What our Ex-Students' Parents and our Current Students' Parents are saying
I have had the pleasure of seeing my three children grow under the care of Ms Soh, at her school, GreenTree Montessori Kindergarten since 1993.
In 1993, I was very careful in selecting a good kindergarten. Under my strict definition of a good school, I was looking for one run by loving and caring teachers, with good environment, and with teachers who communicate well. After two months of searching, I almost given up hope until I was recommended to Ms Soh's school. I was impressed after seeing how the school was run.
Unlike many other kindergartens I visited, Ms Soh's school believes in empowering children and facilitating their growth. I witnessed the change in my children's behavior and achievement after allowing time for change to take place. I was once pressurized by other parents when we compared what children learnt in school. Looking back, I was more than glad that I made the right decision in entrusting all three children with Ms Soh. Now that two of them are in primary school, I realized the strong foundation they have built during the Montessori school is important.
Ms Soh has an unparallel passion for children. In fact, behind that loving face, there is a little child in her. She has a young heart that knows what children desire and need. She has a listening ear to hear the spoken words and sensitivity and empathy to feel the unspoken message. Over the past seven years, I have also come to admit that her love and patience for my children puts us, parents, to shame. Ms Soh will spend even her personal time like late evenings or weekends, listening to parents' concerns and problems with regards to their children. A committed person like her to children's education and growth is hard to come by in a highly commercialized society in which we are living.
Ms Soh was also my secondary school teacher many years back when she started her teaching career in one of the ten high school in Singapore. Over the years, she has not stopped upgrading herself. She has been and is still taking up new and relevant courses to keep up with the changing world. She is one who believes in being the best that she could be before she could help groom the children in school.
I could also see the focus on which Ms Soh has not confined to children. The belief she has in Montessori teaching goes way beyond teaching for children. I understand that Ms Soh uses the same method and theory on grooming and training her team members as well. There are always continual training programs for teachers in her schools as she cares for the development of teachers as well.
When children kept referring to their past experiences at the school they had, that is the best testimonial any school can have. And, I would be honoured to repeat the pleasure in the future, if I have my fourth child, or, to recommend Ms Soh and her school to any parents.
Yours Faithfully,
Elaine Tang, Managing Director
Kestrel International Search & Advisory Pte Ltd
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Dear Chian Mui,
Before too much time passes by, I wanted to write to thank you for all your work in making the March 2000 RIE 1 training so successful. Your talent in gathering eager students, your attention to detail in organizing the logistics of not just the class, but the Sunday workshop and my appearance on "Talking Points" and your relentless energy as a translator and co-instructor were impressive.
You have clearly internalized the Pacific Oaks pedagogical approach to teaching adults. The activities you planned supported the theories we were working on very well. You also seemed to relish the small group work as much as the students! Finally, the class notes you organized and typed up are deeply appreciated. I am still assimilating all I learned through the experience of teaching the RIE philosophy in this new (for me) cultural context. You helped us bridge the cultures so that there truly seemed to be no gap.
Thank you for everything. You did a great job.
Warmest Regards,
Ruth Anne Hammond, M.A.
RIE Associate, USA
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Dear Chian Mui,
Thank you for making the RIE 1 training in Singapore so successful. Beginning with an introductory public workshop before the training was an excellent way to present the RIE approach, and to exchange ideas with parents and professionals from Singapore.
I know how hard you must have worked to organize the training, to gather students from three countries and to provide a comfortable space for all -- yet you made it look easy. Every day you seamlessly translated our lectures from English to Chinese and the student's questions and comments from Chinese to English. You translated the course outline and even transcribed the class notes in both languages.
As a co-teacher you helped clarify theoretical principals by facilitating group discussion and by presenting experiential activities that allowed the students to be active participants in their learning. You conveyed the RIE philosophy in a way that helped the students understand it in theory and practice.
Thank you for bringing RIE to Singapore and for helping to build a bridge between diverse educational communities.
Warmest Regards,
Miss Carol Pinto, Director of Resources for Infant Educarer (RIE)
RIE, LA, USA
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Andrew has been attending GMCH for the last 10 months and GMCH has been treating Andrew very well. In fact, I find that the teachers have a lot of respect for each child and I want to thank the teachers for being caring and patient and providing the daily reports on what Andrew has been doing at the school.
I also believe that all the pets in the school, the dogs, fishes and other pets have been treated well by the school.
