Learning Vision preschools

[allthekellys]

hi there, does anyone have an thoughts/experiences with the learning vision preschools - particularly in the east but in general also? Many thanks

[CheshireCat]

My son is attending the Odyssey Creative Learning Centre, which is a Learning Vision school.
Check the website http://www.theodyssey.sg

The reason why we put him there was because we liked the Learning Vision centre we visited, but thought it was a bit crammed (in an office building). We wanted our kid to have rooms for outdoor activities, and (the most important) have a safe escape route should any hazards arise (such as fire - can you imagine 50+ young kids scrambling down the stairs in an office building?).

Then came the Odyssey at Alexandra Road, newly opened in May 2008(?). It was within walking distance from home (big plus point), and when I visited the place, they had something like 6 teachers versus 20+/- kids (being new). The grade level for my son had only 1 child back then. Their official teacher student ration is 1:6 for N1 and above, and 1:4 for younger toddlers. My son was promoted to N2 recently and they haven't breached this ratio so far.

I had not heard nor sought advice before putting my son into this school. The biggest reason for putting him there was the teacher student ratio. My son was very shy and timid, and avoided other kids diligently. It's getting a bit worrying even for an only child. We figured he needs good attention from adults, and with the school being new, by the time they get fully loaded my son would have adapted to the place. So he joined mid-August. I am happy to say the teachers did a good job. Now he can protect himself when kids are snatching toys, and he even started to hug other children or occasionally annoy other children. I never imagined I'd be happy to see my kid annoy other kids but it's happening.

A month or so after he joined his "form-teacher" (the one primarily in charge of his class) left. We were a bit concerned but they immediately had a replacement, and it was a teacher my son was familiar with (not a new hire). So we didn't speak up. I heard that pre-schools in Singapore suffer high staff turnover in general. In any case, it didn't affect him.

They do excellent documentation and assessment of my son's activities to track his progress, though I am not that particular with all these. What's important is what I see in my son.

Finally, the fees. With this kind of environment you pay a premium, it's no joke. I suggest you check out one of the centres personally.

[Flyjet1]

We sent our daughter to KK learning vision since she was 2 months old. Great passion teachers there. They handled pretty well since the hand foot mouth disease outbreak. Compare with other schools, I rate them 8.0/10 with the money paid

[whoosh]

I am not too sure of other Learning Vision centers in Singapore, but the one in Temasek Polytechnic has been rather unpleasant for me.

LV will no longer operates at TP and will move to Changi Business Park starting Jan 2009. Since I have a kid with them and completing his last K2 year in 2009, we do not want to upset him by switching to another child care center. Moreover, the principal promised transport (morning and evening to and from HOME) will be provided for existing child who will continue with LV in CBP. So we went along and sign up. Weeks past and we have request for an official notification for the school bus schedule but the principal could not provide an answer. Only till 16 Dec. did she indicated that LV will not be providing the transport for my child.

This has been an extremely unpleasant experience for us with LV. The verbal confirmation that the transport will be arranged and provided was not fulfilled. It left us with little time to make necessary arrangements o our side to look for another child care. With this incident, we decided not to continue with LV center at CBP as was the condition I indicated in the enrollment form.

The other matter to be highlighted is how the children are 'strongly encouraged' by the principal and some of the teachers to attend camps and other excursions arranged by LV @ TP. These outings are not cheap at all (could range from $70 - $100+), as parent we decide to let my kid go on selective outings that we think will benefit him. But it is very clear to us parents that LV's interests are in the external/additional programmes, more than in the children.

This can clearly be seen that children are told that the fee for the excursions and camps are 'cheap' and to 'go ask/beg mummy to let you go'.


These are my experiences and also some common topics shared among parents with kids in LV. Hope you find it useful in your decision making.

[boffenl]

We had a great experience with LV NUS. Our daughter "graduated" from their K2 program last year before starting at a local school. The graduation ceremony was amazing--something like a Broadway play--she still watches the video.

