Pat's Schoolhouse

[Koolmama]

Hi Zow,


I'm actually quite surprised that they told you there is an opening for 2008 babies... 'cos mine is joining in a few weeks' time and according to another mom that i know there, with my girl in the enrolment is actually full. UNLESS they are thinking of exceeding the MCYS ratio... Hmmmm

zow:

Hello Mummies

Need some advice. I am thinking of putting my DS into Pat's Mt Emily within the next few months. He is 2008 baby, and there is opening available. I have read through this thread and the comments have been very helpful.

I was wondering now that some time has passed, how do the Mt Emily mummies now find the school? Are your kids happy? Are they learning? Are they learning Chinese? Do you like the teachers at playgroup?

Thank you so much for your comments! :lol:

[omgmum]

My kid just joined PSH, and the fees that I’m paying is what I was told I would pay from last year.


BTW, i read in one of the earlier posts that parents can actually accompany their kids for the first few days. I was told that they didn’t have such a policy at Halifax.

And I was so blur on the first day of school. I didn’t know what on earth to do, even though I’d been corresponding with the principal. You mean they actually have orientations for the parents?

In fact, I was only allowed to accompany my kid for one hour the first day because I asked to, and for the next few days, I put on a thick skin and sat in with her for about 10 minutes before the other kids came.

I’m actually quite upset about this, cos I really think that it’ll help my kid to fit in better if I don’t have to ‘abandon’ her so quickly. PSH is supposed to be big on being child-centred, blah blah blah, and they don’t even have a procedure for orienting new kids?

I was quite pissed because the assistant teacher made me feel bad for wanting to put my kid at ease. The main teacher was quite nice, but it really broke my heart to have to leave my kid even though she keeps pleading for me to stay.

The thing is my girl is actually quite okay if there are kids around, and if I stay with her for a while. And I just want to make sure that she’s happily occupied before I leave her.

I’ve seen what they serve for meals, and it’s the really watery type of noodles, porridge, with very little vegetables and even less meat. Most of the times, I seem to see only carrots and no other vegetables. And they don’t really follow the menu pasted on the notice board.

What to do? On my end, I’ll just have to make sure that my kid eats a hearty and healthy meal before she goes to school.


Am really disappointed with the whole experience, and I can’t help wondering if PSH is really worth all the money and the hype.

[kboon2009]

omgmum:

My kid just joined PSH, and the fees that I'm paying is what I was told I would pay from last year.


BTW, i read in one of the earlier posts that parents can actually accompany their kids for the first few days. I was told that they didn't have such a policy at Halifax.

And I was so blur on the first day of school. I didn't know what on earth to do, even though I'd been corresponding with the principal. You mean they actually have orientations for the parents?

In fact, I was only allowed to accompany my kid for one hour the first day because I asked to, and for the next few days, I put on a thick skin and sat in with her for about 10 minutes before the other kids came.

I'm actually quite upset about this, cos I really think that it'll help my kid to fit in better if I don't have to 'abandon' her so quickly. PSH is supposed to be big on being child-centred, blah blah blah, and they don't even have a procedure for orienting new kids?

I was quite pissed because the assistant teacher made me feel bad for wanting to put my kid at ease. The main teacher was quite nice, but it really broke my heart to have to leave my kid even though she keeps pleading for me to stay.

The thing is my girl is actually quite okay if there are kids around, and if I stay with her for a while. And I just want to make sure that she's happily occupied before I leave her.

I've seen what they serve for meals, and it's the really watery type of noodles, porridge, with very little vegetables and even less meat. Most of the times, I seem to see only carrots and no other vegetables. And they don't really follow the menu pasted on the notice board.

What to do? On my end, I'll just have to make sure that my kid eats a hearty and healthy meal before she goes to school.


Am really disappointed with the whole experience, and I can't help wondering if PSH is really worth all the money and the hype.

That's really disturbing to hear.. especially on the food that they serve.

I see from childcarelink website that one of the PSH branches now charge 1765.50 for full day? Does this mean that the other branches would also follow shortly? Parents, if you have any news about fee increases please share. Thanks.

[shiyunu]

Am from Mt Emily Centre. There isn’t any notice that Pats is going to increase sch fees… I thought they have just increase $75 this yr for the full day program??? $1,700+ is way too much!

[empressplace]

Re orientation for new kids, I think they believe the best policy is to say a firm good bye and go off. I was told we could stay in school for the first few days. However I notice that all the parents just dropped off the kids and went off. These were parents with older children and experienced. So I also followed them and left. I didn’t feel any pressure from the teachers to leave. But it was odd for me to stay when everyone else wasn’t!


On at least 2 occasions that I have seen the food, there were lots of meat and vegetables in one dish served together with rice. I think the food is good enough.

[kboon2009]

Hi empressplace, which PSH is your child in?

[empressplace]

Claymore branch

[zow]

Hi Koolmama,


I waitlisted DS there a long time ago, that is why there is a slot for him. I need to decide whether to send him there or not, so any feedback on Mt Emily would be great!

BTW the new principal said that she would maintain a class size of 15 kids to 2 teachers.

Thanks!

Koolmama:

Hi Zow,

I'm actually quite surprised that they told you there is an opening for 2008 babies... 'cos mine is joining in a few weeks' time and according to another mom that i know there, with my girl in the enrolment is actually full. UNLESS they are thinking of exceeding the MCYS ratio... Hmmmm

zow:

Hello Mummies

Need some advice. I am thinking of putting my DS into Pat's Mt Emily within the next few months. He is 2008 baby, and there is opening available. I have read through this thread and the comments have been very helpful.

I was wondering now that some time has passed, how do the Mt Emily mummies now find the school? Are your kids happy? Are they learning? Are they learning Chinese? Do you like the teachers at playgroup?

Thank you so much for your comments! :lol:

[debpch]

my kid joined tanglin in feb. there was an orientation in dec & we were allowed to stay for the 1st 3-days. however, i only stayed for 1 hour on the 1st 2-days cos my kid settled in quickly.


so far so good... kid seems to like going to school.

[crystalbelle08]

Hi Zow,

Actually 15kids to 2 teachers has already exceeded what they are suppose to have for playgroup which is 2:14
http://www.patschoolhouse.com/programmes/playgroup/curriculum

Hope they will really stick to 15 and not slowly increase to 16 and then 17....

In any case, the mcys guideline is 1:12!
So they have the right to increase to 2:24! :stupid: