[Jurong East/Jurong West] Preschools

[pinkitty]

Hi Kabalevsky and other mummies,


Finally, I got time to sit down and pen my review. Brought my son down to take a look at the school. Caught the teachers at a bad time coz I did not make any prior appt and just popped by randomly and it happened to be a day that they were not having classes. As usual, my son was throw a temper big time, crying, yelling didnt want to get off the car so we thought why not give him a break and let him try out Tykes.
Interestingly when we got there, he was so excited that despite the closed door, he wanted to get in. I guess this was a good sign. Tried calling the teachers and they were very nice to make a trip down despite there was no class for that day. Had a hard time trying to convince my son to leave the place since we needed to wait for 1 hr before the teacher reaches.
When we were back, he was very excited checking out the place and started off quickly with the montessori stuff while the teacher was explaining to me on the school. I like the concept and the layout of the place. Very spacious with loads of interesting educational stuff. Currently, it’s only 3 times a week so tat’s a downside for me since I am keen on 5x a week. Other than this, the space is good, the curriculum is gd.
Had a hard time persuading my son to leave as well.

[Basha]

Hi Pinkitty,

Tykes is offering 5x a wk too but only when they reach the required number Of kids for the class. Currently my boy is going 3x a wk since it’s still a small group. I’m looking at 5x a wk too so once they hv enuff kids to start the class,I’d put my boy in it. (",)
You can call the person-in-charge again to know more on it.
It’s nice to hear your son adapts well to the environment there!
Cheers!!

[Kabby]

Thank you pinkitty for your review! Always good for me to know more!


My girl has just started with Summer and looks settled. So far so good. I think I'm happy where she is now.

:thankyou:

[charlie_brown]

Hi kabalevsky!


Is your gal in the new or old campus? Is it very crowded with students? Cos I saw from the blog, it looks so.

[tearss]

I saw the pics on Tykes facebook…looks colourful!


Read that come May, summer montessori classes (9am & 11am) will have 18 students each.

[Kabby]

hi charlie_brown,

old campus. the original one.

yup, every week there would be new students it seems, so yes, both classes are very crowded. they are full to the max i think.

[pinkitty]

Hi kabalevsky,


Which session is your child in?

[Dec]

Hi Mommies,


I would like to share my experience with Tykes during the trial class. The school is located inside a old country club and there is a big swimming pool in front of the school. ( if your kid is taking school bus and very active must be more careful  ) The lesson begins with hello song and story telling, the English teacher read it out loud and clear. Next, the Montessori teacher taking over to show the children how to roll and unroll the mat, they take their turn to do it. She also let them have scoping activity by transferring pebbles from one bowl to the other. I think the teacher spend too much time on 1 child doing it and the rest of the children has no patient sitting there to wait. (all below 2y) The rest of the teachers did not help to guide other children or to bring another set for the parents to guide them. They have been doing 3 times of painting ( using brush to paint on the paper which paste on the wall outside the school, using finger s to paint alphabet and hands paint) During the hand paint session, this teacher keep asking my dd which colour she likes ( dd still can’t speak ) and she keep forcing my dd hand onto the paper:(  (though montessori spirit is to let the child to do whatever they feel like and no forcing ) There was a snack time in between which you need to bring your own snack. The teachers dont go near the children to talk to them and no mingling with the children and parents which I think is important. They sit on the chair looking at the parents with kids eating. During the chinese lesson, it started with singing the Chinese song. This Chinese teacher looks very impatient from her face expression especially the children not attentive to her. ( if she is very professional or experience, she or they should know how to draw the children attention) She brought out a A4 size paper printed a little boy whole body stated with Chinese character words on the body parts in black/white. She hold it from her sitting position and asked them where is eyes and what is this called? It is such a small word, myself also could not see clearly. She using the mixture of English and mandarin language to teach Chinese! This will affect the children of learning Chinese. They have not learn the words and expected them to know unless they are genius. Again without response from the children, she impatiently change it to coloring lesson and this was the 4th coloring but in crayon. Personally I find that the teachers are not attentive toward the younger children and no communication with parents! They should be more bubbly and high spirit which I find the lesson quite boring. I don’t like the chinese lesson and too much of coloring especially for such a young age children, they need to do thing different. To be fair, this is just my personal opinion. 

[pinkitty]

oh dear… this doesnt sound gd… my son is the super active kind… he hates being forced

[Kabby]

Pinkitty, I have PMed you.


Dec, :thankyou: for the review! It's very comprehensive and informative.