Pat's Schoolhouse

[chrisbear]

Hi Koolmama,


I have just pm you.

Earlier msg was truncated cos of server error…

Appreciate your inputs…

Thanks…

[chrisbear]

Hi Mummies,


Am new here. Does anyone have any comments about or experience with Lakeside or Whitley to share? Wld really appreciate your kind insights. Thanks!

[Koolmama]

Hi Busymom,


At least in your Halifax they are still keeping the original bundled programs... In my branch, they dropped the bundled programs without even telling us parents. All the while I thought my child was going to start Harmony Road and swimming last week, but there was no timetable given to us! When I asked, they said it was a last minute decision by the management to do away with the bundled programs. How can they make such an important decision re curriculum (1) at the very last minute (2) without informing or consulting the parents (3) on a purely business cost basis??!

In other words, Pat's Schoolhouse is becoming more and more business-centric (rather than child-centric) and this is starting to p*** me off... (dun mind my french please)

Busymom:

Thanks, this is essentially what I want to establish. How can some centres choose to drop something just like that. It just isn't fair in my opinion. Will clarify with the school again why they are doing this.

[ahbombom]

Pat’s website still mention about the extended half day programme and I noticed that imaths has been changed to creative art and cookery. Do they actually still have extended half day programme or they have stopped that totally for new nursery students or there are different practices in different centres? Does anyone know? Thanks.

[Freesia]

What do you expect when an american organisation takes over? Of course, business centric

[BbJ]

Am keen to enrol my boy in Baby Haven in 2013. However, was informed that their Halifax premises will be moved due to the North South highway construction. Anyone has any idea where they will be moving to? Thanks!

[pebblez]

Hi Mummies and Daddies,


We just visited the Aroozoo branch and the Serangoon branch this morning. The principal at the Aroozoo branch is Ms Anita and the VP is Annabelle. If I am not wrong Anita is from Baby Haven prior. We are scouting for our Nursery 2 daughter born in '08. We also have a '10 toddler.

The school building has two levels. So far, the renovation at Aroozoo seems 80% complete and the lower floor already have children in their classes but the second level is still sealed off and still awaiting some renovation work. The complex is sprawling huge, and the classrooms feel extremely empty at the moment. I have to say that the carpark at Aroozoo is large, even much larger than the building itself; same goes to the playground, felt like it could accommodate at least 100 students at the same time. Very large playground and a mini track for the little cars and bikes.

We got to Pat’s Aroozoo at around 9.30am. First impressions were that things are currently disorganized, the teacher who received us at the gate simply let us through the gates to the classroom without asking if we were here to drop off or to visit (had my toddler in my arms). So we had to wander down the corridor looking for the office before we found someone to ask and we weren’t sure if we were asking the right person. Children in the classrooms mostly looked distracted and did not seem to be taking well to the new environment, many were crying, schoolbags are quite over the place and there were also quite a few adults walking around, not sure if they were parents or teachers. Was told by a walking adult that office is not within the school building but an adjacent one level building connected to the classrooms. Signs would really help since we almost made another wrong turn before we got to the office, lol. Anita, the principal welcomed us at the office and straight away proceeded to lead us to the school building. She seemed pretty distracted herself too and there was very little eye contact with her and she also spoke quite little, leading us directly to the nursery class without introducing the rest of the space. I guess it must have been a whirlwind for her at the moment since she didn’t seem to speak much, so I didn’t ask much questions while me and husband peeped into the classrooms. After that she started to proceed off back into the office with us trailing behind, husband had to run a bit to get to her, lol. None of the teachers interacted with us. At the office, we were shown the curriculum guide and its very concise and had a lot of content but she didn’t really bring us through it instead just spoke about the daily timetable. When asked about what the children ate and if there was a menu, she said there is definitely a variety of food and stopped, so i didn’t probe. Overall, felt that this centre still had teething problems and gave me a rather cold feeling, with the teachers themselves not entirely used to the environment yet. Although I don’t personally have a lot of experience with Pat’s SH overall, but I am not so sure about this centre.

