3 yrs old attend Chiltern house nursery - Any comments ?

Any feedback / Comments on Chiltern House
(especially East Coast) nursery classes for 3 yrs old ? Is it worth the money ?

I'm considering between this and kinderland parkway.

Thanks a lot !

 

Hi Jovialz,

The waiting list for Chiltern house is very long. I just went for my trial class with my baby gal ( 18th month) .. recently. They ask me if I am interested to enroll her in the programme. If yes, I will have to be put in the waiting list! Personally I do like the environment in Chiltern east coast. If I am not wrong, they do get to take a walk at the beach..

I went kinderland for some trial class too. but my little gal doesn't seem to like the class.

The best person to judge is your little one... You can ask the person in charge if you are allow to bring your little for a visit. Let the little ones "decide".... =)

 

Hi AnGike,
Not sure if this is true, recently my boy (now barely 17th months old) just join the bilingual playclub. 2 months back when I ask about the playclub, they also ask me to be put on waiting list. But last month just before CNY, they actually call me up to see if I want to let my boy start the class earlier.

When we attend the class, they only have 7 child in that session (max per class is 20 child). Thus I wonder if 'ask to be put on waiting list' is one of their tactic to make them sound very popular.

However, I'm still keeping my options open and like what you say, it's best to let the child decide. So I think I'll see how he is during the playclub. Thanks for your reply !

 

Hi Jovialz,

Thanks for letting me know!If not then I will still believe that they are really that popular!=)so how's is your boy doing ?

 

My kids are the product of Kinderland Marine Parade. 2 eldest ones are in P2 and P1 and they are coping well academically and socially. P1 was a breeze for them and they study in a SAP school.

My youngest is also in Kinderland nursery currently.

I like Kinderland for the following :
1) Low teachers turnover. Alot of teachers have been there for years.
2) My kids are confident children and enjoy learning.
3) They simply enjoy school. Looking at how they are enjoy Primary school currently, I am sure Kinderland plays a part in making them have a positive image about school.
4) My son in particular is outspoken and the vocal type. It's part of his character. He is also encourage by his teacher in kinderland to do so. The teacher is always telling me that though my son is not the pen and paper type but he can speaks very well and has a good general knowledge. This shows teacher looks beyond academic aspects.
5) They tend to use the same english teacher for K1 and K2 as the teacher will already know the kids well.

Though I've to admit that besides kinderland, my kids do attend other enrichment classes. But if you are those who after attending sending the kids to chiltern will still send the kids to other enrichment classes that are famous in their own area, then it doesn't really make a diff.

 

Thanks Loyfam,
Actually my niece and nephew also attend kinderland. Just wondering is Chiltern is really worth the money. We'd more or less decide on kinderland liao.

 

Hi,
Heard that CH is opening a new centre at Mountbatten next year. I am keen to send my kid to attend K1 class. But enrolment office says need to have 12 kids then will start a class. Interested mummies, do quickly reserve a place for your child for the K1 morning class especially. Tks!

 

My daughter will also attend the N1 class at their Mountbatten centre...

 

<font color="0000ff">Hi Mummies,

yes chiltern house seems to be super popular. Im also placed under waiting list. They have priority waiting list &amp; im the last priority. I think the 1st priority goes to either julia gabriel students &amp; 2nd goes to the sibing of exisitng student at chiltern.

My girl will be 3 in the yr 2010 &amp; im hoping to place her at chiltern house in jan.
Any1 has any comments on forum/ Halifax/ turf city branch? Cos im opting for turf city &amp; halifax.</font>

 

Hi,

My oldest boy is graduating from CH East Coast this Friday and my 2nd boy is currently in N2 with them.

I am intending to put my girl in N1 for next year and the admin just called to tell me I have to register her quick cos there is a long waiting list. They also told me about the new centre at Mountbatten.

From my experience, I love what Chiltern house does for children. The focus on speech and drama helps to build the confidence of the child and the environment is non threatening for the child. This is very important. Everyone knows everyone - even if they are not in the same class. All the teachers know the names of every kid in the centre regardless of whether they teach the kid or not.

