PCF/PAP Kindergartens

[Wan]

Not sure abt other branches, but punggol south uses jolly phonics starting from nursery. My girl is learning Sssss… & my K2 is learning th. They start learning grammar at K2. My children are all mandarin speaking at home. They pick up English at PCF

[mrswongtuition]

smurf:

Er, do u know what phonics system they use? :?


You mean u put your boy in PCF? Is it good?

You mentioned that some children cannot speack at all, erm, then how do they communicate ha? :?

The centre that I went to dun have expensive fee. Pre N is around $160, k1 and k2 is around $100. I can't remember how much is the fee for nursery. Think between 100 and 160.

Pre N is 2 hrs, nursery is 3 hrs and k1/k2 is 4 hrs.

How they communicate? CRY lor...
They can follow instructions but can't talk. When others snatch their toy, they don't know how to 'complain' to teacher, so they beat/bite others.
My boy was bitten on 2nd week of school.

I put my boy in PCF for 'entertainment' purposes. Not for education. He goes to another kindy that is way more structured and there's quality teaching.
He goes to PCF in the afternoon to 'play' because he's very bored at home and no one plays with him when I'm having tuition.

The PCF he attends uses Jolly Phonics too. But can tell my boy is quite bored by it because they are only doing letter sounds when he's already doing blending...

But anyway, he loves PCF and calls it his 'play school'.

[smurf]

Ha? Put a child in PCF for playing purpose ha? I'm not sure if I want to do that, coz education also very expensive nowadays...


I thought that PCF is very academic...whereas other schools such church based, pat sch house, etc have more playing stuff...guess I was wrong... :oops:

[mrswongtuition]

smurf:

Ha? Put a child in PCF for playing purpose ha? I'm not sure if I want to do that, coz education also very expensive nowadays...


I thought that PCF is very academic...whereas other schools such church based, pat sch house, etc have more playing stuff...guess I was wrong... :oops:

In his 3 hours there, 15 minutes to settle the kids, 30 minutes tea break, 15 minutes to wash up after tea break, not much time left for meaningful lessons. And they take 1 hour walks around the neighbourhood around 2 -3 times a week, depending on the weather. The teachers will show them things and tell them the names of objects. But with a brood of 15 children, how many are really listening??

Also, I've sat in for a few days and peeped through the windows for a few days, they really do a lot of playing.

& the kids I tutor from PCF, they are K2 and can't even read: This is a dog.

The class size is too big to be effective (15 per class) even though the teachers are really nice and patient.

& I've spoken to the centre principal, she did say that MOE's directive for preschools now is to learn through play. So there's a lot of playing.

So to me, I won't rely on PCF to teach the academics.
We take it more as a 'fun' enrichment for my boy to go and learn some social skills plus get some outdoor fun.

[smurf]

I thought many from PCF went to gifted program in primary schs…thought that because it was very academic…


The class has 15 children, but got 2 teachers right? So the ratio is around 1:8?

[Wan]

smurf:

I thought many from PCF went to gifted program in primary schs...thought that because it was very academic...


The class has 15 children, but got 2 teachers right? So the ratio is around 1:8?

Again, I can't comment on other branches. But I must say my kids' sch does prepare them academically for pri sch. They are quite systematic & follow themetic learning each term. I just need to read with them at home.

They have learning corners for children to build up social skills. My only complaint is lack of Chinese writing practice, but based on other forum mummies, emphasis is to recognise words b4 writing.

On teacher:student ratio, there is a teaching staff & a facilitator (who they call auntie) to a class.

[mrswongtuition]

smurf:

I thought many from PCF went to gifted program in primary schs...thought that because it was very academic...


The class has 15 children, but got 2 teachers right? So the ratio is around 1:8?

From my observation, there is 1 main teacher and the other is assistant teacher only. The assistant teacher does not stay throughout the lesson.

For K1/K2, there's only 1 teacher, no assistant teacher unless there's something they need help in (e.g. outdoor play).

I think those who go into gifted programs are those whose parents teach at home or sent them to other enrichment classes.
Just curious: Where did you get that info from? i.e. \"many from PCF went to gifted program in primary schs\".

I think you need to spare some time to go and observe the different kindies for yourself to have a better understanding.

[smurf]

I mean I thought, not sure about that. Thats why I asked. Cos that's the impression people gave.


The info from KSP, where else? :lol:

Maybe those that I read are not enough to justify the number of kids who were from PCF who went into gifted. But I heard PCF who went into gifted more than from other private schs.

My boy has graduated from MMK and from my observation, other than being a religion sch, and teaching religion knowledge, I believe it also helps to build a child's character. Which I feel is more important than academic. But having said that, I do believe that if there is no academic value involves, the child would have a much difficult time in primary sch.

I think the teachers ratio varies in different PCF branches. For eg, the one that is nearby me has two teachers in a class, one English and one Chinese. This came from the principal.

I also noticed that the teachers (the branch that I went to) aren't very friendly, they seems quite monotonous. And this is dunno the 2 or 3 branches that I went to already.

[mrswongtuition]

Verbally, they tell you that every class has 2 teachers (1 English, 1 Chinese).

However, they can’t be having English and Chinese lesson at the same time, right?

Try staying for a few sessions on different days to observe. For me, the centre is at my void deck so it’s very easy for us to observe (we know where to peep in from).

Honestly, info from KSP, take it with a pinch of salt. If the parents can find their way into this forum, I’m sure they would have put in additional effort into their kid’s education, especially during the preschool years - be it taught at home or outsourced to enrichment centres.

Unless you are prepared to ‘do all the work yourself’ or send to enrichment classes, PCF may not be a good choice.

[smurf]

I'm not sure, but in MMK, a class has 2 teachers throughout the 3 hrs session. Both also English teachers, one is form teacher thigh, the other is not. But the other is not really asst teacher because they may have more experience than the form teacher!


For Chinese teacher, they have spefici teacher at different classroom teaching the kids solely Chinese.

I assumed that it's the same in PCF, but that's because I dun have any experience putting a child in PCF so I dunno. I can't stay at a branch for too long, because the teachers inside will either use that kind of eyes to look at u, or 'chase' u away. What I mean chase is, they will ask you not to loiter around the centre, if u have any query, ask the admin office, etc. :lol: luckily, they never say we are disturbing the class! Haha.

But i have asked few people waiting outside the centre for some comments. Usually they won't tell u, they can only say, it's ok lah, etc. If they said something not so nice, why would they wanna to put their kids there? :lol:

I agreed that some info is to be taken with a pinch of salt, but some of them are from PCF going into gifted, but So far, not many example to say that PCF means gifted though.