The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Tue, 24 Nov 2020 11:54:23 GMT

Sandy111 — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 11:54:23 GMT

Odyssey has great facility in terms of big playground, and classroom, however, the teachers and staff spend a lot of time in writing emails and announcememt daily.

In the afternoon, the children couldn’t get proper education as majority of the students have been fetched very early at noon or after nap for enrichment class outside.

The teachers use too much IT support for teaching. They play youtube video to teach the kids dancing or singing, they use chinese words stroke apps to teach the kids how to write chinese characters.

The management team hardly accept any feedback and the graduation cert photo shows how careless they are. The photo was taken under direct sun with big shadow over the children’s necks and children were frowning, half closing the eyes.

School art exhibition sold children’s artwork at a fixed price 100sgd to parents. If you don’t buy, the school says they have the right to keep the artwork, high chance to go dust bin.
Odyssey is running a business .

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 29 Dec 2016 01:49:09 GMT

andyyap — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 01:49:09 GMT

I sent my child to Odyseey Preschool at Still Road campus but was a such a huge mistake. She was literally bullied by her head teacher because we expressed our dissatisfaction with various things like their extreme exposure to youtube video, the inappropriate content shown to children, their lack of outdoor activities, teacher’s negativity. We brought these issues up on a Friday with the center director and our child was specifically identified, ostracized and bullied by the head teacher on the following Monday. Her head teacher even told her that she had to go to a new school. That made her felt rejected, sad and emotionally devastated as my child looked up to this teacher and felt that she had done something drastically wrong to deserve such treatment.

Curriculum wise, she learnt next to nothing in her 3 months there. She watched tons of video on Youtube and picked up random words of mandarin. Still road has a huge campus with ample outdoor space but it’s just a white elephant. Activities are confined to a tiny space in the front poach. In her 3 months there, she never had waterplay … although we were told to leave her swim costumes in school for such activities. Regardless of activities or curriculum, the worst experience was with the teachers. Besides being bullied and emotionally traumatized by the head teacher, the Chinese is constantly on her phone, messaging! 7 out of 10 times I see her, she’d be on the phone while watching over the kids.

A typical day when my child was at Odyssey Still Road
Me to my child: What did you do in school today?
My child responded: Nothing!
Now: She comes back singing new songs, telling us what she did with friends and also new Mandarin words.

We pulled her out of Odyssey the same day we learnt about the mistreatment and it’s been 1.5 months since my child enrolled in a new school. In her short 3 weeks at the new school, my child can recite some chinese poems though not perfect, did regular art works and enjoy playtime everyday. I’m glad we pulled our child out early and she’s in a much happier and educationally conducive environment now. Her new teachers really cared and ultimately, that’s what matters if your child spends more than half a day at the center. By the way, my child is in N2 this year.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Tue, 28 Apr 2015 17:02:56 GMT

morgann — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 17:02:56 GMT

Hi I’m thinking of either sending my kid to nanyang / carper diem kids academy / preschool by the park / odyssey at 4th avenue. Leaning towards 4th odyssey but still unsure. Any experiences to share about odyssey or any of the schools above?

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Mon, 24 Nov 2014 06:17:40 GMT

nxh16 — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 06:17:40 GMT

Hi parents,

I’m thinking of sending my ger to Odyssey at fourth ave. Could i just get a feel of what do you think we are paying for at Odyssey? Thanks.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Mon, 10 Nov 2014 18:55:50 GMT

KSNewbie123 — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 18:55:50 GMT

Yes, its close to 2k for half day

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Wed, 05 Nov 2014 05:57:20 GMT

pinkelle — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 05:57:20 GMT

Hi, I’m curious to know how much Odyssey is charging now. When I last spoke to them it was around $2k a month. Is that still the same? Thanks.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Mon, 15 Sep 2014 05:22:14 GMT

silverdusk — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 05:22:14 GMT

Two months ago, my child had been offered a place in Nanyang kindergarten N1 for year 2015. I was very surprised because at the time of registering in the waitlist, they told me there’s almost no chance for us because we had no priority (ie no older sibling or parents alumni).

After a short period of consideration, I had to give up Nanyang. While I still do believe Nanyang will expose my child to Mandarin for all lessons and hence will pick up the language very fast, I still do prefer large campus area for kids to run around at this age. Plus I really like the teachers at the Odyssey and a big decision factor for me that I need a full time childcare instead of 3 hour kindergarten as I work full time.
I don’t understand why there should be complaints in class size in Odyssey though. Having 24 kids in a class is normal. There are 6 teachers for tots class and 4 for older classes hence they stick to the guideline of having 4:1 and 6:1 ratio. My child has only been in Odyssey for less than a year so I haven’t experienced increase in school fee but if they do raise it again without reason, wow I would be upset too.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:02:16 GMT

Kquek — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:02:16 GMT

I have friends who have kids currently enrolled in Odyssey 4th avenue. They are both enjoying themselves very much in the school however, i have heard many complaints from parents with regard to the class size which has increased to 24 students per class. Also, school fees have increased without reason. It seems that the complaints lie mainly on management and not so much on their excellent holistic learning environment for the kids.