As to whether kids will be well prepared for P1, I guess so since my boy has homework everyweek and spelling (both EL and CL) every week...the work my boy does include writing short 'stories' (a mini composition), writing down their observations of experiments etc. For math, they do number stories (aka problem sums) and number relations (e.g. 10 = 2 + 8 = 3 + 7 = 5 + 5)

Whether it is worth the money...it is quite a lot of money...well I supposed it really depends on what your child needs. I have sent my kids to GUG, to Tien Xia for trial, observed NAFA kindergarten...and I like what Chiltern House is doing. I guess I share their philosphy so it works for us. Most importantly, my boys are happy there.

just thought I share my experience with all of you and who knows, our kids may end up as classmates.

 

Hi,

Can i understand from parents whose kids attend Chiltern House what kinds of activities do they do during the holiday? Do most of the kids attend school during the holiday? Tks.

 

Hi JHmum1,

Chiltern House functions like a childcare centre in the sense that they are allowed to determine 5 days of school closure in a year. So of it is not a pre-determined school closure, lessons continue even during Public Hols.

Classes during the school holidays (i.e. March, June, Sept and Dec) are based on selected story books and are conducted by the co-teachers instead of the main teachers. E.g. For this dec, the selected books for Nursery classes (holiday programme they usually combine classes cos not all children choose to attend everyday) are: 1. Santa's new suit, Tidy Titch, Happy Birthday Sam, My cat Maisie, Waddle Giggle Gurgle, and Mr McGee and the perfect Nest. Based on these stories, children will be engaging in activities in art and craft, cookery, story time, games etc.

From my experience, they would at least have 1 class of 6-8 children for each level during holidays. But most of the time, my kids come back excited and happy with whatever they do during the holiday programme. And there is no worries about them combining classes cos the kids in the centre know everyone and every teacher...it's like one big family.

Anyway, the graduation celebration last evening was a blast! The kids were simply awesome. Just 5/6 yrs of age and they sustained a 1.5hr show all by themselves. And the best thing about the show is the preparation and the excitement the kids had before the show. They prepared the props, wrote their feelings and synopsis of the items they are involved in and for some classes, they even contributed to the script. It was a simple yet heart warming event.

 

Hi mumtoelliot,

thanks for the info. So, do they conduct the holiday activities in chinese? Do they teach phonics to the k1 kids to enable them to start reading? hanyu pinying to K2 kids? I heard some kids still attend I can read program and some centers dont teach hanyu pinying as it is not encouraged by MOE.

 

Hi,

Ya they have Chinese teachers during holiday programme as well.
They have a syllabus to follow during term time and during holidays, it would be thematic by books like mentioned earlier. So the same thing applies for Chinese.

Yes, they learn Phonics and Hanyu Pinyin, well at least at the East Coast centre that my boys are at. For English, they teach them sounds of consonants and vowels, starting and ending sounds, they even play word games, exploring sounds of English. E.g. for my boy's class, Friday is a backward name day, so they will call each other by their backward name... so instead of Elliot, he is Toille. And sometimes they replace all the first sound with other sounds e.g. 'B', so he is Belliot for the day...these are fun ways for the kids to understand the way English sounds work.

For Hanyu Pinyin, they have quite a lot of exercises on them too. They give them activities similar to what the primary school assessment books have, you know, give the hanyu pinyin and they choose the words etc. And they have Chinese tingxie every week and the words are difficult...much more than what Pri 1 requires. The tingxie is done in sentences e.g. Baba hai mei you hui lai, mama liu le dan gao ge ta. OR gong yuan li you qian dou wan dou mei li de hua. I know some centres have given up teaching chinese characters and chosen to focus on hanyu pinyin but the chinese teachers at Chiltern house east coast actually teach them to recognise and write Chinese characters.

Even my N2 boy has chinese character books where they learn to recognise the characters.

I supposed many parents, being typical singaporeans as we are, would still sign up for additional enrichment classes no matter how comprehensive the school's syllabus is. I remembered when my oldest boy was in N2, he couldn't understand a single Chinese word and the teacher would advise us to speak to him in Mandarin more often at home cos his classmates are all able to understand Mandarin and she had to move at their pace, so my son is often lost. So I had to sign him up for a Chinese Drama school at Young People Performing Arts Centre. With more exposure from the Arts Centre, in school and at home, my boy now can conduct conversation in Mandarin.

