Pats schoolhouse or Brighton Montessori at grassroot is good
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I’m also exploring both childcares in Grassroots, no experience other than my visits and what i’m heard through forums and other parents. But I can share my observations here from my two visits this year:
- Principal - Pat’s principal is definitely much better than Brighton’s. Elise is very experienced, patient, professional, clear & concise about what Pat’s offers, accomodating, and has excellent communication skills. Brighton’s principal is at a lower league than Elise, so much so that I didnt even bother remembering her name anymore. She couldnt even talk about what makes them montessori other than having some montessori tools.
- Program - Brighton’s is supposed to be Montessori, but frankly I think they arent incorporating enough Montessori elements. Teachers are not International Montessori accredited or trained, Too much structure (similar to normal childcare), and no mixed age exposure. I left there wondering why they even put Montessori to their name if they werent going to apply Montessori?
- Teachers - Now this is where the tables are completely turned. On the two instances that I visited, I noticed that Pat’s had a ratio of 1 good teacher for every 2 so-so teachers. Meaning, one teacher in each class would be highly competent, passionate, lively, and smiling. What you would expect from Pat’s! But the other two would be so-so in the sense that they would look either bored or sometimes even irritated at the kids. The second visit is truly quite sad as I even witnessed two of these so-so teachers yank the kids by their arms to drag them to the toilet for diaper changing. Now if that had happened to my elder boy, we’d have a lawsuit on our hands as he has whats called a loose shoulder. He eventually outgrew it but then that kind of yanking would definitely have brought him to the ER. Brighton’s teachers were happier and seemed more patient and encouraging overall. They do have much less kids registered versus Pat’s so this does account for the lower stress levels on the teachers, in my opinion.
Net, we decided not to proceed with either center. I know its impossible to have perfection, but the concerns we found were simply show stoppers for us esp for the monthly fees both childcares demand. -
Have you visited Learning Vision on the 3rd Floor?
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Yes, but this LV branch is very, very packed.
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Yes, that is true. But a packed school tells a lot about the quality of the teaching and care within in the same way the quality of the food and service can be deduced by the length of the queue outside a restaurant.
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Some of the teachers at Brighton appear to be young and not being able to manage the children. I heard that both Brighton and Pats started taking in students this year at the same time but Pats seems to be getting more students.
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Gatopreto - Suggest to visit Grassroots on a regular school day and around 9-11 am. You’ll be able to see and assess all three centers better. Ultimately its really a matter of personal preference.
I didnt like this LV branch because it felt very, very cramped and noisy. Unlike restaurant assessments, many experts actually recommend smaller class sizes and more quiet envt for preschool aged kids. My nephew is doing well in LV Biopololis but there are less kids in that center. -
Hi everyone … Thank you for the replies … For now i have choosed brighton over pats … My son seems to be happy and yes the. 2 main factors i could see was brighton teachers seems more friendly and also with the kids … And the number of students is now picking up but still its not jam packed … But im still keen if their are better centres around ang mo kio or yio chu kang ? Which other schools would you prefer ? Or have good reviews about ?
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Hi everyone, I went Brighton 3 times and plus open house last 2 months, Spoken to the malay princpal. Sat in their class and attended their 2 hours sesssion of chinese immersion program which the school claimed is very good.
Went LV too since my elder son went LV but years back and he is already teenager.
Pat school house _ I went twice.
Conclusion
Pat schoolhse - no doubts that branded is acccomplished but not to mention they are not going to maintain their school fees at a level. If you are prepare to place into the business drive cc, then you have to be prepare to Pay $$.
Brighton Montessori - I have to say that I am a bit doubtful because
a) the teachers are not montessori trained- in fact they are only inhouse trained in montessori for 3 months under AIC ( the main operator ) for these 3 schools.
b) The teachers are young but caring except because the headcount is not as many as those accomplished Centres. Which make their job much caring and easier.
c) when I ask how they gg to teach each child differently since they don practice age mix which is suppose to practice in MOntessori environment, the principal told me they will move the necessary teaching tool into the classroom …
Initally I want to enrol my montessori trained child into brighton but after attending the CIP (Chinese immersion program) - With the Native PRC. maybe other races other than Chinese like me will be impress as this is foreign language but to me, the accent is there and the teacher is not very active.
So my conclusion is I will not place my child into brighton.
I have placed my child into another montessori sch which is totville. -
Hi,
thought i will share my experience at Pat’s GRC, which is where my 2 boys are currently at. i should note that i gave up a spot at nanyang kindi (morning session) which i queued overnight for, to join Pat’s GRC, and have absolutely no regrets!
yes, i have visited the other schools at the same building, but since we are at GRC, i will just share my personal experience.
1) Principal Elsie - she is by far the most impressive of childcare principals i have known - I am a kiasu mummy who has done lots of "visits" and met lots of principals. Top that off, she is absolutely top -notch in terms of responsibility. Case in point, there was a fire at GRC not too long ago - Pat’s had a day off (thank goodness) but Elsie went back to GRC and stayed till late night waiting for the fire dept to clear the premises and give permission for Pat’s to conduct classes the next day. I got an email from her and the teachers at like 11pm for the all clear! Also, she personally deals with any complains/ feedback from parents - i actually had a sit-down session with her and a teacher over a certain not-so-pleasant episode which resulted in a full apology to me and my child!
2) Teachers - consistent with my experience at BabyHaven, the teachers here are great! my kids love them, are learning, and i always get detailed feedback and photos (via whatsapp!). yes, there are some young teachers who are still undergoind training (means they are not around one afternoon a week), but they are as knowledgeable and as caring as i can ask for - that’s the top tier teachers you are paying for with the high fees. yes, there are days when the teachers are overwhelmed and tempers can flare, or your kid might suffer a fall because the teacher was attending to another kid… but this is with EVERY school. each teacher is managing ~6 kids, accidents happen. and yes, not all teachers are equal… some are friendlier than others, some are more attentive than others, but so far… my kids (my older boy) come home telling my they like ms so-and-so… ms so-and-so did this and that…they look forward to the hugs and kisses from the teachers and the admin staff!
3) Training - i am not a cry-it-out mummy, so training my kids whether in terms of diapering, eating or sleeping by themselves has been terrible at home. we’ve worked with the teachers on "agreed parameters" to assist in the training, and it has worked wonders. the one thing i truly liked was that pat’s really believes in letting every child develop at their own pace. for example, when we tried to toilet train my boy, the teachers after trying for 2 weeks eventually came to me and asked whether i was willing to stop the training as my boy developing anxiety and wanted to go to the toilet every 5-10mins… psychologically, he wasn’t ready - i was quite impressed as i have heard of schools that "force-train" the kids
4) Programme - really depends on what you want. there is a large number of chinese teachers/ assistants at Pats GRC - in the afternoons, my boys are almost entirely immersed in an all-chinese environment - it is amazing how much the older boy has picked up in terms of vocab and delivery. music classes with ms anna and others are truly fun (tho almost all accidents - falls, trips etc seem to happen in the music room). i have seen how they modify each activity to each child’s development abilities and keep the more advanced children interested and the less advanced ones keen to try. most importantly, they are able to teach complex concepts in really simple terms that my 3 year old can share with us (eg. why are there rainbows? why things float and sink? ).
bottom line… my boys love the school…
good luck with the school hunting!
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