Chiltern House

[st999]

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


Anyone care to share your opinion on these two schools?

[st999]

Anyone? Thanks in advance.

[turquoise]

I don’t know how Chiltern House is now, but when my child was there years ago, she loved it. The classes were small and attention was paid to each child. They could express themselves and were heard. I liked that the programme included drama classes and good Chinese foundation.


At N1 & N2, I think it’s more important for a child to learn socialization skills, to play with others, to respect others. And that is something they pick up from the teachers. In large classes, sometimes the teacher doesn’t hear what a child is saying. The child picks that up and over time may think that his/her opinion doesn’t count.

Again, this was many years ago, so I don’t know what Chiltern House is like now.

[jedamum]

please refrain from duplicating existing topics.

discuss chiltern house http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=379&start=0.
discuss BRMCK http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=835&highlight=brmck.

[bbmum]

My child loves Chiltern House. I chose the school because the English teachers are relatively well spoken (compared to the other pre-schools), the chinese teachers are excellent, the atmosphere is unpretentious and the school is particular about hygiene.


This is a great school for building confidence as the environment is very friendly. The school also holds class performances every term and children are encouraged to bring something for show and tell/news hour each week so lots of opportunities to speak up and present.

However, if you are looking for a strong academic focus, you will be disappointed. They don’t really focus on content so themes are covered fairly superficially and they don’t do any real math (e.g. simple addition and subtraction) until late K1/K2. Spelling/ting-xie also doesn’t show up til K2.

They did say though that they survey the parents of graduating students each year after the kids have gone to P1 to see how well prepared the children were and the feedback is generally positive so maybe you don’t need so much prep after all…

[buds]

Nice honest to goodness feedback bbmum.

Now time for you to introduce yourself to us
in KiasuParents. Click this blue link to get there.

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewforum.php?f=28

Btw, i dun work @ Chiltern but my English not too
bad... Which other pre-schools do you make
the language comparisons with may i ask? :idea:

[aprilsummer]

I sent my son to Chiltern House, Halifax. He had good teachers for his N2. But his main teacher for his K1 is really lousy. She frequently reported sick. The assistant teacher was more interested in maintaining her nails. She refused to check the file for homework, saying the children should be independent enough to hand in themselves. Being independent at age 4, has anyone heard of that?? The school was also very dirty and the only cleaner did not mop it daily. My son’s white socks were black when he returned home. Once, I found the rice, which was meant for the children snack at 3pm, was left uncovered near the toilet. That was around 1.30pm when I sent my son for lessons. No wonder my son was sick every month. Moreover, the school has a very bad habit of encouraging children to eat titbits. They have party every month, sometimes, twice a month. Children were told to bring junk food and share. My son would then bring home a bag of junk food after that! Really dont understand what values Chiltern House is teaching.

[lovecitylondon]

my son is in CH nursery 1 currently. He loves it, and the school conducts parents meeting every month, in addition to an individual parent-teacher meeting on the progress of your child.


I would think most parents at chiltern DO send their kids to further enrichment. Swimming, violin, piano, ballet, art, soccer, languages, schichida, etc. It is quite common… at least among his classmates. Also, more than half came from Julia Gabriel.

THe school is very strong in languages, building confidence, speech and drama. Like everyone else, the parents expressed concerned at one of the meetings about how Chiltern kids fare in Primary one. The principal feedback that they kept in contact with recent K2 graduates’ moms and dads, and it seems that most of the kids are doing very well - in particular, confidence, outspoken, dare to ask questions, english n maths. Frankly, we were quite surprised. and it seems even the k2’s parents are surprised. So, chiltern must be doing something right, even though syllabus is not as stringent. No matter what, the kids spend half a day there.

[aprilsummer]

Of course the principal said that. Which biz would say that they can’t prepare the children well for P1?? The reality is that most parents who sent their children to CH belonged to the high income group. Some of them are graducates of NUS/NTU. They are usu concerned parents (sometimes overly), who prepared their children (too)well for P1. This may not be credited to the sch. BTW, which parent would say that their children can’t cope with P1, esp if they have paid such a premium amt for pre-sch?? We need to look at the sch with open eyes than to accept what they market at face value. As for keeping in contact with graduates’ moms and dads, ha, my son was with CH for 1 1/2years, never once did the sch call. His class size was only 6. So, I suppose the "keep in contact" is selective?

[ninenine]

Hi Aprilsummer,


Is ur child still in CH? Ya i somehow agreed with you my child almost sick every month but i think is not due to the sch hygiene. I have no doubt in that as i think the compound is quite clean maybe cos they are quite enclosed and sch not so big.