Actually, I think what is important when selecting schools is really the direction set by the school and the dedication of the teachers. In every school, there would be good and mediocre teachers. Teachers who love the children, and teachers who just treat teaching as work. So far, from my observation, most of the teachers in chiltern house east coast are very dedicated.

But to be fair, I have only experienced Chiltern house East Coast and GUG at United Sq...so I can only speak from my experience k?

 

Hi mumofelliot,

gee..really appreciate your sharing of experience...now i am so keen for my boy to start his school at mountbatten centre next year...i am so happy that in the end, they decided to have K1 class there as well. my mum asks me did i strike lottery that day when chiltern house called me..haha

 

Hi Mummies,
My child will be starting N1 at Chiltern next year and I am encouraged to hear from mumofelliot about the positive experience at the East Coast centre.

Would love to receive some feedback on the Turf Club centre too. Thanks in advance.

 

mumofelliot.. thank you for your detailed des and feedback at CH.. very useful for mummies like me considering the atlernatives..

you said you've observed nafa too? can you share why you chose CH over nafa for your boys eventually?

and re CH at East Coast.. I notice the parking area is right outside the school compound.. any safety concerns there?


Thank you in advance

 

Hi Eileen,

hmm...when i went to nafa, I was greeted with the sight if two teachers, each leading a class of abt 14 to 15 students think, conducting PE classes at the carpark. I need to point out that the carpark is within the school premise and the gate is locked, so no cars will get in. But i thought the road was a little too rough a terrain for small children...imagine if they fall...and this is quite likely with children that age.

One of the classes was playing "Wat is the time Mr Wolf?" and the other was I believed jumping in and out of hula hoops placed on the road. Then we went around the classrooms and the building is rather rustic kampong style which is fine. Then we saw a some teachers bringing their classes to wash their hands in the toilet. The teachers were speaking at the top of their voice in a rather annoyed tone and their dressing was also rather hmm..how should I put it... much like you know the old PAP days. I didn;t vocalise this to my hubby but I was thinking, to pay fees at such rate, I expect more professional looking and sounding teachers.

But I was still keen to find out more cos I was very attracted by the extra attention to fine arts given by Nafa kindergarten. I went to the admin office and this was where I decided NAFA is not it. The officer was not able to give me any information. She pass me a piece of paper with details of fees and the ethos of the school and told me to look around on my own! Then I decided to ask further some detailed qns like wat their syllabus is like and how do they teach lang and math...all of which she couldn't answer. I asked if she had a sample syllabus e.g. the kind of reading they do etc and she knew nothing and was really not very interested at all.

And the most important thing, my son told me that he didn;t like the place and didn;t want to be in the school...so that's it. Then we drove along, wanting to go check out Eton House but we made a wrong turn into Crescent Road and there it was, Chiltern House at Crescent. We went in, and it was a stark contrast from NAFA. The admin officer was speaking fluent English with great knowledge about what the school does. They showed us around and even let us take a peek at one of the class fr the outside. As we were asking more question, we saw some classes led by their teachers to the playground.One of the student ran out of the line to cut to the front, and the teacher (a male one! u hardly get male teachers in pre school) told the boy very firmly that he didn;t follow the rules and had him go back to the back of the line and walked safely to the playground. I was impressed that the teacher was firm yet polite with the child. And the kids were also very well behaved. So I was sold. I later got to know that the teacher is Abu Bakar, who later became my 2nd son's teacher in N2.

 

hi mummies,

i had a very different experience infact totally opposite..i being very kiasu..already started searching for kindergartens when my son turned 12 or 13 mths..i understood that they had long waiting lists &amp; i was deciding between chiltern &amp; nafa arts and made appointments to see both the schools..

the 1st visit was at chiltern &amp; i expected a tour of the school when i arrived..but the admin staff said i was too early to register &amp; said i should come back again when he is older..so she just passed me some brochures for classes which i tink is their playgroup and was ready for us to leave. it took all of 5 mins only and i wasnt happy cause when i called earlier, i told the staff my son's age &amp; even asked if i was too early to call them but they said no and arranged an appt to meet..so i was quite disappointed tat my hubby took leave n ended up there for 5 mins onli and told that we were too early..they shouldnt have made the appt for us like that in the 1st place..

