Newton Kindergarten

[ankhlet.06013gmail.06013com]

Hi, this post is especially for kerbaya and Jazzychloe


(can’t directly get the quotes I wanted cos using iPad and have not figured out how to scroll internal reply windows)

Kerbaya,
My daughter is a Dec kid. She attended N1 last year, and NO toilet training was given to her. She was fully trained by my MIL (bless her!) during the June hols. For so many months my MIL kept complaining it was the teacher’s job to toilet train the kids, to collect their utensils after makan. In the teachers’ defense I’d be telling her that it was impossible for two teachers to toilet train 15 or 16 kids and still keep order and conduct lessons etc. Also, wasn’t it good for children to learn how to keep their utensils? But after reading greenbean’s comment that children get toilet trained at Newton, I wonder if my MIL’s assessment that my daughter’s teachers were lazy is correct.

Jazzychloe,
I think it was my mistake to have sent my daughter to school within few weeks of her turning two. she is the shy clingy type who takes time to acclimatize to a new environment. As of the march hols when I dropped her off at unaccompanied enrichment classes, she still screamed bloody murder. However this past week I do note a slight change in her. She seemed more willing to venture out of her comfort zone. Perhaps the emotional maturity has finally caught up. I say this because my neighbor has too a 3year old daughter with a similar level of shyness and attachment to her mummy as my daughter. She did take some time to adjust to attending N1 this year but with a very understanding (read experienced) teacher, she has adapted well. My neighbour’s kid does not attend Newton.

If you do get a spot at Newton, go ahead and let your child attend. I still think it’s a pretty good pre-school academically, so don’t lose the spot. But just keep a close eye on the emotional maturity of your child. Must say though, most of the N1 kids I saw at Newton were more than ready to attend school.

[ankhlet.06013gmail.06013com]

Mimama:

greenbean2011:

sorry, I don’t have friends who had studied in Newton kindergarten before and gone on to Primary school. Not sure how they are handling english.

Hello Greenbean,
Haven't seen your updates for a while. It is so nice to see you back here. Thank you for your reply and as always, you have been very informative and helpful. Will go check out the book that you mentioned.

For parents of ex-Newton kids,
Any problems for the kids when they enter P1 when it comes to English, since it is 60% Chinese and 40% English.

Mimama,

Have to absolutely agree with greenbean when it comes to learning English, do what she suggested about reading English storybooks. The Peter and Jane series is a terrific base to start off from for learning the English language. Also have to be diligent and find storybooks which entice children to read the stories. I know this works because my kid at 39months can read most of book 9a of Peter and Jane. (Pssssst, inculcating good reading habit with kids apparently works wonders for learning Chinese too ). You can also check out tamarind's blogs about teaching her kids English and Chinese. Start from here http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/

[phtthp]

heard Letterland phonics is tricky. Is it true ?

[phtthp]

how does Newton teach creative writing ?

[smurf]

Newton is a kindergarten right? Why talk about creative writing? So young?

[greenbean2011]

for kids who transfer into Newton kindergarten at late K1 / K2 level from other outside external kindergarten / child care centres / montessori pre-schools, and who are falling behind extensively in school work and need to catch up a lot, a great deal … it might be better for these kids to receive 1 to 1 personal tuition, by home tutors.


If parents not sure which home tuition teachers are appropriate, parents may approach Newton principal for help. She can recommend you good tuiton teachers to go to your house, coach and help your child catch up fast in time, before enter Pri 1.

[jazzychloe]

Many thanks for greenbean and Em for your advice. We will be visiting Newton Kindy tomorrow and have a chat with Mrs Koh. I remember from one of greenbean's post, the school bus goes to Aljunied rite? Cos that's where my mum is staying and my gal will be going there after school.