My kid will be approaching n1 soon and i am considering Odyssey or Nanyang… i know both schools are very different but i’m in a dilemma now.

Does anyone have any kids or know of kids in either school and would like to share their thoughts.

It would be interesting to know how a child who attended Odyssey fairs in primary school compared to one who attended Nanyang… I know the answer is not so clear cut as each child progresses and develops differently…and I also know that certain kids thrive better in holistic environments…while some thrive more on academics etc.

I guess at the end of the day, we just want what’s best for our kids (without robbing them of a happy childhood too!):)

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Sep 2014 05:36:51 GMT

silverdusk — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 05:36:51 GMT

That does sound very terrible. That’s no way to treat a potential customer no matter how big the organization has become.

From personal experience, Candy is not rude to us and all the staff are very kind but we did have a bad experience when I registered my child on the wait list as well a year and a half ago. Admin only called my mobile 2 times or so (which I could not pick it up as it was night time where I was on holiday at that time) and never called my home number, leave an sms, nor write an e-mail to say that I’ve finally gotten a vacancy for my child.
When I finally got back to Singapore and checked on the vacancy, they said they’ve passed my vacancy to someone else and now I need to wait another four months for the next vacancy!! I was hopping mad. I almost just withdrew my child right then and there in the office but persisted to stay and asked them to let me know if there is any earlier vacancy. I finally got a slot a month later than the initial vacancy they were going to give me and since then it has been a great experience at the Odyssey 4th avenue. My son loves to go to school, learns to socialize and now my second child will start next month as well.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Fri, 15 Aug 2014 01:16:59 GMT

D10 — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 01:16:59 GMT

I would avoid this place. Very poor first impression.

The organization has become so big that they have a call centre communicating with you rather than the school of interest liaising with you directly.
When we called the call centre to arrange a pm appointment, they did arrange an appointment but told us a morning visit would have been better. So we both changed our meetings and work schedules to make ourselves available in the morning.
Called back the number provided by the call centre to try to change the appointment to the morning session, which was the number to the 4th Avenue school, only to be "interrogated" by the acting Principal (Candy, was her name! yikes!) about how I got this number and why we were calling her directly. We tried to explain that it was the number given to us and not something we just came up with and subsequently received a call from the call centre chiding us for calling the school directly!! Candy also insisted that all appointments in the morning were filled already even though we called on a Tuesday and there was still Wed to Friday to pass. Really hard to believe that all slots in the morning to the school for the rest of the week was taken.
Appointment day came and first thing the administrator said was "I thought your appointment was in the morning?" with a very irritated look. This after Candy the acting principal gave us such a hard time earlier on about not having any more morning slots. Never mind the same administrator subsequently handed some forms over to be filled with no desk or counter to write on while she promptly walked back into her air-conditioned glass office and shut the door leaving her potential customer outside with only a child’s stool and table to write on? What’s going on here? A request to go inside to her office to fill out the form was denied and she said " other parents don’t have a problem!"
Things were obviously a no go from then on and the administrator’s next surprise was to say she wasn’t doing the school tour anymore because she felt we weren’t interested…The END! no consideration, no courtesy and totally appalling customer service.
I repeat, avoid 4th avenue Odyssey preschool.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Jul 2013 10:14:17 GMT

coriela — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 10:14:17 GMT

To be honest, we love odyssey. Really impressive with their holistic setting. Not many preschool are academic especially when they are run as childcare. Those that you mention are kindergartens which are 3-hr program. So, they do squeeze a lot in during the 3hour and hardly much of any other activities.

We had visited many preschools (cc, Montessori etc) and only kiddiewinkie come close to odyssey minus the outdoor space, but they have enrichment and do prepare the k1 and k2 for pri one.

Only concern with kdw is that they have a big jap student cohort.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:58:40 GMT

ttl — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:58:40 GMT

Academically driven preschools will be like Nanyang Kindy, St hilda’s kindy

My kids attending Berries for Chinese and Icreative for English

I do understand your concern. Maybe you can visit more preschools and get a feel of each of them and see if there is one that might address all your concerns.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:41:12 GMT

coriela — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:41:12 GMT

I see. In your opinion which are the good preschool that are more academic driven?

May I know what enrichment courses are your kids attending?

I am torn between giving the girls outdoor space, holistic development but yet want them to have the right academic balance in prep for pri one.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:16:34 GMT

ttl — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:16:34 GMT

They do prepare the kids for primary one but just not so intensively like the other preschools. They are more of a holistic preschool. They do teach phonics and writing and reading from those Readers’ books.

But I felt that my kids picked up reading from their enrichment classes outside rather than from the school itself.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:02:30 GMT

coriela — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:02:30 GMT

Hi ttl,

If there is no homework and non academic driven, then how do they prepare the children for primary one?

