Maris Stella Kindergarten

[worried_mom]

My 2008 born son is in MS kindy now. Though he loves going to school, to me, he learns absolutely nothing! Cause i have no other options, he still there currently… Term 2 is ending and yet he’s still learning letter J! No worksheets done in school. Oly arts n crafts brought back after term 1. At least there is a chinese book to show those songs or words they learn in term 1. But there is no english or maths book given.

He learnt a-z in N1 and 1-10. Yet in N2, he’s re-learning it. Asked him and everyday listen to stories, playground time, play wooden blocks, do arts n crafts.
Principal is acting principal only. Sister Anne.
Admin dept totally changed as old staff resigned in march. Whole school is messed up in terms of communication. My son was sent there perfectly well and comes home daily with insect bites on his legs n face.

Anyway, once i find a school, i’m pulling him out.

[phtthp]

in most pre-schools, N1 are only taught mastering of 26 sounds, from a to z. This is the norm.


however by N2 Term 2 -
a child should be taught how to "blend" sounds.
eg: starting from basic ground zero, child learn how to blend :-

f - at
c - at
m - at
s - at
r - at,
etc.

next, after learning blend basic sounds, child then move on next to read out very simple short sentences like:-

"The fat cat sat on the mat".

Thus by N2 Term 2 -
if your N2 child still learning N1 stuff like 26 sounds (a to z), i suggest either you teach child phonics at home, or supplement by some external enrichment outside, or transfer out to another kindergarten, that can prepare your child better for P1.

The Educational forefront dynamics is challenging. Constantly keep changing every now and then.
Pre-schools therefore must keep track of what’s going on in the Primary schools, and be able to keep up with the constant dynamic challenges ahead, revise her pre-school curriculum accordingly to keep up with the changing new demands.

When a child enters P1 primary school nowadays, he is expected to be able to read.
In some schools (not all), P1 Term 3 / 4 start to introduce "Maths Modeling" questions, besides the usual foundational Maths.
However, to be able to tackle these Modeling qns, first the child must be able to read - before next step comes in, ie. apply what he had been taught before, how to solve.

[worried_mom]

That is y i am so disappointed that my son ain’t learning anything despite me paying $900+ per term.

I rather pay $1.2k per term for him to go MMI to learn proper phonics and maths instead of wasting his 3hrs per day going playground and playing wooden blocks.
Worst education given than N1.

[resgmom]

My DD there since K1, she’s K2 now. Yes they don’t seem to be teaching much, but I’m not too bothered since I read to her everyday in English and Chinese (I’m FTWM, no religious affiliations). I’ve thought about switching her to other schools that teach more, (considering the amount of school fees paid + school bus fees), but she refused to switch to any other schools even after visiting other places with better facilities, air-con, etc. The fact that DD loves school, always singing the songs she learned at home, and get along well with her friends and teachers, is a testament to the caring environment. I believe her peers, who are mostly gentle and non-disruption in class is a plus - many families are Catholic. It’s too bad that they’re still trying to hire a principal, but could be that the school has high expectations and there just isn’t many good candidates around.


They do have weekly English dictation and Chinese Ting Xie of simple words (yie yie, popo, etc) and they started teaching patterns in K1.

[pbabe]

My son is in k2 this year. He enjoys going to school and will come back singing songs that he learnt from school.


I did not send my son to any enrichment course except for the hanyu pinying lessons conducted by the chinese teacher in the school. Despite having speech and language delay, my son is able to read books and do assessment books (English and Maths) on his own. I do minimal teaching at home, just focus on his weekly Chinese and English spelling.

Thus I would say that Maris Stella nursery and kindergarten did a good job in building up his foundation and teaching him these 3 years.

[jaime2276]

Hi, would like to check anyone have issues with the school not using the CDA account for the payment of the Sportsball and Computer fees?

[ammonite]

worried_mom:

That is y i am so disappointed that my son ain't learning anything despite me paying $900+ per term.

I rather pay $1.2k per term for him to go MMI to learn proper phonics and maths instead of wasting his 3hrs per day going playground and playing wooden blocks.
Worst education given than N1.

He isn't learning anything or he cannot absorb anything? I am only asking in case you are missing signs of a learning handicap. My son has a vision issue that went undetected and he too could not learn much from readers and the board but that was not the teachers' fault.

My elder was there years back and I remember the teacher went through the basic phonics with them. they also had readers and word cards, and some of the children could read the readers by end of N2. The Chinese teacher he had was very good, using card games she made herself to make it interesting for the kids.

my son could NOT absorb much, as he could not see the board and the books clearly, but he did learn all the basic phonic sounds because he could hear. I am sure even Nanyang Kindy and Eton House would not be able to get my son to read.

Recently one of my younger son's classmate's mother was also worried about her son's reading. It turned out he has significant vision issues, long sightedness and astigmatism. He saw three blurry images of everything.

So do take a look at the materials used, and have an idea of what he is exposed to. This will help you understand where the gap is. In any case, home reinforcement is needed for most kids.

[phtthp]

http://www.marisstella.edu.sg/info.htm


http://www.marisstella.edu.sg/enrichment.htm

[ml01]

octbride:

Title: Any feedback on Maris Stella Kindergarten


Any feedback on maris stella kindergarten? Will students from maris stella be able to cope well academically when they go into P1?

Maris Stella has revised their curriculum in the past 2 years. It has been updated with relevance to primary education now. The new principal, Sister Agnes is very attentive and warm. and run the school with a hands on style.

Will definitely recommend it to parents who care about child overall well being, on top of academic results.

They also offers many supplementary enrichment programs.

[ml01]

worried_mom:

That is y i am so disappointed that my son ain't learning anything despite me paying $900+ per term.

I rather pay $1.2k per term for him to go MMI to learn proper phonics and maths instead of wasting his 3hrs per day going playground and playing wooden blocks.
Worst education given than N1.

I hope you did not switch to MMI, you will regret BIG time. It is so commercialsed, high turnover with young inexperienced teachers.
(and MMI is charging per month, not per term)

Maris Stella is way better.