Chiltern House

[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.

[ninenine]

Yes, they are usually very happy to go school. For my child being there for almost 1year. She has hardly tell me she doesnt want to go school. There’s the plus point of this school.

[aprilsummer]

Hi ninenine,


My son was recommended Kinderland YCK by his PD. His PD has sent all his 3 children to this cc.

The cirrculum is much better than Chiltern. There is a balance of both languages. English in the morning and the Chinese teacher takes over the afternoon. Unlike Chiltern, where there is only an hour of Chinese for the 3 1/2hr session, which is not sufficient. He is able to converse in mandarin now. When he was in Chiltern, he was able to sing the mandarin songs taught in school but could not converse in the language at all. Thus, Kinderland has a more practical method in teaching Chinese.

Kinderland also prepares him better for P1. There are worksheets and spellings. His teacher also talked about current affairs, such as the recent Sumatra quake.The site is previously a primary school, so the settings is the same when he goes P1. He also has good outdoor programs like PE, twice weekly, gym, speech and drama. So the package is a all-rounder.

My son had also enjoyed his N2 in Chiltern too, but not his K1, as his teacher is frequently on MC. Hardly learn anything during his K1.