but for nafa arts, i had a welcoming experience..the lady gave me a full tour of the school, she even let us into the classrooms so that we could see the lessons in action. i was impressed with the dancing teacher, she seemed very lively &amp; engaging during her lesson..1 thing i noticed was that the kids were all very well behaved, not rowdy and all seemed very engaged in their activity whether it was art, dancing or chinese lessons...1 or 2 of the teachers did seem alittle strict but i think its normal..

i asked alot of questions on their curriculum to wat kind of practices their teachers do should the child misbehave to maybe some silly questions like their meals etc..but she answered my questions to our satisfaction..even my hubby was impressed with the tour which took more than hour..even though we applied very early but she took our application anyway and put us on the list for his N2..so we decided to go for nafa instead..

 

I guess we are all just sharing our experiences and i have no doubt that nafa offers a good programme and it was unfortunate that the admin officer was not able to give us the confidence at the point of visit, much like wat happened at CH for mummysells.

As mummies, we all want the best for our kids and that's why we work so hard for them. As long as our children come back home excited and loving school, I think we have found the best school for them.

My thoughts? Bring your kid with u to the schools and let them observe the place, If they like it,even if the reason is a big playground (as in the case of CH crescent for my eldest son) or a soccer field for his primary school, you have already won half the battle.

Good luck with your search. Merry Xmas everyone.

 

hi mumofelliot,

i totally agree wif u..actualli i have a niece that attends chiltern &amp; her mum told me the gal's english is very good cause they focus alot on reading, etc..&amp; she is very happy attending the school..

but i was thinking since my son loves music &amp; dancing very much so i opted for nafa instead..both schools have their pro &amp; cons so it was more on wat i think my child would like in the curriculum that made my choice.

 

Chiltern's fee is monthly or by per term?

 

Monthly. JHmum1, how's your boy in CH Mountbatten? My gal's with playclub now at East Coast and the placement office is asking if I want to place her in N1 mountbatten in June cos there may not be any vacancy at the East Coast centre. I have gone to Mountbatten to look at the place and thought it a rather nice place. How are the teachers?

thanks in advance

 

I have my girl in Nanyang Kindy thinking of switching... two minds really.

 

Dear mummies,
I read your posts on CH with much interest. My older girl (she is now in P2) studied in CH Turf Club. Now my younger girl is in N2.

Like mumofelliot, I am a loyal fan of CH, judging from my older girl's adjustment in primary school. I did not realise CH's fantastic foundation in English and Chinese until my girl enters primary school. She is now very strong in her languages, but needs some practice on her Math. That being said, primary school math is fairly difficult for kindergartens to teach.

My younger girl is now very happy in school and recognises all the alphabets in upper and lower cases, and can even spell her name. They are now attempting to teach her to write her name (she is a year end baby, so a bit slower!)

But most importantly, it is the confidence that CH instills in the children through speech and drama. My older daughter had been selected as her school's emcee and key performer many times, purely due to the training from CH, I think. She used to be a very shy girl.

The teachers are all very caring and personable as well - they do not scold yet they are firm. So, values are being taught to them. In fact, teamwork, learning to share together and being gracious with your friends are values inculcated into them. So much so that all my daughter's CH friends are still hanging out together, and all of them complained that their primary school classmates from other kindies are always petty and territorial. But this could be child's talk, of cos.

Overall, it is definitely value for money

 

Linette,
My girl is in N1 at CH Turf Club too and I must say that I second you in the positive comments regarding the school.

So far, the principal and teachers there have been very warm and encouraging. Like you, I feel so far that I've made the right decision to send my girl there.

I would like to ask you if your older girl has other classmates from Pats schoolhouse? I've heard that Pats prepare their K2 children better for P1? Have you observed this to be true so far?

Chiffon Tea,
May I know why you are thinking of switching? We were offered a place in the afternoon session but we turned it down.

 

Slimfy,

Too many reasons but my older daughter did enjoyed her time there. This is my #2. Mainly they do not have a morning session vacancy for me to transfer to and I would want to put my girl in the morning session.

