HI,
Just wanted to share my feedback about the childcare centres i've visited recently:
- Chiltern House Halifax: appealing classrooms, and known for (CH in general) building very confident kids. Interior of the school was rather cramp and noticed that english speaking teachers were mainly malays, indians and philippinos . Only offers 3hr program therefore no option for full day.
- Pat's Serangoon and Aroozoo: i know many friends whose kids are at Pats and most have given positive feedback about kids being generally happy and teachers are dedicated and good. The compounds at Serangoon and Aroozoo are both quite impressive, look clean, new and large. Serangoon is open air and classrooms are open ie not enclosed with door, that means that one class may likely be distracted by a neighbouring class. Aroozoo on the other hand is air-conditioned and each classroom is a room on its own. The curriculum is very play-based (that explains the happy children)and good for developing the social-emotional aspects, i find them quite light on academic though. Heard that they are looking to stop the bundled programs (swimming, keyboard lessons etc) too. Price is steep at FD $1300 after subsidy.
- Chatsworth Kindergarten: Nice and large compound, large emphasis on social-emotional development, environmental awareness and impressive outdoors (playground,cycling track,sandpit,motor-skills equipments, labelled garden) use of computers/technology in k2, little use of worksheets. Very play-based and no daily chinese lessons (N2 onwards, at N1, there is 1 Chinese teacher always in the class).
- House of Kids (Dedap Rd)- nephew is there and enjoys school, teachers appear v friendly. Use letterland phonics and start at n1. what i didn't like though was that his daily communications book written by a teacher (hopefully the assistant) was littered with grammatical errors and they end each day watching television (cartoons).
- Discovery Garden (Hilltop and Cactus)- Curriculum is rich (balance of play and academic) and they make good use of the outdoor open space. The have a weekly checklist of areas which the teacher is supposed to teach, including moral/character developmental areas. They also map out themes to be covered during the year, therefore curriculum appears quite structured. Seem to emphasize alot on teacher-parent communication. By K1, half day dedicated to chinese speaking activites. Enrichment programs (no extra charge) like gym and speech/drama are conducted by external specialists. Kids appear happy and friendly with visitors.Teachers looked quite young and may not have alot of experience.
- Cambridge At Saracca: Been around for many years and apparently low teacher turnover. while they are branded under Cambridge, in reality, they are run quite independently. Center-head explained that she'd modify the worksheets so that children are better prepared for P1. Focus on experiential learning and themes are based on the books used in their reading program. Classes are led by 2 main teachers (as opposed to usual set up of 1 main and 1 assistant. Music/keyboard lessions conducted by Seimpi Music. They seem to have large proportion of non-directed play time though.
Character Montessori (AMK) - curriculum and montesori methods looked convincing but the compound is v old and run-downed. Fully indoor, 1 classroom divided into 3 classes by shelves (for N1/N2), the indoor echo i feel would be distracting for another class when one class is having lessons.
