MOE Kindergarten

[ad5259]

anyone registered for the new MK @JW?

[ellielim741.033966gmail.033966com]

Moe kindergarten is really having a lot of activities for the children and also moe have a good teacher and great environment

[missesbee]

lee_vl\" post_id=\"1991087\" time=\"1597501121\" user_id=\"187852:

I am currently an MOE Kindergarten teacher. Here's my take for parents considering MK.

Pros:
1. Subsidized school fees
2. Priority entry into primary school

Cons:
1. Parents need to put their child in enrichment centres outside MK to prepare for primary school (because phonics, spelling and maths are not in the curriculum)
2. Large percentage of teachers are fresh diploma grads who are learning on the job
3. High turnover rate of teachers prevalent in most MKs tend to affect children's learning and development
4. Children lack opportunities to develop their sense of curiosity, creativity and problem-solving skills as curriculum is teacher directed and not child directed
5. Curriculum is not actually play-based. The children only get to play at learning centres for about 10-15 mins or not at all due to time constraints
6. Snacks are pre-bought processed food and not freshly made
7. No toilet training provided for children
8. High teacher-child ratio of 1:25 means less attention given to each child
9. No assistance given to children with mild special education needs despite accepting them into MK

I beg to differ.

I'm a mother of 4. My eldest and 2nd son graduated from MK and are now in Primary School. My #3 is currently in K1. I have no regrets putting them in MOE Kindy.

There are definitely more pros that I can think of than what this teacher has shared here. Their English curriculum is aligned to the primary school's STELLAR - reading of the big book, learning grammar and vocab from the big book.

Only my #1 attended enrichment classes outside school when he was younger. My #2 and #3 didn't as I do not have time to bring them for classes. They learnt to read, write, count, all from schools. They DO phonics. They teach spelling but they don't have spelling tests because tests kill the joy of learning. I personally don't test my children too but they learn through play eg. hangman. For Chinese, I know they learn to recognise words and strokes. My daughter initially spoke ZERO chinese but she enjoys the chinese lessons in MK so much that she will come back and tell me the stories she read, songs she learnt (on repeat mode for many days until new ones are taught).

My #1 graduated from MK in 2018 and #2 graduated in 2020.
All their teachers are still teaching in the kindy. My #2 had the same teachers for 2 years. My #1 had a different teacher in K2 though the K1 teacher was still teaching. I did ask why then but not I can't remember the reason. So high turnover? I don't think so.

They do projects and their project themes are decided by the pupils.. considered child directed? My #2 only started writing in K2. When I raised this concern to the teacher, she said they did writing in class but he was reluctant. They encouraged him but did not force him. Then one day, he just started writing. I suddenly wanted to write stories and kept making his own books.

I'm not sure about others but my kids are definitely ready for primary schools. In fact, the transition was so smooth that they got used to primary school within the first two days.

I hope my inputs help.

[tanw73]

Are the branches different? My child also went to MOE kindergarten but his teacher said they cover only the letter sounds and do not have programmes like rigby or jolly phonics. He was there for K1 but then did not show any interest or improvement in reading even by the end of K1. He could not read any of the letter sounds in the weekly updates from the teacher despite his teacher saying he was doing fine during the parent teacher meeting? It definitely seemed like the teacher was not paying attention to his progress. We ended up transferring him to another school which he seems to enjoy and have shown much improvement since then.

[ChiefKiasu]

Terrydad\" post_id=\"2063412\" time=\"1648906734\" user_id=\"193857:

Thanks for your positive sharing.

My child is now 3 months into Sparkletots and really looks forward to school everyday.

While there are many Filipino teachers for English in nursery, which may be a concern, I was glad to know in K1 and K2 they switch to Singaporean teachers. Best thing is, the Chinese teachers are from China and speak good Chinese everyday to my child.

Prior to preschool, my child usually speaks no Chinese. Now he comes home singing Chinese songs. He also speaks to us in Chinese now occasionally, to ask for food or play a toy. They will also toilet train him later in the year.

The timetable for nursery looks pretty solid, balanced mix of English, Chinese, counting, even pre-writing, music, dance, free play, physical activity. Teachers call us occasionally, and PTMs are so frequent we dodged the last one

Heck the waitlist was nearly 12 months, so we thank God he got in!

Sorry... are you talking about Sparkletots or an MOE kindergarten?

[ChiefKiasu]

Terrydad\" post_id=\"2063451\" time=\"1648956902\" user_id=\"193857:

Hi Chief,

I was moved by Missesbee's honest and intelligent sharing, and wanted to share my own son's experience in a government preschool.

It is a joy to see positive rebuttals from parents to posts that are largely negative complaints about teachers and schools. As you know, preschool and kindergarten teachers earn very little, but do a lot.

I see... that's nice! BTW... is Sparkletots a government preschool? I didn't know. Oh wait... of course it is. It was formally under \"PAP\".

[floppy]

ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2063453\" time=\"1648963894\" user_id=\"3:

I see... that's nice! BTW... is Sparkletots a government preschool? I didn't know. Oh wait... of course it is. It was formally under \"PAP\".

Sparkletots is a private preschool under the PCF.

MK is the first government run preschool.

[Westcove]

Any review on MOE kingarten at Pei Tong?

[Jos09]

Hi, any parents can kindly share the experience / review on Cedar kindergarden? (If you can share the Kcare will be great!) Now my kid is in N2 and thinking if we need to change school from Artemis to Cedar kindergarten to enter the primary school. We are staying in Bidadari. It’s our first kid hence still exploring how to prep the kid to primary. Thanks a lot!

[YMTan]

Hello, i am new here. Would like to know if there’s any parents who has sent their kids to MK @ Cedar? My kid is in N2 now, and we are deciding if we should switch to MK instead. appreciate if you have experiences or info to share on both MK and Kcare @ Cedar