[Serangoon/Paya Lebar] Preschools

[phtthp]

for N2-K2 parents who sent their kids there - how is the teaching at Lumiere montessori ? do they prepare kids well for P1?

[imblur]

Hi all


My daugther is currently 20 months. She is presently attending half day session at My First Skool. I have decided to switch her to another centre as she doesn’t like the teacher, nor the school. Furthermore, my daughter was bitten very deeply by another kid in school and I could not accept the fact that no one in the childcare centre had seen what happen. Her form teacher gave lots of excuses which were illogical and ridiculous such as
1) she claimed that my girl could have bitten herself (the bite was near to the elbow, she couldn’t have possibly twisted her arm to bite herself)
2) she did not hear my girl cry at all (the bite was very deep, how would she not cry? The teacher could most probably ignore her cries.)
3) she saw the bite mark at around 9-10 am and only called me at 4pm (which she claimed was during the children’s naptime but I knew the naptime ended at 3pm)
4) she said that the bite was very bad - raw and red such that they have to use ice pack to reduce the swelling but she only informed me about it at 4pm. Shouldn’t this require immediate attention?

Hence, I’m searching for another childcare in Serangoon which I hope would have more passionate/caring teachers. I’ve shortlisted a few centres and would like to seek feedback on the following:
1) Masterpiece at Sommerville Walk
2) Rosyth Childcare Centre at Grace Park
3) Cherie Hearts Little Play House at Serangoon Garden Way
4) Little Footies Schoolhouse at Mei Hwan Drive
5) Treasure Box Child Development Centre at Parry Ave

Would greatly appreciate your feedback on these centres. I would also be glad if you could suggest other other childcare centres with caring/passionate teachers within the vicinity.

[amok]

hi all,

my child is currently studying in mind champs preschool @ fusionopolis. in general, im pretty happy with the school. frm my dd academic improvement, centre cleanliness, classroom presentation, teaching materials, curriculum, teachers, food, blah blah... everything im really quite happy to see hw my dd has developed n learnt frm her school.

However, im moving frm west to serangoon north! total foreigner there. i read frm previous posts (in 2008), other parents have gd recommendations for school house by the garden, cambridge and preschool by the park. i have no idea where exactly are these preschools located (far frm where im gona resides) and are there any other gd preschools that any one who kws that area well will to be kind enough to fill me in pls?

my ideal preschool for dd will be, compassionate energetic teachers, gd management, kiasu curriculum, clean centre, ample teaching materials, classroom tt look like a classroom, once a mth excursion, outdoor play area, gd communication btwn teacher n parents, no tv, preferably no catering too, etc. above all else children there enjoys school n loves the teachers there too. wow!!!!hee.... :rahrah:

also as thoses postings i read were in 2008, are these schools i mentioned still any good?

frm what i gather, 2 of these schools, school house by the garden, preschool by the park, are houses(obviously...). Am i right to say such schools usually hav cleanliness problem because of the outdoor area? classrooms are set in typical bedroom? children always trip frm stairs? bad air ventilation?

when i was hunting a preschool for my dd then, my first priority was those schools in a private property kind becos i wanted my dd to be able to spend gd time doing outdoor activites. i have visited 2 of such schools in the west. totally turn off. the classrooms are actually typical bedrooms. its so not a conducive environment for the kids. and the stairs are gona be a hazardous for the children too. the air ventilation within the property is so bad too. the second one i visited, has no air con at all, classrooms too, the children look so sweaty and dirty..., best of all, the children watch tv while waiting for parents to come. the entire school looks kampong, seriously... despite such environment, charges for both schools cost more than 1k per mth too! :yikes:

my dd thoroughly enjoys school over at mind champs, my hubby n i wanted to register her in mindchamps again if possible but all centres are too far, also standard might differ. dd talks abt her school life and imaginery play school at home everyday too. i feel super bad to pull her out of mind champs. i also feel assured becos of the centre environment too. their food are cook by the aunties there too instead of catering. dear all pls help...

[littlehelper]

Is it possible to transfer her from one mindchamps to another? Like the school admin staff will do it for you? There’s one in Toa Payoh which i guess will be the nearest for you.


I don’t think all centers located in houses have bad ventilation.It really depends on how the school is designed.Some are dark and lack sunlight others are nice/cheery and good ventilation.You have to check it out yourself.

I guess you will have to shortlist a few centers you maybe interested in and then visit them.
It’s true that the stairs are dangerous but normally they will put the older kids up there so they should be able to climb up/down stairs properly.

[amok]

hi little helper,

thanks for yr reply!

yup, if i w to continue mindchamps for my dd, u r right... toa payoh shld be the nearest. however i kw someone who pull her dd out frm there a few mths ago, cos she kept falling sick. apparently many parents there speculated that its due to the main air con ventilation gg ard the office bldg. then again its really too far frm serangoon north. :sad:

i went dwn ard serangoon north the other day, and really spotted the 3 preschools the parents mentioned wo even looking hard. the distance w be an advantage. think ard the area most likely we hav to settle in those houses preschool.

btw, is yr child in any of such houses preschool? whats yr experience? have u heard any gd or bad abt thoses 3 preschools?

yr advice is deeply appreciated.

[littlehelper]

Hi nope no children in any of the preschools.

But i have a good impression of babies by the park and the kids seem to be really happy there (not sure if it’s what it seems to be though)

How about bishan area?Is it too far off too?

[amok]

hello!


i kw serangoon north is near ang mo kio. so its near bishan too?

u hav gd recommend for bishan? pls do tell me i dont mind gg dwn to check. ang mo kio? TQ!

[littlehelper]

Yeah a few.

star learners-New center in bishan, took over united montesorri. My friend place her son there and says the management is much better.They seem to have really fun activities that the kids enjoy.

YWCA. (ywca is a small center but that’s what i like about it- i find that even if the teacher to child ratio is 1:5 but there are 20 kids in one class it will still be very chaotic) Not very academic but the teachers are nice and the kids enjoy going to school. The teachers use the "chair" method to punish but mostly only the new kids get punished as they don’t know what’s acceptable and all.But once they get it it’s fine and they hardly get punish again.

YMCA also seem to have positive comments but i feel that the center layout no so organised seems abit untidy.

There is also a cherie hearts and kinderland here. Heard good comments about kinderland but not so sure about cherie hearts.

[nms1]

You can try Elfa which is by the side of Serangoon MRT. There is a Kinderland in the same building which is owned by Crestar. They have a playground which the children usually use every day as well as a small garden at the back where they have water & sand play once a week.


They usually have at least 5-6 excursions a year although some are very local.

They have optional Chinese & English Speech & Drama classes by Crestar teachers from N2 onwards and abacus from K1 onwards.

[amok]

hey little helpers thanks for the recommends. i w drive ard and check the distance n schools. TQ!


oh yes... im been gg tru a lot of threads, aft researching im considering kinderland too... but theres parents who has a child in kindy serangoon n another parent in kindy hougang both posted a long n horrid post on their experience w both schools. its inside kinderland post. however there r also past, older posts tt says gd things abt the serangoon kindy thou... sigh...besides heard theres a long waiting list for the serangoon one.

btw, what do u mean by this serangoon kindy is owned by crestar?

is yr child in elfa or serangoon kindy by any chance?

i have not heard of Elfa will check out the site! TQ!