Agape Little Uni (Kallang) - Infant care

Hi Precious BB,

My gals are with Agape CCK.

Hi Leereiner,

Yes, principal at CCK also changed. But, the change is a planned one. We knew about the change since Oct last yr. The ex-principal was a very experienced lady. Current principal used to be principal of another branch in Jurong. She is single and much younger.

I think Agape went thro' too many changes in a short span of time that some teachers find in difficult to catch up. It could also be due to the fee adjustments that expectations of teachers are higher and they cannot cope (do not know if the Mgt also increase their pay correspondingly) or feeling unhappy that the staff decide to leave.

Cirriculum wise - Actually, I find that their cirriculum is not bad really. But, I am quite perturbed when my DD1's teacher actually wrote to me in the communication book asking me to coach and let my DD1 do more at home to improve her Chinese. One of the reasons quoted was - The class got too many students and she cannot pay individual attention to her. I am quite disturbed by this remark as my DD1 spends almost 10hrs everyday in the CC and we hardly have that much time together. I still get such remarks from her teachers. But, this is also a signal that the teachers find it difficult to cope, maybe due to the high teacher-to-child ratio.

I gotta monitor the performance of my gals at their CC the next 2 mths & decide by then if I wanna switch CC for them. I am actually quite reluctant to do so as both my DDs settled very well into CC already.
 


Hi mummies,

I spoke to Ms Lai last Friday and she told me that PG & N1 will be splitting from this week onwards as there are 2 new kids joining. As for the new principal, they are monitoring 2 candidates currently. Also, she mentioned about a tea-party coming up in March.

Btw, the PG classroom will be the music room so I asked where are they going to have their gym class and S&D class. She said the gym will be out in the open area and S&D will be in their own classroom. The teachers will gather the kids not in S&D to the other side of the classroom. Hmm...isn't that going to be a little distracting for the kids in S&D. Another reason to pull him out of S&D I guess...
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Hi reiner,

thanks. pls keep me informed.

I am actually asking for a pro-rated payment for Feb sch fee, cos is unfair for me to pay the entire mth for such service i get. Is only fair I paid for the days he went. Unawareness of my son absence. Nv inform me of explosion. Irresponsible teacher/sch who nv called for 2 weeks, not until i called. my boy fever on friday, next day afta the explosion, n i also not inform he fever. etc..

i actually already called mcys n they said i can launch a complaint to them, but tot dont want make things ugly for the sch.

But really disappointed with the sch. is more like a business-oriented entity, then sch. they told me they charging me $50 per day for the pro-rated rate. But based on $600, how can it be $50 per day. Even if u based on $900, also no $50. n they can tell me based on $900. Then govt still pay them $300, right? Cos I m still under working mum subsidy scheme. So like that they getting $1200 for one mth. ridiculous!

Now waiting for them to get back. really disappointed...
 
Hi Kiki,

When my son 1st joined another CCC when he was ard 1.5 years old. He was also out for 3-4 weeks in the 1st month there due to a bad infection. It is not uncommon for this to happen to kids who just joined CCC for the 1st time. I worked from home for that whole period of 3-4 weeks when he was ill. No refund was given to me from that CCC also. I don't remember if it was me who called the centre or the in-charge called me but I do remember we communicated once or twice during that period only. They also didn't call and check if he is doing well or when he is coming back. I guess the lesser kids attend school, the lesser work for them.
 
HI Leereiner,

I agreed that you may want to consider the early childhood module or to join the industry to understand the logistics or currciculum better in the child care.

Thou my kids are not in Kallang branch, but both my DD(K2) and DS(N2) are in Jurong branch, but I have met both Ms Lai and Eng last year during concert. They are really nice and helpful.

I believe if you have concerns, Ms Lai or the principal will be able to address.

Best Wishes! ;)
 
HI kiki80,

I bought some new set before New Year, if not I can purchase the uniform from you. Ha...

My point of view is that you should contact the school directly for your concerns.