Alvin Koh, IT Engineer.
Sun Microsystems, Singapore
Parents of Andrew Koh
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My granddaughter Gabrielle Ng has been in the loving, stimulating and perfectly wonderful atmosphere of Greentree Montessori since she was three months old. She is now approaching her second birthday. She is a happy, bright, well adjusted toddler who adores her daily trips to Nursery and is often reluctant to leave at the end of the day. I am fairly involved in her care and would be very aware if there was any possibility of abuse of any kind. I find such allegations of child abuse quite ridiculous. I am now retired but have a background of nursing and midwifery training. I have also been involved in community care and in indeed am honoured to have received an award form Her Majesty the Queen of England and the United Kingdom for my work. I have two grandchildren in England who have been attending daycare centres since the age of six months. In my opinion Greentree measures up to and possibly exceeds the standards of cleanliness, stimulation, communication with parents and affection that they have been exposed to. I have observed that the animals have been responsibly cared for and that the children at Greentree have benefited from the exposure to them.
I have found the staff and management to be well trained, responsible and loving towards the children.
Caryl Tay, Retired Nurse.
Singapore
Grandmother of Gabrielle Ng
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Our son, Domenick Hong Wei Xuan has been with Greentree since he was four months old until now and we are very happy with the way greentree is caring for the infants and the teaching of the toddlers and older children. Domenick has acquired the sense of tidiness and the sense of always putting back his toys to the original place where he took them from. This is something, that my wife and I do really appreciate and we are glad, that we do not always have to clean up the mess our son has created. We can only see, that Domenick really enjoys his time at the school. He has neither complained of having to go to school nor is he crying when I drop him at the school every morning.
The teachers are very friendly at the school. Veron, the supervisor even took Domenick to her private home for one day, when the school had a shut down on that day.
Having lived in Germany for more than 18 years and knowing how the childcare centers and kindergartens are being run over there (no infant care and childcare centers available), I am so glad, that Singapore has such an excellent infrastructure when it comes to infant care and childcare centers.
Almost at "every corner", there is a childcare center. This will at least allow my wife to be able to go back to her job, which she loves very much, after two months. Not wanting to have a maid or a babysitter, Greentree Infant care was the only hope we had two years ago and we would do the same again if we have to choose. I have even introduced some colleagues to put their babies here as we have a very positive experience with Greentree Montessori and the way the teachers are caring for the infants.
Hong Han Thanh, Manager.
Pepperl Fuchs, Singapore
Khong Lai Fong, Executive.
Dow Jones Newswires, Singapore
Parents of Domenick Hong Wei Xuan
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My family would gladly attest to the exceptional care given to my daughter since she began attending Greentree at the age of three months. She is now 2 years old and has therefore been at the school since infancy. Gabrielle has such a good time at the school that she looks forward to going every morning and sometimes finds it hard to leave the good company in the evening. Such is the good impression I have had with this school that I have even recommended several friends to Greentree.
The atmosphere at the Greentree school has always been congenial. The care of the staff towards the children as well as its animals has never been put to question. My wife and I are very pleased with the school and are in full support of Greentree against the neighbour's allegation.
John Ng, Senior Manager Shipping finance.
Fortis Bank, Singapore
Parents of Gabrielle Ng
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I am satisfied with the care given to my child. My child has always been happy in school and recently, she has found joy in writing and drawing. She even continues to practise her writing of the alphabets and numbers after school.
I can see that she is really having fun and joy in learning and that's what I want, as a mother.
As for the animals, the teachers are always around to guide the children in the care of the animals. The children have certainly learnt how to love animals which will be extremely important if we want to develop them into a generation of compassionate and loving people for the nation in future.
Lena Peh, Training Officer.
ITE Clementi, Singapore
Parents of Tan Hwee Suen
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We would like to assure you that we have always tremendously appreciated your care for our daughter, Ines Leong. As an infant, she has been in your care from February to September 2002 and always seemed very happy in your school.
Our opinion about your school is that it is a professionally run childcare center, corresponding to (and we wouldn't be surprised if it were even exceeding) Singapore's high standards. Staff has been well trained and is fully devoted to their job. The Montessori philosophy, with its very characteristic respect for children and nature is truly implemented.
During our - sometimes unexpected - visits to your childcare center, we have always been warmly welcomed both by your staff as well as by the happy voices of the children. Premises were found clean and orderly, animals looked healthy and the children looked well cared for and happy and the necessary safety and hygiene measures were in place.
