What parents say about us....
In the course of the past 8 years, we have sent 3 children through pre-school with Ms Cheryl and her team. My 2 older children are twins, and attended the pre-school at PSSMK and my youngest son also joined PSSMK later on.
Our experience with PSSMK has been overwhelmingly positive, and we have been amazed by the great leaps and bounds in all my children’s emotional, social and developmental growth in the 4 years they each spent with PSSMK!
Ms Cheryl heads up an incredibly competent, gifted and dedicated team of teachers. The pre-school and its program have provided my children with very valuable resources and support to help them reach their full potential.
At PSSMK, the children learn in a clean, fun, interactive and highly experiential environment. Ms Cheryl and her team draw learning experiences from the humble caterpillar and its growth cycle to excursions to art museums and outdoor treks. They skilfully weaves learning experiences from music and movement to character and moral values. PSSMK focuses on more than just academic successes as the teachers tirelessly work on building the children’s foundation for their future social and emotional success.
All my 3 children are now in Primary school, and they continue to reap the benefits of their pre-school experiences. They are confident, eager to learn and happy at school and we believe a big part of this is due to the solid foundation and grounding in the pre-school years. We are very appreciative and thankful to PSSMK for their dedication and passion to my children. We wish PSSMK all the best!
~Hwee Ching, mother of Jing Yi, Jia Yi and Hsian Kai
We are constantly amazed at the initiatives that PSSMK has taken to ensure our child receives a holistic education while with you. The exposure that Adrienne gets at PSSMK is beyond what we have expected from a kindergarten.
Adrienne thoroughly enjoys her show and tell sessions, the time taken to prepare for it also provides us a chance to productively bond with her. She has learnt more than just general knowledge during the course of project work. She has learnt to be tactful, to be more mindful and considerate of others. These are skills that she will take with her beyond her kindergarten years.
A lot of the things that the school has done, goes beyond what is expected and we are very grateful for it. The trip to the Butterfly park is also a commitment from the teachers to take time off their weekends, to spend a morning with the children at park. Another great example would be the photo report we have just received. I can only imagine how much time and effort it takes to customize a report for each child and this time and effort goes beyond your duties.
Adrienne is growing and thriving in PSSMK. Being working parents who have less time to spend with her on day to day basis, we are glad that we have chosen to enroll her in PSSMK. We fully trust your team to continue providing the platform for Adrienne to grow and progress in that few hours she spends in school daily. Thank you!
~ Jamie, Mother of Adrienne
One of the best decisions we have made is to have enrolled Hannah in PSSMK. We are really privileged and thankful to have Cheryl and team nurture her during her two years with the school.
PSSMK has adapted the Montessori method to be relevant to the Singapore education system, despite being in a mixed age environment. The strengths of the Montessori method have been used to help equip Hannah with practical life skills and good general knowledge while other aspects of the curriculum such as language & phonics, math concepts, word problems, science experiments and Show & Tell sessions have prepared Hannah very well for Primary One.
The project based approach has helped Hannah learn to work in a team and to respect and accept the ideas of her peers. The teachers facilitate discussions on the topic, the approach (building a model, making a soft toy or writing a book) and materials to be used for the project. The children are encouraged to ask questions relating to the topic and thereafter to find the answers from books and the internet. Through this process, they are challenged to think critically, solve problems (for example Hannah had to figure out how to hang a shark model to a box) and learn to take on responsibilities as each child is responsible for a different part of the project. These are very valuable life skills which cannot be picked up from textbooks!
A lot of emphasis is placed on child-directed learning and play in all activities and programs. The children are given space to explore and develop at their own pace instead of just simply following instructions. Even the year end graduation concert is planned by the graduating children themselves. This has helped Hannah to think creatively and be independent and confident.
Definitely a quality and holistic preschool education which we will not hesitate to recommend!
~ Jethro & Lena, Parents of Hannah
Choosing preschool to lay foundation for a child is important. As parents, we want our children to enjoy going to school and use their common sense to judge and learn naturally, instead of coming home with homework and being boxed up in their learning. We want them to have ample opportunity to explore. We want them to learn through exploration!
We found that at PSSMK gives children the opportunity to practice essential life skills at school, such as the ability to make small decision, ability to judge and predict cause and effect of their behaviour/words on others, ability to plan, self-control, and ability to solve.
PSSMK allowed Ee Rynn to make small decisions in her daily work. In language, she knew her progress by picking up boxes with different colours. Making sentences in new words at every stages has set the foundation of loving English. This helped to feed her curiosity in playing with words. Subconsciously, she has to decide to form the right sentence in every new words from the coloured boxes.
She learned to plan and to solve problems that arises in her work. In math, there are practices. She has to make decisions to think and plan ways to solve math problem. She has to judge the answer and to reflect on the problem given. We like counters. It allowed her to feel and visualize the math problem. It’s hands on. By seeing the problem, it allowed her to solve it.