I have read lots of your concerns and wanted to advise but I can only pray that you settle that with AGAPE. As I know that you are angry but it would be unfair if they do not know about it. Furthermore, feedbacks are for their improvement (if any). You can email me and we can share more privately, somehow I felt that we should not share -ve feedbacks so openly as it seems that we are so "KPO"... Hahaha....

Glad to know so many mums in Agape... interested for connections, please email me at [email protected]

;) Cheers
 
Hi mummies,

Anyone going for the Esplanade play and the parenting talk? I'm most likely going for both... Hope to meet some of you there
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Hi Jocelyn,

Snowball is from CCK, pm her yo..

Hi EiLiYa,
ya let my girl go for the play but we are not going leh... parenting talk - not going too...
 
Hi all,

I am in a dilemma whether to enrol my girl (turning 2 yrs old in Jul'10) with Agape Little Uni (Boon Keng) or My 1st Skool (Kallang Bahru).. any suggestions for me?
 
Hi Angie,

Agape (kallang), you can read from this thread or from the Boon Keng thread...

as for my 1st skool (kallang bahru), used to be called NTUC, right? me like that pl, the rooftop is converted to outdoor - cycle, water games, etc... the pl is bright and big too... but is the logistics problem, nobody to fetch/bring my gal, so gave up this... err... me visited the pl 2-3yr ago hor...

what's your priority for choosing a chidlcare? for me is the logistics, the nearest one will do.
 
Hi EiLiYa,

asked ms lai rgd the new principal on that meet-parents-session... yet to have one leh... gonna ve vice principal instead... ms lai will be going for ML by end apr yo...

satisfy with teacher sue and 李老师.. hope NO MORE CHANGES, NO MORE TURNOVER ya...
 
Hi Reiner,

I met Teacher Sue mostly in the evening. She seems like a nice teacher.

Hmm...why do they need vice-principal? Means when they get a principal, this vice will still remain? Or is this just a temporary stand-in until the official principal comes? Don't understand...

I'm quite concern about the mozzie issues lately. My son came back on Monday evening with 5 bites on his face and 2 on his fingers. The ones on his fingers caused his index finger to swell!! So I spoke to Teacher Jessica yesterday and she told me they did a fumigation recently in the centre and will get fumigation done outside soon too. I suspect it is not just mozzie bites but could be ants too. Cos' mozzie bites don't cause swelling normally. Its the insects (like ants) that will cause swelling. Is your girl affected?
 
just saw your posting ya...

that day was quite rush ya, unable to hold ms lai to ask more qns leh... me also puzzle of the VP...

<font color="ff0000">MOZZIE??</font> my gal had them too, tot was from own house leh.... coz my #2 had leh...

how's your meeting with the Teachers? performance of your boy eh?
 
Just to share.. I stay at the block next to AGAPE Kallang. I have witnessed on many occassions a teacher (early 20s) waiting behind the coffeeshop with the kids for the school bus. (I happened to pass by that area from the carpark towards home at the school bus pick up time) She will always be on her HP chatting/smsing while the kids are running around. Once, I had to pull a kid back from the road leading to the carpark and tell the teacher to watch the kids. She just glared at me. My kid does not attend that CCC, so it is not polite for me to lodge a complaint. BUt if any mummies here is kind enough, please just highlight this matter to the P that teachers should be very very vigilant.
 
huh???

hi wolfgirl,

that's dangerous yo, how come the Teacher just let the kids run around... vechicles everywhere ya, near to carpark, near to the road ya... <font color="ff0000">arrghhh</font>...

thank for posting your "seeing" here.... gotta inform the P ya... headache...
 
Hi Wolfgirl,

Is it still happening now? I'm pretty sure the mgmt would have done something by now. Do keep us updated! Thanks.
 
Dear mummies, how do you find the new principal Michelle? She doesn't seem very experienced. I am really furious with the new policy, that children with minor coughs or cold should stay at home, not all of us have that many child care leaves to take!

