Pat's Schoolhouse
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Hi Pebblez,
My son is attending playgroup (born in 2009) at Aroozoo. We moved up from Baby Haven at Halifax and was initially booked at Buckley but decided to switch to Aroozoo after visiting the campus.
Aroozoo officially started school on 16th Jan, after around 2 weeks of delay. Parents were told the delay was due to a delay in obtaining the T.O.P. That is why part of the building is still covered up. The kids are now in the classrooms below but we were told the older classes would be held on the upper floors once it is ready. As it is a new school, all the kids are new to the environment, so I’m not surprised that there’s lots of crying. In fact, my son still wails when he’s dropped off. Compared to LAP (Lim Ah Pin at Serangoon), which is an established school, so there would be fewer new children as most would have moved up from their classes last year. The "adults walking around" at Aroozoo may be the extra assistants that the school hired to help in the initial weeks. Annabelle (my son’s teacher) told me because all the kids are new, they anticipated they will need extra help (comforting crying kids, for eg.) in the first few weeks, until the kids are settled in the environment.
I agree with you that Aroozoo still has lots of teething problems to overcome. I have spoken to Anita many times and I find her to be helpful even though I’m sure she has a lot on her plate right now. The main reason I chose Aroozoo over Buckley (which is also an established branch like LAP) was, as you have observed, the sprawling huge complex and everything down to the toys and books are new. The playground is very impressive. My son talks about the playground and the bikes everyday. Dropping off every morning is not an issue as the carpark is big. As for the teaching staff, we were told each class will have an experienced teacher (transferred in from another branch) plus a new teacher.
In my communication book, the teacher has pasted a menu for the term. The kitchen is next to the admin office. For my son’s class, outdoor activity is rotated, for eg., playground on Mon, cycling on Tue, waterplay on Wed, sandplay on Thu, etc. In the first week, I called the school several times to check on my son and Annabelle will return my call whenever she has time.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me. Like I said, I’m not 100% satisfied with Aroozoo at the moment but I’m giving them some more time to sort out the kinks. -
hi,
Aroozoo and LAP at quite near each other, so i believe Aroozoo has the support from LAP branch.
I hope Aroozoo will sort out the teething problems soon. :rahrah:
Thumbs up for Miss Anabelle. Very high energized and experienced teacher. She was my boy teacher from Playgrp and nursery during LAP's time (infact she is in LAP for 10 over years). My boy had turned out very well during his two years with her :). Missed her alot. -
From an administrative point of view, the Aroozoo principal should have declined visits until the entire school is properly settled in. She surely has more than enough on her plate at the moment. Considering that PSH typically gets a lot of enquiries and requests for visits, the HQ should have directed the principals to allocate specific monthly dates for visits/ enquiries and consolidate all requests on those dates. This would be a more efficient use of resources and create less disruption to the kids. For example, the teacher at Serangoon should be focused on her class rather than walk in parents. My kids are not with Aroozoo or LAP but I do notice that PSH handles parental enquiries the same way in other branches. Unlike Chiltern House which has a dedicated person handling such enquiries or coordinating, PSH leaves it to the individual branches and principals. This is not a very efficient/ organised way of running the schools when PSH is already so large.
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Empress- you could have a point there but I thought it was rather nice that parents were always being attended to by someone who knows about the school.
I know that Learning Vision under the same KU group has a central hotline and we are always referred to a call center which I found frustrating, and we are always pushed to a date that we are unavailable. So I think they do in fact have a system like that but Pat’s SH declined the use of it, perhaps? -
ahbombom:
Pat's website still mention about the extended half day programme and I noticed that imaths has been changed to creative art and cookery. Do they actually still have extended half day programme or they have stopped that totally for new nursery students or there are different practices in different centres? Does anyone know? Thanks.
Hi ahbombom
As far as i know, imaths, swimming and harmony road is under the bundle-buy programme so they should not be replaced. So far my girl is still continuing on these few stuffs and the school has not inform us on any of the changes.
Hope this help
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As far as I know, I-Maths is part of the extended day programme together with English S&D, Chinese S&D, ABC Music and Fastrackids. I wasn’t aware that it has been taken out and placed into the bundled programme for full day kids. The bundle includes cookery, Harmony Road keyboard and Swimming.
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pebblez:
Empress- you could have a point there but I thought it was rather nice that parents were always being attended to by someone who knows about the school.
Yes, it is nice for prospective parents but for existing students, I think it is both disruptive and not good for security that strangers are visiting at irregular times. These are the same reasons that primary schools do not allow outsiders or even parents to just walk into the school.pebblez:
I have never seen any sign of a centralised system in the last few years. PSH is already established enough not to need to worry excessively over intake so they should not focus on accomodating requests but rather on running the school more efficiently and maintaining high standards in the interests of the children.know that Learning Vision under the same KU group has a central hotline and we are always referred to a call center which I found frustrating, and we are always pushed to a date that we are unavailable. So I think they do in fact have a system like that but Pat's SH declined the use of it, perhaps?
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smilingmummy:
Thanks smilingmummy. I'm actually wondering about the extended half day to 3pm programme. I think it is convenient and my girl has some enrichment sessions to occupy her. I called a few centres and it seems that they don't offer it anymore for new students. Now I'm thinking if I should enroll her in church kindys that offer enrichment sessions by external provider after their lessons. For example, she gets to attend fasttrack kids taught by Pat's Schoolhouse teachers at Newton Kindergarten which she doesn't get to attend if she's schooling at Pat's Schoolhouse itself for half day AM.
Hi ahbombom
As far as i know, imaths, swimming and harmony road is under the bundle-buy programme so they should not be replaced. So far my girl is still continuing on these few stuffs and the school has not inform us on any of the changes.
Hope this help -
Hi pebblez,
I am surprise that they are actually offering you a place in the waitlist for Pat's LAP.
Did they tell you your kid is number what in the wait list?
From what i know the waitlist is very long and its quite impossible to slot a 08 kid into their nursery class?
Anyway, i have given up hope on LAP and had put my 08' gal with Aroozoo.
I guess the unpleasant encounters is because there are still very new and Aroozoo is hugh. So its no wonder that they look disorganised.
I believe if you drop by this week or so, you shld be able to see a big improvement as all the kids are more or less settled in, except for one or two new ones joining...
In fact, there is going to be a CNY gathering cum performances this friday and parents are invited.
Not bad for a school that starts few weeks ago. -
hmm,
my child in in Aroozoo, K1 but no invitation to this CNY gathering on friday???crystalbelle08:
Hi pebblez,
I am surprise that they are actually offering you a place in the waitlist for Pat's LAP.
Did they tell you your kid is number what in the wait list?
From what i know the waitlist is very long and its quite impossible to slot a 08 kid into their nursery class?
Anyway, i have given up hope on LAP and had put my 08' gal with Aroozoo.
I guess the unpleasant encounters is because there are still very new and Aroozoo is hugh. So its no wonder that they look disorganised.
I believe if you drop by this week or so, you shld be able to see a big improvement as all the kids are more or less settled in, except for one or two new ones joining...
In fact, there is going to be a CNY gathering cum performances this friday and parents are invited.
Not bad for a school that starts few weeks ago.
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