Bubblechewy:

Hi there, am new in the forum.

Wonder if any new childcare setting up near punggol station?

Bubblechewy, welcome!

I'm not familiar with Punggol. You may want to check out the thread for Punggol childcare centres?

yippie131:

My gal is in P1 this year, she has homework everyday except Monday cause Monday is a no homework day for her class, however, the work load is very light and manageable.

From my experience, I believe the school did not do screening based on their performance, they group them based on their birth month, my girl's class most of them are born in July and Aug, so almost every alternate day in Jul and Aug she bring home some goodies bag coz the classmates celebrating bday.
My gal really like the school very much, she enjoys all the lessons and have adapt to the culture very well, though she was from a catholic kiddy and have less interest in Mandarin before this, she can pick up very fast. Since the school has a very high standard chinese and my gal can cope very well, i didnt send her for chinese tuition. On the other hand, i send her for English enrichment and math tuition, coz I worried that the school's std of these 2 subject might be lower, just my own tot...

Yippie131, thanks for sharing!

Shabaka, yes that’s the one. Let me know how it goes!

Whichever preschool you eventually send your daughter to, you need to be comfortable with what the preschool provides and advocates. I advise you spend some efforts to visit the preschools.

shabaka:

Hi PS, you are right. I called the school and decided to drop by to check it out. The principal was hush hush about the change. I guess no one is certain whats happening.  But I bumped into a parent on my way out.  He mentioned that the new operator’s name is twinkle tots or something. I tried googling but don’t seem to be able to find anything.  There are a lot of references about this school in jalan saudara ku. 

 
http://www.twinklekidz.com.sg/wbn/slot/u129/contact-us.html
 
any mummies who know if this is the new operator? Any comments on them?

Hi Shabaka, different parents have different needs depending on their circumstances. Since this is a forum for sharing, I’ll share my experience and hopefully you dun find me long-winded...

Twinklekidz used to be a kindergarten in Jalan Saudara Ku. My dd was there last year. It was a very small setup as the school only has 2 small classrooms.

Apparently the operator and the owner of the school are not the same. There were some disagreements between them and the owner suddenly decided to stop the operation. We were not sure what happened but judging from what other mummies mentioned here about LSH, transparency may have been the issue with TK owner.

Anyway, through the constant parent/school communications, we became very good frens with the operator of TK. She decided to setup a school on her own. She managed to retain all teachers and her teaching philosophy remains the same. Most of us parents decided to stay with her as we did not want to create too many changes in our kids’ learning environment. The school has changed its name to Two By Two Schoolhouse at the same location in Jalan Saudara Ku.

The school has since moved to Eastgate and currently occupies the location where WhiteLodge used to be. Breaking away from the owner of TK seems to give the school to freedom to expand their curriculum. They are now able to offer kindergarten classes in the morning, and enrichment classes in the afternoon, which suits me very well.

Hi Gabby and ululu,


Thanks! I feel more reassured now hearing your feedback. It’s quite scary to think about the transition from kindy to primary school. It’s a big milestone!

Oh I just remembered, I actually sent my dd to Eduplus too after I stopped her Berries. How forgetful! It wasn’t very memorable as you can probably tell. Their standard is quite high and my dd seems even less confident after every class and she’ll forget everything soon after. It was stopped once I started her on the new kindy.

Just to add on, after my Berries experience, I personally feel they are more suitable for kids who are already exposed to Chinese at home and standard is better than children who are English-speaking. So their once weekly class is really an enrichment in a language that the kids are already speaking and exposed to it daily.

[quote]I would say perhaps Chinese enrichmt classes (eg berries/TH etc) as I personally am q impressed on how these schools can turn the once-boring subject to many into something so enjoyable to the young now. Esp to kids who speak EL all the time, it is not so easy to instill the love of the CL language in them.


As for Maths, MPM/CMA/Kumon are among the popular ones altho most of them stop attending these classes and switch to Maths tuition classes once they hit P1.

However..what is deemed \"important\" to one parent may be \"unnecesary\" to another.
E.g. for a kid who reads extensively .... or your kid's cc/kindy is doing the job just fine... or you can afford the time/effort to teach him/her at home ... he/she may not even need to attend any enrichments.
So it really depends on what you think your kid needs. [/quote][quote]ILoveChubby, thank you for the advises. I am trying to find out more to see if it is necessary to put my 5 years old child in some of the enrichment courses since mine is idling and playing at home only and not attending any school or childcare. Am trying to see if it is good enough to just find him a half day preschool or kindergarten to attend or put him in some courses without attending any school or kindergarten. Any advises or recommendation? Thank you.[/quote][quote]Curious.. why isnt he attending any kindy now?.. Are you teaching him at home?...
Personally I still thk kindy is essential for them.. besides the academic aspects, it will be good for them to learn some social skills and how to interact with their peers.
You may wish to check out the kindys around your area or can read up the threads on kindys/CCs for comments of your interested preschools.

Enrichment classes are normally only once a week, may not be sufficient for build up the basics, unless you are actively \"home-schooling\" him at home with the right resources/materials.[/quote]Hi! Just chanced upon this thread and thought of sharing my experience of struggling to improve my dd's Chinese. Heard that Berries are more fun and more play-based than Tian Xia so wanted her to go and have fun while learning Chinese. She was attending a church kindy and her chinese standard was very poor. The first few months at Berries was very good as the teacher was gentle with young children and engaging. However after the teacher went on maternity leave, there was a change of teacher, it was still ok initially but slowly her interest started to wane. I changed to another branch but it was even worse. So had to pull her out after 1 more year of dragging her to Berries every week. Feel my 2 years' worth of money and efforts totally wasted.

So I totally agree with ILoveChubby that once a week enrichment is not sufficient, especially when it comes to Chinese.

When she was in K1, I found this kindy with emphasis in Mandarin and transfered my dd there although it was a bit far and ex cos of their location. Then within 2 months, she could not just converse but read efficiently. Totally amazed by a simple change of environment.

Now I realize through her Chinese teacher that at this pre-school age, it is a golden age to learn more languages, when they won't differentiate Chinese lessons from English lessons as clearly as from Maths and languages. And if they can master their Chinese well now, they will not end up hating the subject in later years. Objective is for their primary school years to be smooth sailing so they can spend more time and energy on other subjects like Maths, which they pick up more easily in Primary school age than pre-school anyway. The kindy is not short changing on those essential subjects but just doesn't overload them with worksheets or teach them more than what is sufficient to be ready for P1.

Now my gal is in K2, reading di zi gui, tang shi, poems and getting quite a few chances to perform and boost her confidence in Chinese language. I think all this can't be done through regular enrichment centres. I must say I'm very glad to have made a decision early enough for her to get up to speed on her Chinese language cos she's going to a SAP school which is just opp my home. :xedfingers:

If only all preschools' curriculum can be adjusted to fit the child's developmental skills, rather than to fit parents and primary schools' expectations, learning won't be so stressful for both parents and children.

*P.S. Oh dear, dunno what I've done and the previous replies came up as quotes. Sorry still new here!*

Thanks, Gabby for your feedback! does the school do some screening test when they enter P1?


I’m not the academically driven type of parent. Her Chinese is not bad, cos her kindy places a big emphasis on the language. Just want my dd to enjoy her primary school days but rather worried she’ll get bullied in school. Emotionally she’s still not matured, the kind who cries easily.