And I realized the teachers are not fixed according to their classes, sometimes I see childcare teachers in the infant room. Is that allowed?

First Teacher Suba left,then Teacher Grace left, and now Teacher Sue is leaving too!And Lee lao shi is not teaching N2 , it is a new teacher,a chinese national.

I am really concern ,will our children be able to adapt to the changes of new teachers so many times?

Also I saw that there are only 2 teachers to quite a no. of kids in the N1 class.Are they still meeting the teacher-child ratio ?

This is really drastic. What do you think? Should we start doing something about it and report to the management?
 
hi elovephants,

which class is your kid in?

ya very disappointed change of teacher again!!! dunno what to do leh? now the principal is taking over N2...
 
Hi elovephants,

I think they are stricter lately due to the recent outbreak of stomach virus. For what I understand from the teacher is that if they have minor cough or flu, so long the GP certifies that the ailment is not contagious and the child is fit for school they'll be accepted. Understand that it is tough for the parents especially us who are working, we can't be taking leave for every little coughs. But then I think it is a good practise cos' if the centre accept kids with contagious virus, it'll end up spreading to the rest. In the end, everyone suffers together.

I'm not aware of the changing of teachers lately. Didn't know there were soooo much changes lately... ;O

As for the switch of teachers, what time was it usually?
 
My kid is in N1.Sorry,I prefer to stay anonymous though.I felt that my child have not learn much in school but I understand that if the teachers have so many tasks to do, its hard for them to be focused on individual child.

If I am not mistaken, the switch will be around when some of the early shift teacher leave,then the cc classes will combine so that the teacher can go to the infant side? Or when a teacher is on leave or mc,some one will take over etc...i mean, how come they don't want to hire a relief teacher or assistant?

I think this will take a toll on the teachers as they have to juggle here and there and then this will affect our children too.

Ok,maybe im too unreasonable on the sickness part.But I think they shld be more flexible in that,maybe they could help isolate our child if they do have a minor cough? I can't possibly go to the GP everytime my child coughs right?
 
Hi elovephants, I thought I was the only one unhappy with the new principal. My child is also attending Agape. Did they say that cough and flu also must see doctor to certify? Quite troublesome to see doctor everytime and get certification from doctor, for normal cough and flu.

Quite a few new rules and regulations from the New principal, I wonder if they will really follow 100% ?

They're changing teachers again? The principal is teaching N2? Sometimes I also feel they have shortage of teachers.
 
Elovephants / babylicious08:

Although my kids are in JW branch but I met Ms Michelle before, thou she looks young but very caring and nice person I thought.

As for the restriction to enter.... I suppose it is not easy for the school, on one hand to ensure that the school observes a strict health and hygiene practice so that all children in their care will be protected from infection or viruses and at the same time to meet parents' child care need.
To be fair they are doing their due diligence especially at this juncture as reported in the Straits Time on 27 May, "Number of flu cases near epidermic levels", HFMD, Chicken pox are also on the rise. The school is being responsible and very vigilent in protecting the health of the children who are well and coming to the centre. For long term wellness of all children who attend child care and for the child who is unwell, parents really ought to keep their child away from school and at home for complete rest otherwise the child may keep falling sick or worse conditions deteriorated.
As parents, we are concern of our own precious little child, the school has 70 precious little children that they love and care for. If the school is so lax in their health control and practice, we will be very concern if our child is in good hands.
Let us put ourselves in the shoe of the school and give them our fullest support and that is the least we could do to help protect our own child.

JW teacher called me to fetch my DD1 when she developed slight running nose in the afternoon where I am thankful as I gave her appropriate rest immediately and her flu didn't get worse and recovered fully after only 1 day of of rest. Although it can be tough on us especially we are full time working mums, but I do appreciate what the school has done. ;)

Hope the both of you have connected with the prinicpal soon and work hand-in-hand with them for the beneficial of our kids! ~~ [email protected] ~~
 
I can understand what you are trying to say.And understand that agape is trying to follow standards and rules.

