Barker Road Methodist Church Kindergarten vs St James' Church Kindergarten

tslittleone

New Member
Hi anyone have any review on Barker Road Methodist Church Kindergarten and St James' Church Kindergarten? Am deciding which one should I send my child to.
 


I just enrolled my son for Nursery 1(25 to 36 mths old) and was allowed to attend 1 hour (to help the children adjust to the school, for the first mth, the class duration is only a third of the actual) with him for 3 days.

I would like to share my observation & opinion of the school:

1) The lunch menu includes Bee Hoon Soup (http://www.brmck.edu.sg/info.html). It didn't register much until I saw the kids being served this and all the teachers did was verbally tell the kids, "Be careful, it is very hot!"
These are mere 3 year olds. I feel that (based on my understanding of my own 25mths old) their concept of hot is not there yet, so how is he to know that it also means dangerous, he might get scalded? And as expected, my little one was so excited by lunch, he tried to grab the bowl (which was stopped by me, but what will happen when I am not around?)

Another parent whose child was in the same class commented about the teachers' lack of observation and wondered aloud if they would be able to react in time should the kids choke since they were given apples as part of lunch.

I, personally, witnessed one child who was so engrossed with observing the other brawling children that he spilled his cup of water all over himself. This went unnoticed by the teachers until about 15 minutes later. (I had gone over to help him to clean up a bit but had to stop when another parent who came over to tell me my son spilled his rice on the floor; he actually ended up helping me while I was assisting another! So when I am finally done helping my son and turned back to look for the child did I hear one teacher remarked that the child had spilled his drink. Can you see the disorganisation?)

I went home and realised the menu is the same weekly - this now makes me wonder aloud the rationale behind that and could it also mean that our children are eating frozen leftovers and little freshly prepared food?

2) When it was time for grace, the teacher opened up her file and seemingly looked like she was reading from it (well, the document could be something else, I cannot be sure). My question, should she be reading from it, is shouldn't the grace (if meant to be standardised) be memorised before term begins? I found it strange to see the teacher trying to keep her eyes close (I supposed to model the act of praying to the kids), reading her file and trying to peer at the children. Shouldn't her eyes be opened to observe the kids? If it is meant for her to model to the kids then the other teacher and teacher assistance role should be to do the other. It seemed rather clear to me that their rapport is not there.

3) The parents from my child's class and myself inclusive feels strongly that it is not wise to get our children to go down 3 flights of staircase to get to the carpark for dismissal (first day, we saw the teacher who was leading the class down, suddenly stopped and ran down to close the door to the carpark. our question was so how would she do that when we are not around?) One parent took the initiative to tell the teacher about our concern but her reply was it is the school's policy and so far there has not been any accident. I feel speechless by this response. In any case, the parents have decided to draft a petition and has invited us to sign it before submitting it to the Principal. We will only be signing it tomorrow so perhaps I will do a follow up post just to be fair to the school.

4) During the 3rd day of class, I saw a teacher chastising a child for crying. The child was clearly experiencing separation anxiety and I do not see how scolding the child fiercely, demanding that he stop crying and sit on the chair if he wants to go home will be of any help.
I am not against discipline but I also have the sense to know it doesn't make sense to scold a child for being scared (after all it is only norm since he is being separated from his main caretaker and put in a new environment as well as surrounded by at least 12 sets of strangers).

While I understand the teachers are concern that not stopping a brawling child will lead to a domino effect of having the rest of the class start feeling scared and begin crying, I also wish the teachers are also more conscientiously aware of how their each and every act/word is being observed by the 25 - 36 mths old in the classroom. Do they not know that that look and that tone being used on 1 child is being registered by 12 others and it can be potentially frightening/threatening to everybody?

I am not an expert in preschool education as I do not have a diploma or bachelor or masters in this area, however, I do have experience and a clear set of expectations about schools as I had sent my child to Julia Gabriel's Bilingual Play Club. I saw the distinct difference in management by both the teachers and management(P for BRMCK and Hod of childcare curriculum) and hence, feel the need to share about my experience and observation.

Should anyone who read this and has a child in Nursery 1 and begs to differ about my experience, pls feel free to share your positive experience about the school. I want to stress however that you should only share if your child is attending N1 of the school and not other age group cos then the discussion on the areas above makes sense.
 
Hi Dawn,
Is your child still at BRMCK? and whether the situation has improved? I am considering to transfer from SCJK to BRMCK due to proximity and convenience as we have just moved pretty close to BRMCK.
 
Can anyone share your experience at BRMCK? Is the environment conducive for learning? I observed that the children are too well-behaved. They are a little boring and not so fun.
 

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