Chiltern House

[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.

[omgmum]

does chiltern house teach the kids phonics?

[st999]

omgmum:

does chiltern house teach the kids phonics?

Yes, they do teach phonics. But I don't know how effective it is cuz my son has been in phonics enrichment for a while before he joined CH.

[omgmum]

Thanks st999!


At what age did you start your son on phonics?

[st999]

omgmum:

Thanks st999!


At what age did you start your son on phonics?

He started phonics class at beginning of N2, but he had good foundation from his teacher at N1-N2. After 3 terms of phonics (sounds and blending), he was switched to reading class at end of last year. He is in K1 this year.

[omgmum]

slightly off topic here but where was your son enrolled in before you switched him to CH?

[st999]

He was at a small school at Bishan. The teacher there really prepared him well for phonics. We had to transfer him cuz that school could only take in kids up to N2. He went to one of those church kindergartens for 1 term until we finally got a space at CH.