If you want me to give my fullest support, i could only support those poor teachers who have to juggle so much between here and there.

I have seen a teacher being sick for a week, and I asked her why she did not take a rest, she was very polite and nice enough to the school to say if she take, her colleagues will have to work extra and everyone else is also not feeling well so it won't be fair.

It is very obvious that the constant change and shortage of teachers meant only one thing.

If agape does think for the best, I think it is time for them to start thinking for their staff and not always saying its for us parents.

I believe if the center give a thought for their staff,hire more staff, there will much better management and our children will not be the one affected.
 
Hi,

My boy's in K1 in Agape (Kallang) and I am thinking if i should enrol my no.2 next year to the playgroup. My boy joined Agape last year and he was formally from MMI. We changed his ccc due to the birth of his younger bro and some logistics considerations. Frankly, my boy LOVES agape but my prob is HE IS NOT LEARNING ANYTHING CONSTRUCTIVE!!!!!!!

I feel that his learning stoppped when he left MMI when he was 3.5 years old. Can you imagine that at K1, the kids in agape are still learning the numbering 1 to 20?!!! I find that it is quite ridiculous when he has already learnt how to count to 100 when he was 3?! I am very concerned that at this rate how are the kids gonna catch up when they start P1?

My no.2 will turn 2 next year. I'm thinking of transferring my boy back to MMI and to put my no.2 in MMI as well but my older boy refused. He seems to love the time in agape. He loves the speech and drama class. My older boy has a strong foundation in MMI so he is ahead of his friends in agape. I'm afraid that my no.2 will 'rot' if i place him in agape. I'm really in a dilemma..........
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hi eileen,

me think like wise like you yo... told michelle that my niece already knows how to blend 3-letters words now, she's in N1. but agape is still teaching single letter sounds for my gal class, N2. think this is lagging way out yah. talked to another mummy of this concern too... bo bian lor so me started her on sight words reading and teach her words blending now. @ same time looking for MMI phonics class too... let alone her chinese n maths bah... let me tackle one @ a time... no time leh...

my #2 will be 2 too, next year... sama sama as you, how's well will agape build the foundation for the kids for P1??... and is like 4Y gonna be in their hand leh...

now P1 is so scary, wonder how agape gotta cope w this.

somemore, N2 has yet get the English Teacher in. sigh!!
 
Dear I empathise with your predicament of your children's learning. All parents want our kids to be ready for P1 academically and allow me to share with you what is really vital in P1 preparation. What attracts me about agape is it emphasis on character development and instill the right values to children. I believe that attitude and character determine a person success in life. Preparing children holistically is far more greater than preparing than just academically. Personally I feel that it is not that your child is not learning but rather he did not meet your expectation. On the hindsight if you really think that agape does not meet your need then you should seriously consider moving back to MMI but one caution advise is that your child might not be happy. A happy kid is a learning kid!
Eileen
 
Hi Heng,

What attracted me to agape initially was also the character development and the inculcation of values. In MMI, kids are more self-centred. Things were fine until they had children transferred from Sengkang. The children from SK branch behave very differently from those in Kallang. They kids like to play fighting games and were rather violent and rude. Being kids, they like ti imitate from one another and when persued, my boy divulged that those were what some of his friends did in school.
 
Hi Eileen,

We cannot keep the children under our wings all the time. The children need to experience with different kind of children as they all came from different family background and have different value system and habits.
That is where the teachers and parents scaffold the children's learning by explaining to them how they can discern what is right from wrong. As adults we have met many different kind of people along the way and have learnt to be wiser who we should learn from. Like wise if everybody is so pure like an angel then the world will be a peaceful one but in reality that is not the case.
As parents we must work hand in hand with the teachers, my suggestion is that rather being passive and negative about everything under the sun why not be pro active in building our next generations. Roll up our sleeves and work happily with one another and as the children see that we are happy with the school they are in, they will be happy too!
Just take this experience as a learning journey for us being parents...

