Chiltern House

[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.

[aprilsummer]

Hi Ninenine,


Is your child at another branch? My son was at the Halifax branch. During his N2 to mid K1, he was sick every mth. However when I put him in another full time CC in Oct 08, he was well and only fell sick recently due to the haze.

His teachers at Chiltern Hse have always insisted that children tend to get sick when they start preschool. But this is untrue. My son is spending more time in sch now, but he is well and happy.

I used to accept their hygiene level till I checked out other sch. I believed we not only have to observe the general cleanliness, food given to children and also how frequent they clean the toys. My son's pediatrcian has even given me a list of things to look out for. I am very careful with my son's diet and had made sure our hse is spotlessly clean. However my son still fell sick with allergies. Finally his pediatrican recommended us to the CC that his children are attending. Only then my son's health improved.

Well I have to be that careful with the choice of sch, when I have been spending almost $200 every mth for his med! His pediatrian actually said he hardly get to see my son now that he is better.

[jhmum1]

Hi,

heard that there is new CH opening in Mountbatten. I would like to send my child to K1 next year. Heard from enrolment office that they only considering starting K1 class only if they can get 12 kids at least. Parents who are interested, pls call CH enrolment office to reserve a place. Tks !

[serenebah]

//Moderator's note: Topics merged.


Can any1 advise between the 2 pre schools which is better? I had sign up my daughter for mmi full day trial since last yr which she had not started yet. Will be starting this december and come jan 2010, my child will be in n1. Also heard lots of good comments about chiltern house, i therefore put her on wait list since jan 09 knowing it is very difficult to get in especially if she is not from julia gabriel. To my surprise, chiltern house call me today to offer me afternoon session in their new mounbatten branch. I am confused which should i choose. First of all is the afternoon class, secondly of course is the distance cos now i am staying in punggol. Heard children there are more vocal and confident. Thats what i want my child to be however also quite concern of the academic area. And what about mmi? I wanted to go there was becos for n1 classes they offer computer class, yoga and speech & drama for full day then n2 swimming will be included as well. Of course it is much nearer to my place. But i wonder children there, are they as vocal and confident too? :? Prior to that also hear some bad feedback on sengkang mmi.

[jedamum]

please search and seek for comments on different preschools at different existing threads

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=379&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=142&start=0

[ninenine]

Hi Aprilsummer,


Yes indeed the kids are sick most of the time. My child like yours sick as least once a month. But cos of the good curriculum and the she enjoys going to school I’ve let her stay on. Care to share with us which childcare your PD recommend? is the currculum good as well? So is a full day care?

[st999]

My son has been attending classes at Chiltern House Turf Club Road for 3 weeks. So far, he loves it.


There is a big difference in his attitude towards "going to school" when comparing with his church kinddy time. He used to be asking everyday if he could skip school at the church kinddy. He almost never talked about time spent at school, not about classmates, teachers, songs…

Now, he is asking if he can go to school right after his breakfast even though he is in the 2pm session. And he talks about his friends, sings little songs/rhymes, even the delicious snacks he has at school.

I can see that he is really happy about this school when I drop him off/pick him up. Sometimes I went earlier to catch glimpses of him in classroom or at playground, and he was almost always smiling or being engaged with friends.

His teachers are great too.

We still don’t know if he is learning enough stuff here, but we are just very happy to see him being so happy about school which in our opinion is the most important thing for kids at this age.