All About Montessori

[chixchix]

my kids are in MMI West Coast .very good teachers and a good centre supervisor. Well I will be shifting to Jurong West soon and today I went to visit the MMI Jurong west..i was very impressed as it looked very big ,spacious and clean ..however ,very very expensive...


I am looking out for other schools there..my kids are in N1/ K1 ...2 of my boys ..can parents help me ..suggest other pre-schools in Jurong West area..thanks!!

[sTresSmUm]

Chiefkiasu, sad to say that i am hving second thoughts abt ’ my positive reviews regarding the MMI @ jurong west ext’.


Now i am having doubts about the choice of teacher after reading what other parents hv shared in another thread and, what my son has encountered.

Seriously thinking about switching school. But as conniepng mentioned, kids need time for adjusting to new environment. Moreover, he said he is happy in it.

Now i am in a dilemma.

[vleong28]

Hi, I'm also a parent from MMI Sengkang. Even though my child is from another class, I have spoken to the K2 teacher many times concerning other issues.
I would agree with you when I first liase with her. But after a few interactions with her, my opinion changed. Its more her personality then her attitude.
I know some of her K2 parents and while chatting with them, they gave quite good feedbacks that their children have improved quite a lot.
Probably you should communicate more with her. :lol:

[ChiefKiasu]

Hi sTresSmUm... no wonder you are so stressed... worried about giving the wrong advice to other parents :).


Here's a fact about the Internet - there is a greater tendency for people to criticise than to praise, because if the service works, nobody talks about it because they expect it to work anyway (after paying all that money). If it doesn't, then people want justice done by telling everyone else about it. There's nothing right or wrong about this, as long as people are reporting based on their actual experiences and not on hearsay.

MMI@JWE is new and was probably going through a period of teething issues. The fact that the school did respond by changing teachers as you yourself have experienced, and from your notes, it would appear that your child is quite happy now despite his early fear of one of the former teachers.

As vleong28 advised, we should all try to voice our concerns with the teachers and communicate with them on a regular basis. This show that we want to work with them to create a good environment for our children who will be spending the better part of their early childhood in the school. Educators that are genuinely concerned about the welfare of their charges will be happy that parents are taking such interest in what they are doing - I personally don't like schools or courses that take on a \"just leave them to me and don't tell me how to do my job\" approach. I think these are more likely to be sham operators. If we can't inspect, how can we accept? That also explains why I don't like enrichment courses that refuse to tell you anything about their techniques until you have paid up, but that's another story.

So talk to the MMI teacher and principal, and if you assess for yourself that they take your concerns lightly and do nothing to assure you or address your concerns, then it is time to move on to another service. Don't do it just on a whim or based on what you hear about other parents complaints. It does more harm to your child to keep moving him/her around.

[conniepng]

Hi vleong28,

I thought there is only a K2 Class in Sengkang MMI and there are 28 students altogther. U mean, the teachers also teach your child’s class? I have already found that they are very under staff.
I do agree that my son did improve alot, especially it terms of languages, social and communication. I am very impressed with that initiately. Before joining MMI, his communication was very poor, even the social skill. Over the time, I noticed great improvement in him.
But since the beginning of K2, things started to change. I dont see passion in the teacher. ‘Bochay’. Probably the class is too big? Actually I very doubtful they have complied with MCYS regulations. Because I understand the ratio is supposed to be 1 = 8. But, not for his class. It’s been growing until reach 28 students.
I think vleong28, maybe you are lucky. your child does not have such a big class. But anyway, after much complaints and tracking of my son’s progress, the teacher is putting some effort. Hopefully, by then, he will be ready for Primary One.

[sTresSmUm]

Hi Chiefkiasu, I am not stressed about providing the wrong advice.. Ahah…as per you said, I was just reporting what I, myself has experienced.


No doubt, my child’s issue has been taken care quite promptly. But I am still relatively concern about what the other parent has shared (the teacher involved in this mentioned issue happens to be taking my son's class).

Will be raising my concerns to the school and hopefully, an assurance that my child is in good hands.

[chixchix]

Stress Mum …where is your boy studying ? In wch centre ?

[sTresSmUm]

Had a session with the school. Was assured that they have been and still is looking at the concerns raised by parents.


Let see how thing progress but i still wan to look ard for another school (just in case). Chiefkiasu, u hv any plans to set up a CC? ahha...i will definitely send my child there. THink they will thrive under ur care!

[ChiefKiasu]

sTresSmUm:

Had a session with the school. Was assured that they have been and still is looking at the concerns raised by parents.


Let see how thing progress but i still wan to look ard for another school (just in case). Chiefkiasu, u hv any plans to set up a CC? ahha...i will definitely send my child there. THink they will thrive under ur care!

Alright!... thank you... thank you for your support... hmm... The KiasuParent's ChildCare? I like the sound of that :lol:

[vleong28]

Hi Conniepng,


I think there's a little confusion. I meant that I liaised with the K2 teacher for other matters, not that she takes my son's class.
For the ratio of teacher to children probably you might want to bring it up to them. When I send my child to school, I normally see about 2 to 3 teachers in each class. I'm sure they have to follow MCYS regulations or else they would not be able to run the school.
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