*** My DD1 attends the JW branch since N1 is currently in K2 and she is a proficient reader and she could do any P1 assessment paper without my assistance. Do you know Agape have this partnership with parents helping our kids transiting to P1 in their K2 curriculum and I am totally impressed that my DD1 is ready for P1! But no matter how great is their curriculum, We being our child FIRST TEACHER is the most crucial factor to determine their success and to guide them on the correct path even after their kindergarten life. Its our lifetime responsibility... ;) Good luck to us, parents... and enjoy the whole process...
 
Hi Heng,

wanna seek your view of CHANGING TEACHERS... N2 has been changing Teachers, be the English or the Chinese. How is this gonna affect the kid's learning? Less than 6M, N2 has changed quite a few, 3 or 4 teachers already...
 
Dear Parents,

My kid has been with Agape One North since 2008. he is currently in N2. So far I am quite happy with the centre. At the very minimum, my kid is happy to go to school everyday.

In terms of literacy, he knows his alphabets &amp; phonic sounds well. All thanks to the school. He could do some simple blending and spell a few words like PULL, PUSH, IN, OUT , FULL n ZOO.

For math, he knows his numbers and can do simple addition. As for his chinese, I dare say I relied on the school totally. He could converse well in both mandarin and english. Could recognise some simple chinese words too.

Personally, I tink for his age he is doing fine. I believe the school curriculum follow MCYS reccomendations closely.

In today's society, there is a tendency for us to make attempts to fast track our kids...I fall for this too ...but i constantly remind myself to my expectations contained.

Personally, I felt if a school has a curriculum that is far beyond a child's age. It may be too difficult and turn the kid off. The last thing we want is for our kid to switch off and hate learning rite?

I am oso a kiasuparent, all the concerns that were mentioned all cross my mind before...keke...

I panicked when my boy din noe his alphabets when he was in N1. Now i realised my worries were unfounded. My boy probably was not able to output to me what he learnt then...but this yr...he showed me all that he could do ;)

This yr, I found anotehr positive point abt agape. They also instil in kids a sense of awareness to the things around us. Example: Youth Olympic Games.

Kids were introduced to everything abt YOG..songs, themes, logo...etc etc. They even had a 3 day holiday sports camp for the kids. I was impressed when my boy shouted "mummy, YOG! YOG!" when he saw the logo on a bus advert =)

And with the world cup on...kids are acquainted to the world cup song and the song used it as a workout song for them...it goes..shamila eh eh, waka waka eh eh...i love it when my boy dance to the tune...keke

The above are my personal experiences, Agape don't pay me to advertise hor...haa
 
Hi Eileen,

I definitely know your concern… Because when my DD1 was in N1, within half a year also change a few teachers. Even now that my DS2 is in N2, his Chinese teacher has been changed third times and another one in July or Aug….

Let me ask you question: “How well can occupy your N1 or N2 child for the whole day from 7am to 7am daily? (not ad-hoc, its daily)

I can understand the teachers caring for the PG/N1/N2, as it is the toughest age group where there are lots of routine going on in those classes. Less the routines, the teachers need to plan for activities, assuring a class of high expectation parents, understanding and nurturing a group of new children and organising all the logistics in class. Imagine the teachers have to take care of at least 6-12 children each and its already not easy to care for 1, don’t talk about a whole class….. I really salute them and I believe its not easy to get staff who are so willing to care for the whole class of demanding parents. Hehe…
Another question: Will you take up this position as your child’s class teacher with a monthly salary lesser than $2K? If yes, please go ahead and try AGAPE, if no, then be a supportive parent to them… Most teachers have passion for this industry but mostly cannot cope with the high expectation of parents if there is no communication to bridge this gap. Then any teacher would leave for good…

