Kindy Search #3

I had nearly decided to enrol MG into Tadika Pintar Ria, when suddenly I remembered an old school friend, a very resourceful and thorough SAHM (lets call her “Super Mum”) who knows just about everything relating to kids, schools and the like. (I’m sure we all have at least one friend like that and who is everything that we are not!). Being Super Mum, she, of course, managed to get her kids into Kings’ Kids Early Years, and I must say, through lots of persistence and lobbying (all legal, don't you worry)!

I,on the other hand, am one of lesser faith and was starting to get worn down but my efforts to search for the right kindy. So, I decided to give her a call and get her views on the other places that I should check out before MG becomes kindy-less.

Super Mum then suggested a few places, one of which included, Taska Precious Steps in Taman Tun. She had heard good things about it, from her fount of knowledge garnered over the last 2 years, and asked me to check it out. I also then remembered that another friend who lived around the area had mentioned before that she sent her daughter to a playschool nearby and it dawned on me, that her daughter could be in Precious Steps too.
Inquiries then confirmed that her daughter did attend that kind and her mum's comments were that: "the teachers were good and caring (GREAT!) although their “command of English could be better” (Gulp!). It was also run by a Christian principal, Ms Kitty who aspires to run the kindy with Christian values.
I dropped by after work as the centre had daycare facilities and was still open then.


My first impressions:
TPS is housed in a corner 1.5 storey house in Taman Tun. The space in the house is pretty much maximized by classrooms and I had a look at the classrooms for 4 year olds. There is not a lot of space, and seems a bit crowded, but the plus side is that there would not be too many kids in the classroom. Teacher to student ratio is 16(or so):1 teacher plus an assistant, which was a PLUS point.
Facilities wise, I saw a good range of toys and montessori apparatus in the kindy but they were certainly not as high tech or spanking new as the ones that I saw at Pintar Ria. Pintar Ria had computer labs and a smartboard (which is like a big IPad)but that's OK for me as I am anti-iPAD and MG watches enough TV at the nanny’s).
There is a garden outside, with slides, cubby houses for physical education sessions.It's smallish but in my view, great if one is overseeing a bunch of hyperactive kids running around.
Ms. Kitty, the principal, seemed to be very friendly and passionate about her center. When asked about the method employed by kindy, she said it was similar to International school syllabus and it was not very academic based (Good!). They also offer Mandarin as part of their syllabus and mentioned that the syllabus would not leave students unprepared for Chinese Schools. I am not really sure how this works (as typically “international" school/ kindy syllabus don’t prepare adequately students for local schools).
Security is good - the kindy is pretty serious about this - they implement a system whereby the persons picking up the kids have to have an authorisation card. In my visits there, never have I seen the gate left opened for no reason.
Fees wise - they are more slightly expensive than Pintar Ria, Tadika Diyana and KKEY but less expensive compared to Summer Academy and Tadika Peter and Jane.

To summarise:

TPS is a good, small neighbourhood non academic kindy, with good and caring teachers. Good teacher : student ratios. MG's current class of 17(or so) kids has 2 teachers! It does not have the most sophisticated of equipment, apparatus and facilities but in my view, the human factor is more important. Even if my friend's comment about English not being up to mark was correct, I can overlook this as it is more important for me is for MG to come back home safe and happy everyday. There are many years to come for her to acquire knowledge! Also, in the 2 terms of so that MG has been at Precious Steps in 2013, I did not notice any English language deficiencies in her teachers..

Update: TPS is expanding - they have bought new premises also in TTDI and may split classes after the 2 centres start running. This should take place in 2014.

ps. Obviously I'd have more info on Taska Precious Steps since I have sent MG there. I'm too lazy to document all of it down but please feel free to PM me if you need some unbiased views/ information!

Taska Precious Steps
No. 33, Lorong Abang Haji Openg 3, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan 60000, Malaysia +60 3-7727 8033