Pat's Schoolhouse

[LOLMum]

empressplace:

My message to Knowledge Universe:


1. Don't be cheap. Mum's Kitchen is obviously not the best caterer out there.

2. Watch your class size. Your published class ratio is not strictly adhered to.

3. Improve your parents' communication and administrative process. A chain with 13 centres can afford to invest in some admin personnel and getting organised is imperative. It is ridiculous that PSH could send me invoicing emails but cannot send me email updates on a mass food poisoning incident.

4. Don't expand too aggressively. Make sure you get quality teachers and principals.

I think the above is critical to Pat's Schoolhouse's business. Calling a spade a spade and cutting out all the warm fuzzy rhetoric. PSH is a business and all of the above issues indicate a tendency to move more mass market than premium. Please have a look at the current profile and background of families. Are these parents likely to want an increasingly mass market preschool solution?

have you forwarded this message to the relevant parties? they might/might not be reading this thread

[verykiasu2010]

LOLMum:

empressplace:

My message to Knowledge Universe:


1. Don't be cheap. Mum's Kitchen is obviously not the best caterer out there.

2. Watch your class size. Your published class ratio is not strictly adhered to.

3. Improve your parents' communication and administrative process. A chain with 13 centres can afford to invest in some admin personnel and getting organised is imperative. It is ridiculous that PSH could send me invoicing emails but cannot send me email updates on a mass food poisoning incident.

4. Don't expand too aggressively. Make sure you get quality teachers and principals.

I think the above is critical to Pat's Schoolhouse's business. Calling a spade a spade and cutting out all the warm fuzzy rhetoric. PSH is a business and all of the above issues indicate a tendency to move more mass market than premium. Please have a look at the current profile and background of families. Are these parents likely to want an increasingly mass market preschool solution?

have you forwarded this message to the relevant parties? they might/might not be reading this thread

the Americans won't know what is happening. Emails will still \"bounce\" back to Patricia

Have you all lodge your complaint to MOE / MCYS and NEA ?

[Popstar]

From my understanding, the schools are cooking in-house for the children now. But I heard that it will only be a temp measure until they find a new catering vendor. Actually my son’s center no longer has a proper kitchen. They renovated n changed it into a classroom.


But I agree with all that we are not looking for a commercialized preschool solutions for our children. I believe the children would be better off if the school continue to cook in-house. I actually saw a webpage on facebook titled ‘Pat’s Schoolhouse Should Cook In-house’. It has 14 likes already, including mine. Hope that all of u would go n like it as well. Get as many parents, friends n relatives to like it.

Hope that u could join us in this motion to get through to Pat’s management to take our stand seriously.

[empressplace]

What I don’t understand is how come they could revive the inhouse cooking so fast. They used to have an executive chef (at one time a Caucasian) running the kitchen. Now obviously there is no chef at such short notice. Cooking facilities have been reduced for sure in view of the executive decision to outsource the food. Unless I know the details of how they revive the inhouse catering, I wouldn’t be so ready to endorse this. Our kids might be eating very simple food cooked by the aunties. If they are going to revive inhouse catering, I expect them to hire back the executive chef to plan delicious meals. If parents are too easy on this issue (just as a reaction to the food poisoning incident), we will soon find that our kids may complain about the school food being plain or uninteresting.

[Laisee]

What will it take for some parents to react? This company carelessly continued to use a supplier that had already poisoned people. Do you feel safe trusting your children with an organization that appears to value profit over safety?


Time for people to complain and take action. Withhold fees until they appoint a reputable external food supplier and make daily checks on ALL food delivered to ALL branches . . .

[Kabby]

I am also curious…

Do all the 13 centers use Mum’s Kitchen?
If so, why are only some centers affected?

Does Mum’s kitchen serve all 13 centers the same menu everyday?

My heart goes out to all those who are affected. Hope the kids get well soon!

[omgmum]

Agree with empressplace, I really would expect PSH to put in more thought into the kids’ food. Cos nutrition is really important and affects not only their physical growth, but their intellectual development as well.


Actually, I was prepared to close one eye and prepare my own food for my kid, but all of the principals whom I spoke to discouraged me from doing so because they wanted kids to have the same experiences and didn’t want any kid to appear different from the rest! Win liao… I keep quiet when you don’t serve the type of food that I want my kid to eat, but you also don’t really want to help me give my kid what I want her to eat. I seriously think that my kid has been falling sick because she hasn’t really been eating a balanced meal.

So far, my kid’s class size has been okay, and her teachers are not bad. The fact that my kid loves school and likes her teachers shows that they must be doing something right. Her teachers and principal are nice and helpful, so I think it’s really more of a management problem.

Less commercialism and more heart please? Let’s hope that this unfortunate incident will serve as a wake-up call.

[omgmum]

kabalevsky:

I am also curious..

Do all the 13 centers use Mum's Kitchen?
If so, why are only some centers affected?

Does Mum's kitchen serve all 13 centers the same menu everyday?

My heart goes out to all those who are affected. Hope the kids get well soon!

I think Mum's Kitchen caters to all centres. But Mum's Kitchen probably prepares the food in different batches, so not all centres will be affected.

[omgmum]

kabalevsky:

I am also curious..

Do all the 13 centers use Mum's Kitchen?
If so, why are only some centers affected?

Does Mum's kitchen serve all 13 centers the same menu everyday?

My heart goes out to all those who are affected. Hope the kids get well soon!

I think Mum's Kitchen caters to all centres. But Mum's Kitchen probably prepares the food in different batches, so not all centres will be affected.

[happychildren]

I am a teacher from Pats. I would like to state my opinion here after knowing what has happened to the innocent kids in Pats and other centres. The teachers in Pats has been eating the food from the same caterer 8 months ago. Initially, the food served was presentable and edible, but after a few months time, we found that the standard has dropped. The worst case that happened was when we found things in the food such as plastic, fish bones, strings, etc. The fish was not cleaned properly before they cooked it and tasted awful. The teachers in Pats has reported this to the management, however nothing was done. There was no improvement in the food. We are utterly disappointed with the caterer and the school. We believe that as a teacher, we deserve better treatment and same goes to the children who paid so much to the school. I personally feel that if an organisation want to be recognised and be one of the top school, something must be done! Please consider for the teachers and children. Stricter measures should be implemented in selection of caterer or just stick to in-house cooked food. If an organisation want to save money on hiring chef instead, then they should be aware that such incident will happen. The children are suffering, MUM’S KITCHEN must be accountable for. They must be dealt severely.