Does CH do school tours? What's their fee like?

 

Hi ladies,

What are the timings for the am and pm sessions at CH? Am also considering Pat's schoolhouse but their sessions seem to be rather long for young kids.

How long in advance would I have to register my kid for N1? Thanks!

 

Hi JHmum1,

I am considering to switch my child from GUG to CH. IS it true that the teachers in CH Mountbatten are fairly new and the standard in dropping?

 

Hi,

Is also considering CH mountbatten, can advise on the teachers? Thanks

 

Hi humblebee,

i went for their preview on CH mountbatten. like the environment, they've outdoor playgnd and cycling track also. thinking to enrol my boy for the N1.i had a chat with their principal. in fact she has had over 15years of teaching experience in childcare industry. so shld be ok ba. heard they got early bird discount now. i personally like their infant care. maybe my 2nd one i would consider enrol there.

 

I dun knw if we're referring to the same CH mountbatten. This is the centre i went for their preview. Pretty impressed by their cirriculum presented by their cirriculum team.
http://cherieheartsmountbatten.com.sg/

 

i'm confused here.. is CH Mountbatten Cherie Hearts or Chiltern House? THis tread is supposed to be Chiltern House.

 

Chiltern house don't have infant care I thought.

I am referring to chiltern house - the kids are in blue colour uniform there.

 

Just visited chiltern house at turf city and I really liked what I saw. The principal was really warm and friendly, and she knew a lot of the kids there by name. The kiddos were really happy and friendly!

I like their strong emphasis on reading and speaking, but am a bit disappointed that they don't do the phonics programme there though. Also, although it's a bilingual programme for the nursery kids (english and chinese teacher in the classroom at all times), older kids only get an hour of chinese a day. Wonder if that's enough.

 

And um, julia gabriel students are actually placed 5 on the priority waiting list, and you have to be in the programme for 6 months before you can be put on the waiting list.

So, if you want to register your kid for nusery 1 in 2012, you have to enrol him/her in JG's programmes latest by June this year if you want to be put on waiting list next year for 2011! Talking about planning way in advance!

 

Hi mommies,

I am contemplating either to put my son in kinderland or CH at turf club. Any big diff between these 2 preschool?

 

To all mummies who have their children attending Chltern House at Mounbatten, any feedback on the school, teachers will be helpful for me. my gal has been offered a place at N1 in Chltern House at Mounbatten, as the waiting list in East Coast is so long..... i am staying at marine parade... not sure if CH at Mounbatten is good as they are new , just started in Jan this year....

 

Chltern house mountbatten - any mummies sent your child to this location.... relative new - 6 months ago - the chltern house at mountbatten was set up.... my gal got offer a place for N1 as the wait list was too long for the CH at east coast...

any feedback on the teachers there is appreciated.

what about school by the bay at fort rd and mountbatten rd....? good???

me also looking at kinderland marine parade central... ? any feedback as well?

 

Smallgreen
Were you offered a Place for their AM or PM session?

 

Hello mummies,

My gal has been attending CH Mountbatten N1 am Class since Jan this year. The environment is bright and cheery and the teachers are always patience and cheerful! All the teachers know every single student's name! My gal simply loves her school, her classmates (she knows all the teachers' names and her K1 gorgor/jiejie who are taking school bus with her) and her teachers! There are lots of music, arts and crafts and reading. The teachers are respectful to the students yet firm at the same time. At N1, they are not encouraged to write and use scissors but the school wants the students to enjoy the school life and learn thru playing, music and arts. Initially we were very worried that she won't adjust to her school life easily especially she has to take school bus to go home. But now seeing her so happy and looking forward to school everyday, we have no regret.

 

Hi, Humblebee

my girl was offered AM session for N1.

 

Hi, Anastasia

thanks for your valuable feedback.. it is definitely a booster "jab" for me... think i am going for it.... although my husband think the fees are expensive....

i am going to the school this friday for a final evaluation.... : )

i was also planning for my gal to take school bus home.... i stay at marine parade area... hope the bus ride should be ok. btw... is your gal on the AM session ? maybe, if i enroll my gal in CH.... they could be classmates : )))

have a good day !

