[Bedok/Katong/Marine Parade/Siglap] Preschools

[Mishasha]

I am referring to School House by the Bay. They offer both childcare and kindergarten programmes.


Kindergarten offers 3 hrs daily programme - Nursery 1, Nursery 2, K1 & K2. As for childcare, they start from 18mths - 7yrs old. Most of them would offer Pre-nursery (for your kid's age gp), N1, N2, K1, K2 classes in the morining. For those who are under childcare scheme, they would have lunch and nap in the afternoon while the others go home.

The children have lessons / activities after their nap. Some of the centres would require you to pay for some enrichment classes such as keyboard lesson, painitng, swimming etc.

http://www.schoolhouse.org.sg/programme.htm

[eothian]

Thanks Mishasha ! I called them up again and the lady told me that they have this half day thingy for my 21 months toddler, not a full day.

[newM]

Hi mummies,


After reading all that posting i can understand hw it like when u r looking 4 a gd child care centre. Me myself work in a childcare centre and that y i m very fussy. I kw hw its like in the school. few of the sch that was mention earlier ( the expensive one i mean) wasnt as gd as u think like Pxx, Etxxhse, schhse xxx etc etc.

When i look around for my son tat time i almost comb all pre-sch in e east. I was like e rest of the mumies dun mind paying but wanted a centre that is clean and with staff that has passion in teaching. Hv curriculum preparing them for P1 and food that is health.

Finally i found this one. "Tot n kids" behind katong shopping centre. A small chilcare centre.

Nw my son is in K2 and my girl in N1. They are even giving away disc for sibling. Fees not expensive too.They belong to e middle range. $700 for fullday. The only thing that i m not too happy with is the class no is abit high. Like my girl who is in N1 there r 18 kids in her class. So for those who is looking for pre-sch can go n take a look

[Daddys Girl]

Hi,


I’m thinking to sent my daughter to My First Classroom in sennett, any nice parents got feedback for me or any good child care in the east area can recommend. I got a budget of $400 to$550.

Tks

[gigima]

Hi Chief I read in the brochure that schoolhouse by the bay has expat native english teachers. i wonder if all levels & classes are taught by these expat teachers? My husband & I would like our 18 months old daughter to learn proper english so this is a big attraction for us.

[ChiefKiasu]

gigima:

Hi Chief I read in the brochure that schoolhouse by the bay has expat native english teachers. i wonder if all levels & classes are taught by these expat teachers? My husband & I would like our 18 months old daughter to learn proper english so this is a big attraction for us.

Yes, my pre-N kid is taught by ang moh, and the course director is also ang moh, but it is their teaching of Chinese that completely surprised me. My girl, Chinese-phobic before she entered schoolhouse less than 9 months back, uses Chinese fluently these days. Of course, I'm sure all that Berries and other Chinese enrichment courses we send her to have an effect, but we are thrilled when she uses Chinese on her on volition without our prompting. She is quite effectively bilingual these days. So their method of having English-only and Chinese-only days is quite effective.

[Matt07]

Daddys Girl:

Hi,


I'm thinking to sent my daughter to My First Classroom in sennett, any nice parents got feedback for me or any good child care in the east area can recommend. I got a budget of $400 to$550.

Tks

Hi Daddys girl,

Currently my son is attending the PG class (18mths and above) at My First Classroom. Personally I quite like the sch and there have been constant updates from the teachers as well. My son enjoys the lessons as well. Maybe you can visit the sch and see how they conduct their lesson before you decide. After subsidy i am paying bout $330 for full day but the fees are gonna increase from June onwards.

[Daddys Girl]

tks for your advice matt.


i went there before and spoke to the teacher. quite like the place but when i go there again with my wife and my monster in law haha… they dun really like it.

will try talking to my wife.

anyway tks

[Joy]

SAHM:

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


hi chief kiasu,

Read that your dd in this school, do you not worried that they are not preparing the child adequately for P1? I got a friend who pulled her dd out and go to PAt schoolhouse after she got feedback from K2 parent that her child did not \"learn anything\"? My friend dd attended from playgroup to nursery this year, was feeling anxious that her dd still \"playing\" and has not learn to write....she want to prepare her gal to RGPS

Any feedbacks from graduates from schoolhouse by the bay?



Thank you.

Hi sahm

Thanks for sharing...

Just wonder, anyone has kid that had already graduated from shool house by the bay and how are they doing in pri school.

Chiefkiasu
Just wonder, what is the chinese standard difference in kinderland vs schoolhouse by the bay?Am actually hoping that I dont have to send my son to berries if I send him to school house by the bay...Heard that you send your dd to chinese enrichment...If you dont send , but solely rely on playschool itself, does it helps?

I know holygrace kindergarten is a good chinese base kindergarten, but I am not really sure about their eng standard.


cheers

[ChiefKiasu]

Joy:

...Just wonder, anyone has kid that had already graduated from shool house by the bay and how are they doing in pri school.


Chiefkiasu
Just wonder, what is the chinese standard difference in kinderland vs schoolhouse by the bay?Am actually hoping that I dont have to send my son to berries if I send him to school house by the bay...Heard that you send your dd to chinese enrichment...If you dont send , but solely rely on playschool itself, does it helps?
...

My daughter still far from graduating from schoolhouse What I like about the service is their focus on learning through play. There are plenty of hands-on activities that they expose the child to that allow the child to see things creatively. I have noticed my child has gotten quite a bit more imaginative since she started schoolhouse.

With regards to Chinese, as I have said before, schoolhouse practices alternate English and Chinese speaking-days. The value of this is that the child is fully immersed in the language for that day, which means that they have to use the language for every activity they perform throughout the day.

However, I cannot say for certain if my girl's Chinese has improved due to that environment. We only started getting worried about her Chinese in April last year (she was 3 years old then), when she showed signs of hating the language despite our efforts to speak it to her. That was also before we sent her to Schoolhouse. We then sent her to Forever Education in Katong Mall, and subsequently to Berries and now in Yuquan. She can now speak the language confidently and initiates conversations in Chinese too, and knows quite a bit of 成语(not that she understands them, but the idea is really to get her used to the characters and sounds. So it is really the medley of activities we do, and not solely the result of one childcare service.