Preschool Reviews as shared by mommies from Mom Exchange

As most of you now, I’m already starting my preschool hunt for Bela. I have been following the thread at mom exchange about Traditional vs Progressive school and I have learned a lot from the different insights shared by moms of preschool students.

I just want to share here the summary of all the feedbacks and comments that I gathered about the pre-schools within the Manila, Makati and QC area from mom exchange just in case you’re in a hunt for preschool also. (I didn’t include the preschools in the South area as it is already far from our place.)

Disclaimer: The feedbacks & comments listed here are just a summary of the feedbacks and comments that has been shared by moms of preschoolers at mom exchange. I still don’t have a first hand experience with these preschools as I haven’t done my school visits yet.

Hope you will find this useful.

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1. EXPLORATIONS - MANDALUYONG
(+)
· good school, good feedbacks from parents of students
· they explore things with kids. Children have endless questions which the kids answer themselves – because they find out by themselves with the guidance of their teachers

(-)

· High Tuition fee (90K)
· there are really no worksheets! they let the kids draw or paint on paper and that's pretty much it.

COMMENTS:
· Have Chinese lesson as elective for Kinder

2. COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS – VELENCIA, QC
(+)
· affordable
· One of the 1st progressive schools in the Philippines
· Child centered, encourage parent participation
· have lots of interesting activities that make history, science, math & social studies come alive
· have good feedbacks

(-)

· Materials are not very new

Comment:
· Teaching method is based on bank St (in NY) & MI

3. TODDLERSS UNLIMITED
(+)
· recommended by directress of Explorations
· low student: teacher ratio (Best student-teacher ratio) 1:3
· Also, unlike other schools, the atmosphere is very open and welcoming to parents. Parents are welcome to peek in the classrooms through glass windows on the doors.
· Also, when I looked into the background of the teachers, I was satisfied. Most are graduates of Ateneo and DLSU, and come from good high schools too.
· Classroom is cozy and promotes a homey atmosphere for the kids
· Nice school with a nice environment and a lot of individual attention to kids

(-)

· Don’t place an emphasis on worksheets. I know this is typical of a progressive school; however I have encountered some progressive schools that also do have fun projects and creative worksheets for the kids. I just feel that having ample writing time is important for a balanced curriculum.
· Toddlers unlimited is very play based, although I think their 3yr old class has some writing time involved... but unlike other schools, time and emphasis on these is minimal.
· One parent shares that come graduation time, her child and some of her child’s classmates had difficulty making it into the big schools
· Some parents find the curriculum lacking in more academic work and daily “drilling” of basic concepts
· Toddlers is a great first school for a kid since it teaches them that learning and school can be fun but at some point, the kids need a bit of some drilling too.
· Curriculum is almost similar to Gymboree

4. THE LEARNING CONNECTION – SAN JUAN
(+)

· Chinese is good
· Teachers are very nice & speaks fluent English
· They have worksheets every week so you will know how your child progress
· Good school with good teachers
· School believes in children learning through discovery and so you can expect that the school goes all out when it comes to supplying the children with materials to work with.
· Has a huge library & environment is print rich

(-)

· Method is progressive but not pure progressive as there are work sheets
· Mixed reviews from parents

5. CREATIVE SPACE
(+)

· tuition fee is very reasonable
· low student-teacher ratio (max is 6 kids)
· Curriculum, outstanding, very impressive indeed.

Contact Person: Teacher auchee villaraza, who also owns the school: 915-0391 & 0919-8356634.

6. SECOND MOM
(+)
· They do home visits before school year starts
· School’s philosophy: instilling a love for learning in a child by making it fun
· Sends weekly email talking about the child’s activities for the week and bi-monthly email talking about child’s progress

7. EARLY ACHIEVERS

Comment:
· They lean more towards a traditional/eclectic teaching. This means it is not fully progressive so they’ll probably have worksheets

8. APPLE SEED MONTESSORI – MAKATI
- P110,000 for 5x a week schedule

(+)

· Clean
· Kids are very disciplined
· have a lot of authentic Montessori materials
· Ratio 1:6
· They do academic work everyday depending on what area is scheduled for the day: math/geometry, reading/language, cultural studies/geography, practical life/sensorial
· has art class 2x a week

(-)

· They change teacher every year
· 80 students in 1 classroom (separate tables lang)
· Parents have mixed reviews about the school

9. MOTHER GOOSE PLAYSCHOOL - MAKATI
- P110,000 for 5x a week schedule

10. PHILIPPINE MONTESSOR – WHITE PLAINS
- P140,000

11. MUSTARD SEED - MAKATI
- P85000
-mustardseedpreschool.multiply.com

(-)

· small school
· dont have a lot of development toys (blocks,manipulatives)
· not good feedbacks

13. RAYA SCHOOL – Scout Area
http://www.raya.org.ph
- P42,000 annual fee

(+)

· 1:9 teacher-student ratio
· The Directress (Ani Almario) has a Masters Degree in curriculum development from Standford University
· Kids are give an early start in Science
· They have monthly talks where they invite a Parent to talk about his/her job and or passion, artist to teach the kids his/her craft, people in the community to talk about their work
· Developmentally appropriate and child centered ways of teaching
· Has a very down to earth atmosphere and you can really feel that teacher there is motivated by sincere care for each child.