Newton Kindergarten

[phtthp]

hi stsy_26,


with your concern that is pretty unique, perhaps it is best for you to talk directly / personally with our P. See how she can best address your issue ?

maybe you can ask P to show you some of our K1 / K2 workbooks done in class in school, plus those K1 /K2 weekend homework brought back home, see what kind of spelling or ting xie are taught at these two crucial level ? see for yourself … sufficient to prepare your DD2 for Primary 1 ?

you may ask P to show you our kindy detailed break down curriculum at each level, and going Term by Term. This info is readily available inside admin office. Ask admin staff to show you. You can sit down as long as you wish inside the general office, browse through curriculum in detail, for all the 3 subjects – English, Maths, Chinese.

for weekend homework brought back on Friday in a green bag to be submitted on Monday … if your child never submit or never do homework, the form teachers will call up parents - ask what happen ? This way each week, parents are kept on their toes vigilantly – to supervise and ensure kids do their homework properly. The weekly homework is good - in that it helps to instil an automatic, self disciplinary attitude within the child.

from homework assignments, parents will know what has been taught each week, for that current term. This helps in revision with your child. It serves as a useful checkpoint. At home, parents then know how to help your child reinforce the concepts learnt in school. Reinforcement is important. Then, retention of memory becomes permanent, stays permanently longer in kid. If parents wish to teach their child beyond what the school is currently teaching for that term, parents are welcome.

since your older girl studied in another church kindergarten previously before - after browsing through our exercise workbooks, you can conclude … is our Newton similar, lower or higher in standard … compared to your DD1 previous school standard ? if different – then how far up, or how far off is Newton standard compared to Primary 1 expectations, since your DD1 already in Primary 1 ? If shortfall, where is the shortfall ? can you find alternative solution … to close up the gap ?

CHIJ St Nicholas is one of the top SAP girls’ schools, churning out many top female scholars, consistently for past few years. Naturally, the academic demand is high across all subjects – English, Chinese, Maths and Science.

over here - Newton kids attend external enrichment lessons on their own, like … Montessori Maths, CMA Maths / Kumon / MPM / Kip McGrath, other types of Maths enrichment, Chinese Berries, Montessori Phonics, ‘I Can Read’, etc. From this list, kids attend one or more.

reason is … a number of Newton kids are going to good schools. Parents worry their kids lose out when go Primary 1, if they do not do anything about enrichment. Hence, parents are willing to spend $ on kid’s education. Parents save on other things, but comes to education for children, won’t stinge.

for example, a few reasons why kids here attend Montessori enrichment. Each child is unique. The type of struggle each child faced is also different:-

1) for struggling students
===================

how blessed is a normal regular kid who can develop normally and going mainstream school !

however, there is a group of students encounter some form of learning difficulty. Just calling someone ‘Aunty’ is … a struggle.

Our P is kind and supportive of autistic kids, dyslexia kids, speech delay kids or kids having other type of learning disability. Other kindy may not be willing to take in & accept such kids. But our P is kind and very supportive. She take in mild autistic, mild dyslexia kids, etc.

some of them concurrently undergoing speech therapy treatment at KK children hospital (the queue is very long) subsidized rates, or at privately run early intervention centres 2x or 3x per week, at costly expenditure per month.

at same time, these parents send kids into Newton kindy. why ? they do not want their child to remain in painful, lonely, isolated, ivory tower. They want child to behave as per normal - able to pick up social skills, interact and mix well with fellow classmates. They hope child can go - mainstream Primary 1 eventually. So, coming to Newton kindy acts like a checkpoint. During PMT (parents meet teachers session), from feedback received, parents can know …. if their child can cope with mainstream kindergarten K1 / K2 or not.

The founder of Montessori education is a French lady doctor, Dr. Maria Montessori. She was a great, noble woman. She saw many poor kids living in poverty rural areas, some born with learning disability. These kids encounter great difficulty. Struggling hard to read simple storybooks. Struggle to understand simple, basic Maths concepts. Her heart cries out to them. With high noble calling, she managed to develop a curriculum …. help these children learn to read from scratch, handle Maths.

for these students studying at Newton kindy, besides attending speech therapy sessions, they may take up Montessori lessons outside. May be another Montessori pre-school, or Montessori enrichment lessons.


