⌛ Preschool Reviews

Hello All,

I am new to this forum. My family will be relocating to Dumaguete around May next year. As early as now, I am scouting a good pre-school for my daughter who will be 4 years old by the time we have moved over there. We might be staying for 2-3 years or maybe more that's why I am very particular in my children's education. I am hoping they are at par with european standards so that if and when we go back to Europe, my children will not have any difficulty of catching up with the education over here. I have been reading about preschool/primary schools in DUmaguete and from what I have gathered the following schools are said to be good. But I am hoping to hear from those who have are actually sending their kids to the schools mentioned below.

1. Siliman University - although the downside is that they brainwash kids that if they go to this school, they are considered the cream of the crop.
2. Royal Oaks International School
3. ABC Learning School
4. Holy Cross
5. St. Louis (Don Bosco)
6. Catherina Cittadini

The above mentioned schools have no legitimate websites or email addresses except for royal oaks and siliman. As a parent, I would like to know the curriculum they offer. Siliman website is not so helpful as they dont have any curriculum for preschool/primary school. Same with Royal Oaks.

Can you also kindly provide me the contact details of the above mentioned schools other than siliman and royal oaks? Also any idea on tuition fees.

Any reviews/opinions on the above mentioned schools are highly appreciated. It will help me a lot in making my decisions.

Thank you very much.

 

Silliman follows the Philippine Department of Education's curriculum, although I am not sure how rigid that would be at the pre-school level. Silliman pre-school tuition fees are P25,000 per year.

You may also want to consider Southdale Integrated (Tel: 63-35-226-2294). They follow and "Integrated" eduational approach.

Holy Cross: Tel: 2254382/4227601
Don Bosco: Tel: 2250384
Cittadini: Tel: 2250399

At the pre-school level, fees range from the low 20,000s at Holy Cross/DB/Cittadini to mid-20s at Silliman. Southdale is the highest at P35,000 per year.

 

Don Bosco, St. Louis and Cittadini are one and the same school.
Cittadini is the name they use now.

 

not really, St. Louis and cittadini are different schools

 

Thanks for the replies. But I hope to hear from parents whose children are studying on the schools I have mentioned.

I will try southdale integrated school as well, derivative guru.

Thanks again.

 

Megamindy, my kids go here and they love the place, and I'm impressed with how much they're learning....

Negros Oriental Montessori International School

 

Megamindy what grades are your children in and in what grades did they start in this system?

 

I have experience with two:

Silliman which I give a thumbs up and SIMON (the school mentioned by a previous poster), I give them a big thumbs down though. If you search the archives, you can read my specific issues with them.

 

Thanks again for the replies, everyone.

Manzanita, I didn't consider SIMON because I have read a lot of bad reviews about this school. Case in point, derivative_guru's experience.

Pedro, my daughter will be four years old by the time we move there but at three years old, she can recognize the alphabet, can count till 20, she can color quite well, cut, paste puzzles, she can even form 18 pc puzzles by her self. I feel that she might be a smart kid so I am hoping for a school that will challenge her and cultivate her intelligence.

Has anyone heard or experienced the other schools I have mentioned?

 

Just to pass along a few things that I noticed when I "interviewed" these schools...

Holy Cross is run by an order of Catholic nuns based in Taiwan (hence the Mandarin language offering). They follow a Montessori approach (at least at the preschool level). The school seemed well-organized, well-managed and friendly...they wanted us there. Only draw-backs are the older facilities and downtown location. (Also, I'm not Catholic so that wasn't a plus for me...)

ABC was a complete turn-off...all the information I got from them came from a portly lady shouting at me from a glass enclosed window that was more reminiscent of a pawnbroker than that of a school. She seemed completely put-off by me asking questions and was only interested in when I was going to fork over cash for tuition.

Southdale was interesting...they seem to have well-qualified teachers and follow the "Integrated" approach (which I had never heard of before that day.) The Director has an undergrad from Silliman and a Ph.D from UP. All the teachers have detailed CVs in their brochure (something no other school provided). It's a small (approximately 100 students in all grades) and fairly new school. It lacks in facilities and of course doesn't have the community nor track record of say, Silliman. Their preschool program was the longest of all of that I investigated and their fees the highest (P35,000 per year).

Silliman has the community, the convenience of location (much easier dropping off your student inside a gated, green campus than in the morning congestion of downtown Dumaguete like at Holy Cross...), and a proven track record. The teachers seem good and thus far I have no complaints. Wish they had Mandarin instruction like Holy Cross, but I guess I can hire a tutor for that...

Don Bosco and Cittadini don't offer preschool for 3-year olds, so I don't have any offerings for them.

Hope that helps! Keep us posted and good luck!