Projects work allowed her to learn to work with others, to express her opinion tactfully, to practice self-control working in group, planning as a team to achieve the end result and to solve problem in group. She gets to practice these essential life skills in a safe environment.
Teachers are important too. At PSSMK, teachers allowed children to complete their work before intervention. Children have their own space to pace themselves within limits. The school has created an environment where children love themselves by accepting who they are. We appreciate that teachers are dedicated give necessary feedbacks to us.
With these skills practiced at pre school, the transition to Primary One is fairly easy. Although she was a bit uncertain during the first day in school but she progressed very well. Her ability to express and decisiveness allowed her to take on new challenge in new environment. She is being selected as a class monitor and leader in her mandarin class. She takes homework as a challenge. She is proactive and motivated to complete her work. The challenge now is to complement the school by providing ample play time to enhance and practice these life skills at home! Thank you, PSSMK!
~ Mee Kuan, Mother of Ee Rynn and Ee Wern
As they say they touch young lives, they have proved it. Being a mother, I wanted such school and teachers who will understand my son and change him slowly without being harsh. I have experienced a great change in my son for which I am really thankful from bottom of my heart.
Am very much satisfied with their approach of positive discipline where children doesn’t even know how they are changing and we see them getting disciplined without much negativity. After all, all parents like their kids to be disciplined and obedient.
Teachers are so nice and caring to all students that kids feel the warmth and affection, which makes them feel to go to school with joy and happiness.
Teachers are so child-focused that even from their busy schedule, they are ready to go that extra mile to take extra care for different students from time to time to make all students feel comfortable.
A school should be a place where your child should feel freedom of thoughts and speech not just a place to sit and mug up everything without interest. That’s why I like their mixed age environment where you have liberty to choose any friend to work and have fun with!
My best wishes to Ms Cheryl and other staff for future endevours! I am really thankful from bottom of my heart for providing such good environment to my son which made him grow in all areas of life.
~Vijaya, Mother of Nikhil
Thank you for all your love, care, wisdom, nurturing and for just being there for Hayley! She has blossomed so much through the years and we have a few things to be grateful for the following:
Conducive and clean environment
From the moment we walked into PSSMK we knew it was the right place for Hayley. It is clean, bright, airy, non-air conditioned and was littered with all the children’s artwork and projects through the years – the shark hanging from the ceiling, the tribal mask watching over the kids, pieces of artwork done by the children from present and past. It simply embraced us with the knowing that one day our daughter’s artwork would be up there too and should be standing tall right next to it!
Right focus, right discipline
Through the years, we were constantly reminded not to over-cuddle our child but instead nurture her, support her and guide her to be able to express her own individuality and grow to become an independent, self-sufficient and confident child. With the right dosage of discipline and structure without compromising on love and care, we have seen our child benefit from these same principles which have been the very foundation of PSSMK and we have no doubt will continue to for years to come.
No academic grilling!
While PSSMK prepares the children through the years, the focus was on well-being of the child and ability to self care, to social, inculcating good values and disciplines. There were no worksheets for homework, no over-emphasis on academic abilities but still ensured that our child reads & writes and does all her sums to prepare her for the next stage of her education life.
What we liked best was how PSSMK weaved in stories of extraordinary people and their adventures, day-to-day general knowledge, all current events into their lives to enrich them. The story of Mr Sun who rode his bamboo bike in Central Asia made such a huge impression on Hayley. Her eyes sparkled as she gave us the run-down of his visit, pronouncing precisely the names of every single country he had traveled to! And not forgetting how she came home telling us the stories behind Deepavali, the Pandas and the exciting events around the London Olympics! Through her imagination, you have brought her to places around the world, meeting cultures and people!
Teachers are a constant
One of my biggest draw is the longevity of some of the pioneer teachers! We are most grateful for the fact that all the teachers have been with Hayley from her very first day of school. She has constantly been surrounded by the same familiar faces whom she has grown to trust and love, and will surely miss. Every single teacher has cared, taught from the heart and helped her grow up beautifully. Hard to find in today’s world where principals come and go, teachers move around. Luckily we didn’t have to cope with that! We hope other children will continue to benefit from all your commitment.
No rah-rah performance
No fancy graduation concert, but instead wholesome and meaningfully performance put together by the graduating class to mark this big milestone of their lives. We are grateful PSSMK had the wisdom and foresight to insist on a “no-graduation-concert” rule.
Hayley loved every minute of her time in school! She will surely miss her days at PSSMK and will always have you teachers to thank for being there with her. I will not hesitate to recommend other parents to PSSMK if they too share the same expectations of how they like their child’s formative learning years to be!
All the best to PSSMK!
~ Jessie and Johnson, Parents of Hayley and Gavin