Not sure what other excursions or extra activities the other posted found to be too expensive. Her extra Mandarin and drama classes were CHEAP compared to something on the outside. Plus I didn't need to spend money taking her anywhere else.

We were very pleased at NUS.

[jennifer lynn roger]

Hello Cheshire,
you are lucky. at least your son's school makes efforts.
my friend's son is schooling in the other odyssey centre at wilkinson (the one that was previously a learning vision centre). in the past 6 months, he has about 4 different teachers! when asked, the indian principal said high staff turnover is the same everywhere else! what kind of reply is this???
well, my friend too was initially very impressed with the teacher to children ratio and the spacious environment. but she's thinking of taking her son out very soon. they have 2 principals running the school. during the first few days, both the indian and chinese principals were very nice. but later, they both stopped greeting my friend.
the chinese principal still smile sometimes but the indian one is just interested in having conversations with the new "angmos"!!!

[KC Chen]

Hello Cheshire,
you are lucky. at least your son's school makes efforts.
my friend's son is schooling in the other odyssey centre at wilkinson (the one that was previously a learning vision centre). in the past 6 months, he has about 4 different teachers! when asked, the indian principal said high staff turnover is the same everywhere else! what kind of reply is this???
well, my friend too was initially very impressed with the teacher to children ratio and the spacious environment. but she's thinking of taking her son out very soon. they have 2 principals running the school. during the first few days, both the indian and chinese principals were very nice. but later, they both stopped greeting my friend.
the chinese principal still smile sometimes but the indian one is just interested in having conversations with the new "angmos"!!!

Dear Jennifer Lynn Roger,

I am a parent in The Odyssey at Wilkinson too and I am truly happy with the Chinese principal and the Indian Centre Director. Both of them always take the time to smile and interact with me and as you can see from my name, I am not 'angmo'. I must say that I am rather shocked by your racist remarks. Why should one's abilities and character be penalised by the colour of one's skin? In the multi-cultural and multi-racial society here in Singapore, to hear of such racist implications is disturbing. I really do not want my son to grow up alongside such racists. The Odyssey is a global school with international views and I am more than happy that my son is in such an international environment. I am very satisfied at the level of professionalism in the centre, observed in both the teachers and the management of the school. I am also grateful to the teachers who are taking care of my son which attests to the rate that my son is progressing in his learning. I can understand that you are unhappy that your friend's child had to adjust to 4 teachers over 6 months but I support the Centre Director's answer because teachers leave for a variety of reasons. It is not always due to unhappiness or mismanagement but it could be use to family matters, pregnancy or relocation. This is akin to every industry in the world. The school would make sure that the right teacher is chosen to care for the children. The most important factor is that the children are happy. My son is happy when he comes to school in the morning and he is reluctant to leave at the end of the day. That to me is enough. All I want is that my son is happy and it is not about me. I may dislike the inconvenience of the stringent health checks and how they disallow parents from entering the school premises during the HFMD season but I know that they do it for the children's sake. I appreciate that.

It is most unfortunate that your friend is so upset about the school that he/she is unable to write his/her feeling in this forum and had to find solace in you to do it. I feel so sorry for your friend. At the end of the day, if your friend is so traumatized by the whole situation than perhaps your friend may like to find a more local school for your friend's child. For me, I have to applaud the Odyssey for a job well done and for the love they have for my son. I have full confidence in the Odyssey.

[jennifer lynn roger]

Dear everybody,
I am very sorry if I have sounded racist (as what KC Chen has put). It definitely was not intended. I merely wanted to share my thoguhts and experience.
Dear KC Chen,
I noticed you have just joined the forum on 21st April. I think you felt the need to stand forward to speak up for the school that your child is in so decided to register as a member to voice your opinion. Me too joined not too long ago. But my first post was to say something nice about one of the schools I have visited, not in response to someone else's post.
I may be wrong but I got a funny feeling that you are one of the management people in that school rather than a parent as you claimed to be.
But, thanks to your post I will be more careful in future. Maybe I should stick to just posting good remarks and leave the not so nice ones to myself. Sorry once again for talking too much.