You communicated our daughter's doing throughout the day by means of a booklet with hourly updates and on a daily basis, we could complement it with our own remarks and questions.
We have always been contacted if not on the day itself, at least the next morning when we dropped off our daughter with responses on these questions and have always been fully satisfied.
Before deciding to trust our daughter (at that time only 2 months old) to your care, we had done a lot of research on infant care centers in Singapore and visited a number of them.
As you already know, I am a non-Singaporean from a European country with several professional childcarers amongst my immediate relatives (pediatrician, several pediatric nurses, physiotherapist etc) and have visited numerous childcare centers in my own home country.
I can assure that Greentree Montessori Children's House complies also with the European requirements on hygiene, safety and healthcare. The attention paid to children at Greentree Montessori's Children House exceeds the European average.
Leong Family.
Shanghai
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My son, Gan Soong En, is one of the students of Greentree Montessori Children House. Soong En joined the school since last year July. Over the year he has made tremendous improvement in communication, motor skill, social skill, knowledge as well as practical life activities. I give most of the credit of his improvement to the principal and teachers of Greentree Montessori.
Through 'meet the parent' sessions, my casual conversations with the staff of Greentree and my observation when fetching my son home every afternoon I noticed that they put a lot of emphasis on respecting the children. The teachers are attentive and caring too. There was a period my son fall sick quite frequent, the teachers showed concern in practical ways and even Ms Soh, the principal know about it and recommended some Chinese physicians to me. After a few round of sickness, teacher Veron could even warn me to take precaution before my son fall sick, as she noticed some symptom of him falling sick surfaced.
Another thing I would like to mention here is the school's emphasis on loving the nature and environment. Children here are taught not to spoil the environment. Not even to break any part of the plant. In the course of learning, the children are free to explore everything in the school with three major guidelines: Not to harm themselves, not to harm others and not to harm the environment.
I have no doubt about their integrity and professional attitude.
Patricia Tan, Freelance.
Singapore
Parents of Gan Soon En
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We enrolled our child, An Sheng in the Infant Class of Greentree Montessori Children House when he was at 9 months old. Although we have many childcare centers nearby our residential in Ang Mo Kio when he reached 18 months old (presently at 24 months old), we still continued to enroll him in the Toddler Class of Greentree Montessori Children House because we have seen good progress in his development. The caregivers and teachers in Greentree Montessori Children House are excellent in providing care, guidance and teaching. By comparing our child with relatives and friends' children, we observed he is more well behave, more well spoken, more knowledgeable, more skillful, more obedient and more courteous.
With the existing animals and plants in the compound, our child could appreciate the nature and has healthier growing.
We are very happy to find Greentree Montessori Children House and we are very thankful to her caregivers and teachers. We know that we can rely on them not only for our first but also for our subsequent children when we are helping Singapore in her low birthing rates.
Tay Aik Poh, Engineer.
Chia Ling Ling, Customer Service.
Tyco Electronics Pte Ltd, Singapore
Parents of Tay An Sheng
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Dear Pals,
Here is sharing a good learning environment for your kids... :)
Charmaine Soh, the principal, has impressed me very much with her heart for children. ...4 years ago, when I was contemplating a cert. in early childhood education (to arrive a step closer to my dream school house of my own, someday)...i was introduced to Charmaine Soh. Charmaine touches my heart not just with what she does for the kids, but also for the caregivers of the kids....including to-be-caregivers like me.
4 years ago, Charmaine was sharp to recommend me skipping the basic levels to head for masters in early childhood education....given my professional experience and my (future) plan. She was even willing to consider her pre-schools for my practicum if need be. And I've come to know...she has done the same for so many others. :) And tho', i have not progressed much in the early childhood arena yet, Charmaine has been supportive, still. :)
More importantly, Charmaine has a heart and compassion for not just the kids but also the parents. My close pals have a kid there. And during a time when finance was a challenge at home (a few years ago) and the parents had to consider withdrawing the kid to cut costs.....Charmaine took the initiative to approach my pals (the parents) and offer an alternative fee arrangement. My pals (the parents) were deeply touched for (like Charmaine)...they believe education is important for the children. I remember this episode fondly. And I am touched like the parents.
I am glad Charmaine is still touching the lives of kids today. :)
Give the best to our kids.
Cheers,
Maggie Lai