2) for students, to catch up
====================

these kids don’t face learning disability. But they may have transfered into our Newton kindy late at K1 - from other external childcare centres (ccc) or kindy outside.

they may not have been grounded well in phonics in their earlier, previous pre-school. Some ccc do not teach phonics.

in our school, K1 Term 1 already start blending 3 or 4 characters words. If fundamentals of 26 single sounds from a to z is weak (ideally, all 26 sounds ought to have been mastered at N1 / Pre-nursery level), the child face difficulty when comes to blending. eg: he doesn’t know how to pronounce beginning sounds like ch, sh, bl, etc. The child lost confidence, ask what is this … ch, sh sound ? When do phonics homework, he say scared …. run away, refuse to do homework, said it’s tough for him.

when reach K1 Term 2, our school switch into higher gear … bec remaining only 1.5 yrs left (before P1). The child gets overwhelmed. Lost more confidence. Start to give excuses like … don’t want to go school. When reach this stage, better hire 1 to 1 personal tutor coaching, for personal attention. Children like him can turn to phonics enrichment and other critical reading skills, for help.

3) for rest of other students - who want to build / acquire a strong foundation in Maths and phonics, when young.

Montessori Maths teach concepts, systematically step by step. It is well structured. If start early, can help child grasp ‘from concrete to abstract’ mathematical concepts well. This is what some parents want. So, they send child for Montessori.

thus, not easy … to answer your question posed. Children here go for enrichment, for different reasons.

if there is any ex Newton parents whose child never go for any enrichment at all, but just rely solely on our school curriculum alone, and are willing to come forward to share, that would be best!

[phtthp]

here are some thread for help - for dyslexia parents, autistic parents (Asperger autistic spectrum disorder) with kids studying at Newton kindy:-


sharing of a mother whose child gains exemption from learning Chinese:-
http://momto5.blogspot.com/2008/06/isaacs-results-isaac-has-now-officially.html

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20148

taking assessments for suspected dyslexia:-
http://www.das.org.sg/assessments.html

[phtthp]

hi,


sharing for those parents in dilema… who are considering transfering into Newton kindy, from other external kindergarten & child care centres (ccc) …

last year, my child was in N1. I was like you. Many questions keep ding dong in my mind. Should i let my child quit or remain, in her previous kindy ? to quit or to remain ? (keep repeating) … keep haunting me - playing forth and back like a video in my mind, constantly bugging me, leaving me no peace.

I worried that if i withdraw my kid, will she be able to re-adapt to the new school environment ? I was in dilemma. Late at night when everything was quiet, entire household sleeping, I sat down at a table, drew 2 column on a piece of paper – wrote down the pros and cons, under each column.

one of the pull factors was the school bus fee. In her earlier kindy, school bus fees charges was $250 per month. Over here, Auntie Ong charged me $160 per month. This was a huge substantial savings of … $90 per month, enough to let her attend a new enrichment course. 2nd pull factor was more Chinese taught here.
This was what I want. In the end, let go! Just transfer her. Whatever comes next - will try to resolve when comes to the bridge, come what may … for better, or for worse.

in the end, i realized that actually I worried for nothing. All my past fears were unfounded. I realized that kids at this young age … re-adapt themselves very quickly.

beginning this year, 2nd day after school re-open new term, my child in Nursery N2 told me this … ‘Mommy, no need to follow me into classroom. I not scared anymore. Teacher take care of me. If i need anything, i ask teacher. If hungry, i ask teacher for more rice, bigger portion, ok ?’ When I heard this, I felt so blessed, so thankful ! I thank God for easing her in, helping her settle down so fast. I expected her to cry for a few weeks, at least. Soon, she forgot her past - made friends with new classmates, re-adapt to the present.

our P is kind and understanding. For transfer cases coming into N2 from outside external kindy or ccc, she tend to group us altogether into same class. why ? so that our kids start on common ground. Everyone is new in this kindy – common footing.

but for those who came up from N1, then they form another class, since they are all familiar with one another, after spending one year together.

hope this helps.