 

Hi smallgreen,

Yes, my gal in am class. Currently there are 3 N1am classes. My gal's class oredi has 12 kids so dun think they will add more kids to the class. But if ur gal is taking school bus home then they will be school bus friends . The school bus driver, jason is a very friendly fellow. There is another aunty and a kakak in the bus, i think, as my gal takes the school bus back to Pasir Ris where her nanny stays and i only pick her up after work. She is always the last to get off the bus.

 

My Gal's joining next yr pm N1 class at mt brankch .. am session is full hse ..

Yes the fees are ex but I personally believe education is a investment that shd be driven from the root

Let me know your kids r in n1 pm sessison next yr ..

Cheers

 

My two kids have been with GUG since 2007 and we're v happy with the school. They have just opened a new kindergarten in Mountbatten Centre which I heard has many facilities incl. computer lab, library, indoor and outdoor playgrounds. Their kindy in United Sq always has long waitlist so if interested I think better call quickly to enquire. Having compared GUG w Chiltern and other schools, our preference is still GUG. Their curriculum is outstanding. And the kids love their teachers and the environment.

 

hi mummies, i m comtemplating between CH mountbatten n halifax road. any advice? any mummies with kids frm halifax? heard that mountbatten teachers are new and hv no experience. in a dilemma now...

 

Don't send your kids to Chiltern House Mountbatten!
How good a school depends on the branch's teachers and Centre's Head and the Mountbatten branch has one of the worst teacher I have even encountered and the Centre's head as well as her boss doesn't try to help with the situation.
They are only interested in the money you pay them.
My girl was there for less than 2 months and during that time she has become so fearful of the word school.
Her teacher (E) operates more like a domestic help than a teacher.
She never tell us or the grandparent about any issues when we ask her nor were we updated on any issues in the communication book but she can send a direct e-mail to us on a weekend just to list down all the issues with my daughter.
And in the e-mail there were no attempt to seek any clarifications on why things were down or how she could help. so much for the "teachers and parents will work together" philosophy.
We had to go down and meet the Head to get more info and again instead of working together to address the issues, E was so defensive and kept on trying to justify her accusations.
How much care and concern do you think this teacher has?
This teacher is incompetent and heartless.
You all might think I am biased but just think about this - How much love, care and concern an environment has if a child becomes so traumatised by the place that the mentioned on the word "school" would make her cry?

And do you know what?
They managed to send out the year end "portfolio" and wrote great things about my daughter. They wrote about how she has grown and can do many things. It was like they were writing about a totally different person.
My believe is that it was a standard report which they just change the names.

Finally, their mercenary ways showed up so clearly that photos of my daughter's field trip were not given to us even though it was out entitlement and the head happily ignored my request because I had withdrawn my daughter from the school. Do note that my request came during the period where we still pay school fees.

Don't waste your money to send your kid to this branch.
The other branches might be good but this one (especially E) is terrible.

 

But what actually has happen? What did the teacher do to make yr daughter so fearful of school?

 

Hi Kitty,
As we weren't allowed to be in the classroom we don't have concrete proof of what she did.
However, something must have been done to her such that she changed from a child that was happy to attend school to one that fears the word "school" or being close to the school compound. On top of this, she began having nightmares after the teacher's "complain e-mail".
Although we didn't agree with most of the "complain", we were willing to find out more and work with the school to understand the issues but there was no attempt to make arrangements to meet us.
WE had to initiate the meeting. (So much for "working together")
And my child's behaviour deteriorated significantly after our request for the meeting thus we suspect that the teacher began to do things to my kid to justify her complain.
Even the Centre's Head acknowledged that this teacher's actions were rash and how she handled the situation could have been better. However nothing was done by the Head to address the issue to improve matters instead she was more interested in getting more students into her branch, i.e., she was "busy" interviewing new students instead of helping to oversee the class to help with the situation.
And during one of her "busy" periods, something happened such that my kid got very worked up and began hurting herself.
And to prove the teacher's incompetency, she could help my kid and had to call us to bring my kid home.

Please don't consider bringing your kid there.

FYI - Our opinion of how incompetent and uncaring this teacher is had been confirmed by another child's grandparent, i.e., the child became adverse to going to school.