Em, so is it true that usually by around 3yo they will start to socialise more? Cos my gal is really a magnet to us lah, where ever we go she will not let us be out of her sight. Not even playgrounds and other play stuffs can attract her to just let go of our hands and play! Wonder why she is different from other kids who are also the same age, but when it comes to play they can just forget about other things liao? :roll:

But before she turned two, she was not so bad. I rem she will still go up to other kids in the mall and want to play with them leh... wonder if it's the childcare centre saga that made her so insecure now... So now she's only attending Sat class at GUG to let her get used and learn to socialise and have fun. But will i confuse her cos GUG is parent accompanied class, and she expects one of us to be with her inside class? I've even read to her story books about going to school, and she will tell me that \"mummy is inside the school with her kids\" when actually that \"mummy\" is a teacher lol. You know what she meant rite??

[greenbean2011]

yes, jazzychloe - Newton school bus can pass by your mother’s place at Aljunied.


different school bus goes different direction (north, south, east, west), pick up students.

for east bound route, Auntie Ong currently fetch students - start from Serangoon Garden circus near chomp chomp makan hawker centre, travel down Hougang, Kovan, Bradell (pass by Paya lebar methodist church kindergarten), Upper Paya lebar, lorong Tai Seng, Macpherson, Aljunied, Kallang Bahru, turn into Whampoa, Balestier, Novena condos near Tan Tock Seng hospital, Newton condos, back to school.

for west bound route, another school goes Upper Bukit Timah near Beauty world centre, come down Clementi, Bukit Timah, turn back into Newton circus.

initial first week, sit inside the school bus with your child. School bus very spacious, air con very nice, lot of leg room to rest your feet. I love sitting inside the school bus. When Term 2 school term opened two weeks ago, saw a few new faces of kids + new parents joining us, all sitting inside the school bus chit chatting happily.

[greenbean2011]

hi,


all kindergarten in SG are regulated & controlled by MOE.

sometimes, every 5 to 7 years, MOE may / might change her primary school subject syllabus slightly. Not always must change, but occasionally, may change. She may remove certain topics, or add in some new interesting topics. Thus to play safe, always go MOE website, print out the latest Primary school syllabus.

today is 2011. Here is the latest revised Pri 1 English syllabus, taken from MOE website. (for Pri 1 syllabus, you may read from pg 37 onwards. The rest are for P2 to P6 English syllabus)

perhaps you may wish to print out a hard copy from here, bring it along with you, to any kindergarten that you have in mind to visit, for discussion.

based on this Pri 1 syllabus, it serves as a good starting point or a good reference point of discussion - providing guidelines for you to ask questions intelligently. Based on this, then you may ask school Principal politely questions regarding the English syllabus curriculum taught here, as well as from browsing through sample English workbooks / worksheets done by students from that pre-school.

this way, you can find out for yourself exactly - how is the standard of English taught here like ? it can be any kindergarten you have in mind to visit. can be a kindy in any district / location, or can be PCF (PAP) branches, etc.

after you visit two or more kindy using this same approach / method … whereby you examine MOE requirements point by point, and you scrutinize the respective kindy’s (you’d visited) English syllabus taught Term by Term in detail, now you become expert. You’ll know exactly …is this kindy in line with MOE requirements, does it cover sufficient / cover enough ? if it’s good, why good ? good to what extent ? or …. how far off ?

now instead of asking others around compare kindy – hey, what you think … kindy A or B better ? …. you already obtain the answer for yourself. Because once you know the requirements, know what to expect, then you know what to look out for.

below are:-


a) link for Pri 1 English syllabus
======================

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/english-language-and-literature/files/english-primary-secondary-express-normal-academic.pdf

(read from page 37 onwards, for P1)


b) link for Pri 1 Mathematics syllabus
=========================

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/sciences/files/maths-primary-2007.pdf

(read from page 12 onwards, for P1)

c) link for Chinese syllabus
====================

i)\tfor Higher Chinese (SAP schools)

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/mother-tongue-languages/files/character-list-primary-higher-chinese-2007.pdf

ii)\tfor ordinary Chinese

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/mother-tongue-languages/files/chinese-primary-2007.pdf

d) other syllabus for
===============

- Science, Music, Home economics, moral education, PE physical exercise, etc

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/

[Mimama]

Thank you for the feedback, Greenbean and Em.


I am going to ask all the questions that you have suggested here in my visit to Newton.

Will come back here and share with all of you…