I Can Read, LCentral and My English School, publish no class fee at all.

A Year of Phonics, Priced

A per-class price hides the shape of the year, so here is one yardstick: 40 weekly classes for a 4 or 5-year-old, roughly a school year with the holidays off. Registration is included; refundable deposits are not.

The spread among private centres is a little over two to one. Kumon's row is ten months of twice-weekly worksheet sessions rather than 40 taught classes, because Kumon bills by the month and runs through the holidays. Weekend classes cost more where schools price them separately: $62.68 a week at Mind Stretcher and $98.10 a class at The Eton Academy.

One child's first year, in full

Two schools publish nearly every part of the bill for a K1 child: The Eton Academy and Mind Stretcher. Both columns are a weekday class, once a week, at 2026 and Academic Year 2027 prices, GST included.

Eton's year is four terms of 12 weeks, so 48 classes. Mind Stretcher does not publish how many academic weeks its year has, so its column assumes 40. Its deposit is five weeks' fees. A new student who starts in Mind Stretcher's first academic week, 2 to 8 November 2026, gets 5% off the year's fees and no registration fee, which brings its first year to about $2,280.

What the Schools Publish

These are the schools on Jungle that publish a class fee for children aged 3 to 7, then the ones that publish part of one or none. Each card gives the price as the school prints it.

Preschool phonics and EnglishPrimary 1 EnglishPart or no fees

Phonics and preschool English

Primary 1 English classes

At 7, classes move from phonics to the MOE syllabus: grammar, comprehension, composition and oral. Lessons get longer and prices rise a little. Mind Stretcher's Lower Primary classes are $62.68 a two-hour weekday class, Creative Campus is from $83 plus GST for two hours, and The Eton Academy charges $94.83 on weekdays and $100.28 at weekends for P1 and P2.

Schools that publish part of their fees, or none

Two of the biggest chains publish part of the bill. LCentral publishes its $80 registration fee and $200 deposit, and I Can Read publishes only its holiday courses. Both are compared in full below.

The rest publish no class fees:

• My English School prices its reading courses by the term and runs free assessments. My English School does not publish its fees online. Contact them for current prices.
• Megaphonics Enrichment Centre in Bukit Batok runs preschool and primary phonics. Megaphonics Enrichment Centre does not publish its fees online. Contact them for current prices.
• Lil' but Mighty and The Right Word teach English from Primary 1. Neither publishes its fees online. Contact them for current prices.
• Writers' Guild lists Primary 1 English, and The Learning Edge Centre teaches creative writing from Primary 1. Writers' Guild's class pages load only in a browser and showed us no fees, and The Learning Edge Centre does not publish its fees online. Contact them for current prices.
• British Council runs early-years English classes, but its website blocks automated checks. British Council's fees could not be confirmed online. Contact them directly.

I Can Read vs LCentral: Price, Method and Branches

Parents looking for phonics most often end up choosing between these two. Neither publishes a term fee, so the comparison has to rest on what each does publish. This is all of it, read from their own pages on 20 October 2026.

Price. LCentral says what joining costs: $80 registration including GST and a $200 deposit, refunded only if you give notice by the ninth lesson of a term. Its term fees are not refunded once paid, and a late payment adds $10.

I Can Read prints its four 2026 fee terms on its course calendar, but no amount. Its only published prices are holiday courses: a three-day Bilingual Headstart to Primary 1 for K2 children at $390, 10% off until 31 October.

Method. I Can Read teaches decoding with its own marks over letters. Reading Foundations, three levels from age 2.5, builds sound awareness; Champion Readers, six levels over a year, uses the marks and then removes them, with a spelling test every lesson. LCentral moves through first sounds (Foundations, N1 and N2), letters, blending and sight words (LaunchPad, N2 to K2), then learning to read (LiftOff, K1 to P2).

Class size and length. LCentral's terms say classes are 90 minutes, and its primary pages promise no more than 10 children in any class. I Can Read's only figures are on its online-class page: up to 8 children and 90 minutes for pre-reading, reading and P1 and P2, with fees "similar" to centre classes. It does not say whether centre classes match.

Branches. I Can Read lists 22 centres (its homepage says 23) and LCentral 17. Both have a centre in Dunearn Village, 896 Dunearn Road, one floor apart, so you can book both free assessments on the same morning.

