Any comments on Maple Bear Preschool?

Hi, Any comments to share about Maplebear Toa Payoh ?
hello Mummy. I know this may be soooo late. But it took me awhile to decide to comment...

My girl has been with maplebear TPY for awhile now. Seems like teachers turnover has been high. Having been to a few childcare, I find it unusually high.

A lot of the teachers seems to have issue with their principal, which I have seen many times, reprimanding the teachers and majority of the time, she looks pissed off and impatient when she helps out with the kids. I know some parents have issues with the principal as well. But when feedback to the director (Maplebear runs on franchise, so director is like the boss), she gets extremely defensive, which is how she generally reacts whenever you have a feedback. Makes me afraid to give further feedback to be honest..

I know many has pulled out from there and more considering. I guess they do have a very good facility, curriculum and some good teachers. But the management is a mess to me. Very political too (people saying principal has backing from Mdm Pat Koh, director has no power etc). So if you can overlook all this, it's ok.

I should add that my girl is very happy there. That's the only reason why I have not yet pull her out and of course it takes time to look for a new centre.
 

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Hi everyone, has anyone recently put their child into Maple Bear Havelock's infant care? If so, could you please share your experiences?

Hi I think as Maplebear is run as franchise each school can be quite different. I didn’t try infant
Care but tried childcare at Maplebear Havelock. It was good but I pulled out mainly due to budget reasons.

I suggest you go for a visit on a normal school day (open house usually doesn’t reflect a real scene) and see if can sign up for two week trial.
 
Maplebear is indeed a franchise and therefore each centre can be quite different, i.e. the way it is managed. Some directors (the franchisee) can be more hands-on, and some not so. So some more be more profit driven and some more child-centric. Maplebear is rather new in Singapore though the Master-franchisee - Ms Patricia Koh is an experienced pre-school pioneer. I must say as Maplebear is being a franchise, somewhat there is a need to push for 'more business' as a lot of the cost is involved. As a franchise, how could one expect the investors not to think of profits? Lots of marketing and pushing for enrolment.
The enrichment classes, such as i-Maths, etc are not included in the fees even though most of the enrichment are run by the teachers themselves. If you add the enrichment classes, you will end up paying quite a lot to the school fees. If you don't sign up for the enrichment, it will be mostly colouring, some craft work and free-play in the afternoons. There is also a tendency to increase the enrolment to ensure it is profitable. After a year or so, teachers are also seen leaving.
My child was formerly with them right from N1 but eventually I decided to change a school @N2 for different reasons. Firstly, the enrolment has gone up and space was compromised. I realised that by paying slightly more, I could put the child in a much larger premise. Secondly, one can see that Maplebear is mostly in Industrial/office space area, meaning most branches will be indoor-s and air-conditioned. The air quality and space were a concern. Having space to run about in Singapore is almost a luxury in Singapore but in my opinion, kids at 4-6 years really need to run and have outdoors to build up the muscles and enhance growth. The centre my child was in was totally in-house and so a lot of sitting down and hardly any chance to run. The indoor playground is a joke as it has a 'little-tikes' type of swing and slide, and that's all. No chance for outdoors as it will be too dangerous since it is housed in a light-industrial area with lots of 'loading/unloading'. Being a full-day childcare, means the child is 'locked-up' in an air-conditioned environment for 8-9 hours 5 days/week. So I preferred a school with some outdoor facilities. Thirdly, the learning-through-play approach is great for younger age group but I will prefer more when my child reached K1/K2 in preparation for the MOE system. At the end of N2, my child brought back craft-works, colouring papers, and repeated the same Letterland series as in N1 and learned numbers 1-10. I was getting a bit worried about the readiness for primary school.
All said, it is always best to bring your child to visit and have a feel of the centre you are interested.
 
Maplebear is indeed a franchise and therefore each centre can be quite different, i.e. the way it is managed. Some directors (the franchisee) can be more hands-on, and some not so. So some more be more profit driven and some more child-centric. Maplebear is rather new in Singapore though the Master-franchisee - Ms Patricia Koh is an experienced pre-school pioneer. I must say as Maplebear is being a franchise, somewhat there is a need to push for 'more business' as a lot of the cost is involved. As a franchise, how could one expect the investors not to think of profits? Lots of marketing and pushing for enrolment.
The enrichment classes, such as i-Maths, etc are not included in the fees even though most of the enrichment are run by the teachers themselves. If you add the enrichment classes, you will end up paying quite a lot to the school fees. If you don't sign up for the enrichment, it will be mostly colouring, some craft work and free-play in the afternoons. There is also a tendency to increase the enrolment to ensure it is profitable. After a year or so, teachers are also seen leaving.
My child was formerly with them right from N1 but eventually I decided to change a school @N2 for different reasons. Firstly, the enrolment has gone up and space was compromised. I realised that by paying slightly more, I could put the child in a much larger premise. Secondly, one can see that Maplebear is mostly in Industrial/office space area, meaning most branches will be indoor-s and air-conditioned. The air quality and space were a concern. Having space to run about in Singapore is almost a luxury in Singapore but in my opinion, kids at 4-6 years really need to run and have outdoors to build up the muscles and enhance growth. The centre my child was in was totally in-house and so a lot of sitting down and hardly any chance to run. The indoor playground is a joke as it has a 'little-tikes' type of swing and slide, and that's all. No chance for outdoors as it will be too dangerous since it is housed in a light-industrial area with lots of 'loading/unloading'. Being a full-day childcare, means the child is 'locked-up' in an air-conditioned environment for 8-9 hours 5 days/week. So I preferred a school with some outdoor facilities. Thirdly, the learning-through-play approach is great for younger age group but I will prefer more when my child reached K1/K2 in preparation for the MOE system. At the end of N2, my child brought back craft-works, colouring papers, and repeated the same Letterland series as in N1 and learned numbers 1-10. I was getting a bit worried about the readiness for primary school.
All said, it is always best to bring your child to visit and have a feel of the centre you are interested.
Thanks sweet mermaid for sharing this very useful feedback. I called and confirmed that enrichment classes like I-Maths, and speech & drama require extra fees as a bundle at $160 per month (plus a 1-time material cost of $120). These are taught by existing teachers. They also offer other enrichment classes like robotics taught by external vendors, which I can understand since it’s external vendor and robotics is not a usual subject to be included in core curriculum.