I assume you mean no homework etc even for the k1 and k2?

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Jul 2013 08:57:28 GMT

ttl — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 08:57:28 GMT

hi,

My kids have been at Odyssey(Wilkinson) since 2009. I liked the campus. I’m sure you might have already been given a tour of it. Its quite impressive for a preschool and its very spacious with lots of outdoor area. And i been to the 4th Ave campus which is very "green" in concept.

The Odyssey advocate nurturing a creative mind; thus they do have alot of activities which I think are quite intersting and seldom seen in other preschools. For example, they have Art Odyssey where every kid will do an art piece and it will be exhibited in the Parliament ArT house and open to the public. Parents are allowed to buy the art piece and all proceeds will go to charity. And they hv this little community day where its a mini fun fair organised by the kids themselves. They will man the stall and sell things or games. They have several other activities conducted throughout the year.

But do bear in mind that Odyssey is not an academic-driven school. So there will be no drilling of writing or reading. And of course no spelling or ting xie as in other schools. And no HOMEWORK at all.

I have not been to the Pat/learning Vision; thus Im not sure if Odyssey share the same curriculum. Odyssey too is billingual. And most of their chinese teachers are from mainland china.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 04 Jul 2013 08:08:06 GMT

coriela — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 08:08:06 GMT

Pinkelle, we are also thinking of putting our twins down for waiting list for 4th ave. have you done it?

Dardar, do you mind sharing your experience with us?

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:01:52 GMT

myvirtualife — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:01:52 GMT

Anyone has comments from their own experiences deciding between Etonhouse and Odyssey? We’ve been looking at Eton as it’s nearby and we like their approach, but wonder if we should visit Odyssey (4th Ave) before we decide. Any significant differences? One concern I have about Odyssey as it’s under KU mgmt is that we receive exactly what Learning Vision/Pats students do (curriculum, bilingual approach, etc.) but pay a lot more in fees!

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 27 Jun 2013 06:26:35 GMT

pinkelle — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 06:26:35 GMT

Thanks dardar! Just sent you a PM, if you don't mind

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 27 Jun 2013 04:42:00 GMT

dardar63 — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 04:42:00 GMT

pinkelle:
Hi, I'm thinking of putting my child on the waitlist for Odyssey Fourth Avenue. I visited the school and came away very impressed with their facilities and fun environment.

However, I have some concerns if there are any hidden costs (on top of their high fees) we should be aware of. I read that schools under the Knowledge Universe Group tends to overcharge parents for concerts, costumes, etc. I'm okay with excursion fees and concert fees but not too many add-ons or exorbitant amounts.

Can any mommies with children in Odyssey comment? Thanks so much!

Hi

There's no really expensive costumes or concert tickets. Last year it was held at Canadian international which belongs to KUE anyway. I can't remember how much but it was definitely NOT expensive. Also there weren't Any
Particular costumes. The children wore their own clothes according to theme and those that needed add ons the teachers help make them. (At least for my daughters class it was such).

Hope it helps.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Thu, 27 Jun 2013 01:13:23 GMT

pinkelle — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 01:13:23 GMT

Hi, I'm thinking of putting my child on the waitlist for Odyssey Fourth Avenue. I visited the school and came away very impressed with their facilities and fun environment.

However, I have some concerns if there are any hidden costs (on top of their high fees) we should be aware of. I read that schools under the Knowledge Universe Group tends to overcharge parents for concerts, costumes, etc. I'm okay with excursion fees and concert fees but not too many add-ons or exorbitant amounts.

Can any mommies with children in Odyssey comment? Thanks so much!

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:59:14 GMT

Bunnyhophop — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:59:14 GMT

Thanks dardar63!!! Sorry but what is cs? Cirriculum specialist? Thats what the cirriculum specialist told me... I'll ask her again tomorrow.. First day for my kid.. Feeling nervous.. As if its my first day at school

Dardar63, so issit ok with no comm book? So far so good?

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:25:27 GMT

dardar63 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:25:27 GMT

Bunnyhophop:
I'm also wondering... Any mummies had this problem? My son's tots class doesnt provide menu for lunch and breakfast and doesnt have a comm book..

For meals, they asked me to chk with the kitchen daily!!? Comm book they said instead of communicating via the book, to email them. But how sure am i if they read the email before class? Any thoughts on this?

Hi bunnyhophop. There should be a weekly menu
Which you can get from the office or CS. The school follows that menu for the children. From bf lunch to tea time. We've Been in odyssey for 2.5 years and there has always been a menu.

Reply to The Odyssey Creative Learning Centre on Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:23:01 GMT

Bunnyhophop — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:23:01 GMT

I’m also wondering… Any mummies had this problem? My son’s tots class doesnt provide menu for lunch and breakfast and doesnt have a comm book…

For meals, they asked me to chk with the kitchen daily!!? Comm book they said instead of communicating via the book, to email them. But how sure am i if they read the email before class? Any thoughts on this?