Pat's Schoolhouse

[smurfy]

eyktay:

I've heard that diff PSH branch is diff.

Any views of PSH Serangoon?
Anyone's kid is there for half day only?

My child is 2008, am thinking of placing her for half day. At the same time also exploring church kindergartens, how diff is PSH programs for half day for younger kids of 3yo compared to church kindys? Many thanks in advance for any advise.

hi, my boy is 2007 and he is with the serangoon branch since last year @ playgroup. My views on serangoon is that it's a well established center w lots of experienced teachers (having said that, alot of things are taken for granted that u should know or you shld not worry too much coz it's been tried and tested by tonnes of kids in the past). He was in half day last year and full day this year. the enrichment programs (imaths, music and me, fasttrac kids, speech n dramas), all started in nursery level and above. For playgroup, quite similar to other cc/kindies, it is more towards gearing them in their self help skills. curriculum wise, they are exposed to the 26 characters in lettterland.

seriously, i dunno how much he learnt in playgroup, except he's having lots of funs -_-'

[smurfy]

debpch:

My kid is 2008 born and we have been with Tanglin for 1 month. We are currently in the queue for Serangoon (seems that there are >200 2008-born kids in the queue :roll: )


Teachers-wise, we have a local lady teaching English and a PRC lady teaching Chinese. The English teacher is very friendly and readily offers feedback of our kid's progress in class. The class ratio (if I remember correctly) is around 12:2. Ms Ada (our principal), the main reason we signed up with Tanglin in the first place, is very approachable and ever willing to offer advice.

We do agree that food-wise, there is room for improvement. However, because our kid is there for half-day only, the food was not high on our list of \"must-haves\" when we chose PSH.

Like empressplace, we chose PSH after comparing the curriculum (Chinese & English) with the other preschools (5 in total) that we visited. Having said that, whenever I ask my kid what she does in school, she will always cheekily say: \"Dancing the whole day.\"

be warned abt the high student ratio in serangoon ~ ah boy nursery class is 2 trc: 18 students ( 2 new add-onz from last yr playgrp).

yep. even the 2 new addon who came in had some relations to enter... 1 is transferred from Whitely, the other is like got older sibling in the sch.

[eyktay]

Thanks for sharing mummies! Truly appreciate the frankness. So seems like PG years are for investment for a place in PSH…sigh…very ex lei…sob sob.

[eyktay]

REPEATED POST

[smurfy]

eyktay:

Thanks for sharing mummies! Truly appreciate the frankness. So seems like PG years are for investment for a place in PSH....sigh.....very ex lei....sob sob.

for me, I started in dstory club... \"existing sTUDENTS' get priority for playgrp kekeke.

[eyktay]

smurfy:

eyktay:

Thanks for sharing mummies! Truly appreciate the frankness. So seems like PG years are for investment for a place in PSH....sigh.....very ex lei....sob sob.

for me, I started in dstory club... \"existing sTUDENTS' get priority for playgrp kekeke.

The iMath progs start in Nursery or K1?
Hmmmm, PN half day also not cheap lei....

[omgmum]

empressplace,


Totally agree with you. Like you, I was debating btw CH and PSH, and in the end, chose the latter because of the bilingual system, and CH didn't have phonics.

The English at PSH is okay, although I still have to say that CH's spoken English is better, maybe cos the teachers don't really have the Singlish accent.

Now having another major headache; I have to find another centre for dd when she goes to nursery next year. Cos Halifax is full! It was one of those Wah Lau Eh moments! Especially now that dd is quite nicely settled in Halifax.

And I thought that I'd only had to go through the whole searching for preschools ordeal only once! Have to start worrying about logistics and what-nots again.

The worst is that the schools near my area- Buckley, Claymore and Mt Emily- seem to be very popular too. Was going to bathe my dog but now totally not in the mood!

[crystalbelle08]

smurfy:

eyktay:

Thanks for sharing mummies! Truly appreciate the frankness. So seems like PG years are for investment for a place in PSH....sigh.....very ex lei....sob sob.

for me, I started in dstory club... \"existing sTUDENTS' get priority for playgrp kekeke.

hahaa...Smurfy, u are not alone....
Heard a few cases already.
Tink that is the best path to get into the popular Pat's.
If u dont have siblings to pull string... :rubhands:

[crystalbelle08]

omg mum,


I am abit confused :?

Yr dd is settled in Halifax, why cant they let her proceed to Nursery next year in Halifax?
Thought existing students in the same school has the top most priority?

[DesertWind]

empressplace:

If we are not even happy with what premium chains provide, imagine what it is like further down the price range.

Hi empressplace,

I used to think like this too hence at one time was shopping along the premium names you mentioned. I was hoping for the price they charge I would get better quality like good teachers and good cirriculum etc. In fact I have put down a deposit and most eagerly registered with Pats but later on changed my mind did not follow-through.

It is not the fees because I definitely can afford to pay. But I was remembering the small teacher-children ratio they had when I first read about them in the newspapers long ago (many years back already). But when I visited them, small class ratio is certainly not for now. The K1 or K2 groups were huge!

Secondly, when I spoke to one Chinese teacher, she was new to Pats and hence I wondered how much of training and philosophy of Pats. she can implement? Furthermore, the time-table looks good but somehow I seriously doubt whether they actually implement all of them.

During the visit to the Pats branch nearest to my home, I saw that the main gate control was terrible! The metal gates were unlocked and visitors who left would usually leave it unlocked. Furthermore, the lock was too low and kids can always open it and step outside right onto the road. The kids playground was also just inside the main gate and it was a great possibility that the kids could just step outside the unlocked gate. I wrote in almost immediately to the P but got no answer.

Of course not all Pats branches are like this and there are many excellent ones around judging by the long queues. But I won't have the chance to find out simply because I got turned away immediately upon enquiry.

So I got to look for alternatives and got to change my mindset on those \"lower down the price chain\". But it is not as bad as I thought. Actually I find that kindies that charge lower fees may not be due to hiring \"lower quality\" teachers or have lousy premises. It can be due to church affiliation whereby they have already obtained fantastic lands long ago and since they own the premises, need not charge parents astrocious fees to cover rental.

Many of these church-based kindies have got teachers who speak really well plus they have an extra touch of love for kids from their religion. Plus they could have other voluntary help from the church so that they got cleaners/ cooks hence it is one area they can save too? Or public kindies could be heavily subsidized by the garmen hence the fees are lower.

I don't mean to talk badly about Pats or seems like sour-grapes to existing mummies here but to give my 2-cents worth just because I was, at one time, seriously considering sending my kid to Pats.