[KC Chen]

Dear everybody,
I am very sorry if I have sounded racist (as what KC Chen has put). It definitely was not intended. I merely wanted to share my thoguhts and experience.
Dear KC Chen,
I noticed you have just joined the forum on 21st April. I think you felt the need to stand forward to speak up for the school that your child is in so decided to register as a member to voice your opinion. Me too joined not too long ago. But my first post was to say something nice about one of the schools I have visited, not in response to someone else's post.
I may be wrong but I got a funny feeling that you are one of the management people in that school rather than a parent as you claimed to be.
But, thanks to your post I will be more careful in future. Maybe I should stick to just posting good remarks and leave the not so nice ones to myself. Sorry once again for talking too much.

Dear Jennifer Lynn Roger,

Wow! I sound like one of the management people? Ha ha ha ... I am definitely not but when I see an injustice I have to stand up against it. This is what my parents taught me and this is what I teach my son. My son loves going to school and I hope your friend's child does too. I can speak thus confidently because I make it a point to have open conversations with the staff and to try to involve myself with my son's education. I believe that the preschool years of a child's life is so important in building character and virtue and I will make sure that my son enjoys it as much as he can. I will also do all that I can to ensure he gets the most of the programme. All parents should.

[GV]

Dear everybody,
I am very sorry if I have sounded racist (as what KC Chen has put). It definitely was not intended. I merely wanted to share my thoguhts and experience.
Dear KC Chen,
I noticed you have just joined the forum on 21st April. I think you felt the need to stand forward to speak up for the school that your child is in so decided to register as a member to voice your opinion. Me too joined not too long ago. But my first post was to say something nice about one of the schools I have visited, not in response to someone else's post.
I may be wrong but I got a funny feeling that you are one of the management people in that school rather than a parent as you claimed to be.
But, thanks to your post I will be more careful in future. Maybe I should stick to just posting good remarks and leave the not so nice ones to myself. Sorry once again for talking too much.

Dear Jennifer Lynn Roger,

Wow! I sound like one of the management people? Ha ha ha ... I am definitely not but when I see an injustice I have to stand up against it. This is what my parents taught me and this is what I teach my son. My son loves going to school and I hope your friend's child does too. I can speak thus confidently because I make it a point to have open conversations with the staff and to try to involve myself with my son's education. I believe that the preschool years of a child's life is so important in building character and virtue and I will make sure that my son enjoys it as much as he can. I will also do all that I can to ensure he gets the most of the programme. All parents should.

I am a newbie myself, minutes old in fact, browsing for education in Singapore as an employee. After I noticed this very interesting thread, I happened to look through all of Jennifer Lynn Roger's posting. Forget about KC Chen being from the management of this odyssey preschool. I get this 'eerie' feeling that Jennifer Lynn Roger may be a competitor of the school KC Chen is talking about. Call me paranoid, but I am calling it like I see it!!

[alphabets]

My child was enrolled in Learningvision in KKH for 6 mths. My husband & I were disappointed to find his unchanged soiled pampers, dirty hands fingernails and driedup mucus on his face on numerous occassion when we picked him up from school. The school seemed to be very busy and parents did not get the chance to speak to the class teachers as they themsleves has said so. No feedback whether he finished his meals, poo, interact with other kids etc etc. The child's journal was kept away all the time. Requested parents & teachers meeting were ignored.Worst of all, my 2 yr old, proudly loudly spoken the words ( s**t, F**k it & D*** it) after school which nearly knocked us & our relatives off our chairs and truly upset all of us. Clearly he didn't knew what they meant. After being complacent about the matter, i braved myself to mention to the principal. The damage has been done. Those words were never heard again after a no-responsive strategy. Over a mth later after taking him off a few days per week from school , he has completely stopped. We didn't want to raise our concerns so often as we should. We worried repercussions on our only child and as expats, our issues were less addressed as compared to Singapore citizens.