Friday, December 21, 2007

Pre-school hunt update

The update is long overdue, as I had decided to finalise the pre-school on Wednesday itself. My luck seems to be running out as it is the year-end!! I'll tell you why I am saying this:
Wednesday I set off for Gymboree & decided to ditch the music class there & instead take the taxi around to look at the schools & Aadi is sleepy & hungry after the class. As I discussed my plans with Sebastien uncle, he gave me a worried look & told me that he has a pick up scheduled, so he will complete that & then take me around. He promised he'll be back in 20 minutes. So anyways the music class was gone, so I took a stroll in Bangsar village; and spent 31 RM on a single curtain holder!! Gosh by the time I went to pay for it, I was too embarrassed to return it, so I managed to say that if it does not fit my curtain I'll return it & get something else in place. That was another example of luck running out. To top this, uncle comes a good hour later instead of the promised 20!! reason being - traffic jam.
OK finally we set off, & first headed for Taska Jaunty Montessori along Jalan Ara, we found it very easily, but it was closed & there was a banner with two phone numbers on it. I had one of them & took down the other one. But I did inspect the place from outside. I liked it, small garden with proper playing equipment. Looked organised to me. Shoe racks in place. So I will wait for them to return from their vacation. Yes, before I go on to the next school, let me also tell you that none of the numbers on the banner seem to be working or connected!! So I just hope that my phone call gets an answer..somehow!!
Second on list was Words, the pre-school along Jalan Maroff near Bangsar Shopping Center. Ms. Shelly was there to welcome me in in spite the school being closed for vacations & cleaning. She took me on a tour of the school & showed me all the different areas like toddler area, out-door play area, water play area, sand play area, eating area etc. The place looks very organised & clean. I liked the easy environment there, not a school-school..There are lots of colourful things around to stimulate the children. The best part was that they have an uniform, this is very important to me as it gives the child a sense of belonging & identity. Aadi's previous pre-school in S'pore had uniforms & he loved to wear it, even now on days that he misses school too much, he goes to his cupboard & brings his school uniform & just wearing it makes him happy :)
To continue about Words, I also like their attention to detail like installing staircase-gates so that no toddler gets to a place where he should not be. There is plenty of room to move & play, another thing I loved about the place is that it has a low student-teacher ratio of 6:1. They follow partial Montessori methods, they prefer using crayons to actually draw alphabets & numbers which is not done in Montessori. They also have lots of after school activity & hobby classes. Their web site is very informative: http://www.wordsbangsar.com/
I like this one a lot, & know for sure that my son will be very happy here.
But I am still going to wait for Taska Jaunty to re-open as it is full Montessori & that is my most important criterion.
So the hunt is still ON...wish me luck !!

1 comment:

Hui-Wearn said...

hi - do check out lil beansprouts montessori. i've actually left a comment earlier on your previous post on hunt for preschool. the info is there. good luck!