Although the teacher are trained to handle preschooler but that does not mean they could handle all our kids from all different backgrounds and all our different expectations. I really sympathise the teachers…. Therefore, I choose to be initiative to work hands in hands with the teachers, forming some good strategies to educate my kids both at home and in school. Even with the change of teachers, I am not worried b’cos I know how to brief the next teacher about my kids… hee… In fact, that benefits me cos I always have common topic with any new teacher... which is my kids… ha3…

What I did was that each time they have a new teacher, I will teach my children to introduce themselves to the teachers and to assist the teachers closely. Ha3… So far its good cos now they are so used to giving new teachers orientation and not fearful anymore.
Although initially, my kids will be a little insecure which I think it’s normal for all humans to go through… No one love changes and if you like, you must have gone through some kind of “experiences” before. After my consistent encouragement for them to be initiative and with myself working closely with the new teachers, so even the teachers change overtimes, but they still enjoy the school activities, playing with friends, like the environment and always looking forward to school.
In fact, I have unintentionally teaching them survival skills… As we cannot always wait for the surrounding to change to help us move on but rather that we can change ourselves or do something to move on together. Most importantly is how we, the first teacher going to teach our child? Teaching our child to be resilient or inflexible when changes arise?
Can you imagine if your child is not resilient and when in P1, there may be change of teachers more often, with relief and different subject teachers, which will freak the child out too. I will choose to teach them from young and choose the right attitude to response with changes around us…. Nice sharing with you, but I want to assure you that you are not alone in this parenthood… ;)
 
Hi Vivace (trumpeto),

I agreed with you... Because both my DD1 and DS2 attended the YOG sports camp and the family day. They really enjoyed the camp so much X3 and you know what? Hehe... They were both so fascinated by the gold medal they received... ha3... so cute... bring me back to my school days... ;)

My DS2 kept singing the Singapore Cheers... "Oh yeah, oh yeah...." all day long after the camp. My DD1 kept reciting their camp group cheers and is so aware of all YOG banners wherever we go... Kept me so excited about the real Singapore YOG too... I really thought its a good initiative and good opportunity for our "high rise" kids to be outdoor being so sporty...

Oh, did you go for the family day? My DS2 really enjoyed the soccer game and the gymkids station... I like the picnic mat and the t-shirt personally... very family orientated event.

Anyone else attend the sports camp and the family day?
 
Hi Heng,

Could it be a different branch? If they have this transition plan, the teachers won't look so blur when asked. I'm happy for you that your child is learning so well in agape. But in the kallang branch, it is really stated in their scheme of work that the kids are only learning how to count from 1 to 20, something which i personally feel is jus ridiculous
 
<font face="tohama"> Hi Heng,

uhoh.gif

<font color="ff6000">quoted:- Most teachers have passion for this industry but mostly cannot cope with the high expectation of parents if there is no communication to bridge this gap. Then any teacher would leave for good…</font> but the Teachers who left were of <font size="+2">HEALTH, FAMILY problem!</font> this was what AGAPE told me.

how come PARENTS have to be "blame" when Teachers left? <font color="ff6000"> quote:-cannot cope with the high expectation of parents</font>

I'm expecting AGAPE to have a better/ "advance" learning circum. I didnt expect the teaching from the Teachers @ all. Teachers are to carry out the teaching thru the given circum from AGAPE.</font>
 
Hi Leereiner (reiner),

I think you have got me wrong.... Nobody can be "blame" when anyone leave... Let's leave the actual reason alone and not go around that...

What I am encouraging is that parents can be great partners to teachers and when we work hand in hand with teacher or the school, children will learn best in the environment...

I have cousins who enrol their kids in Cherrie Hearts, NTUC and they shared the same problems of the high turn over of teachers too... I guess this is common in this industry.