What neither publishes: the term fee, the number of lessons in a term, the cost of books or workbooks, whether GST is included, and a trial class. Ask for all five in writing before you pay.

Our verdict. I Can Read suits a child who is starting very young, from two and a half, or who is struggling to decode, because its marked-letter system teaches decoding step by step and runs to a clear end in a year. LCentral suits a family that wants one ladder from N1 to Primary 6 in the MOE format, and it is the more open of the two about joining costs and refunds.

On price, neither gives you enough to choose, so ask both for the full term fee in writing after the assessment.

How Many Terms of Phonics Does a Child Need?

About a school year of weekly lessons for a beginner: Berlitz says most beginners finish its core phonics sequence in 40 lessons, The Eton Academy's Young Readers programme runs 40 weeks, and I Can Read calls Champion Readers a one-year journey.

At one class a week, a year is roughly four terms. I Can Read bills four terms a year, The Eton Academy runs four 12-week terms and Write Edge four terms of 12 lessons. That makes the yardstick above, 40 classes, a fair budget for one child learning to read: $1,920 to $4,080 at the centres that publish fees.

A younger child can take longer. I Can Read's three Reading Foundations levels come before the year of Champion Readers and have no stated length. LCentral sets each programme across two to four school years, from Foundations in N1 and N2 to LiftOff from K1 to P2.

Some schools do not run fixed courses at all. My English School promotes a child whenever they pass its level test, at any point in the year. Kumon moves children on by ability, and Learning Journey's phonics classes are ongoing, so a child can join any week. A child who already knows some letter sounds may need half as long: Berlitz sells a 20-lesson package for exactly that.

The Extras: Registration, Deposits, Materials and Trials

The class fee is most of the bill, but not all of it.

• Registration. Kumon $50, The Eton Academy $54.50, Mind Stretcher $76.30, LCentral, Write Edge and The Alternative Story $80. Berlitz folds its $200 fee into the package, and United Language Centre waives it.
• Deposits. The Eton Academy $75 a subject, The Alternative Story $80, Write Edge $100, LCentral $200, Mind Stretcher five weeks' fees, which is $286.13 on a weekday preschool class. All are refundable only on each school's terms.
• Materials. Included at Berlitz ($140 of books), United Language Centre, Write Edge, The Alternative Story and Learning Journey's P1 class. Seventeen of the community centre courses charge a material fee on top.
• Trials. Most schools here offer a free assessment rather than a trial class. United Language Centre's trial lesson is free, Creative Campus charges from $80 and Mind Stretcher $107.91 for a week of trials.
• Holiday courses. I Can Read's three-day Bilingual Headstart to Primary 1 is $390, and its three-day English ARTventure for ages 6 to 8 is $379 with a museum visit. Both run in late November and early December.

What Catches Parents Out

1. GST is handled differently. Creative Campus and The Alternative Story quote before GST, and Write Edge adds it at two centres only. Eton, Mind Stretcher, United Language Centre and School of Language International include it. Kumon, Berlitz and Learning Journey do not say.
2. A monthly fee is not a fixed fee. Mind Stretcher bills by the month and a five-week month costs a quarter more than a four-week one. Kumon's $170 covers up to eight sessions, not exactly eight.
3. Paid fees stay paid. LCentral's term fees are non-refundable, and its deposit is forfeited if you give notice after the ninth lesson. Read the withdrawal terms before you enrol, not when you want to leave.
4. Published is not the same as current. Learning Journey's shop prices were last edited in May 2025, and Mind Stretcher's level pages still show an older $218 to $239.80 a month beside its Academic Year 2027 fees. Confirm the figure at enrolment.
5. Early-bird offers end soon. Mind Stretcher's 5% discount and registration waiver need a start in its first academic week, 2 to 8 November 2026. I Can Read's October open house promises Term 1 priority enrolment and "save up to $270".

How We Checked These

We started from every listing Jungle has for English, reading, phonics or language classes, 79 listings from 68 schools and venues, and kept the 19 that run an English, phonics or reading class for children aged 3 to 7. The rest teach Chinese or other languages, adults only, older children or something else.

Each school was read on its own website, fee page, terms or online shop on 20 October 2026, and prices are as published that day. Per-class figures divide a package only where the school states the number of lessons.

Browse all language classes for kids on Jungle. For a K2 child, our guide to P1 preparation classes covers English, Chinese and maths. For other classes, read what kids' classes cost in Singapore and what piano lessons cost.