If I add the enrichment classes of $160 to the school fees, then no difference with other places like PSH which doesn’t charge for such classes as they are taught by existing teachers. Hence important to ask what the fees cover, and what are excluded and need to pay extra fees.
 
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hello Mummy. I know this may be soooo late. But it took me awhile to decide to comment...

My girl has been with maplebear TPY for awhile now. Seems like teachers turnover has been high. Having been to a few childcare, I find it unusually high.

A lot of the teachers seems to have issue with their principal, which I have seen many times, reprimanding the teachers and majority of the time, she looks pissed off and impatient when she helps out with the kids. I know some parents have issues with the principal as well. But when feedback to the director (Maplebear runs on franchise, so director is like the boss), she gets extremely defensive, which is how she generally reacts whenever you have a feedback. Makes me afraid to give further feedback to be honest..

I know many has pulled out from there and more considering. I guess they do have a very good facility, curriculum and some good teachers. But the management is a mess to me. Very political too (people saying principal has backing from Mdm Pat Koh, director has no power etc). So if you can overlook all this, it's ok.

I should add that my girl is very happy there. That's the only reason why I have not yet pull her out and of course it takes time to look for a new centre.

hi ang14,I’m thinking to place my LO at maple bear tpy infant care. Mind if you could share your opinion about this centre?
 
Hello :) How is your experience with MB Horsecity so far?
Hi! So far we are very happy with MB Horsecity. For the first month, my kids were still adjusting and cried for their old friends and teachers. But now they are happy with their set of new friends. They've also warmed up to their new teachers though they probably still prefer their old teachers as they were great playmates, but I feel the teachers at MB are better educators.
 
Maplebear is indeed a franchise and therefore each centre can be quite different, i.e. the way it is managed. Some directors (the franchisee) can be more hands-on, and some not so. So some more be more profit driven and some more child-centric. Maplebear is rather new in Singapore though the Master-franchisee - Ms Patricia Koh is an experienced pre-school pioneer. I must say as Maplebear is being a franchise, somewhat there is a need to push for 'more business' as a lot of the cost is involved. As a franchise, how could one expect the investors not to think of profits? Lots of marketing and pushing for enrolment.
The enrichment classes, such as i-Maths, etc are not included in the fees even though most of the enrichment are run by the teachers themselves. If you add the enrichment classes, you will end up paying quite a lot to the school fees. If you don't sign up for the enrichment, it will be mostly colouring, some craft work and free-play in the afternoons. There is also a tendency to increase the enrolment to ensure it is profitable. After a year or so, teachers are also seen leaving.
My child was formerly with them right from N1 but eventually I decided to change a school @N2 for different reasons. Firstly, the enrolment has gone up and space was compromised. I realised that by paying slightly more, I could put the child in a much larger premise. Secondly, one can see that Maplebear is mostly in Industrial/office space area, meaning most branches will be indoor-s and air-conditioned. The air quality and space were a concern. Having space to run about in Singapore is almost a luxury in Singapore but in my opinion, kids at 4-6 years really need to run and have outdoors to build up the muscles and enhance growth. The centre my child was in was totally in-house and so a lot of sitting down and hardly any chance to run. The indoor playground is a joke as it has a 'little-tikes' type of swing and slide, and that's all. No chance for outdoors as it will be too dangerous since it is housed in a light-industrial area with lots of 'loading/unloading'. Being a full-day childcare, means the child is 'locked-up' in an air-conditioned environment for 8-9 hours 5 days/week. So I preferred a school with some outdoor facilities. Thirdly, the learning-through-play approach is great for younger age group but I will prefer more when my child reached K1/K2 in preparation for the MOE system. At the end of N2, my child brought back craft-works, colouring papers, and repeated the same Letterland series as in N1 and learned numbers 1-10. I was getting a bit worried about the readiness for primary school.
All said, it is always best to bring your child to visit and have a feel of the centre you are interested.

Hi Sweetie!

Wow that was insightful. I have friends who sent their kids to Horsecity and Havelock branches last year, and heard good feedbacks. Personally, I have pre-visited a few Maplebear spaces (Hillview etc) housed in b1 industrial areas and find it interesting! They usually have larger spaces nicely done up for the kids (clean and safe) and the teachers are resourceful, experienced and friendly. Though I am little wary about the surrounding outside! ( hahah! ) - Well, I guess the teachers won't allow them to step out alone. Other than that, I heard centres like Maplebear Jubilee feels like a "Palace"!

I agree that it is always best to bring our kids to have a feel of the centre and experience something different! My girl works well for play-based learning for sure! Maybe not the smartest in academic (opps!) , but sharp and observant in every other things! :)

Thought of sending them to Maplebear Jubilee next year. Anyone been there? :) :) :)
 
Hi! So far we are very happy with MB Horsecity. For the first month, my kids were still adjusting and cried for their old friends and teachers. But now they are happy with their set of new friends. They've also warmed up to their new teachers though they probably still prefer their old teachers as they were great playmates, but I feel the teachers at MB are better educators.

Oh I heard about MB Horsecity as well! Isn't that the HQ centre? Which year are your kids in now?
 

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