Maybe you may want to talk or discuss with the centre's principal about your concerns... Maybe its more appropriate. ;)
 
<font face="tahoma"> why compare to those cc w high turnover, not w those w stable ones? believe only kallang branch has this problem in AGAPE group. <font color="ff6000">Or you can tell me how about JW one? how's the turnover for the past 6M?</font> beside TEACHERS, principal changed too.... common ya??

comments on the Curriculum? what's your view ya?
me find that agape is lagging behind, compare to MMI or even my nephew's carpe diem. on the fee wise, agape is compareable to MMI and higher than carpe diem ya....

me know that building rapport with the Teachers is impt, in order to know what's happening to agape, my gal's class, my girl too. And me did it great w Teacher Grace.... but too bad... me dont have this luxury to start all over again n again when Teachers changed, less than 3M.

心灰易冷- hope me get it right... </font>
 
Just found out that the Agape mummies have migrated to this thread.

Hi Leereiner,
Haven't talk to you for a long time, how are you?

I agree with you that Agape Kallang is no longer a conducive place and environment for our children to learn and grow up in. In fact, I find that the situation worsen after the new principal Michelle joined. Teachers are forever changing and children are always falling sick due to viruses. With the HFMD lately, the principal didn't even bother to update the parents promptly. It was the parents who went to complain and finally got the updates on the HFMD cases.

It's really a pity that Agape has changed so much. Honestly, I used to like Agape alot but it's no longer the same Agape that I would highly recommend.
 
Hi eileen,

My children are in a different branch, JW and not kallang but the p in JW told me that the curriculum is the same for all branches. The transition to P1 is only for K2 level where my DS2 in N2 does not have that yet.

Yesterday, they visited supermarket to do marketing... Ha ha ha... Then next tuesday, they are going to one of the primary school for a few hours experience.... I think its a good exposure!

You may consider to discuss with the teacher and work out some learning strategies for your boy. So that you can also work with him at home just like what I did and you will be able to challenge him with higher thinking skill if he is more advanced.

To be honest, I have high expectation too, I almost faint... when some of my DD1 classmates' parents felt that their child is learning too much in school... too pressurize with the spelling... but I thought its ok with only 5 - 8 words and in P1, its more than 10.

It seems that everyone will have different expectation, so its good to expose your boy to more stuff if he is more advance and willing to learn as compared to other peers.

My DD1 is a keen learner and I will expose her and challenge her with difficult stuff.
Just to share with you... although she is only in K2 and only turn six end of the year but she just passed her swimming test (bronze) last weekend... thinking about the 8 laps she swam, make me ashamed myself...hehe...
The tester mentioned she is the youngest candidate then... So no harm exposing them if they are much more willing to learn but we cannot force all other kids to learn something so much tougher if they have no interest.

Like my DS2, his learning style and ability is so much diff from his sis... faint...@@ but I still have to work with his interest then... and keep my finger cross.. haha... But I will not want to force him to learn just because others are learning or better than him if he has no interest... But so far, I manage to cultivate his interest to read finally...... which I took a long time... haha... so you are lucky to have a smarter boy... ;)

Good luck sis... ;)
 
Hi az (lolaz)

Sounds like you have bad experiences at Kallang too?

But I find that AGAPE has changed too, but change for the better. When my girl is in JW back then in 2007, the environment was not as condusive, clean and "high tech". But over these few years, they really changed the environment totally, giving it a brand new look, all new furnitures and toys, installing multi-media learning tools where even PG/N1 can managed and some teachers too... hee hee
I thought its good to be changed in this manner.... Change for the better... As we need to learn to adapt to changes thou...

Although, yes, they did have quite a number of teachers changing over last year and this year... but I really can empathize with the principal... Ha ha... I always look for the P and chat with her about my concerns... in fact, make friend with her and you will know the centre situation better... and how we can support them better too...
I believe there are certain things that are not appropriate to be discussed on the forum, else it really make us feel that we are "bad-mouthing" others... email other or to go direct to the P will be the best if you have burning issue to share!
I am glad to listen... if you don't mind... ;) [email protected]

I would still recommend AGAPE to all mothers,where my children are happy there!

