I have had 3 visits to Bright Horizon over a spand of 2 months. I had a good feeling about this place the first time I was there. It's ...
- Clean
- Tidy
- Tina, the supervisor was wonderful to deal with.
- The supervisor didn't have a problem with me taking photos of their premise.
- The monthly fee is reasonable with RM650 a month for the 15mos-3yo class.
- The food they serve the children seemed simple enough with apples and bananas too.
But not ideal for muslims as they use pork based broth in the porridge.
- The children are required to drink a lot of water in school.
- There were boxes of montessori toys (kept neatly) on the shelf.
- One teacher + 1 helper in each class.
- SebaMed body wash, J & J shampoo.
- Weekly change of clothes are to be put into a box provided. Dirty laundry will be handed to the parents daily in a reusable bag (brought by the parents).
So why don't I place my child in this school then, right?
On my 3rd visit, which I decided to go sort of uninformed, a lady who later I was told by Tina is the founder and the principal reluctantly opened the front gate for me. I had my tot with me. Ms. Wong, had to be one of the more harsh people I have met.
Wong: Yes?
Me: Hi, I'm here to see Tina. I called her earlier.
Wong: Who are you?
Me: I'm here to enroll my child to the school and I had earlier talked to her about transportation arrangement. I'd like to see her to talk to her about it.
Wong: Yah, you talked to her, so why are you here?
Me: Can you please at least let me in to the porch? It's really hot and my son's been out here with me for so long already.
Wong let me in reluctantly and ....
Wong: So you come for what? You came before what?
Me: Excuse me? ........ The other times I came, it was too late to check out the class and the other time, Tina was busy so we didn't get to discuss things properly. You really seem to have a problem with us being here. Do you wanna tell me what is it and if you are so upset with us being here now, I can leave. Just tell Tina to call me.
Wong: The class teacher is not here. She's on....
Me: Maternity leave, yes and will be back next week. Yes, Tina told me about it.
Wong called for Tina and then I proceeded to put my kid to the classroom and tried to focus on my objectives on being there. I had also wanted to see how the other kids are with my boy and vice versa.
I asked Tina who was that woman and why was she being so rude. I dunno what that Wong wanted to project herself or the school to be by behaving like a total bitch. To make me feel welcomed or to intimidate me? Tina said she's not sure what happened between the both of us but she vouched that Wong is usually OK. Then in the classroom, while the kids were working on coloring and tracing numbers, Wong got in again and said to me "This is why I don't want you to be here..."
Me: Sorry, I'm not getting you.
Wong: This is my daughter (pointed at a 3yo Isabel) and she will look for me and want me if she see me.
Me: So how is this my problem?
Wong walked out of the room and then Tina tended to me. She apologized to me and I said, it's OK. I looked around and asked Tina where are the books for the children and when do they actually get a chance to utilize the montessori toys. She took a couple of very well kept board books off the shelf and showed them to me. And then I thought, if the books are well used, won't they also look umm well used? And then I observed my boy in the class and realized also that one of the things that I didn't like about this place was the small classroom. Some may not have an issue with this. The thing is, my kid roams a lot and he's at the age where he's exploring the surroundings a lot more.
I told Tina later that if the principal can be so difficult with me, I wonder what she's like with the children. Although it's a corner lot with a compound, they don't have a yard. They have a big slide-monkey bar combo and a few Step 2 and 3 rocker and trikes out in the porch.
I asked again if they speak mostly in Chinese language with the children and Tina said they usually speak to the children in English. Again, not that I have a problem with that bit unless I see that the teachers speak lousy English. Which, they do.
My other concern was the sleeping arrangement. All the children, all 25 or 30 of them sleep on a Dwinguler sorta mat in one room. It's not mean until you see how small that room is for that many children. Apparently, there will be 1 teacher and a helper during sleep time with the kids. Please, someone tell me if I'm overreacting about this matter coz I'm so close to report about this to the Kebajikan. On my last visit, Tina had very quickly told me that they plan to have 2 rooms for the kids to sleep in and the room will be swept and mopped everyday before sleep time.
I will upload the photos here as soon as I can.