I was impressed with the Serangoon centre down the road though.
We went in through the mini gate and the office was the first room on the left that greeted us. The the road inside was all cordoned off by waist height fences t was really easy to see where the classrooms and play spaces were. There was a moment of calm and warmth the moment we went into the compound with its brown and white one level building, felt like a mini primary school. We saw at least 2 groups of children - toddlers and perhaps K1s holding hands and walking to their activity areas behind their teachers all laughing and chatting loudly, very pleasant to watch. Proceeding into the office, one of the admin lady/ teacher passed me a visiting form to fill and immediately asked which level we were applying for before telling me that there was no vacancies. I accepted that and said thats ok, I really liked the compound and would like to be brought around. Another nice lady- who looked very much like a teacher offered to show us the place, beginning with asking us if we had visited a Pat’s SH before. She was very warm and we had quite a few laughs between our conversations. She showed us and brought us into the K1 block, the K2 blocks and then the nursery block with the play area and playground. She constantly asks if I had questions and how my daughter was doing in school, which made me feel that she was quite genuine. Many teachers smiled and greeted us and we felt really welcomed. Most of the children seemed to be very well settled and none were crying, many were also paying attention to their lessons. The compound is not air conditioned but was very well ventilated. Had a bit of time to put my toddler down and he wandered right into a class of playing children and the teachers commented that they thought he was really ready for school. Left the centre with a good feeling.

We have no qualms about Pat’s curriculum and am confident that it is a set of curriculum that is well rounded and robust, but we also believe in a nurturing environment as we think that no matter how great a set of content is, children would absorb none of it if they feel unsure, uncomfortable or bothered. We would take some time to figure all these out!

Meanwhile, would be on wait list!

[woodstock07]

Hi Pebblez,


My son is attending playgroup (born in 2009) at Aroozoo. We moved up from Baby Haven at Halifax and was initially booked at Buckley but decided to switch to Aroozoo after visiting the campus.

Aroozoo officially started school on 16th Jan, after around 2 weeks of delay. Parents were told the delay was due to a delay in obtaining the T.O.P. That is why part of the building is still covered up. The kids are now in the classrooms below but we were told the older classes would be held on the upper floors once it is ready. As it is a new school, all the kids are new to the environment, so I’m not surprised that there’s lots of crying. In fact, my son still wails when he’s dropped off. Compared to LAP (Lim Ah Pin at Serangoon), which is an established school, so there would be fewer new children as most would have moved up from their classes last year. The "adults walking around" at Aroozoo may be the extra assistants that the school hired to help in the initial weeks. Annabelle (my son’s teacher) told me because all the kids are new, they anticipated they will need extra help (comforting crying kids, for eg.) in the first few weeks, until the kids are settled in the environment.

I agree with you that Aroozoo still has lots of teething problems to overcome. I have spoken to Anita many times and I find her to be helpful even though I’m sure she has a lot on her plate right now. The main reason I chose Aroozoo over Buckley (which is also an established branch like LAP) was, as you have observed, the sprawling huge complex and everything down to the toys and books are new. The playground is very impressive. My son talks about the playground and the bikes everyday. Dropping off every morning is not an issue as the carpark is big. As for the teaching staff, we were told each class will have an experienced teacher (transferred in from another branch) plus a new teacher.

In my communication book, the teacher has pasted a menu for the term. The kitchen is next to the admin office. For my son’s class, outdoor activity is rotated, for eg., playground on Mon, cycling on Tue, waterplay on Wed, sandplay on Thu, etc. In the first week, I called the school several times to check on my son and Annabelle will return my call whenever she has time.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me. Like I said, I’m not 100% satisfied with Aroozoo at the moment but I’m giving them some more time to sort out the kinks.

[smurfy]

hi,


Aroozoo and LAP at quite near each other, so i believe Aroozoo has the support from LAP branch.

I hope Aroozoo will sort out the teething problems soon. :rahrah:

Thumbs up for Miss Anabelle. Very high energized and experienced teacher. She was my boy teacher from Playgrp and nursery during LAP's time (infact she is in LAP for 10 over years). My boy had turned out very well during his two years with her :). Missed her alot.

[empressplace]

From an administrative point of view, the Aroozoo principal should have declined visits until the entire school is properly settled in. She surely has more than enough on her plate at the moment. Considering that PSH typically gets a lot of enquiries and requests for visits, the HQ should have directed the principals to allocate specific monthly dates for visits/ enquiries and consolidate all requests on those dates. This would be a more efficient use of resources and create less disruption to the kids. For example, the teacher at Serangoon should be focused on her class rather than walk in parents. My kids are not with Aroozoo or LAP but I do notice that PSH handles parental enquiries the same way in other branches. Unlike Chiltern House which has a dedicated person handling such enquiries or coordinating, PSH leaves it to the individual branches and principals. This is not a very efficient/ organised way of running the schools when PSH is already so large.