They greatly benefited from the Guided reading Programme(Eng &amp; Chi), Chinese S &amp; D, Computer-Multi-media, HYPY (K2), Show &amp; Tell session, a heart for charity event, experienctial learning field trip, GYMKIDZ (their favourite!), songs &amp; dances, Sing-along, healthy eating activities, phonics, drawing and sports!

** Opps, I am not a spokeman for them, but I feel kinda bad if others do not know how well they did too...

Agape really lay good foundations for my kids... of course, the rest its up to me already as I am the first teacher and not the school!
Its a life-long journey being their first teacher..... ;)
 
Hi Heng,

Like i said earlier on, i think different centres have different programmes although the syllabus by right, should be the same. e.g. Agape Kalland doesnt have the guided reading prog, computer lessons, etc. they only have gymkidz and speech and drama (eng).

Maybe JW's nearer their HQ so things there are more in order?
 
Hmm... Somehow I also feel that there seems to be a lapse in standard between the different branches... Even though the syllabus is set by the HQ and should be uniform, a lot lies on how they are been conducted. Even the best programme in the world but taught by an educator with no passion would do nothing to the learners. Not that I am saying the teachers have no passion at all. Usually the problem starts with the management. It is an undeniable fact that this branch is having some real issues especially on the turnover rate. The main reasons I switch my son from another center last year is becos' the center has high turnover and hygiene is lagging. I do not deny the fact that we need to let our child learn to adapt to changes and when they get to Pri school, they'll have a change of teachers yearly. But if the change is every few months, it can only be disruptive and nothing else. Imagine if you have a change of working colleague every quarter, how productive can you be working together?? It takes time to build a relationship and work up a rapport.

I hope the management will do something about all our concerns and I'm pretty sure the management knows what we are concern about.
 
This is reality, yes, teachers have passion, but there is a limit to how their passion may go. With 20 over unique kids to handle individually and their energy and health got stretch out so far and get repaid by such “benefits”, how would one stay on?

Agape have the RIGHT to DO SOMETHING, and that is how to make the teachers stay and not saying because it’s the parents expectation too high or nobody want to do such a miserable pay job etc.

I even realized that ever since agape kallang is opened, more franchises are open. So isn’t business booming for agape? So why not improve the staffing system? NTUC is doing that. So many centres open and there is a HUGE shortage of teachers. Can you see the irony in this?

Is it illegal if agape hire more than what MCYS teacher-ratio quota? No isn’t it. So why the defensive excuse of saying its MCYS guidelines and they are following accordingly?

We pay more than centers outside because we hope it will be different from standard centers.

Happy teachers = happy to work = happy children = happy parents
 


Hi Mummies,

My kids are with Agage CCK. My DD1 joined them since Sep last yr. She has been with the same teachers since then. My DD2 join them in Jan this year. So far, I only know of 1 Chinese Teacher whom resigned and they recruited a new teacher to take the PG class.

I agree with Heng that the program planned by Agape is pretty comprehensive. Both my DDs can now converse fairly well in Mandarin with my ILs (b4 that, they were being called "Potatoes") after joining them. English wise - They also learnt quite abit.

Both my kids are very happy with them and my hb &amp; I are also pleased with their progress there.

I guess, though the syllabus to be taught is the same, every ctr may execute them differently and it seemed that the problems lie with the Kallang Branch.

Personally, I will also not feel comfortable if there are frequent changes of teachers and this will definitely affect the kids' learning progress. If I were you, I would also seriously consider a switch of CC.

Do talk to the principal about your concerns. If things do not seem to improve, maybe its good to feedback to the founder of Agape CC - Connie Lim &amp; see what she says?

Hi Elovephants,

I did ask the Ctr Principal about the "improvements" they intend to make with the fee hike done last yr. 1 of the feedback given was to reduce the teacher-to-child ratio. My DD2 now in their PG class has 4 of them to 1 teacher (they are capping at 1-to-6, lower than the MCYS set standards). For my DD1, her class now has 22 kids to 2 teachers (think MCYS cap is 1-to-15).
 
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