Visits to school

So far I have visited 2 schools, L and K, with Lele. Both Lele and I like K better than L but K is way TOO far. Even by car it is 15mins drive in normal traffic. Imagine driving in peak hours. I would not mind a mere 15mins drive if it were that impressive, but both Lele and I feel that while the school is better than L, which is walking distance from home, we would not like to be there.

For Lele, he was happie playing w the toys there. At least the teachers and principal there did not keep saying "No." to him as in L. The toys were more variety and engages his imagination more. The kids and teachers were more settled unlike in L where the kids were rowdy and the teachers look more like neighbourhood market aunties than educators. When I ask Lele if he like the school, he said yes sometimes and no other times. For school L, the answer was no no no:p

For me, I like the school's well though-up and organised curriculum, settled children and conducive environment. No running around and big noises like in L. Very peaceful and calm. There is also enough room for activities, play and study for each age group unlike L which is essentially everybody under the same roof w barely any partitions.

But I dislike the hygiene standards. During this H1N1 critical period where scanning of temp and jotting down contact numbers of visitors are common practices anywhere, these were not done in K. Neither were our hands sanitized before we could enter. Despite this, Lele was allowed to touch the kids' toys and anything else. Imagine if Lele were to be in this school. He would be exposed to germs from visitors as and when, in the fully aircon environment. We entered the premises with our shoes on but the people inside walked around barefooted... How hygienic is this?

So, Lele and I have decided that both L and K are no-go. But 1 good thing that came out of the visit to K was that Lele received a little duck plush toy from the principal, Mrs Noor. Lele and I named it "Little Quack" which was a character in a storybook we borrowed from Lib sometime ago. Lele was very happie w it. Each time when he recalls who gave it to him he will say, "Not Mrs nonono." See, the name Noor sounded like No to him even though he know it was not. So he made a joke out of it. Sometimes he will say, "Not Mrs Yeh". So funnie...

Next week we will visit another school W which is pretty out of the way like school K. But I reallie loved what I saw on the website and have a hunch Lele will love it too! Every activity described sounded like something children in the daycare school of "Carl goes to daycare" (book by Alexandra Day) would do. Outdoor play with nature instead of just playground...gardening... cooking...lots of storytime w puppetry...dance...song...poem...culture teaching...

With all the talk about visiting daycare school, Lele must have sensed he will go to school too. He love tshe story "Carl goes to Daycare." Just now when we were reading the story at bedtime, Lele said, "Lele wants to go to this Daycare school only. Lele doesn't want to go to other daycare school." I think he saw how much fun the children seemed be to having makin lotsa noise with musical instuments, turning entire classroom into a garden, driving cars around the classroom and pretending to be bears, that he wanted to be in the school.

At that point I heard him say that, I decided that Lele should be in a school to have the most fun with maximum exposure. As long as the environment is loving and allows Lele to explore to his heart's content and learn with guidance from his exploration, I will be happie to let him enrol.