[stsy_26]

Thx phtthp for ur advice! I have gone down to the school today and have signed up my little gal for N1 pm session. We will start in Term 4.


As per your advice, i asked to see the K2 worksheets for the various subjects, and i must say they look much more comprehensive than what I see from my older gal's school! Newton's worksheets look pretty similar to what can be found in the P1 assessment books, giving me comfort that they are going in the right direction in getting the kids P1 ready!

I was intending to send my gal for the 3 hr programme as a start to getting her used to attending school, but the school bus only fetches kids for the 4 hr programme. Is this a cause for worry for me? Or the kids can't tell whether it's 3 or 4 hrs?

At home, my younger gal sounds so gung ho abt going to school, keep saying she wants to go to school like her Che Che.... but when she was with me at the school today, stuck to me like glue and refused to even go near the other kids coming in for their lessons! :roll:

Ah well... we'll just hv to see how the first day of school will be...

Glad to finally join the mummies at Newton Kindy! :celebrate: Hv been surfing this forum as a bystander for so long!

[junietan]

Hi all,


I'm a new parent of Newton Kindy. My twins, in N2 Faith, have just joined the school on 1April. I must say that they are enjoying themselves very much in Newton.

I must admit that I was one of those parents who comtemplated really hard before making the switch...you know...worried about making wrong decisions. But now, I'm really glad that I have made the right choice and my gals are having a great time in school.

I am very happy to get to know Newton parents from this thread. I think it's really great to share information with one another

[phtthp]

nowadays, quite a number of primary schools adopt 'Teach Less, learn more' (TLLM) concept. Be prepared when child go primary school P1 next time:


http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=21096&start=730

the Petition is up:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum ... f=27&t=814

[vanila]

What is the school fee for N1 and N2?

[phtthp]

vanila, can check yr pm (private mail)

[phtthp]

hi stsy_26, junietan


:welcome: to our kindy :laugh: :dancing: :boogie:

since only got school bus for 4 hrs N1 (not 3 hrs), and yr child next yr 2012 onwards start N2 Term 1 also 4 hrs, perhaps just go ahead and enrol her for this yr 4 hrs N1 in Term 4. It's only for 1 term. Let her get used to the 4 hrs daily routine. Come next yr when she start N2, it'll be a breeze for you, since rehearsal already done.

to stay an hour longer everyday, tea time + short snacks are prepared for pupils. Your DD2 will get to eat lots of fresh fruits everyday. Different day, different type of fruits. Auntie Lilian (our in house cook/chef) will prepare cut banana, pear, mango, apple, orange, strawberries, kiwi, water melon, papaya, etc, for tea time. Natural fruits provide fibre, are good for bowel motion. Your girl will be well taken care of, by N1 teachers. Dun worry.

yes, she might cry for initial first 3 days - because environment is new to her. Normal lah, for kids starting school! Soon, she will fit in well, start to mix and interact with her classmates socially, chit chat & engage with her form teachers. She'll be her happy self again! Perhaps first week, sit inside the school bus with her. Enjoy the air-con school bus ride, familiarise yourself with the school bus route. Have fun!

[phtthp]

hi,


earlier on, Newton kindy gave out forms to parents, inviting all parents to attend a special seminar to train our kindergarten kids. Help our children acquire sharp, instant photographic, excellent Memory skills, from young.

this is an important, useful life core skill. Such beneficial skill is applicable throughout the child's life. We are grateful that our Principal has taken the initiative, to organize such a wonderful seminar like this for us.

however, since we cannot garner enough minimum 100 parents to attend, the seminar was unable to take off, at Newton kindy. A number of parents who wanted to sign up eagerly were turned away, feeling disappointed.

however, i just found out a good lobang, wanna share with you :lol:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=21997